208 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



and Nachtr. zu iv. Ab. 5, 325 (1897) — revised by referring Phare- 

 tranthus Klatt to Fetrobium R. Br. While the name Petrohium R, 

 Br. must, according to the International Rules of Nomenclature, give 

 way to the earlier and adequately published name of Laxmannia Forst. 

 & Forst. f , the identity of Pliaretranthus, supposedly of the Philippine 

 Islands, with this peculiar monotypic genus, of the island of St. Helena, 

 presents a taxonomic and geographic problem which seems never to 

 have been discussed. Such an identity is certainly improbable on 

 phytogeographic grounds, especially in the case of a species wholly 

 unknown from intermediate localities. Dr. Klatt's type of his Phare- 

 tranthus ferrugineus is preserved in the Gray Herbarium, and in fact 

 appears to be identical with Lawmannia Forst. & Forst. f , the " White- 

 wood Cabbage-tree " of St. Helena. Examination of accessible works 

 on the Philippine flora, including Mr. Elmer's recent enumeration of 

 the Compositae of the Philippine Islands, fails to show any record of 

 the species in question. Under these circumstances it seems highly 

 probable that there was some confusion of labels or other slip or error 

 in attributing the plant of Cuming to the Philippine Archipelago. In 

 this connection it is to be noted with interest that on his return voy- 

 age Hugh Cuming stopped at St. Helena, where it is more than likely 

 that he obtained the material upon which Dr. Klatt later founded his 

 genus Pharetranthus. At all events such an origin would appear to 

 be a permissible assumption or at least a justifiable working hypothesis 

 until the plant can be re-discovered in the Philippine Islands if this 

 ever happens. The synonymy of the species in question is as follows : 



Laxmannia arborea Forst. & Forst. f Char. Gen. 94, t. 47 (1776). 

 Spilatitkes arborea (Forst. & Forst. f.) Forst. f. Com. Hort. Goett. ix. 67 

 (1787). Spilanthes tetrandra Roxb. in Beatson's Tracts, 301 (1816), 

 which was the sterile plant, and Bidens arborea Roxb. 1. c. (1816), 

 which was the corresponding fertile plant. Petrobium R. Br. Trans. 

 Linn. Soc. xii. 113 (1816). P. arboreum R. Br. ex DC. Prod. v. 502 

 (1836). Drimyphyllum Helenianum Burch. ex DC. 1. c (1836). Phare- 

 tranthus ferrugineus Klatt, Flora, Ixviii. 204 (1885). 



Tragoceras Schiedeanum Less. Linnaea, ix. 269 (1834). To the 

 synonomy of this species should be added Baltimora monocephala Klatt, 

 Ann. k. k. Naturh. Hofmus. Wien, ix. 360 (1894), a species founded 

 upon a specimen collected by Knechtel at Chapultepec, Mexico, and 

 now in the Gray Herbarium. The identity appears first to have been 

 noted by Dr. J. M. Greenman, but seems not to have been hitherto 

 recorded in print. 



Monactis subdeltoidea, sp. nov., fruticosa ramosa ; ramis flexuosis 

 crassiusculis subteretibus vix striato-angulatis brunnescentibus tomeu- 



