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Nov. 30/54/ Bentham remarked to me in regards to his list of aberrant genera, that in fact it was scarcely possible to tell genus from Family, a latter from a higher group. (This shown by 3, 5, 4, 7 having been taken by Quinarian) & I think He said that Bignonia was first a genus, & then when many species were found, it was corrected into a Family, with several genera.

Now this causes the greatest, scarcely superable difficulty in ascertaining whether the number of species, be small: for if what wd be an aberrant genus, as long as there were few speices, was raised into Family,

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of course aberrant genera must necessarily have few species [which] if not do to take an aberrant group, say whether you call these genera or families or alliance, yet they include less species even than genera & a fraction less than Families do on average. – But then if these be done, it may be said that they are aberrant mainly because they have few species: that this alone makes them aberrant. – Nevertheless I still think & so does Bentham, that there is something in it.