132 BOTANICON SINICUM, 
literature, as in quoting works and authors he never deems it 
necessary to give the full title, or the full names, of the authors 
whose patronymic appellation he frequently omits, giving only 
the cognomen. Thus, for instance, by #§ JE he means (8 TE 
Chang Ts‘ung cheng (an author of the Kin dynasty); by # 
he means y¢ # Wang Ki (Ming dynasty). It is known that 
every author, besides his patronymic (RE) and his cognomen 
(%), possesses also a literary appellation (##) and one or more 
pseudonyms (##). By all these names he is promiscuously de- 
signated, and their identity can only be proved by referring to 
his biography. Sometimes the name of an author is ambiguous. 
KW Ta Ming is an author’s name as well as that of the Great Ming 
dynasty. He Zang and 5 Sung are patronymic denominations 
as well as names applied to Chinese dynasties. Thus the authors’ 
names FF tk {if Z*ang Shen wei and RE ft Sung Wang wei 
may either refer to Shen wei, an author of the T‘ang dynasty, or 
to Wang wei, an author of the Sung.—There were two Sung 
dynasties in China; one in the 5th century, the other from the 
10th to the 13th century. There was also a state called Sung in 
China 500 or 600 years B.C. The Chinese, when indicating the 
time of an author, are accustomed to give the name of the dynasty, 
but in the case of the character Sun g we are often left in doubt 
what time is meant.—It sometimes occurs also that authors of 
different dates bear the same name. There was a celebrated 
author Ji] 3 Chou Mi in the 13th century. Authors of the same 
name wrote in the 4th and 10th centuries, HB aE Chang Hua 
was an author of the 3rd century. We find the same name among 
the authors of the Sun g. 
Before giving the results of my researches into Chinese literature, 
I may be allowed to notice briefly the general works from which 
information has been derived in order to ascertain the date of 
publication and other particulars regarding works and authors 
frequently quoted in Chinese writings on Natural History and 
Medicine. 
Li Shi chen, in the first chapter of his Pen ts‘ao kang mu, puts 
at the head of his work a list of nearly 1000 works and authors 
from which he made extracts for the compilation of his Materia — 
