606 R. H. Howe: LINNAEAN NOMENCLATURE OF USNEA 
the Dillenian figures to which he refers, and the Dillenian speci- 
mens on which the figures were based. It seems to me clear that 
as Linnaeus made no definite mention of ‘‘types’”’ the specimens 
preserved in his collection cannot constitute such in the strict 
sense of the word, but simply may be used when possible as con- 
firmative evidence. 
Linnaeus appears to have largely given the binomial nomen- 
clature to the results of Dillenius’ labor, though to Dillenius in 
his preface he gives faint praise. 
No. 71, Lichen plicatus, being the first species of Linnaeus, now 
included in the genus (p. 1154) becomes, according to some bot- 
anists,* the ‘‘type” of the genus Usnea (Dill.) Adans. No number 
71 was found by Wainio, but he states that no. 457 of Flora 
Lapponica, cited by Linnaeus in the Species Plantarum = ‘‘Alec- 
toria ochroleuca (Ehrh.) Nyl. (=rigida Th. Fr., Lich. Scand. p. 19)— 
Ad hanc plantam igitur Lichen plicatus L., Spec. Plant. (1753) p. 
1154 n. 71, spectat.”” Now in the Species Plantarum Linnaeus 
cites first no. 984 of the Flora Suecica and diagnoses it as follows: 
‘‘filamentosus pendulus, ramis implexis, scutellis radiatis.” These 
last words leave no doubt as to the plant described being an Usnea 
and not an Alectoria. Secondly, he cites no. 457 of the Flora Lap- 
ponica, an Alectoria, as above proven, and there is nothing in the 
description to imply otherwise. Thirdly, he cites Dillenius and 
his figure, which, as I have already pointed out (loc. cit.), is ac- 
cording to Crombie Usnea ceratina Ach. (Lich. Univ. 619. 1810) 
—the name of Acharius becoming a synonym of plicata as also 
noted. His fourth reference is to Bauhin, whose description is 
too indefinite for consideration. 
From the above it would seem that with no definite ‘‘type’’ 
specimen in existence, with an absolutely diagnostic description 
standing first on the page, and with also a reference to a recog- 
nizable figure, based on an existing specimen, the species Lichen 
plicatus would properly remain an Usnea. The coarsest of the 
pendulous Usneas, later renamed ceratina by Acharius, must there- 
fore stand today as Usnea plicata (L.) Web. The ‘‘type”’ locality 
is ““‘Europae & Americae borealis.’’? The fact that one of the refer- 
*A code of botanical nomenclature. Bull. Torrey Club 31: 249-261. 1904. 
