64 A POINT IN BOTANICAL NOMENCLATURE. 



in MS. This is because, as has been said by M. DeCandoUe and 

 other writers, the mention of the authority after a name is not an 

 homage paid to the author, but simply a reference from which we 

 may ascertain by whom it was pubhshed/'' Professor Asa Gray, 

 commenting upon this law, urged that, if a name existing only in 

 MS. or in a herbarium were published, it must take as its authority 

 the botanist who j)roposed, not the one who published it. Thus, 

 he says, as DeCandolle published the genus Leptocaulis from a 

 letter of Nuttall, we should write Leptocaulis, Nutt. in DC, not 

 Leptocaulis, DC. In reply to this, M. DeCandollet pointed out 

 that, if ** Nutt." be placed after the name, there results this incon- 

 venience — that we may search through all the published works 

 of Nuttall, even down to his smallest magazine contributions, 

 without finding any trace of Leptocaulis ; whereas, if we write LeptO' 

 caulis, DC, the name is readily found in the works of DeCandolle. 

 Moreover, Nuttall never published the name, and possibly would 

 not have done so upon further investigation. 



My purpose in writing this note is to ask whether there are 

 other reasons which explain the ignoring of the 50th law by 

 English botanists. That it is to a large extent ignored, the fol- 

 lowing citations of names published during 1881 will clearly 

 show : — 



NAME AS PUBLISHED. KAME ACCOEDING TO ART. 50. 



Cinchona Ledgeriana, Moens MSS., ex Trimen Cinchona Ledgeriana,Trimen. 



in Journ. Bot., 1881, p. 323. 



Dendrohium Treacherianum, Reich, f. MSS., ex Dcndrobium Treacherianum, 



Hook. f. in Bot. Mag., t. 6591. Hook. f. 



Diplorhyiichus, Welw. MS., ex Ficalho & Hiern Diplorhynchus, Ficalho & 



in Trans. Linu. Soc, ^nd s., ii. 22. J Hiern. 



Noronhia Broomeana, Home MSS., ex. Oliv. in Noronhia Broomeana, Oliv. 



Ic. Plant., t. 1365. 



Polygala Krumanina, Burcbell MS., ex Ficalho & Polygala Krumanina, Fi- 



Hiern in Trans. Linn. Soc. 2nd s., ii. 16. calho & Hiern. 



Poranthera alpina, Cheesm. MSS., ex Hook. f. in Poranthera alpina, Hook. f. 



Ic. Plant., t. 1366. 



Reimaria oligostachya, Munro MSS., ex Benth. Reimariaoligostachya,Benth. 



in Journ. Linn. Soc, xix. 31. 



Veronica Cheesemani, Benth. MSS., ex Hook. f. Veronica Cheesemani, Hook. f. 



in Ic. Plant., t. 1366. 



Many other examples might be adduced ; but these are sufficient 

 for my purpose. Some of them are especially misleading — Polygala 

 Krumanina, for example, the date of which is 1881, while Burchell, 

 its reputed author, died in 1863. That the practice laid down by 

 the laws has some inconveniences cannot be denied. If carried 

 out, the numerous species which have the name of Eobert Brown 

 attached to them, on the authority of ' Hortus Kewensis,' will 



* See Journ. Bot., 1877, pp. 189 and 282; also Joura. Bot., 1881, p. 76. 

 + Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xvi. 77. 



♦ With regard to this genus, a further complication arises. One species, 

 D. vwssambicensis, Benth. (Ic. Plant, t. 1355), was published in October last; 

 but the genus is not there defined, nor are its essential characters indicated, 

 and the genus itself was not published in a regular manner until December. 



