"^35 MIDLAND NATURALIST. 
desired, still we hope that we have said enough about its ordinary 
characteristics to show that it deserves more than usual attention 
in courses of cytology. 
Notes on the Priority of Certain Plant Names. 
J. A. NIEUWLAND. 
Having had occasion to examine some volumes of early botany 
by authors whose several works came out shortly after the publica- 
tion of the Species Plantarum of Linnaeus, rst Ed. 1753, I found 
that there are a number of genera restored earlier than the dates 
usually quoted in some of our common texts. As the older botanists 
made it a rule to restore the earlier names that Linnaeus suppressed 
rather than create new ones, they are nearly always unanimous 
in the choice of the names applied to any particular restored genus. 
Hitherto most of the following restorations have been credited to 
Adanson, 1763,* but I find that these authors have anticipated 
him in many cases. I shall quote only the title of the book, the 
writer's name, and the date of publication of the volumes referred to. 
DUHAMEL DU MONCEAU. Traite des Arbres et Arbustes, 1755. Also the 
German edition of the above: 1762, 1763. 
HiLL, J. British Herbal, 1756. 
SHaw, T. Travels and Observations Relating to Several Parts of the Levant. 
(In the end of the book.) Collectanea, Specimen Phytographiae 
Africanae, 2nd Ed. 1757. 
Lupwic, C. G. Definitiones Plantarum, 3rd Ed. (by Boehmer,) 1760. 
MORANDI, J. B. Historia Plantarum Practica, 2nd Ed. 1761. 
The following are some of the genera and species restored. 
I shall give the dates when available and indicate at the end of 
each item the hitherto accepted names, authors, and dates. 
1. Persicaria, Hill, 1756, instead of Persicaria, Adanson, 1 763. 
so Persicaria, Shaw, 1757. 
Persicaria, Morandi, 1761. 
Thus the publication of Adanson was preceded also by that 
of both Shaw and Morandi. The genus has been recognized as 
Separate from the Linnaean aggregate Polygonum. Bistorta, 
another of the Polygonum segregates was also restored by Morandi 
* Adanson, M. Familles des Plantes, 1763. 
