PLANTS COLLECTED IN BAHAMAS, ETC. 53 



so established will doubtless be accepted if they have sub- 

 sequently been taken up and sufficiently characterized be- 

 fore another name was given them. The critical point is 

 whether one is justified in restoring a genus established as 

 in the above examples, and discarding a later well known 

 name. Ichthyomethia, P. Br. is accepted by Sargent 

 (Gard. & For. Oct. 7, 1891) and Britten (Jour. Bot. xxix, 

 No. 347, p. 352). 



It would seem that the original generic or sectional name 

 should be as permanent as the original specific or varietal 

 name. In 1825 (Prod, ii; Mem. Leg. vi) De Candolle 

 described under the genus Clitovia the section Centrosema. 

 In 1826 Desvaux (Ann. Sci. Nat. ix) described a genus which 

 corresponded to this section, giving the name Criiminium. 

 Subsequently the section Centrosema was raised to a genus 

 (Benth. Ann. Mus. Wien. ii, 1838). The logical applica- 

 tion of the law of priority as marked out in the case of 

 species would require that Centrosema should be used in- 

 stead of Criiminium as is done by Dr. Britton (Bull. Torr. 

 Club, Oct. 1891). 



It is probablv the general opinion that though the name 

 of a genus of plants may be the same as that of a genus 

 of animals, a generic name among phanerogams should not 

 be identical with one among cryptogams. In this case 

 Setaria, Ach. may have priority over Setaria, P. Beauv. 

 (conf . note in catalogue). It is also thought by some that 

 a name identical with an earlier one which has passed into 

 synonymy should be discarded. This seems unnecessary 

 so long as the earlier name is a synonym, yet the rule is 

 a good one and may be adopted. 



As to the method of quoting authorities of binomials, 

 there seems to be no settled opinion among the new school 

 botanists. Some would quote only the author of the orig- 

 inal specific name, some only the author of the accepted 

 combination, while others would quote both, in which latter 

 case the author of the specific name is placed in parenthesis. 

 Thus when Malva rosea, DC. Prod, i, is transferred to Mai- 



