1910] BRIEFER ARTICLES 221 
Of the three sections into which the congress was divided for the special 
work of the week, perhaps the most important was the ‘“‘Section on nomen- 
clature.” The meetings of this section were held on the Exposition grounds 
in Festival Hall. 
As is well known, the Vienna Congress in 1905 selected LinNAEvs’ 
Species plantarum (1753) as the starting point for the nomenclature of 
the seed plants (Spermatophytes) and vascular cryptogams (Pteridophytes). 
It also established the general principles and codified the rules which form 
the rules of nomenclature jor plants. In dealing with the ‘cellular crypto- 
gams”’ certain problems were presented which the Vienna Congress decided 
should have special consideration, namely the question of different, later 
starting points for the nomenclature of different groups of the “cellular 
cryptogams,” and the problems connected with the nomenclature of the 
fungi possessing a pleomorphic life cycle. 
As to the starting point for the nomenclature of plants, it is well known 
that there were two opinions, as follows: (1) that there should be a single 
date recognized for the beginning of the nomenclature of all plants; this 
opinion was based on the principle of uniformity in time or date as the 
starting point; (2) that there might be several different (multiple) dates 
or starting points for the nomenclature of different groups; this opinion 
was based on the principle that uniformity in the selection of the earliest 
comprehensive work treating a group, large or small, in a somewhat modern 
sense, was of more importance than the principle of uniformity of date. 
Therefore the Vienna Congress wisely decided to refer the consideration of 
the nomenclature of the “cellular cryptogams” to the Brussels Congress 
in 1910, in order that these problems might be studied in the meantime. 
Since it will be several months before the complete proceedings of the 
Brussels Congress can be published, we present here, for the benefit of 
American botanists, a brief statement of the most important legislation 
enacted by the “Section on nomenclature.” 
On Tuesday, the section began the consideration of the motions relating 
to the nomenclature of the “cellular cryptogams,” and, with the exception 
of Thursday, which was devoted wholly to excursions, the work, together 
with the motions relating to paleobotany and phytogeography, was con- 
tinued throughout the week. The different groups were taken up in the 
order in which they were presented in the preliminary publication, including 
the various motions, the result of the preliminary voting by the special 
commissions, the comments of the rapporteur général, and the provisional 
draft of rules. In general session of the section it was voted to postpone 
the consideration of the bacteria, diatoms, and flagellates, and to take 
