Panisific Finir/i of fIJiiio/s. 149 



for the same plant as a species. Shall we now write the earliest 

 varietal name as specific, and quote the first botanist as author- 

 ity? The question is not whether the second writer should 

 have adopted the first name: it is now a (juestion of choice l)e- 

 tween two names already in literature. 



The authority after a binomial appellation is clearly that of 

 the one who associates the o-eneric and specific parts of the 

 name, and applies it. thus constituted, to the designated plant. 

 For pha?nogams there seems to be little need of preserving 

 with the name any further item of bibliography. The chang<' 

 of genera is not so frequent as to cause serious confusion, and 

 the descriptions are ordinarily full and unmistakable. Mycol- 

 ogists, hovrever. find it important to quote the name of the 

 original authority for the specific name, agreeing in this with 

 the custom among zoological writers, especially with those who 

 devote themselves to the lower and less known orders of ani- 

 mals. A very considerable number of the names of fiingi 

 must thus be iaccompanied with two authorities, that for the 

 original specific name occurring first in parenthesis, and that 

 for the binomial whole afterward. It is true this decidedly in- 

 creases the difficulty of writing and of memorizing, but the 

 benefits more than counterbalance the drawbacks. Certainly 

 it will not answer to qucjte alone that which, as above, is put 

 in parenthesis, even though by the use of the parenthesis 

 change of genus is indicated. The parenthetical reference is 

 dropped by students of pha^nogams, and we should, as mycolo- 

 gists, prefer this to the practice of some botanists and zoolo- 

 gists of omitting the authority for the entire name as it exists. 



Without further discussion of this often discussed topic, 

 the following may be stated as the basis of nomenclature in 

 this paper. 



(1). The use of the oldest specific name known to have 

 been used for the sj^eries as such. Varietal names by the older 

 authors, not subsequently ado})ted by those raising the varie- 

 ties to species, have not been herein perpetuated except in ])e- 

 culiar cases. When the vague descriptions of the early writers 

 give no reasonal)le certainty of the intended applii-ation. prior- 

 itv is not strained to retain tiie names. 



