54 PU0CEED1XG8 OF THE 



importance ; for the Congress made the wise provision of appoint- 

 ing for each group of Cryptogams a special Committee, whose 

 duty it is to prepare and consider hsts of ^ nomhm conservanda^ to 

 be suhmitted to the next Congress (London, lUJS). This should 

 put the nomenclature of the various groups upon a satisfactory 

 and stahle hagis, and will give an opportunity for eliminating 

 undesirable factors, as, for example, the name JumjeniHinniu, 

 \\ iiich in Linnieus's ' Species Planlarum ' represents, not a genus, 

 but a whole family of heterogeneous genera. JuiKjermannia can 

 be discarded, just as Lichen, as a genus-name, has been long 

 discarded by universal consent. 



A word now as to the Ferns and Fern-allies. These, as decided 

 at the Vienna Congress (19U5), start from Linnaeus's ' .Species 

 Plantarum.' An attempt was made at the recent Brussels 

 Congress to establish a list of ' nomina conservanda ' for some 

 twelve genera of ferns which otherwise will pass out of use : 

 the most interesting of these are Kephrodium and Selajjlnella. 

 The proposal was, however, rejected by a strong opposition on the 

 plea of practical convenience ; for a complete and appropriate 

 scheme of fern-nomenclature has been carefully elaborated by 

 Christensen in his 'Index Filicum ' (1905-6), a book that is 

 evervw here accepted and is in full accord with the laws of priority. 

 Let it be the standard, and there will be no more wrangling over 

 fern-names. It should be added, however, that the Congress 

 decided to maintain the name Selaginella in place of Stachij- 

 (/i/nandrum and other earlier synonyms. Further, it is interesting 

 to note about Nephrodlum, that upon its acceptance or rejection 

 depeiided the fate of some 800 species. These have now been 

 transferred by Christensen and others \o Drijopteris,^ genus which 

 however does not deserve its position. For recently it has been 

 pointed out by Niewland in the ' American Midland Naturalist ' 

 that Schmidel in his ' Icones Plantarum ' employed the name 

 Thdifpteris for the same group of ferns a year before Adanson 

 proposed Dryopieris, and that Schmidel has given in illustration 

 an unmistakable figure of the Marsh-fern (Xejjhrodium TheUjpteris). 

 It would appear, then, that the 800 species will now have to be 

 transferred to Thelypttris, unless Dnjopteris should be put among 

 the ' genera conservanda.' 



Mr. A. D. Cotton then explained that the following dates were 

 adopted as the starting-points for the nomenclature of the Cellular 

 Cryptogams : — 



Alg^. 



Linnjeus, Species Plantarum, 1753 ; with the following excep- 

 tions : — 



Desmidiacea?. Ealfs, British Desmidiacea?, 1848. 

 Oedogoniacea;. llirn, Monographic der Oedogoniaceen, 

 1900. 



