LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LOKDOX. 53 



Tliough interested in the welfare of the Cryptogams as a whole, 

 I was specially interested in the nomenclature of the Algfe, Mosses, 

 Hepatics, and Ferns. The points to be settled by tlie Congress 

 were these : — Whether the noniencLature of the Cellnlnr Crypto- 

 gams would start from Liniiajus's ' Species Plantarum,' Edition I. 

 (1753), thus bricging them into line with tlie Vascular Plants, 

 which occupied the attention of the Vienna Congress in 1905 ; or 

 whetlier the various groups of Cryptogams should have separate 

 starting-points of later date. In the event it was decided that 

 some of the groups should date from Linnteus's ' Species Plant- 

 arum ' (1753), viz. : — Myxomycetes, Licheues, ITepatica-, Sphng- 

 nacete, and the main group of tlie Alga?. On the other hand, the 

 Pungi are to start partly from Pries's ' Systema Mycologicum ' 

 (1821-32), and partly "from Persoon's 'Synopsis Pungorum ' 

 (1801). The remainder of the Algce, broken up into small groups, 

 are to start from various dates, and some are left over for con- 

 sideration at the next Congress (London, 1915). The Mosses 

 (Musci veri) are to date from Hedwig's ' Species Muscorum ' 

 (1801). 



The reason for selecting works of post-Linnean date as starting- 

 points for some of the groups of Cryptogams is that there is 

 considerable doubt as to what plants Linnaeus meant by the names 

 and descriptions in his ' Species Plantarum.' It sometimes happens, 

 for instance, that his description represents one species, while the 

 plate cited figures another species, and the specimen found in his 

 herbarium is a third and different species. 



It was to avoid basing the Mosses upon such uncertain types 

 that the proposal was made to select Hedwig's ' Species Mus- 

 corum ' (1801) as starting-point for the Musci veri. Por Hedwig 

 was the first to discern generic values and relationships among 

 the Mosses, and to investigate and figure their morphology with 

 a microscope (a primitive one though it was). His ' Species 

 Muscorum ' is an epitome of his previous works ; and his type- 

 specimens are still in existence. 



Similarly, it would have been v^ell to make the Hepaticse and 

 Lichenes start, not from Linna^us's 'Species Plantarum ' (1753), 

 where, indeed, they are included under the Algte, but from the 

 works of some post-Linnean specialists. For instance. Sir 

 William J.Hooker's 'British Jungermannise ' (1812-16) is the 

 real starting-point of hepaticology, and only fails to qualify through 

 not treating of the Marchantiacea), Ricciacea?, Anthocerotaceao. 

 And for the Lichenes the book that suggests itself is Acharius's 

 ' Lichenographia Universalis ' (1810). The types of these two 

 authors are either in existence or for the most part are compre- 

 hensible. But in the absence of any definite proposal, the 

 Congress could hardly do otherwise than leave the Hepaticae and 

 Lichenes on the Linnean starting-line. In the case of the Alga), 

 the proposals for giving the main group a less antiquated starting- 

 point were defeated. 



However, the actual starting-point may perhaps not be of vital 



