(Having received a belated invitation to make a presentation at the I.O.S. Congress being held in Cape Town, I hurriedly faxed the following to the organiser..)

Fax to Craig Hilton-Taylor

Congress organiser.

Sorry I am late with this but I had a crisis in connection with this very topic and had to see that through first.  This is my abstract for the congress.  Please ring me if there is any doubt in your mind about its suitability for the programme.

“The Haworthioid rocks of the Aspho Delay Sea

M B Bayer

I get a perverse delight in the picture of Adolph Hitler the megalomaniac, whose CV resume is highlighted by his simple beginnings as a house painter, and my career ending as a paying house painter.

The talk will deal with the special nature of species in the subgenus Haworthia as it may relate to the quote  ‘the ship of many a taxonomist has been wrecked on the rocks of the Liliaceae’.  It will present a definition of a species which the author feels is totally adequate for taxonomy at any level.  A definition that is simple, intellectually unpretentious and meeting the needs of both layman and scientist, as indeed it has to do.  It is based on the authors extensive experience in recognising pattern in biological systems.