296 



BUDA V. TISSA. 



merit of Science, which are undoubtedly included in my good 

 friend's ' eccentric ' category. — N. L. Britton." 



At the risk of trying the patience of the readers of this Journal, 

 I will once more point out the exact position of the two names in 

 question. This is how Adanson prints them : — 

 " Page 271, apres Spergula, ajoutez : 



Adanson, ' Families des Plantes,' ii. 507 (1773). 



Every one is agreed that these two genera antedate Lepigonum 

 and Spergvlaria, and that they should be united : and the natural 

 course undoubtedly would have been to take up the former of them. 

 But this course did not recommeud itself to Dumortier, who was 

 the first to direct attention to Adanson's names, and who (' Flora 

 Belgica,' 110 (1827) ) deliberately adopted the latter for the com- 

 bined genus,* thus : — 



" Buda. — B. et Tissa. Adans. 



1422. rubra = Arenaria, L. I. 6-8. In pascuis sabulosis ! 



1423. mariua= Arenaria, L. I. 6-8. In humidis salsis ! 



1424. media = Arenaria, L. I. 6-8. In humidis salsis ! " 

 So matters remained until 1888, when Prof. Greene (and, as 



Dr. Britton points out, Prof. Baillon) restored Tissa, and were 

 followed by Dr. Britton (Bull. Torrey Club, xvi. 126, 1889). 



Against this restitution I protested in this Journal for 1888 

 (p. 261), and again at p. 158 of the present volume ; for when 

 pointing out that Prof. Trelease, in criticising Dr. Sereno Watson's 

 preference for Tissa, had misstated the position of the names in 

 Adanson's book, I also showed that the increased synonymy is due 

 to those who deliberately ignored Dumortier' s restoration. 



It now appears that the old-fashioned view that the law of 

 priority has reference to date of publication is to be superseded. 

 " I accepted Tissa rather than Buda," says Dr. Britton, " for the 



* In so doing he was acting in perfect accordance with the Decandollean 

 'Lois ' :—"Art. 55. Dans le cas de reunion de deux ou plusieurs groupes de 

 meme nature, le nom le plus ancien subsiste. Si les nums sont de mane date, 

 Vauteur choisit." This common-sense rule has, so far as I know, never been 

 called in question ; aud it is reprinted without comment or alteration in the 

 second edition of the ' Lois.' 



