194 EEYTHEA. 



Opulaster monogynns. Spircjea monogyna^ Toir. Ann. 



Lye. N. Y. iL 194 (1827). For further synonymy see Pit- 

 tonia ii, 29. 



Opulaster malyaceus. Neillia malvacea, Greene, Pitt, 

 ii. 30 (1889). 



TRADITIONAL INTERPRETATION OF LINNEAN 



NOMENCLATURE. 



By Dr. Saint-Lager.i 



In several of my earlier papers, particularly those treating 

 of the vicissitudes of Globularia, and the polymorphism of 

 the Bupleura, I have shown that Linnean nomenclature could 

 easily be thrown into confusion — especially as regards 

 specific names applied to polymorphous types — if the fact 

 that these names designate the collection of forms, and not 

 one in particular, were not borne in mind, nor the excessive 

 brevity of diagnoses in the Species Plantartcm taken into 

 consideration. I now contribute a further example of the 

 unsound position to which a too rigid interpretation of the 

 text of this work might lead. 



Under the heading of Spergiila peniandra, Linne made no 

 mention of the variety described by Morison.2 As this latter 

 is the only form of Spergula pentafidra occurring in Sweden 

 and Norway, the omission is the more surprising. Moreover, 

 there is room to believe that the specimens contained in the 

 Linnean herbarium, and from which the description in the 

 Species Planiarum was drawn, were gathered in Scan- 

 dinavia.^ 



Therefore those botanists who do not allow any derogation 



iFrom La Gtterre des Nymphes, suivre de la Nouvelle Incarnation de 

 Buda, chap. 3 "Spergula et Agrostis," pp. 33-39. Paris, 1891, 39 pp. 8 vo. 

 Translation and footnotes by J. Burtt Davy. 



^Spergula Morisonii^ Boreau. 



STherefore, that the typical S. pentandra^ and S. iforisoniij Bor., are 

 the same thing. 



