44 MERRILL: SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF THE "RAIN TREE 



n 



Mr. Stuntz would regard the first species as the type of the 

 genus, as it is the only one of the three enumerated that can be 

 connected with a previously published binomial, Inga cyclocarpa 

 Willd. This selection of the type would be most unfortunate 

 as Inga cyclocarpa Willd. ( = Pithecolobium cyclocarpum Mart.) 

 is an Enterolobium, so that the species now placed in Entero- 

 lobium would have to be transferred to Pithecolobium, while the 

 more numerous ones now placed in Pithecolobium would need a 

 new generic name. Zygia as published by Boehmer 5 would thus 

 become the generic name for our Pithecolobium species, a name 

 much older than the latter, although Pithecolobium is retained 

 in the supplementary list of nomina conservanda adopted by the 

 Brussels Botanical Congress. 6 



By absolutely strict rules of priority Inga cyclocarpa Willd. is 

 undoubtedly the type of the genus Pithecolobium, and Martius un- 

 doubtedly derived his generic name Pithecellobium from the fruit 

 characters of this species; yet it seems possible to save the name 

 in its currently accepted sense by the selection, somewhat arbi- 

 trarily if necessary, of another species as the type. In the original 

 publication the species are alphabetically arranged. There are 

 no descriptions. The first species has a definite reference to 

 Inga cyclocarpa Willd. ; the second is a nomen nudum, apparently 

 never further considered; while the third is manifestly a transfer 

 of Mimosa unguis cati *L. ( = Inga unguis cati Willd.), although 

 no synonym is hinted at other than in the general statement, 

 following the generic name: "Inga Auct." The selection of this 

 species as the type of the genus Pithecolobium, or Pithecellobium 

 as originally published, will save the name in its currently 

 accepted sense. 



Again it is worth while to examine the original description of the 

 genus as given by Martius. 7 It includes " Pithecolobium" and 

 "Enterolobium" characters, but the Pithecolobium fruit character 

 "legumen .... tortum" appears before the Enterolobium 

 character "aut pluries cochleatum." The first species described 

 is a true Pithecolobium, P. tortum Mart., the description of which 



5 Ludwig, Defin. Gen. PI. 72. 1760. 



6 Act. Congr. Int. Bot. Brux. 1: 114. 1910. 



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



