PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 689 



3. — Xo Priority for pre-Linnean Names. 



"We have made it a rule in our 'Genera Planfcarum' to yield 

 no right of priority to ante-Linnean names, i.e., those published 

 before the adoption of the Linnean system of nomenclature. If 

 we once give this right to Tournefort or Rumphius, there is no 

 reason for not going back to Bauhin or Clusius, or even to Pliny 

 or Dioscorides, to the utter confusion of all synonymy. Linnaeus, 

 by the establishment of the binomial nomenclature, made an 



epoch in the study of systematic botany.""^ 



The greater part of this paper is replete with valuable obser- 

 vations on the principles which should underlie the nomenclature 

 of plants. 



There is one book to which Australian botanists are much 

 indebted, but which, I regret to say, is to some extent marred by 

 the recognition it gives to pre-Linnean names. I allude to 

 Mueller's ' Census of Australian Plants,' and I trust that his 

 very regrettable example in this respect will not be followed. 

 Following is the list of pre-Linnean genera adopted by him, and 

 the authors' names should all be suppressed and that of Linnaeus 

 substituted, for they are allf to be found in his 'Genera' or 'Species 

 Plantarum.' 



1. L'Obel (I576)i. 



Polygonum. 

 L'Obel (L581). 

 Tribuliis, also the species terrestris. 



2. DoDONiEus (1583) or Dodoens (spelt both ways in 'Census'), 

 the former being the Latinized form. 



Amarantus. Galiwrn. 



Asperula. Vincetoxicuyn, 



* Bentham, G., 'Notes on Euphorbiaeeae,' Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. xvii. 193 

 (1879). 



t Possibly with one or two exceptions that may have slipped my search. 



X I content myself with giving the date of each work, the titles of which 

 may be obtained in Mueller's ' Census.' 



