One Reason for Eliminating Subspecies
One Reason for Elilminating Subspecies
In the recent discussion in the CONDOR on the multiplication of subspecies no one has put forward a reason against them quite so final as that quoted by Prof. F. W. Oliver in his life of Arthur Henfrey (Makers of British Botany). Of this great exponent of the New ‘ Botany’ Prof. Oliver says (p. 201): “He more than once expresses the opinion that there was too great a tendency to lump species in the handbooks to the Flora, and he urged on the occasion of the preparation of the third edition of the London Catalogue of British Plants that many more forms should find recognition. The editors of the catalogue however successfully opposed the suggestion on the ingenious grounds that it would raise the weight for postage beyond the limits of a blue (twopenny) stamp.“
J. H. Fleming
Toronto, Ontario, September 4. 1919
