In order to avoid interminable confusion it is necessary that the plants of the earth be systematically classified and that there be no deviation from the rules governing their classification. Foremost of the rules that have been laid down is that of priority. This dictates that the first name given a new plant in point of time must prevail. If contention or ambiguity arise, priority decides the case, and the first botanical designation bestowed stands for all time, regardless of whether it be appropriate or not. Designations of a subsequent date are entitled to rank as synonyms only. Because of its rigor, this law should admonish botanists to exercise good taste in giving scientific names to hitherto unnamed plants. Another important rule is that the name of the new plant must appear in an accredited publication, otherwise it is technically regarded as unpublished and consequently discarded. Shortly after the discovery of the Calaveras Grove, the tale of its wonderful Big Trees found its way into print. The Sonora _Herald_ appears to have been the first newspaper to give an account of the Giant Sequoia. This was republished in the _Echo du Pacific_ of San Francisco, appearing later in the London _Athenaeum_ of July 23, 1853. Whitney believes the latter to be the first notice of the tree to appear in Europe. Naturally, these accounts excited botanists. Specimens of the Big Tree were presented to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco early in 1853. Unfortunately, however, the Academy was unable to properly describe the new plant, since it had no references on hand which would enable its botanists to publish a proper scientific description of the mammoth tree. Specimens were subsequently sent East to Torrey and Gray, but again ill fortune attended them and they were lost in crossing the Isthmus of Panama. Meanwhile, William Lobb, an English seed collector, on seeing specimens of the recently discovered vegetable wonder, believed he recognized a species new to science. He secured a sufficient quantity of Sequoia cones, foliage, and wood to characterize the tree and departed for England in the Autumn of 1853. These specimens found their way into the hands of Lindley, who hastily described them in Gardner’s _Chronicle_ of December 24th, of the same year. Thus Lindley, a botanist of no particular eminence, was the first to give a scientific description of the Giant Sequoia, and American botanists lost both the opportunity and honor of naming a very remarkable plant.