192 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN. 



No cultures of this species have been made in the 

 United States, but the collections presented herewith are 

 so clearly indistinguishable from what Klebahn has called 

 Puccinia smilacearum-digraphidis that we do not hesitate 

 to associate the American secidia and teleutospores. 



What will be the ultimate systematic standing of bio- 

 logical species among the UredinecB is yet uncertain. 

 There is no gainsaying the statement that "the races of 

 one generation of botanists often become the species of the 

 next generation, who as they study them more minutely 

 and carefully, discover constant marks not previously 

 recognized." In our opinion there appears to be consider- 

 able utility and no material harm in treating the biologi- 

 cally distinguishable forms of Phalaris rust as normal 

 species. In an address on "The conception of species as 

 affected by recent investigations on fungi" delivered by 

 Dr. Farlow three years ago before the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, the conclusion is 

 reached, after reviewing many specific cases including the 

 one in hand, that "as systematic botany develops in the 

 future it may very well become the study of races rather 

 than species as we now consider them. In some cases, as 

 in the Uredinacece , the time may be not far distant when 

 this condition of things will be reached." To meet the 

 requirement of utility and the growing tendency in syste- 

 matic work we have undertaken to select the name for the 

 forms of rust presented in this fascicle in the same manner 

 as we would for thoroughly distinct and unquestioned 

 species. We therefore feel it incumbent upon us to 

 recognize the law of priority, which at once compels us to 

 ignore such a recent, but attractively descriptive name as 

 Puccinia smilacearum-digraphidis. The earliest name 

 that we have found is by Schumann, who cites for his name 

 but the single host, Convallaria bi folia, since transferred 

 to the genus Smilacina, and now resting under the genus 

 Unifolium. Immediately following s-Ecidium majanthce 



