20 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



1888, and he has since seen numerous specimens from Oxfordshire, 

 Buckinghamshire, W. Kent, and Norfolk. Mr. Tufuail says he has 

 found it rather plentiful near Lowestoft, in Suffolk, and that he 

 has seen specimens from Lincolnshire. It will prohably prove to 

 be not uncommon, now that its characters have been pointed out. 

 Mr. Druce has had the plant under observation for seven years, 

 and finds that it comes true from seed. 



BIBLIOGEAPHICAL NOTES. 

 XIV. — SwARTz's ' Prodromus Descriptionum Vegetabilium.' 



An interesting relation exists between the book which is the 

 subject of this note and the herbarium in the Department of Botany 

 of the British Museum. As this relation may not be generally 

 known, and as it also explains certain citations which would other- 

 wise be hard to understand, it may be worth while putting it on 

 record. The title-page of the work reads as follows: — "Nova 

 genera et species plantarum seu Prodromus descriptionum vegeta- 

 bilium, maximam partem incognitorum qute sub itinere in Indiam 

 occidentalem annis 1783-87 digessit Olof Swartz M.D." The book 

 was published at Stockholm, Upsala and Abo, in 1788. It must 

 not be inferred from the title that Swartz was in the West Indies 

 till 1787. He himself says in his Preface, "Angliam repetebam 

 Anno 1786," and goes on to refer to the great kindness he received, 

 during his stay in London, from Sir Joseph Banks, " qui nee ipse 

 suam mihi denegabat benevolentiam, quin suis me consiliis, sua 

 inspectione juvare dignaretur." In Banks's collections he found a 

 number of plants which had previously been brought to England, 

 " ibique statim a def. Doct. Solandro descripta, et eorum exempla 

 in Museum illata." Among these plants, Swartz goes on to say, 

 he found one or two new genera, which he has indicated by an 

 asterisk in his own list. One of these, Hepetis, runs the genus 

 Pitcairnia of L'Heritier very close indeed, and it seems an open 

 question as to which has priority. 



Pitcairnia was published in the Scrtum AngJicum, which, like 

 Svvartz's Prodromus, bears the date 1788 on the title-page. 

 L'Heritier's preface is dated from Paris, April 20th, 1788. In 

 view of this proximity of dates, it is interesting to note the 

 opinion of writers more or less contemporary. Schreber [Gen. 

 PI. no. 1741) in 1791 keeps up Hepetis, and cites Pitcairnia as 

 a synonym on the authority of Swartz himself. But in the 

 Flora Ind. Occid. (i. 578), published in 1797, we find Swartz 

 preferring Pitcairnia and reducing his own genus Hepetis, and 

 this practice has been generally folloAved, though remarks by 

 certain writers lead one to suspect that priority may not have 

 been the reason. Thus Redoute [Liliacces, vol. ii., before tab. 78) 

 says: — " Ce genre a ete dedie par L'Heritier h un Anglais (Wil- 

 liams Pitcairn), amateur de la Botanique, et dans le jardin 



