The systematist is primarily a giver of names, as Ray with his broader views perceived. Linnaeus too in the exordium to the _Systema Naturae_ naively remarks, that he is setting out to continue the work which Adam began in the Golden Age, to give names to the living creatures. Naming however involves very delicate processes of mind and of logic. Carried out by the light of meagre and imperfect knowledge it entails all the mischievous consequences of premature definition, and promotes facile illusions of finality. So was it with the Linnaean system. An interesting piece of biological history might be written respecting the growth and gradual hardening of the conception of Species. To readers of Linnaeus's own writings it is well known that his views cannot be summarized in a few words. Expressed as they were at various times during a long life and in various connexions, they present those divers inconsistencies which commonly reflect a mind retaining the power of development. Nothing certainly could be clearer than the often quoted declaration of the _Philosophia Botanica_, "Species tot numeramus quot diversae formae in principio sunt creatae," with the associated passage "Varietates sunt plantae ejusdem speciei mutatae a caussa quacunque occasionali." Those sayings however do not stand alone. In several places, notably in the famous dissertation on the peloric _Linaria_ he explicitly contemplates the possibility that new species may arise by crossing, declaring nevertheless that he thinks such an event to be improbable. In that essay he refers to Marchant's observation on a laciniate _Mercurialis_, but though he states clearly that that plant should only be regarded as a variety of the normal, he does not express any opinion that the contemporary genesis of new species must be an impossibility. In the later dissertation on Hybrid Plants he returns to the same topic. Again though he states the belief that species cannot be generated by cross-breedings, he treats the subject not as heretical absurdity but as one deserving respectful consideration. The significance of the aphorisms that precede the lectures on the Natural Orders is not easy to apprehend. These are expressed with the utmost formality, and we cannot doubt that in them we have Linnaeus's own words, though for the record we are dependent on the transcripts of his pupils. The text of the first five is as follows: 1. Creator T. O. in primordio vestiit Vegetabile _Medullare_ principiis constitutivis diversi _Corticalis_ unde tot difformia individua, quot _Ordines_ Naturales prognata. 2. _Classicas_ has (1) plantas Omnipotens miscuit inter se, unde tot _Genera_ ordinum, quot inde plantae. 3. _Genericas_ has (2) miscuit Natura, unde tot _Species_ congeneres quot hodie existunt. 4. _Species_ has miscuit Casus, unde totidem quot passim occurrunt, _Varietates_. 5. Suadent haec (1-4) Creatoris leges a simplicibus ad Composita.