NOTES ON OLD AND NEW GENERA. 197 



statements of fealty to the fetich of priority are meaningless noise 

 or waste of good type space. 



Realizing then that it is scarcely worth while to call attention 

 even to the fact of the priority of Pteretis Raf., because of the 

 very peculiar exhibitions of logic on the part of the manual writers, 

 we still venture to propose the accompanying synonymy of 

 Struthiopteris Cordus, because, whether acceptable or not before 

 the high court of the codes, we will in spite of this feel that we 

 are a little nearer to the truth, as dictated by the logical methods 

 of either limited or absolute historical priority. Which horn 

 of the dilemma will be preferable to the manual makers, namely, 

 the acceptance of Thelypteris Schmidel (1760)' or Dryopteris 

 Adanson (1763) and the analogous Struthiopteris Scopoli or Stru- 

 thiopteris Willd., or on the other hand the acceptance of Pteretis 

 Raf. for Matteucia Todaro (1866), we need not hazard a guess. 

 In order to save the mark we may venture that another, perhaps 

 a safer way were the suggestion of the complete suppression of 

 Pteretis or Matteucia in any future editions, and its consequent 

 reduction to synonymy under Onoclea Linn. In view of the 

 fact of the rather widespread acceptance in the past of the validity 

 of this group called Matteucia, its suppression is not really neces- 

 sary, as it is a good genus, but this procedure might perhaps 

 more easily be effected without as much need of explanation or 

 evident ignoring of the fact of any one calling attention to the 

 priority cf Pteretis Raf. This procedure would render explanations 

 needless, though of course in ignoring the truth it is scarcely 

 necessary to hazard even an explanation for any mode of action. 

 The following synonymy may be suggested: 



Pteretis Raf. Am. Month. Mag., II., p. 268, (18 18). 



Matteucia Todaro, Geor. vSci. Nat. Palermo, I., p. 235, (1866). 



Strithiopteris Willd. Hnum. p. 1071, (1809) also Thalius, J. 

 Sylva Hercyna p. 119, (1588), Cordus, V. Hist. PI. 2, p. 170, 

 (1561) [Opus Posth.] not Struthiopteris Haller, Scopoli, Weiss, 

 Trevisan 1. c. etc. =Lomaria Spicant (Linn.) Desvaux. 



Pteretis Struthiopteris (Linn.) 



Struthiopteris Cordi Thalius 1. c. 



Matteucia Struthiopteris Linn. Sp. PI. p. 1066, (1753). 



Onoclea Struthiopteris Hoffm. Deutsch. Fl. 2, p. 11, (1795). 



I Thelypteris as used Vjy Schmidel was accepted also by Haller. See 

 his Hist. Stirp. Indig. Helv. III., p. 7, (1768). 



