THE GENUS DIASTELLA 29 



ciduus. Frutices, saepius procumbentes. Folia simplicia, in 

 pluribus viridia, rarissime ad apicem 3-dentata." Seven species 

 were described, viz. D. bryiflora, D. serpyllifolia, D. vacciniifolia, 

 D. imrilis, D. myrtifolia, D. ericafolia, D. humifusa. In 1810 

 (Trans. Linn. Soc. x. pp. 15-226) appeared Robert Brown's famous 

 essay on " The Proteaceae of Jussieu," but no mention is made of 

 the genus Diastella, the species composing it being regarded by- 

 Brown as belonging to Mivietes — not, however, to the original 

 Mimetes of Salisbury (Parad. Lond. sub n. 67), but to Mimetes in 

 the wider sense which Brown himself gave to it. 



If we now turn to Brown's account of Mimetes, we find that 

 he subdivided the genus into two sections : (1) Caiyitula axillaria, 

 (2) Capitula terminalia, Mimetes spuria, and I have found by a 

 comparison of Salisbury's specimens (at Kew) with Brown's types 

 at the British Museum that these two sections correspond respec- 

 tively to the genexa, Mimetes Salisb. and Diastella Knight, thus : — 



Mimetes E. Br. 



Sect. i. Capitula axillaria = Mimetes Salisb. 

 Sect. ii. Capitula terminalia. Mimetes spuria = Diastella 

 Knight. 



Sprengel (Syst. Yeg. i. 464) is the first author who mentions 

 the genus Diastella, but he merely states that Diastella bryiflora 

 Knight = Leucospermum puberum R. Br. Roemer & Schultes 

 (Syst, Veg. iii. 266) and Steudel (Nomencl. Bot.) make the same 

 statement, which by a comparison of the two herbaria proves to 

 be incorrect ; what we really find is that D. bryiflora Knight = 

 Mimetes thymelaoides R. Br. The next important work bearing 

 on our subject is Endlicher's Genera Plantarum, where the 

 author (Suppl. iv. 2, p. 78) makes Diastella Knight a section of 

 Leucospermum R. Br., but strangely enough keeps the plants to 

 which Knight applied the name Diastella under the genus Mimetes 

 R. Br. In his account of Mimetes, Endlicher subdivides the 

 genus into two sections, Eumimetes and Pseud oviimetes, which 

 correspond exactly to Brown's sections. On comparison with the 

 result already arrived at from Brown's account of Mimetes, the 

 following table becomes clear : — 



Mimetes R. Br. 



Sect. i. Eumimetes Endl. = capitula axillaria R. Br. — Mimetes 



Salisb. 

 Sect. ii. Pseudomimetes Endl. = capitula terminalia R. Br. = 



Diastella Knight. 



How Endlicher came to apply the name Diastella to a section 

 of Leucospermum I do not know. Meisner (DC. Prod. xiv. pp. 259, 

 262, 264) follows Endlicher, and adopts the same names for the 

 subdivisions of Leucospermum and Mimetes, as also does Engler 

 (Pflanzenfam. iii. i. 135, 137) ; Bentham & Hooker (Gen. PL), 

 while keeping Diastella as a synonym of Leucospermum R. Br., 

 state that some species of the former genus belong to Mimetes 

 R. Br. sect. Pseudomimetes Endl., thus : — 



