July 19, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



87 



and here may be added only a few agrostolog- 

 ical notes. The pen-and-ink drawings by 

 Agnes Chase, illustrating the details of the 

 spikelet, are accurate and particularly helpful 

 in a group having so complicated a floral 

 structure. The half-tones from photographs 

 by the author illustrating the habit are un- 

 usually good. The genus Gathesiecum, placed 

 in the tribe Zoysise by Bentham & Hooker 

 and in Festucese by Hackel (Engl. & Prantl, 

 Pflanzenfam.) is here considered to be a close 

 ally of Bouteloua, a conclusion well supported 

 by the structure of the spikelets, as shown by 

 the illustrations. The name Bouteloua is 

 used rather than the older spelling Botelua. 

 This suggests the desirability of adopting a 

 definite rule to govern such cases. Lagasca 

 deliberately adopted Botelua in 1805, using 

 this spelling throughout his article, but in 

 1816 changed this to Bouteloua, which spelling 

 has been used by all later authors. Lagasca 

 states that the genus was named for the 

 brothers Boutelou. I have used Lagasca's 

 corrected spelling myself, but there is a tend- 

 ency at present to subject even the spelling of 

 generic and specific names to the law of pri- 

 ority. There are several changes in the names 

 of familiar species. Bouteloua procurnbens 

 (Durand) Griffiths, for B. prostrata Lag.; B. 

 gracilis (H. B. K.) Lag., for B. oligostachya 

 Torr.; B. harbata Lag., for B. polystachya 

 (Benth.) Torr.; B. trinii (Fourn.) Griffiths, 

 for B. trifida Thurb. and B. hurhii Scribn. 

 On technical grounds, the name Bouteloua 

 Iromoides disappears altogether. In place of 

 this we have B. filiformis (Fourn.) Griffiths, 

 and two allied species, B. radicosa (Fourn.) 

 Griffiths and B. repens (H. B. K.) Scribn. & 

 Merr. Dr. Griffiths accepts 1881 as the date 

 of publication of Fournier's work on " Mex- 

 ican Grasses." The title-page date is 1886, 

 but at least two copies of press-proofs were 

 distributed in 1881 and used by Bentham 

 and by Hackel as if published. By admitting 

 the earlier date the author is obliged to take 

 up Chondrosium trinii Fourn. which ante- 

 dates both Bouteloua trifida Thurb. (1883) 

 and B. lurhii Scribn. (1883). 



Plants of Southern New Jersey: Wither 

 Stone (Ann. Rep. N. J. State Mus., 1910). 

 The title page date of issue is 1911, but the 

 volume did not reach us until February, 1912. 

 Eeference will be made here only to the por- 

 tion relating to the Graminese (pp. 174r-246, 

 pis. 5-15). As to form, the work is a model 

 for its class. Though no descriptions are 

 given, there are excellent keys to genera and 

 to species. There are also important notes 

 upon habit and local distribution. The half- 

 tone plates illustrating the inflorescence are 

 unusually good. Li the recent revision of 

 Panicum by Hitchcock and Chase many inter- 

 esting northern extensions of the range of 

 species to New Jersey are based upon Mr. 

 Stone's collections, such as that of P. wrighti- 

 anum. This species has since been collected 

 on Cape Cod by E. W. Sinnott, and by Clar- 

 ence Knowlton. I wish to criticize a method 

 in technique adopted by the author. Li this 

 I do not wish to criticize Mr. Stone, because 

 he has ample precedent for the method used. 

 It is the citation of names in synonymy in 

 such a manner that the reference appears to 

 be the original publication when in reality it 

 is to a later work or to a work in which the 

 name has been misapplied. For example, 

 " Panicum sphagnicola Nash, Brit. Man. Ed. 

 I. 85." is given under Panicum lucidum Ashe. 

 The original publication of P. sphagnicola 

 was several years earlier {Bull. Torrey Club, 

 22: 422. 1895). The author means by his 

 reference that P. lucidum was described under 

 the name P. sphagnicola in Britton's Manual. 

 Apparently Mr. Stone has intended to distin- 

 guish the original place of publication by 

 giving the citation in full with date. But 

 under Tripsacum we see as the second name 

 in the list of synonyms, "Tripsacum dac- 

 tyloides Nuttall Gen. I. 85. 1818," although 

 the name was first published by Linnteus 

 ("Syst. Nat.," ed. 10: 1261. 1759). This is 

 not an error on Mr. Stone's part, as is shown 

 by the accepted name at the heading where 

 "L." is given as the authority. Mr. Stone 

 probably inserted the Nuttall reference be- 

 cause of a note there on the local flora. 



