MIDLAND NATURALIST. 79 
somewhat like a peare, and not being so familiar with the growing 
of Figs, sent it vnto vs by the name of the prickly Peare, from 
which name many have supposed it to be a Peare indeede but were 
therein deceiued.”” 
We infer from this that the plants of Opuntia that 
Parkinson knew had but few of the fine small prickles, though he does 
not mention that he had seen them without these. 
Dodonaeus in 1583 and 1618} states that spineless cacti were 
found though rarely. 
Rembertus Dodonaeus Cruydt Boeck, 1618, Tot Antwerpen 
inde Plantynsche  Druckerije (Dutch, sth Ed.) p. 1274. 
“Voorts zoo zijn deze bladdren langworpich an breedt somtijts 
dicker dan eenen duym ende daertwt steeken veele witte dunne 
lange en scherpe doornkens maer somtijts doch heel selden en hebben 
sij geen doornkens met allen.” Translated. ‘‘Moreover these leaves 
are long and broad and sometimes thicker than one’s thumb. From 
these spring many long thin white thorns. Sometimes, however, 
but very seldom they have no thorns at att." 
As to the name of the plant Dodonaeus says here also that the 
plant was mostly called Tune or Tunas, | and he gives a binary 
name for it Tunas Americanum. Opuntia is also given as a 
synonyme, but the Opuntia of Pliny certainly was not our 
American plant. The name was mistakenly applied from Pliny by 
the early herbalists, because he said that the plant rooted from the 
leaves. Pliny applied the name to the other unknown plant be- 
cause it was found around Opuns a city in Greece near the ancient 
city of Phocis. The oldest valid name for our plant is then that of 
Dodonaeus Tune or Tunas Americanum for we may yet find what 
the Opuntia of Pliny really is, and the Opuntia applied to our 
cactaceous, genus will then be a synonyme. The application of 
ancient plant names to newly discovered or segregated plants is 
objectionable as when last applied they are virtually synomymes. 
Linnaeus was one of the greatest offenders against this rule, and 
the practice is not yet obsolete. 
Stirpium Historiae Pemptades sex, Antwerpiae, 1583, p. 802. 
* Rembertus Dodonaeus, Stirpium Historia Pemptades Sex. 1583. 
+ Rembertus Dodonaeus Cruydt Boeck volgens sijne Laetste Verbeete- 
ringen. Dutch 5th Edition. 1618. | 
t Theophrasti Eresii de Historia Plantarum libri decem. Comment. 
Joannes Bodaeus A. Stapel. 1644. 
