ioo ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



of A. minus, var. purpurascens, Blytt What the A. pubens, 

 Bab. (which represents Lange's intermedium in " Brit. Mus. 

 List"; see " Journ. Bot.," 1907, p. 439), is, has yet to be 

 ascertained. Mr. Beeby doubts if we have any fourth species 

 to represent it in Britain. 



Genus 337. Cirsiuin [Tourn.], Hill, 1756; Scop., 1760. 

 In the first edition of the "Species Plantarum," the genus 

 Cnicus was given on p. 826 in a footnote, which is unindexed, 

 and included C. benedictus as well as species of Carduus 

 and Cirsiuin. The genus Cnicus, L., is usually on the Con- 

 tinent used to designate benedictus ; and Tournefort's genus 

 Cirsiuin, revived by Hill in 1756 and Scopoli in 1760, 

 which Linnaeus had wantonly ignored, is now in general 

 use, with the exception of Bentham and Hooker and British 

 botanists, for the plume thistles. In fact, the Vienna rules 

 say Carbenia, Adans. (Fain. ii. (1763), 116), must be 

 replaced by Cnicus, Gsertn. (" Fruct." ii. 1791, 385) [but why 

 not Cnicus, L., " Sp. PI." 1753, sens. ampl. ?] ; and in a foot- 

 note they add : " Cnicus, L., ' Sp. PI.' (1753), 826, amplectitur 

 et Cnicuni, Gaertneri, et Cirsium, Adans., Em. DC. Genere 

 Gaertneriano recepto genus homonymum Linnaeanum in- 

 terdum pro nomine usitato ' Cirsium ' adhibitum (cf. Benth. 

 and Hook, f., Gen. ii. 1873, 4^8) rejiciendum est ; itaque 

 valet Cirsium, Adans." As I have said, both the " Lond. 

 Cat." and " Brit. Mus. List " profess to follow the Vienna 

 rules, but in this instance have not done so. The Law of 

 Priority seems to be best carried out in using Cirsium for 

 our Plume Thistles, as is done by Mr. F. N. Williams, and 

 in my List. 



Genus 340. Silybum is quoted in both " Brit. Mus. List" 

 and " Catalogue " as of Vaillant ; but that author is pre- 

 Linnean. Adanson revived it in 1763 after Hill had 

 established Mariana. 



1702. Azalea procumbcns, L., is retained by Mr. 

 Britten because he " does not understand the Vienna rules, 

 which conserve Loiseleuria, to mean that Linnaeus' genus 

 Azalea must disappear, which it would do if A. procumbens 

 were not retained." This seems something like special 

 pleading. When Bentham and Hooker united Sinapis with 

 Brassica, the Linnean genus Sinapis disappeared, and the 



