150 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN. 



robertiana and dryopteris were to be regarded as varieties 

 of the same species, the former would be the type and the 

 latter the variety ! 



Another striking case is that of our common ostrich-fern 

 the synomymy of which has been recently discussed by 

 Underwood.* 



This case, as he shows, presents possibilites of complica- 

 tions without number. Admitting the identity of the 

 European and American forms, of which there is little 

 question, we may still have the following names for a 

 species concerning the identity and distinctness of which 

 there is no question : 



1. If the species is retained in the genus Onoclca the 

 name would be Onoclea struthiopteris (L.) Hoffm. 



If placed in a separate genus several possibilities arise: 



2. In 1810 Willdenow established for the species the 

 genus Stnitliioptcris. The name had been previously used 

 by Scopoli for the genus now called Lomaria and by 

 Bernhardi for the present Osmunda. But Lomaria has 

 been united, with some reason, with the genus Blechnum 

 by several authors. t If this is done, and Osmunda is used 

 in the sense in which it has been so long understood, then 

 the generic name Struthiopteris might be used for our 

 species and the name would be Stnitliioptcris struthiopteris 



(I*.). 



3. Or if objection is made to the homonym, then the 

 next name would be Struthiopteris nodulosa (Mx.). 



4. Or if the generic name Struthiopteris is given up 

 (so far as this species is concerned) for the reasons given 

 in (2), the name would be Mattcucia stnitliioptcris (L.) 

 Todaro. 



*Our Native Ferns, 6th ed., pp. 49-50 (1900). 



fMost recently by Diels in Engler and Prantl's Nat. Pflanzenf., 190- 

 191 Lief., p. 245 (1899). 



