FARWELL: CORRECT NAME FOR HEMLOCK SPRUCE 623 
definite enough to fix the status of Pinus canadensis L. But let 
us go a little deeper into the question before taking up the next 
synonym. Jf we take the first synonym enumerated under a species 
as the type of that species, in case no type is specifically named, then 
Pinus canadensis L. becomes a pure synonym of Pinus balsamea 
L., for the first synonym cited under both species is the same 
Gronovian species, which is the hemlock spruce! Let us, there- 
fore, investigate the Pinus balsamea of Linnaeus, published on 
page 1002 of the 1st edition of the Species Plantarum in 1753, 
as follows: : 
Balsamea. 9. PINUS foliis solitariis subemarginatis: subtus linea 
duplici punctata. 
Abies foliis solitariis confertis obtusis membrana- 
ceis. Gron. virg. I91.* 
Abies minor, pectinatis follis, virginiana, conis 
parvis subrotundis. Pluk. alm. 2. ¢. 121. f. 1. 
Raj. dendr. 
Habitat in Virginia, Canada. ¥ 
Habitus antecedentis [Pinus Picea], sed Folia 
latiora, obtusiora, utrinque per ramos pectinatim 
digesta, at duplict serie, superiore sc. breviore, 
subtus sunt picta linea duplici glauca: singula 
ex 8 ordinibus longitudinalibus punctorum al- 
borum. Apex foliorum saepe bifidus. 
A careful inspection of the above shows that it is an aggregate 
and composed of such divergent species as the balsam firs with 
erect cones and the hemlock spruce with hanging cones. To which 
element, then, under the rules of botanical nomenclature, does 
the name Pinus balsamea L. belong? There is unfortunately no 
rule covering this point in the Vienna rules nor, so far as the writer 
is aware, in any other code. There are no generic descriptions 
in the Species Plantarum and while there are specific diagnoses, 
these, from the modern point of view, are drawn so loosely in 
many cases that they are of little diagnostic value. Furthermore, 
the Species Plantarum is not considered to be a descriptive work 
but a mere application of the binomial system to the then known 
species—those that already had been published under the poly- 
nomial system by various older authors—and the species therein 
