MERRILL: SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF THE "RAIN TREE" 43 



colobium by Bentham I am confident that the Malayan Pithe- 

 colobium moniliferum Benth. should be removed as the type of a 

 distinct genus, Cathormion, as Hasskarl 1 has already proposed. 

 In transferring this species from Inga to Pithecolobium Bentham 

 inadvertently transcribed the specific name moniliformis as 

 moniliferum, in which he was followed by Hasskarl. The correct 

 specific name and synonymy are as follows: 



Cathormion Hassk. 

 Cathormion moniliforme (Hassk.) Merrill. 

 Inga moniliformis DC. Prodr. 2: 440. 1825. 

 Pithecolobium moniliferum Benth. in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. 3: 211. 



1844. 

 Inga monilifera DC. ex Benth. loc. cit. in syn. 



Cathormion moniliferum Hassk. Nat. Tijdschr. Ned. Ind. 10:231. 

 1856. 



The type of this species was from the Island of Timor, and the 

 plant is cultivated in the Botanical Garden at Buitenzorg, 

 Java. 



Aside from the question of the generic limits of Pithecolobium, 

 however, the application and validity of the name itself warrant 

 some consideration. Mr. S. C. Stuntz, of the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture, has called my attention to the fact 

 that Pithecolobium was originally published by Martius 2 as 

 Pithecellobium , the name being correctly derived from ttW^kos 

 (monkey) and eWofiiov (earring), so that there was no need 

 to change the spelling to Pithecollobium, as Martius 3 did in 1837, 

 nor to Pithecolobium, as Bentham 4 did in 1844, the latter making 

 the derivation of the latter part of the name from the Greek 

 Xo/36s, the lobe or lower part of the ear. 



The original publication is as follows: 



Pithecellobium Mart. (IngaAuct). Affenohrring XXIII. 1. 

 cyclocarpum Mart. (Ing. W.) 



Caracas. I? C. 

 inundatum Mart. Bras, h C. 

 Unguis Cati Mart. Bras. I? C. 



1 Nat. Tijdschr. Ned. Ind. 10: 231. 1856. 



2 Hort. Reg. Monac. 188. 1829. 



3 Flora, 20 2 : Beibl. 114. 1837. 



4 Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. 3: 195. 1844. 



