BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS 57 



p. 103] is quite arbitrary, and that the original specific name under 

 this genus holds good ; though Sterneck, under Alectorolophus, was 

 free to choose." I am afraid my friend must have penned this in 

 a furry and without carefully reading Sterneck's Monograph, p. 109. 

 Af- I said, when Sterneck was monographing the genus, which I 

 think he wrongly called Alectorolophus, and had to decide upon 

 the specific name for the above plant, he deliberately rejected the 

 specific name under Rhinanthus Perrieri, " since," he says, " Chabert 

 founded it upon a character common to several if not all the members 

 of the genus Rhinanthus." 



The Vienna Actes (art. 26, sect. xiv. b) say, "avoid names 

 which express a character common to all or nearly all the species of 

 a genus." Surely, then, if such a name as Carex triangularis is 

 inadmissible because it is founded on a character common to most 

 Sedges, the establishment of a species of Rhinanthus upon a 

 character of the corolla which is possessed by many if not all 

 Rhinanthi is equally prohibited. Chabert himself established 

 Rhinanthus minor, var. rusticulus, and this had characters which 

 Sterneck thought sufficiently marked to be worth specific rank. It 

 is true in synonymy Sterneck quotes Rhinanthus Perrieri under A. 

 rusticulus, but he carefully explains why he does not use that name 

 for his species. Moreover, Rouy and Foucaud ("Fl. de Fr.") keep 

 them separate. Mr. Marshall says, " Sterneck had a right to 

 choose " the name he might adopt for a plant when removing it from 

 Rhinanthus to Alectorolophus. But the Vienna Actes expressly say 

 (art. 48) "the first specific epithet must be retained," if this is 

 removed from one genus to another, assuming there is no similar 

 name extant. 



I have recently shown ("Journ. Bot." p. 78, 1910) that botanists 

 are correct in retaining the well-known generic name Rhinanthus 

 for the Yellow Rattles. This was founded by Linnseus in the 

 " Species Plantarum," in 1753, was clearly described by Hill (" British 

 Herbal," 1756), and strictly limited by Hudson ("Flora Anglica," 

 1762), thus distinctly antedating Haller ("Stirpes Helv." p. 137, 

 1768), who revived Alectorolophus, which had been, unjustly, it is 

 true, ignored by Linnaeus. G. CLARIDGE DRUCE. 



Pheeotharanion eonfervieolum, Lagerh. New to Britain. 



Among some Algae collected from the Elf Loch on the Braid 

 Hills, Edinburgh, in August 1910, I found some specimens of a 

 brown algae growing on Lemna minor and other aquatic phanero- 

 gams. After examination I concluded that this must be Phceotham- 

 nion eonfervieolum^ Lagerh., first found and described by G. Lagerheim 

 in " Bihang till K. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handlingar," Bd. 9, No. 19, in 

 1884, and again in Hansgirg's " Prodromus der Algenflora von 

 Boehmen," 1886, and in De Toni's " Sylloge Algarum," vol. 3 

 ('Fuco-idea3'), 1895. 



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