MYXOBACTERIA 



69 



(Morong and Brittoii-aiid-Brown). This necessitates the recogni- 

 tion of Wedelia as the correct genus-name for the plant called by 

 LinnoBus Alluma incarnata. Mr. Jackson cites Weddia incarnata 

 (in italics) as from "Linn. Syst. ed. x. 890 " ; this combination, 

 however, is not given by Linnaeus, and the name will stand as of 

 Jacks. Ind. Kew. ii. 122^ (1895). Two other names are given in 

 the I'inie.v under Wedelia — '^ incariiatu Linn. Syst. ed. x. 890," and 

 " malachroides Benth. Bot. Voy. Sulph, 114 " ; the former is not 

 given by Linnaeus under Wedelia, and the latter appears in the 

 Botany of the Sulphur (p. 44) as " AUionia (Wedelia) malacoides." 



If Wedelia of Loefling be retained, it is clear tliat the later Wedelia 

 Jacq. (Enum. Carib. 8 (1760 ( ) must go ; the earhest name for this 

 appears to be Niehuhria of Necker (Elem. i. 30 (1790) ), Scopoli's 

 earlier genus of that name being referred to Baltimore ; the later 

 Niehuhria of De Candolle is now usually combined with Mama. 

 The two Australian species with which I am concerned are : — 



N. BIFLORA. 



Wedelia biflora DC. apud Wight Contrib. p. 18 (1834). 

 Wollastonia bijiora DC. Prodr. v. 546 (1836). 



N. SPILANTHOIDES. 



Wedelia sjnUmthoides F. Muell. Fragm. v. 64 (1865). 



Although Niehuhria is not taken up in the Welwitsch Catalogue, 

 Mr. Hiern concurs in its adoption. 



Razumovia. 

 This genus was founded by Sprengel in 1807 (Mant. Prima, 

 1807, p. 45) for the plant subsequently known as Centranthera 

 hiDiiifusa Wall., a name retained in the Flora of British India (iv. 

 301), where, however, Sprengel's name is cited as a synonym. 

 Razumovia clearly antedates Centranthera, which was published by 

 Brown (Prodr. 438) in 1810. C. hispida Br. will therefore stand 

 as Razumovia hispida, and C. humifusa will be superseded by R. 



TRANQUEBARICA Spreng. 



MYXOBACTERIA. 



By a. Lorrain Smith. 



In 1892, Prof. Thaxter, of Harvard, published, in the Botanical 

 Gazette, xvii. p. 389, the first results of his observations on the 

 group of Schizomycetes that he has named Mycobacteria. These are 

 bacteria that live on dead or decaying organic substances. They 

 have power of slow movement, and flow together, forming col- 

 lectively bodies of very definite and distinctive shape. The author 

 distinguishes two periods in the life- history of these organisms. In 

 the first, which he terms the vegetative period, there is a slow 

 swarming of rod-like bacteria, which form a gelatinous secretion 

 that connects the different individuals together. These swarm over 

 the matrix on which they live, and, at certain definite points, they 

 flow upwards, and form the variously shaped, erect bodies that he 



