22 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



loxylon. Niittall published the species as Madura aurantiaca 

 in 1818 (Gen. II. 233,) to which Rafinesque objected in 1819 

 (Jour, de Phys. 260,) and this time spelled it Joxylon. The 

 whole matter then remained in a1)eyance until 1830, when 

 Rafinesque published in his "Medical Flora" (II, 268-69) a 

 descriptive paragraph in his well-known harum-scarum style, 

 in which he calls the species Toxylon aiirantiacuui, thus taking 

 up Nuttall's specific name, but with no explanation of the 

 clianged spelling of the generic member. Finally, in his 

 "New Flora," (III, 42) which did not appear till 1836, he 

 writes as follows : "Toxylon Raf . 1817 in AIus. Nat. Sc. mis- 

 printed loxylon (an I for a Tj. Corrected in Medical Flora 

 vol. ii page 268" ; and after a page or so of rambling des- 

 cription he goes on to say : "My name means Bow-wood 

 (loxilon would have meant arrow wood) — I made two over- 

 sights in my first account of this valuable tree in 1817, calling 

 the leaves serrate and wood used for arrows." This time he 

 calls it Toxylon nmclura and cites T pouiifcntiii Raf. 1817 as 

 a synonym — which would of course not constitute valid pul)li- 

 cation for the latter binomial even had he meant to give it 

 this name in the first place. As a matter of fact, the combin- 

 ation Toxylon poi}ufcntni was given valid publication for the 

 first time by Sargent in his Silva. \'ll. 89 (1895.) 



It seems clear from these citations from the New Flora, 

 that Rafinesque finally became dissatisfied with his original 

 name, because it was based on a misconception of the use of 

 the wood and after thirteen years of more or less watchful 

 waiting, decided to change it to one more appropriate. Had he 

 simply been trying to correct a printer's error, this change might 

 have been accepted as legitimate; but bolh ihe Codes are very 

 explicit in regard to changes for any other reason. The In- 

 ternational Code (Art. 57) reads: "The original spelling of 

 a name must be retained, except in case of a typographic or 



