128 



made up of three, including Echinacea and Hcliopsis ; Gnapha- 

 Hum, of four, taking in Aniennaria, Anaphalis and Leontopoditim ; 

 Pinus of five, embracing Abies, Picea, Tstiga and Larix ; all 

 pines, firs, spruces and hemlocks and larches being, in his eye, 

 pines. His Vacciniwn comprised also such different genera as Gay- 

 lussacia^ Oxycocciis and even Ckiogenes, and his Pyrola was not a 



Moneses 



The 



order of Cactacese before his time was allowed to consist of a 

 number of genera, and Melocactiis, Opuntia, Cereiis and Pereskia, 

 with types oi Mamillaria diXxdi Echinocactus in the bargain — all 

 six made up his new genus Cactus, which latter name, I cannot 

 but remark, has lost its place, notwithstanding its having had 

 Linnaeus for its author. Nor are these which I have given the 

 most striking evidences of his blindness regarding genera. His 

 Polemonium comprised not only all that was then known of the 

 genus Gilia^ but also a Phacelia; his Ipomcea included also a 

 Hydrophyllaceous plant, i, e., Ellisia. And, last of all which I 

 will take time and space to tell of these multitudinous Linnaean 

 confusions of genera, he combined under the name of Lo7iicera 

 (pirated from Father Plumier), the old CaprifoHttm and Xylosteiim 

 to begin with, then added Symphoricarpus and Diervilla (of the 

 same natural order), and finished, worthily of himself, by bring- 

 ing In a " Lonicera Marilandica '* {Spigelia Marilandicd) from 

 the Loganiace^ and the genus Cephaelis from the Rubiacese ; so 

 bearing away under his trophy of a name Lonicera, five or six 



4 



genera, according to the most approved authors, and represent- 

 ing three natural orders. 



I am persuaded I need not further illustrate Linnaeus' weak- 

 ness on the subject of plant genera, the greatest botanists of the 

 present century being judges. 



Diatoms of Atlantic City and Vicinity. 



By C. Henry Kain. 



There is a popular belief that it is quite useless to attempt to 

 collect diatoms in the winter, and while this is mainly true as 

 regards fresh water species, it is not so with the marine forms. 

 The only fresh water species that the writer ever collected in 

 abundance during the winter was Meridion circulare, which was 



J 



I 





