May 22, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



827 



the genus Phrynosoma, the author says, ' All 

 the species are viviparous, almost the only 

 instance among Iguanidse.' 



This statement, which is as given in the 

 older works on reptiles, does not apply to 

 Phrynosoma cornuhim of Texas, as I showed 

 in my ' Notes on the Biology of Phrynosoma 

 cornutum Harlan ' in the Zoologischer An- 

 zeiger, No. 498, 1896 (also Science, K S., 

 Vol. III., No. Y3, pp. 763-5). In that paper 

 I described the nest building and ovulation 

 for the above species. 



As pointed out by E. W. Shufeldt in 

 Science, September 4, 1885, pp. 185-6, and 

 later Science, N. S., Vol. III., No. 76, pp. 

 867-8, June 12, 1896, Phrynosoma douglassii 

 is viviparous, so that the genus Phrynosoma 

 contains both oviparous and viviparous spe- 

 cies. Charles L. Edwards. 



Trinity Coixegb, Habtfoed, Conn. 



A NOTE ON nomenclature. 



Pestuca spicata Pursh. M. Am. Sept. 83. 



1814. 

 Agropyron divergens Nees in Steud. Sjm.,, PI. 



Glum. 347. 1855. 

 A. spicaium Rydb. Mem. N. T. Bot. G-ard. 



1 : 61. 1900 (Cat. PI. Montana). 

 Agropyron glaucum occidentale Scribn. Trans. 



Kan. Acad. Sci. 9: 119. 1885. 



Agropyron spicaium Scribn. & Smith, Bull. 



U. S. Dept. Agric. Div. Agrost. 4: 33. 



1897. 

 Agropyron Smithii Eydb. Mem. N. T. Bot. 



Gard. 1: 64. 1900 (Cat. PL Montana). 

 Agropyron occidentale Scribn. TJ. S. Dept. 



Agric. Div. Agrost. Circ. 27: 9. 1900. 



Festuca spicata Pursh. 



" P. spiculis alternis sessilibus erectis sub- 

 quinquefloris, floribus subulatis glabriusculis, 

 aristis longis scabris, foliis linearibus cul- 

 moque glabris. 



" On the waters of Missouri and Columbia 

 rivers. June. v. s. in Herb. Lewis." 



Steudel published ' Triticum divergens Nees. 

 (mpt. sub. Agropyrum)' based on a plant col- 

 lected by Douglas. This is the common wheat 

 grass of the Northwest, usually with long- 

 awned spikelets. 



Another common species of the Great 

 Plains, often called blue joint or blue stem, 

 had for years been identified with A. repens 

 Beauv. or A. glaucum E. & S. of Europe. In 

 1885 Professor Scribner made this a variety 

 (occidentale) of the latter European species. 

 Twelve years later Scribner and Smith, in 

 their review of the genus Agropyron^ raised 

 this to specific rank, but with the name A. 

 spicatum, as they believed it to be the same 

 as Pursh's Festuca spicata. 



Mr. Eydberg, having examined Lewis's 

 specimen in the Herbarium of the Philadel- 

 phia Academy, decides that Festuca spicata 

 Pursh is identical with Agropyron divergens 

 Nees and, following the Eochester Code, re- 

 names the plant A. spicatum Eydb. But 

 there was already the A. spicatum S. & S., 

 which must receive a new name, A. Smithii 

 Eydb. Then Professor Scribner calls atten- 

 tion to the earlier varietal name occidentale, 

 which must be taken up, and we have A. occi- 

 dentale Scribn., or more consistently, if the 

 parenthesis is used in citations, A. occidentale 

 (Scribn.) Scribn. 



If a later botanist examines the type and 

 decides that it is A. Vaseyi Scribn. & Smith 

 or some other species, another change must 

 ensue. It seems to be a case of he laughs 

 best who laughs last. 



The object of reciting this piece of nomen- 

 clatorial history, which might be duplicated 

 many times, is to point out the mischief 

 which arises from allowing a specific name 

 to have priority over a binomial. I am not 

 sure that the Eochester Code compels this, 

 but it seems to have been so interpreted by 

 many botanists. 



Eule 3, as given in Britton and Brown's 

 ' Illustrated Flora,' states that : ' In the trans- 

 fer of a species to a genus other than the 

 one under which it was first published, the 

 original specific name is to be retained.' This 

 is unequivocal, as no exceptions are made. 

 Eule 5 seems to prohibit the use of Agropyron 

 spicatum for any species later than that to 

 which it was first applied. (Eule 5 : ' The 

 • publication of a generic name or binomial 

 invalidates the use of the same name for any 



