6 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Tabasco ami Chiapas are particularly inadociuate, and doubtless 

 many of the listed species occur there, even if the ranges as here 

 stated do not indicate the fact. If a species occurs in Oaxaca and 

 also in Guatemala, it may safely be assumed that it is found in 

 Chiapas, although the writer has not felt at liberty to report its 

 occurrence there unless he lu^s actually seen specimens from that 

 State, The range outside Mexico is given for those species which 

 extend into other countries, and when no such range is indicated it 

 is to be assumed that the species is endemic. 



TYPE LOCALITIES. 



For the majorit}^ of the species there has been included a statement 

 concerning the type or the typo locality. The nomenclatorial type 

 of a species is the specimen which served as the basis of the origi- 

 nal description of the species, and the type locality is the one at 

 which the specimen was collected. A knowledge of type localities 

 is of great importance in taxonomic work, especially when it becomes 

 necessary to divide into two or more species material which has been 

 referred previously to a single one. It is of interest also to collectors 

 who may visit these places and who may take an interest in recollect- 

 ing such plants at their original stations. It is to be expected, gen- 

 erally, that the form of a species occurring in the region of the type 

 locality is the typical one. In the case of manj^ species described 

 from Mexico, particularly the earlier ones, the source of the speci- 

 mens on which they were based was given merely as '* Mexico." w itli- 

 out indication of any precise locality. In such instances the writer 

 has made no reference to the type locality, which is, of course, prac- 

 tically unknown. Neither has it seemed worth while to refer to the 

 type locality in the case of species described from "' tropical 

 America," " West Indies," or other similarly vague regions. 



VERNACULAR NAMES. 



The vernacular names listed have been gathered from various 

 sources. Many have been taken from the labels accompanying her- 

 barium specimens. All those found in literature which has come to 

 the writer's attention have been listed if there was reason to suppose 

 them accurate. The most extensive work dealing with Mexican ver- 

 nacular plant names is the " Sinonimia vulgar y cientifica de las 

 plantas Mexicanas," compiled by Dr. Jose Ramirez, with the assist- 

 ance of Senor Gabriel V. Alcocer. published in tlie City of Mexico 

 in 1902. This is a very extensive list and a valuable one, based 

 partly upon the investigations of the authors, and also upon many 

 previously 2)ublished lists. It is unfortunate that many of the Latin 



