T«IORTH AMERICAN EANUXCULI. C^^ 



enlarged, the sides tuberculately or somewhat nigosely 

 luieven, beak | line long, ensiform, straight or a little 



incurved. 



The species thus described was published by Messrs. Beck 

 and Tracy in the belief that it was distinct from E. mvUif(Jiis 

 of Pursh. I begin to think that tlieir opinion was correct; 

 and unless the western plant, Pursh's type (the B. rmilfijidvs 

 var. tcrrestris, Gray), shall be found to exhibit those charac- 

 ters of the fruit which I here indicate and which have not 

 heretofore been discovered, then the judgment of the author s 

 of E. lacusiris will be thoroughly substantiated. 



As for the name itself ; there is no North American Eanun- 

 cuius to which the specific adjective muUiJidus may rightly 

 be assigned, ForskaaFs Arabian species of that name, 

 unheard of by Pursh in 1S14, dates from 1775.' It has been 

 assumed tliat E. Purshii of Eichardson either antedates or 

 is as early as E. Uicustris. Both Asa Gray and Professor 

 Lawson have given the year 1823 as the date of the latter 

 name ; and the former is undisputedly of that year. But my 

 copy of the Third Edition of Eaton's Manual bears the date 



1822 : 



foot 



two 



the Fifth Edition, wherein the author says: "In 

 published the lacustris in the name of Beck and Tracy." It 

 luay well be that in 182H a second thousand copies of the 

 Third Edition were printed, the date alone being changed. 

 In the Preface to the Eighth Edition of the work the author 

 i-emarks that, of the five preceding editions, 

 copies each had been called for. Anyhow, it is manifest that 

 -R. lacustris is of the year 1822. and therefore a year prior 

 to E. Purshii; and this is my new point in the bibliography 

 of the matter. It seems possible that the western type of 

 Pursh may be identical with an Asiatic species which bears 

 the name E. Gmelini DC. (1818). 



It is worthy of remark that no one has yet stated whether 

 R- lacusfris be annual or perennial. Probably nobody 



' Porsk. PI. .Egypt.-Arab. 102. 



