GENERAL SYSTEMATIC BACTERIOLOGY 365 



daher gegen richtige Grammatik diesen Gattungsnamen zu schreiben ; 

 Merismopedia wie Meyen (Weigmanns Archi V 67)." 



Merismopedium. A correction of the spelKng of Merismopedia 

 q.v. proposed by Caspary (187i, p. 104) and used in the new species 

 Merismopedium reitenbachii. 



Merista. Cunningham (1839, p. 47) listed Merista laevigata 

 Banks and Soland Mss. 1769 as a synonym of Myrisine Urvillei one 

 of the spermatophytes. It is regarded as a synonym of Rapanea 

 Aubl. in Engler and Prantl's PlanzenfamiHen As a bacterial generic 

 name this was used by Van Tieghem (1884, p. 1114) with the follow- 

 ing description: "Deux directions de cloisonnement. Thalle mem- 

 braneux; se dissociant en tetrades canees a mesure qu'it s'accroit." 

 Hueppe (1886, p. 144) included this type in his "Gattung Arthro- 

 Kokkaceen" as an "Untergattung." 



Prazmowski (1888, p. 235) renamed the Micrococcus ureae of Cohn, 

 Merista ureae. Apparently this is the first use of the term in a strict 

 generic sense, that is, as a binomial for bacteria. 



Billet (1890, p. 24) includes the genus in his ''Formes zoogleiques" 

 with the descriptions, "zooglee tabuahre, a elements unis 4 par 4." 

 Lehmann and Neumann (1896, p. 102) concluded that the genus should 

 be merged in Micrococcus. Vuillemin (1913, p. 525) concluded that 

 this genus has the same reason for existence as has Sarcina or Strep- 

 tococcus, and that the characteristic tetrad grouping is worthy of 

 generic recognition. He had proposed therefore that this be con- 

 stituted a " Genws conservandum" with Alerista tetragena (Micrococcus 

 tetragenus Gaffky, Gaffkya tetragena Trevisan) as the type. If Mic. 

 tetragenus is to constitute the type of a genus, it would seem that Gaffkya 

 Trevisan has priority. 



The type species evidently is Merista ureae (Cohn) Prazmowski. 



Whether the previous use of Merista for a genus of phanerogams 

 invalidates its use for bacteria is somewhat problematical. Apparently 

 Banks and Soland never published their name, it was never proposed. 

 Quotation in synonymy does not validate a name. It would seem 

 therefore that Merista Prazmowski is valid if its type requires separate 

 generic recognition. 



Merizomyria. A genus of algae ascribed to Klitzing (1843). Raben- 

 horst (1865, p. 224) hsts six species, giving the following diagnosis: 



Trichomata flagelliformia simplicia rarius pseudoramosa, arctissime vaginata, 

 basi cellula perdurante instructa, sursum moniliformia, in apicem capillarem 

 cuspidata, in muco matricali nidulantea plerumque in stratum difforme 

 coacervata. 



