114 



1 think it will be allowed that sufficient evidence is produced to 

 justify the observations of the reviewer, on the improper use of the 

 term recurva, as applied to the plant denominated " Bree's Fern " by 

 Newman. Linnasus, Smith, De Candolle, Bertolini and BischofF 

 agree in applying the term to a curvature of which the convexity is 

 upwards, not downwards, as is the case in L. recurva. 



It would undoubtedly afford me much satisfaction to get rid of that 

 name, but I fear it would now be difficult to do so, as it has been twice 

 employed in descriptive works, namely, in the ' Naturalist's Alma- 

 nack ' for 1844, and Newman's Ferns. 1 have always protested very 

 strongly against this name, and carefully avoided its use when distri- 

 buting specimens of the plant several years since, as the var. conca- 

 vum of Aspidiurn dilatatum. Mr. Newman's observation (Hist. Ferns, 

 235) that 1 assured him that 1 had not proposed the name, is not, 

 therefore, exactly correct. All I stated to him was, that it had not 

 been used by me in print, and therefore had no claim to priority over 

 any printed name. 



I am quite ready to agree with Mr. Bree that the term dumetorum 

 is not much better than recurva ; still, it is better, since it does not 

 convey an absolutely erroneous impression concerning the form and 

 structure of the plant. It is only as being an older name, even as ap- 

 plied by Mackay to this plant, that I am inclined to employ it, in order 

 to get rid of a term which seems so objectionable. Smith's A. dume- 

 torum apparently falls, his specimens being only a diseased or dwarf 

 state of L. multiflora. 



L. incurva would undoubtedly be a satisfactory name, if it could 

 be generally adopted. Perhaps the readers of the ' Phytologist ' will 

 give their opinions as to its adoption. I must confess, however, that 

 my pet name is con cava, as might perhaps be expected, from my hav- 

 ing long made use of it. C. C. Babington. 



St. John's Coll. Cambridge, Marcli 3, 1845. 



The word recurvus, as applied in Entomology. By Edward Newman. 



Mr. Bree has, I think, shown us (Phytol. ii. 75) that ornitholo- 

 gists understand the word recurvus or recurved as implying turned 

 outwards and upwards, like the bill of the avocet. In this he is per- 

 fectly correct : but as every sound argument strengthens a good cause, 

 I may perhaps be allowed to add support from the sister science of 

 Entomology, of which I was once an enamoured student. The fol- 



