142 

 CORRESPONDENCE 



Duplicate Binomials 



For over one hundred and fifty years the American Philosoph- 

 ical Society "held at Philadelphia" has been engaged in the 

 laudable task of "promoting useful knowledge" ; and, on the 

 whole it must be admitted that its efforts have been crowned 

 with success. What must be the surprise, however, of botanists 

 and zoologists everywhere when they learn of the latest proposi- 

 tion contained in the proceedings of this ancient body. On pages 

 263 and 264 of the current volume, "printed Aug. 7, 1903," we 

 are favored with a contribution from the pen of an Italian scien- 

 tist, the burden of which is indicated by the following quota- 

 tions : 



" In my note . . . published in the Bulletin of the Italian 

 Malacological Society (Vol. x, 1884), I have proposed to retain 

 the original Linnean names for the species, though this may have 

 been chosen to denote the genus. For instance, the name of My a 

 vulsella L. . . . has been changed in Vulsella lingulata. The 

 name of Ostrea malleus L. has been changed in Malleus vulgaris 

 Lamk. I have proposed in similar cases to retain the original 

 name of the species. ... So I have proposed to call these spe- 

 cies Vulsella vulsella (L.), Malleus malleus (L.). My proposi- 

 tion has been accepted by many malacologists. ... I think that 

 this modification might be conveniently adopted also for plants 

 as well as animals. ... I call the attention of zoologists and 

 botanists to this interesting innovation." [!] 



Perhaps it is expecting too much of an Italian malacologist 

 that he should be informed of the current usage of many Ameri- 

 can botanists, or even American zoologists ; perhaps he could 

 not be expected to be familiar with Karsten's Deutsche Flora 

 (1880-1883), with its eighty duplicate binomials {Amelanchier 

 Amelanchier, ArcJiaugclica Archangelica, Aruncus Aruncus, Ba- 

 tatas Batatas, Bellidiastrum Bellidiastrum, Calamagrostis Calama- 

 grostis, Calamiutha Calamintha, Camphora Camphora, Canclla 

 Canclla, etc.), or with Hill's Hortus Kewensis, published during the 

 lifetime of Linnaeus, in which occur the names Calcitrapa Calci- 



