PRIORITY OF KELLOGG's GENUS MARAH. 523 



in San Francisco; the columns were afterward re-arranged, 

 with but little regard for uniformity and size into double- 

 column pages approximating to octavo, and printed four 

 pages to a signature." 



The exact date of issue of these folio sheets cannot now 

 be determined, but it was certainly in each case less than a 

 month after the meeting reported. The limited font of a 

 weekly paper of that time would not admit of the withdrawal 

 of much type locked up in galleys. Most of the earh^ folios 

 bear the signature date, which is at any rate approximately 

 correct. 



Scattered through the minutes of this Society in 1854-1855 

 are brief notes recording the issue of these signatures, and 

 OQ February 5, 1885, a letter was received from the Imperial 

 Academy of Sciences at Berlin acknowledging the receipt 

 of the first, so that it is probable that the large societies 

 of Europe are better informed concerning this question 

 of priority than our friends at home. 



A full list of the plants described by Dr. Kellogg with 

 their dates and media of publication is to be found in Bull. 

 Cal. Acad., Vol. I, 128. In that paper it was taken for 

 granted that the date of publication of the volumes of our 

 Proceedings was sufficiently well known. This would seem 

 from Mr, Watson's paper to have been, at least in his case, 

 a mistake. 



As to the statement that Dr. Kellogg gave up his genus 

 Marah when he published Echinocystis muricatus, the fact of 

 his using the same specific name for the second plant is 

 conclusive evidence that he considered them generically 

 distinct, and if further proof were needed it is furnished 

 by his publication of Marah minima four years later. This 

 is, however, a matter of small consequence, as the prevail- 

 ing opinion of biologists seems to be that over a name once 

 published the author has no more rights than any other 

 person. 



