Mat 22, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



821 



Types in the Herbaria of LinnEeus and 

 MichaiLx." 



During the spring of 1907 the speaker vis- 

 ited various European herbaria for the purpose 

 of studying the type specimens of American 

 grasses. The present paper included an ac- 

 count of the types in the herbaria of Linnaeus, 

 at the rooms of the Linnsean Society in Lon- 

 don, Gronovius, and Sloane, at the British 

 Museum of Natural History at South Kens- 

 ington, Swartz at the Stockholm Academy of 

 Science, and Michaux at the Museum of 

 Natural History at Paris. It is well recog- 

 nized that in the taxonomic investigation of 

 any group of plants it is necessary to deter- 

 mine with certainty the identity of the species 

 described by the older authors. This identi- 

 fication in many cases can be made only by 

 consulting the type specimens. The speaker 

 endeavored from the data at hand to determine 

 for each species the nomenclatorial type speci- 

 men. The tj^e specimen is the specimen or 

 one of the specimens from which the author 

 drew up the description. This specimen often 

 supplements or interprets the description 

 which may have been insufficient to identify 

 the species. The Linnsean species of Ameri- 

 can grasses are nearly all founded upon defi- 

 nite type specimens collected by Kalm, marked 

 by Linnaeus with a "K," by Patrick Browne, 

 marked by Linnaeus " Br.," and by Clayton, 

 who furnished specimens to Gronovius. 

 Linnaeus usually writes a short diagnosis, fol- 

 lowed by citations of synonymy : For example, 

 Panicum dissecturn- L. Sp. PI. 57, 1753, under 

 which Linnaeus gives a diagnosis of his own 

 followed by three synonyms, Roy. lugdb., 

 Pluk. mant. t. 350, f. 2, and Sloane, jam, t. 

 69, f. 2, and finally habitat in Indiis. In the 

 Linnaean herbarium is a specimen upon the 

 sheet of which Linnseus has written " dis- 

 secturn " and " E." This specimen, from. 

 Kalm, is the only one labeled dissectum by 

 Linnaeus. Is this the type specimen? The 

 plant is what has been going under the name 

 of Paspalum membranaceum Walt. The 

 diagnosis given by Linnaeus applies, but is too 

 short to be satisfactory, but his later descrip- 

 tion, given in the second edition of the 

 " Species Plantarima," leaves no doubt that he 



refers to the preserved specimen. On the: 

 other hand we find that none of the three 

 synonyms cited applies to the specimen. We 

 are therefore justified in regarding the pre- 

 served specimen as the type specimen of 

 Panicum dissectum. It is true that Linnaeus 

 erred in giving the locality as the West 

 Indies, an error which doubtless was based on 

 his Sloane citation. 



Pcbspalum, paniculatum L. Syst. ed. 10. 855. 

 1759. The description is a two-line diagnosis 

 followed by " Sloane, jam. t. 22. f. 2." Some 

 botanists have considered this name to be 

 founded upon the cited Sloane figure, the type 

 of which is at the British Museum and is 

 Panicum fa-sciculatum Sw. But a compari- 

 son of the Linnsean diagnosis with that of 

 Sloane shows that they are not at all the same, 

 and that furthermore the former description 

 applies to the plant preserved in the Linnaean 

 herbariimi, from Browne, and not to the 

 Sloane plant, hence the Linnaean plant is the 

 type. 



Panicum dichotomum L. Sp. PI. 58. 1753. 

 In this case Linnaeus has no diagnosis of hia 

 own, but commences with a citation from 

 Gronovius. Hence the type specimen is not 

 the Linnsean specimen (which is not what 

 has been going under the name of P. 

 dichotomum,) but is the Clayton plant in the 

 British Museum which is the basis of Grono- 

 vius's description. 



The paper included a discussion of several 

 other cases taken from studies upon the types 

 of Linnaeus, Swartz and Michaux. 



The second paper was by Mr. W. J. Spill- 

 man, who discussed " The meaning of ' ele- 

 mentary species.' " This paper is expected to 

 be published in full in Science. 



Haven Metcalf, 

 Corresponding Secretary, pro tem. 



THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 182d meeting of the Washington Sec- 

 tion of the Chemical Society was called to 

 order at the Cosmos Club on Thursday, April 

 9, at 8 P.M. President Chamberlain presided, 

 the attendance being forty-seven. 



The following paper was read by Mr. Wade : 

 "Distribution of Nutrients in a Soil," by G. 



