president's address. 701 



of superfluous ones. That eminent European botanists revive 

 nomina ntida when it suits their convenience the followingf 



o 



example will show. I think Mr. Salmon's action is quite justifi- 

 able, for he shows that Sullivan and Lequesne's and Brotherus 

 names are identical, which some students may be glad enough 

 to know. 



" In the Kew Herbarium there is a moss labelled ' Papillaria 

 torticuspis, Broth., no v. spec. Birmah. comm. L. Linden; received 

 December, 1893.' This name has not, so far as I can find, been 

 published. The moss is typical A. Toccooi.^''*' .... 



We Australian botanists often pursue our work with difficulty 

 because the types of so many of our plants are in Europe, and 

 some of the descriptions are not available in Australian libraries. 

 This causes us sometimes, perhaps, to quote nomina nuda in 

 ignorance, and European writers can sometimes set us right on 

 questions of nomenclature if they are so disposed. Any short- 

 comings of this character may be looked upon quite leniently, if 

 Only because, on our part, we are frequently able to correct the 

 descriptions and notes of non- Australian workers on Australian 

 plants, who are usually unfamiliar with some points in regard to 

 the plants described by them. 



6. — Uniformity of Names of Botanical Authors. 



Alphonse De Candollef wrote a letter to B. Daydon Jackson on 

 the orthography of the names of botanical authors, which is 

 worthy of close attention. He points out that " Quelques 

 botanistes ont ajoute a leur nom un autre nom, de fantaisie, par 

 exemple : — 



Brisseau s'est affuble du nom de Mirbel 

 Proveniat ,, ,, St. Hilaire 



Palisot ,, „ de Beauvois 



Nees ,, ,, d'Esenbeck," 



which should be " Mirbel voyez Brisseau," and so on. 



* ' Bryological Notes on Anojiiodon Toccoce, Sulliv. & Lesq.' By Ernest S. 

 Salmon. Journ. Bot. Aug. 1902, p. 273. 



t Journ, Bot. xviii. 217. 

 46 





