396 Benedict: Revision of the genus Vittaria 



United States. Only the latest editions are of any general interest 

 or use. 



For incontrovertible evidence, however, that Necker used 

 later texts than the 1753 Species Plantarum, I am able to cite two 

 distinct references which I owe to Dr. P. A. Rydberg and which 

 definitely identify the Linnaean work to which Necker is referring 

 as the fourteenth edition of the Systema Naturae, the work of 

 John Murray and not of Linnaeus. These references are Necker, 

 Elementa Botanica 2: 94, and 3: 12. 



The other of Dr. Greene's misconceptions has to do with the 

 wording of Necker's original description of Oetosis, which is as 

 follows : 



1726. Char. Diagn. Lineae, parallelae, ad periphaeriam fron- 

 dium, in aversa pagina. 

 Frondes simplices. 

 Char. Pec. Frnctific. lineae parallelae, ad periphaeriam 



in aversa pagina frondium sitae. 

 Globuli, coacervati; singuli, annulo elastico cinguntur. 

 Besimina in globulis inclusa, exigua, fertilia. 

 Individua nentra in hac specie, stipitata. 

 Frondes simplices. Quaed. Pterid. Linn. 



In the first place, it seems to me a priori improbable that 

 Necker could have intended this description to apply to only a 

 single Linnaean species of Pteris. "Quaed." is of uncertain 

 number as far as its form is concerned, but I believe in this case 

 it is certainly plural. A general examination of Necker's text 

 will show that the generic names used are either Linnaean names 

 or else they are new; that is, apparently he has either retained 

 the Linnaean genera exactly, or he has divided them, retaining the 

 old name for part of the species and proposing a^ new name for 

 the others. Often in such a case, it is evident that Necker's new 

 genus corresponds exactly to some species-group recognized by Lin- 

 naeus. The present case furnishes a good illustration of this point. 



The genus Pteris as delimited in the first edition of Species 

 Plantarum (and later texts) is divided into three groups as follows: 



"Frondibus simplicissimis 



"Frondibus simpliciter pinnatis 



"Frondibus sub-compositae" 



