224 General Notes. 



July 1, 1905) for an extinct relative of the musk ox is preoccupied by 

 Scophocera 1884, used by Saalmiiller for a genus of Lepidoptera (Lepid. v. 

 Madagascar, I, p. 181, May, 1884). I tlierefore propose in its stead Symbos, 

 a name suggested to me by Dr. Theo. Gill. Tlie two species of this genus 

 will therefore stand as Syinbos li/relli and Si/mhos cuvifrons. — Wilficd H. 

 Osgood. 



A NEW NAME FOR A MIDDLE AMERICAN FERN.* 



In the first fascicle of Christensen's Index Filicum (1905), Acrodiclunn 

 lomnrioides Jenman,a middle Aineiican species, is reduced to .1. (lurcum L., 

 supposed to be dispersed generally throughout the tropics. In tirst propos- 

 ing /o»urrioif?<'s, Jen man suggested that A.aureum might prove an aggre- 

 gate of several more or less closely related species ; and ai'guing from 

 analogous cases we judge this to be likely. But at present we are concerned 

 only with lomarioides, described at length by Jenman ; this and (nnrtiin he 

 held to be as distinct as "any two closely allied species in any genus." 

 Several recent writers have not held to this opinion ; but from field observ- 

 ation and the collection of adequate material we are quite convinced that 

 the two are, as Jenman has said, absolutely distinct, and we sliall try to 

 prove this conclusively in a later paper. 



Jenman's use of lonuirioidea for an American plant is, however, inval- 

 idated by the earlier application of the same name to an East Indian species, 

 by Bory. In its stead we propose, with the same type : 



Acrostichum excelsum nom. nov. 



Chrysodium lomarioides Jenman, Timehri 4 : 314. 1885. 

 vlcros?/c/(?tm/oTOar/or(/et'( Jenman, Bull. Bot. De[)t. Jamaica. II. 5:154. 1898. 

 Not Bory, Belang. Voy. Bot. 2 : 21. pL ^. 1838. 



The type of Jenman's species is from British Guiana, but the plant occurs 

 also in Jamaica, Porto Rico, Florida, Mexico, and Guatemala. — WiUi<nit It. 

 Maxon. 



A NEW NAME FOR LEWIS' WOODPECKER. 



Picus torquntus Wilson, Am. Orn. Ill, 1811 , 31, pi. xx, fig. 3, is preoccupied 

 by Picus torquatus Boddtert, Table PI. Enl. 1 783, 52, No. 863, for a South iUner- 

 ican woodpecker, Cerchneip'irns lorquatui^. Coues, Birds, N. W. 1874, 291, 

 quotes in the synonomy of Aitijndcsinus torquatus, Picus h')visii Drapiez 

 from Gray. Gray, Genera Birds, III, 1849, appendix, p. 22, writes it /Vr/t.s 

 Lewis Drap. With the assistance of Messrs. J. A. G. Rehn and Glover M. 

 Allen, I have been unable to find that Drapiez ever proposed the above 

 name, but in the Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat. XIII, 1828, 501, he gave as a ver- 

 nacular heading " Pic Lewis," that probably gave rise to Gray's combination. 

 Picus montanus Ord, Guthrie's Geography, 2iid Am. Ed., 1815, 31(3, which 

 has been quoted as a synonym of Lewis' Woodpecker, belongs to Nucifrnr/a 



*By permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



