160 The Botanical Gazette. [May, 
the epidermis, all around the blade. ; 
In some other plants the leaves are awl-shaped with the 
aspect of conifers or lycopods; such forms were observed in 
Hedyotis nitida HBK., which belongs to the Rubiace; in 
Lysipomia of the Lobeliacee; and in Phy//actis of the Valerian- 
acez; in species of A/chemilla and others. 
BRIEFER ARTICLES. 
T hesitated at the time in following the dictum that “the oldest nN 
able specific name” must stand. It seems to me, from this present 
Perience, that to take up “the oldest available specific name +” the 
genus” is safer and less liable to reconsideration.—J. _M. HobaiN 
Washington D.C 
