266 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



knowledge of the time ; they were only dealing with the same vege- 

 tation i. B}"- the Komans, in fact, the term Fucus wsui used in its 

 primary sense for the Boccella-lichen, as shown by the numerous 

 derivatives in the sense of dyeing, painting, and rouging; further 

 references to sea- vegetation remained dormant for many centuries, 

 until the Renaissance had brought a veneration for the old Greek 

 texts of Theoplirastus and Dioscorides. The first new references are 

 those of Imperato (Naples, 1599), who in his general 'Natural 

 History' mentions many Mediterranean Sea-weeds, as well as the 

 Fucus marinns {Roccella^, Tamarisk- and Myrica-Wkfd Cystoseiras. 

 Fio-ures are given for the ' Palma Marina ' (Floridean) of Theo- 

 phrastus, 'Abies Marina' (a Oystoseira), and even the ' Fuco 

 giganfeo,'' a mythical figure of an oceanic Laminaria digitata, too 

 good to be lost, from, sailors' tales 2. 



First among the Botanical Herbalists, Lobelttjs^ (Antwerp, 

 1576) correctly interpreted Theophrastus : The ' Quercus Marinus ' 

 is figured recognizably as a Cgstoseira (an Ahrofanum maris), and 

 his woodcuts include Sargassums {Lenticula) of the Adriatic and 

 Tyrrhenian Seas ! as well as the Fucus Fliiiianus, identified as 

 Vraick of the sea-coast, and the Lichen (Hocella) of Crete. (The 

 use of the word Fucus for the Boccella-lichen persisted until the time 

 of Ray, 1686.) 



The first really new step was made by Dodon^us in his Stirpmm 

 Hisforice, published after his death (Antwerp, 1616*). In recording 

 Viva, Fosiclonia, and the Fucus of Theophrastus, he mentions that 

 there were some other species as well, and figures very creditably 

 four forms from the Dutch coast : (1) Fucus vesiculosus, (2) Himan- 

 thalia, (3) Ascophyllum, (4) Halidrys. The first of these is rather 

 ingeniously read into Theophrastus' account of the Sea-Oak (cf. 

 Cystoseira ericoides), and other types are referred to the genus 

 Fucus, since had not Theophrastus said that there were others beyond 

 the Pillars of Hercules ! and from this time Fucus primus (F. vesi- 

 culosus) holds its own as No. I. Fucus, or the ' Quercus marina,' 

 as the type for all sea-weeds ; and the systematist's custom of begin- 

 ning the list of sea- weeds with the Fucaceae may be said to sm'vive 

 until the Sylloge Algarum of De Toni (1895). 



II. Early Systematists (Bauhin, 1620, to Dillexitjs, 1724). 



Advance beyond this stage was but slow. A few types of plants 

 were isolated, and rather casually named, as by Caspar Bauhin '' 

 (Basle, 1620) who received plants from the beach at Aberdeen ; and 



1 Dioscorides (circa 77 a.d.), Lib. 4, cap. 99. Pliny (died a.d. 79), Lib. 13, 

 cap. 25 (vel 48). 



^ Imperato (Naples, 1599), BelV Historia Naturale, pp. 740, 743. 



•* Lobelius (1576), Stirpium Historia, pp. 652, 653. 



•* Dodoens (1616), Stirpium HistoHae Pernptades, p. 479. 



5 C. Bauhin, Pinax (Basle, 1623), pp. 363, 365. UpoSpofios (Basle, 1671), 

 p. 154 (no figure); cf. Pinax, 'Fuel arboribus, fructibus, vel etiam herbis 

 assiinilati.' 



