October 2. 1003.] 



SCIENCE. 



439 



verse results of the East Indian experiments 

 with C. panamensis may not apply to the 

 whole genus. ^Moreover, during the present 

 study of the subject many reasons have been 

 found for believing that the conditions under 

 which Caslilla has been tested in the East 

 Indies are not really favorable to the produc- 

 tion of rubber; the current idea that a con- 

 tinuously humid climate is required is erro- 

 neous. In short, it appears that we are still 

 at the beginning of a scientific comprehension 

 of the factors which determine the practica- 

 bility and profitability of rubber culture. It 

 has been ascertained that rubber can be pro- 

 duced agriculturally, but where, how and 

 what to plant, and how, how much and how 

 long we shall harvest, are questions largely 

 answered, as yet, by speculation rather than 

 ty experiment. O. F. Cook. 



U. S. Departmext of AoRICUI-TrRE. 



THE NAME OF THE BREADFRl"IT. 



The genus Arfocarpus was first described in 

 1776 by G. and G. J. E. Forster in the 

 ' Characteres Generum Plantarum,' a work 

 written as a result of their botanical studies 

 made during Captain Cook's second voyage 

 into the Pacific and round the world between 

 1772 and 1775. The combination Arfocarpus 

 communis was given in this work for the 

 breadfruit tree, a name which, according to 

 nomenclatorial rules, must replace the gen- 

 erally accepted Artocarpus incisa, which was 

 not published by the younger Linnseus until 

 1781.* 



Forster's genus was, moreover, published as 

 a monotype, and as his plants were from the 

 Society Islands there can be no doubt but that 

 he was dealing with the true breadfruit. He 

 did not publish, it is true, any specific de- 

 scription, leaving all for the genus, but he 

 did make a good binomial combination and 

 had two good plates which are generally con- 

 sidered sufficient to establish a name in good 

 standing. 



Thunberg later in the same year (1776) pub- 

 lished the names Radermachia incisa and 

 inlegrifolia for the bread- and jak-fruits 

 respectively from material collected in the 



"Suppl." 411. 1781. 



East Indian Islands. Five years afterwards 

 the younger Linnaeus made his new nomen- 

 clatorial combinations on this material of 

 Thunberg, adoi)ting Forster's generic name 

 and adding to it Thunberg's specific designa- 

 tions, and taking the credit to himself. 



Further complications are met with when it 

 is found that in the subsequent works of the 

 Forsters, when mention is made of the bread- 

 fruit, the specific name incisa is used. Why 

 they should abandon their own name is rather 

 difficult to understand unless it was a case in 

 which ' the king can do no wrong.' 



Dr. A. Richter is fully alive to the injustice 

 done Forster and has published a note* on 

 the history of the name of the breadfruit 

 which adequately states the facts in the case 

 and further calls attention to the unfortunate 

 revival by O. Kuntze of the pre-Linna-an name 

 of Soccus. a relic of Kumphius, and of his 

 combining with it Forster's specific name. 

 Yet Rumphius published a specific name for 

 the breadfruit which Kuntze has, for no ap- 

 parent reason, seen fit to ignore. 



A. Engler, acting on this note, has corrected 

 in the ' Nachtrag ' to the ' Natiirlichen 

 Pflanzenfamilien ' the name of the breadfruit 

 as it appears in the test of that work, and 

 states that Artocarpus communis is the correct 

 designation. Henky E. Bauji. 



U. S. Dept. Agriculture. 



EUCALYPTS IX THE PHILIPPINES. 



The eucalyiJts, of which but comparatively 

 few species are familiarly known outside of 

 their native home, include some one hundred 

 and fifty species or more, nearly all restricted 

 to Australia and Tasmania. Many of the 

 forms may be classed as shrubs, others attain 

 great size, surpassing in height, as has been 

 stated on good authority, the giant Sequoias 

 of California, though not equaling them in 

 diameter or girth. A few species have been 

 found elsewhere, viz., in !N^ew Britain, New 

 Guinea and Timor, islands north of the Aus- 

 tralian continent, between latitude 10° S., 

 and the equator. It is not unlikely that 

 sooner or later other species, at present un- 

 known, will be detected on some of the multi- 



* Botanisches Centralhlait 60: 169-170. 1894. 



