Parasitic Fmir/i- of Illinois. \ |<) 



for the same plant as a species. Shall we now write the earliest 

 varietal name as specific, and quote the first botanist as author- 

 ity? The question is not whether the second writer should 

 have adopted the first name: it is now a question of choice be- 

 tween two names already in literature. 



The authority after a binomial appellation is clearly that of 

 the one who associates the generic and specific parts of the 

 name, and applies it, thus constituted, to the designated plant. 

 For phaenogams there seems to be little need of preserving 

 with the name any further item of bibliography. The change 

 of genera is not so frequent as to cause serious confusion, and 

 the descriptions are ordinarily full and unmistakable. Mycol- 

 ogists, however, find it important to quote the name of the 

 original authority for the specific name, agreeing in this with 

 the custom among zoological writers, especially with those who 

 devote themselves to the lower and less known orders of ani- 

 mals. A very considerable number of the names of fungi 

 must thus be accompanied with two authorities, that for the 

 original specific name occurring first in parenthesis, and that 

 for the binomial whole afterward. It is true this decidedly in- 

 creases the difficulty of writing and of memorizing, but the 

 benefits more than counterbalance the drawbacks. Certainly 

 it will not answer to quote alone that which, as above, is put 

 in parenthesis, even though by the use of the parenthesis 

 change of genus is indicated. The parenthetical reference is 

 dropped by students of phaenogams, and we should, as mycolo- 

 gists, prefer this to the practice of some botanists and zoolo- 

 gists of omitting the authority for the entire name as it exists. 



Without further discussion of this often, discussed topic, 

 the following may be stated as the basis of nomenclature in 

 this paper. 



(1). The use of the oldest specific name known to have 

 been used for the species as such. Varietal names by the older 

 authors, not subsequently adopted by those raising the varie- 

 ties to species, have not been herein perpetuated except in pe- 

 culiar cases. When the vague descriptions of the early writers 

 give no reasonable certainty of the intended application, prior- 

 ity is not strained to retain the names. 



