(1) Viola Arvensis.  Field (Violet) No. 1748

(2) " Biflora.  Two-flowered 46

(3) " Canina.  Dog 1453

(3b) " Canina.  Var.  Multicaulus 2646
                        (many-stemmed), a very
                        singular sort of violet—­if it
                        were so!  Its real difference
                        from our dog-violet is in
                        being pale blue, and having a
                        golden centre

(4) " Hirta.  Hairy 618

(5) " Mirabilis.  Marvellous 1045

(6) " Montana.  Mountain 1329

(7) " Odorata.  Odorous 309

(8) " Palustris.  Marshy 83

(9) " Tricolor.  Three-coloured 623

(9B) " Tricolor.  Var.  Arenaria, Sandy 2647
                        Three-coloured

(10) " Elatior.  Taller 68

(11) " Epipsila. (Heaven knows what:  it is 2405
                        Greek, not Latin, and looks as
                        if it meant something between
                        a bishop and a short letter e)

I next run down this list, noting what names we can keep, and what we can’t; and what aren’t worth keeping, if we could:  passing over the varieties, however, for the present, wholly.

(1) Arvensis.  Field-violet.  Good.

(2) Biflora.  A good epithet, but in false Latin.  It is to be our Viola aurea, golden pansy.

(3) Canina.  Dog.  Not pretty, but intelligible, and by common use now classical.  Must stay.

(4) Hirta.  Late Latin slang for hirsuta, and always used of nasty places or nasty people; it shall not stay.  The species shall be our Viola Seclusa,—­Monk’s violet—­meaning the kind of monk who leads a rough life like Elijah’s, or the Baptist’s, or Esau’s—­in another kind.  This violet is one of the loveliest that grows.

(5) Mirabilis.  Stays so; marvellous enough, truly:  not more so than all violets; but I am very glad to hear of scientific people capable of admiring anything.

(6) Montana.  Stays so.

(7) Odorata.  Not distinctive;—­nearly classical, however.  It is to be our Viola Regina, else I should not have altered it.

(8) Palustris.  Stays so.

(9) Tricolor.  True, but intolerable.  The flower is the queen of the true pansies:  to be our Viola Psyche.

(10) Elatior.  Only a variety of our already accepted Cornuta.

(11) The last is, I believe, also only a variety of Palustris.  Its leaves, I am informed in the text, are either “pubescent-reticulate-venose-subreniform,” or “lato-cordate-repando-crenate;” and its stipules are “ovate-acuminate-fimbrio-denticulate.”  I do not wish to pursue the inquiry farther.