Notes on Nomenclature 11U 



while such trifling combinations do not seem to me of 

 much importance, for the sake of accuracy it may be 

 pointed out that this much combination has been pre- 

 viously made; at least the exact combination of words 

 appears in "The Fern Allies of North America" (page 

 264) and in the treatment of Selaginella rupestn's in the 

 same volume (page 142) the fact that densa may be 

 regarded as a form of rupestris is mentioned. Further- 

 more, in volume XVI of the Fern Bulletin (page 53) 

 this same combination is again made with S. densa as 

 a synonym. It strikes me, therefore, that this combi- 

 nation has been published as definitely as it ever needs 

 to be. 



The disposition to make much of these insignificant 

 combinations is sometimes manifested in places where 

 one would least expect to find it. For instance, in the 

 new "({ray's Manual" (page 42) may be found the 



combination "Aspidium Goldianum variety celmm (Pal- 

 mer) Robinson," and yet several years before this com- 

 bination was published, the identical combination was 

 made by another writer in "Our Ferns in Their Haunts" 

 (page 315), with the slight exception that the word 



/' 



The diction- 



aries make practically no difference in the significance 



of these two words and I am of the opinion that there 



is not sufficient difference to warrant anybody squeezing 



mother name into the combination on such a pretext. 



It is to be hoped there is not, for if it is possible, 



there may be danger that some botanizer will trade 

 forms for varieties or the reverse in every botanical 

 name that will permit of it. Curiously enough in the 

 combination mentioned above, where the specimen is 

 first named it is spoken of both as a variety and a form. 



In passing it may be of interest to note the different 



in spelling of the specific name of the fern m question. 

 I have not the original description before me, but with- 



