Rhodora 
JOURNAL OF 
THE NEW ENGLAND BOTANICAL CLUB 
Vol. 9. May, 1907. No. 101. 
THE BASIS OF NOMENCLATURE FOR ALGAE. 
F. S. Corus. 
Reavers of the article “On the Vienna Rules of Botanical Nomen- 
clature" in the March RHopora will remember that Art. 9 reads 
“The rules and recommendations of botanical nomenclature apply 
to all classes of the plant kingdom, reserving special arrangements 
for fossil plants and non-vascular plants"; and that a footnote states 
that these special arrangements have been reserved for the Congress 
of 1910. The questions involved in regard to cryptogams are many 
and difficult to answer, and when we consider the long and careful 
work that was necessary to reach a conclusion in regard to the vascular 
plants, the time before the next Congress is none too long for their 
consideration. “Botanical nomenclature begins with the Species 
Plantarum of Linnaeus," says Art. 19; but if one considers the quite 
insignificant space given to the cellular cryptogams in this work, it 
might possibly be called a “point” for starting, certainly not a “base” 
for anything. The writer cannot claim any familiarity with the sub- 
ject except as regards the algae, but would like to call attention to 
some features of their case. 
While the number of known species of flowering plants has increased 
almost in geometrical ratio, the idea of a species, on the whole, remains 
about the same. Some species have been found to be aggregates; with 
rapidly increasing numbers of species more attention has to be given 
to smaller details, but in the great majority of cases the characters by 
which species are differentiated can be seen by the naked eye, or with 
a pocket lens. As regards algae, not one species in a hundred can be 
described so that it could be recognized without the use of the micro- 
scope, usually requiring quite high powers. Of course none of these 
