SHORT NOTES 21 



" /?. Salicornia sempervivens [sic]. Sauv. monsp. 7. 

 Kali geniculatum majus. Bank, pin. 289." 

 In the second edition, the plant being raised to specific rank, 

 Linnaeus adds a descriptive phrase, but the synonymy is identical: 



" Salicornia caule erecto fruticoso. 



Salicornia sempervirens. Sauv. monsp. 7. 

 Kali-geniculatum majus. Bauh. pin. 289." 



Eay's Synopsis is in no way referred to in either, and the 

 Flora Anglica, which refers to Kay and by implication includes 

 his synonymy, is, as Mr. Druce points out, " ignored by Linnaeus 

 in all his subsequent writings," and thus of course is not quoted 

 in ed. 2 of the Species. 



I do not think I need enter upon the discussion of the further 

 points raised by Mr. Druce, most of which appeared in his 

 original paper, and have already been commented upon in my 

 remarks upon that. I cannot however see that it was, as he 

 seems to suggest, little short of criminal to reprint the Flora 

 Anglica, although I should deprecate, at least as much as he can 

 do, its use in creating " unnecessary changes " or combinations 

 which would "cause additional confusion." But if it is "hardly 

 likely to be quoted in systematic works," we may hope that this 

 danger is not imminent. 



James Beitten. 



SHORT NOTES. 



Specific Names and Capital Letters (Journ. Bot. 1912, 

 375). — According to the present international rules of botanical 

 nomenclature, specific names should begin with capital letters 

 only : (1) when they are old generic names, and (2) when they 

 commemorate some person. It is often difficult, without spending 

 a great deal of time in searching old volumes, to be certain whether 

 a given specific name is called after an old genus or not. Should 

 botanists write Salix Caprea, as in the first edition of Linne's Sp. 

 Plant, (p. 1020, 1753), or Salix caprea, as in the second edition 

 (p. 1448, 1763) ? Dr. Jackson, in the note cited abo.ve, has gone 

 thoroughly into the question of specific names ending in -oides, 

 all of which, in Mr. Druce's List, are spelt with initial capitals ; but 

 whilst we now know which of these trivials were once used as 

 generic names, how are we to know, in any particular case, whether 

 the name in question commemorates an old genus or is merely used 

 in a descriptive sense? It would save much time if botanists 

 decided to begin every specific name with a small letter ; and this 

 is the plan which I favour. It should be remembered that at 

 present many specific names spelt with an initial small letter are 

 substantives, as in Vicia sepium, and that the specific names 

 ending in -oides, some (but not all) of which should sometimes (but 

 not always) be spelt with an initial capital letter, are adjectives. 

 Although, at first, it would cause a slight shock to see Hieracium 

 leyi instead of Hieracium Leyi, botanists would not be long before 



