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BIBLIOGEAPHICAL NOTE. 

 XLIX. — Pateick Browne's ' Natural History of Jamaica.' 



In his admirable work on the Civil and Natural History of 

 Jamaica, the first edition of which appeared in 1756, Patrick 

 Browne describes a considerable number of species under new 

 generic names. Many of these names have been adopted by 

 Linn£eus {Systema, ed. 10, 1759) and subsequent authors, but the 

 method of citing them in various modern systematic works 

 suggests that there is some confusion as to their exact status. 

 For instance, in the Keiu Index they are cited as of Browne — some- 

 times, but by no means generally, with the addition of the refer- 

 ence to a subsequent author. Another method of citation, that 

 adopted in the Vienna List of nomina conservanda, is to insert the 

 reference to Browne within brackets, followed by reference to a 

 later author, thus — " Trichilia [P. Br. Hist. Jamaica (1756) 278] 

 L. Syst. ed. 10 (1759) 1020." This form of citation implies 

 (correctly) that Browne did not describe the genus, and that it 

 was first published by Linnaeus ; the insertion of the reference to 

 Browne's work is merely of bibliographical interest. 



Browne published no genera ; his descriptions are of species 

 only. The genus name is printed in capitals in front of each 

 species descrip'cion, which is preceded by a number, 1, 2, 3, and 

 so on, e. g. " SECHIUM 1. Foliis cordato-angulatis, racemis 

 minoribus ad alas." His generic names are, in fact, precisely 

 similar to those given by Linnaeus in the Species Pkmtarum 

 (1753), which stand from that date only by special legislation ; see 

 International Eules, Art. 38 : " The mere indication of species as 

 belonging to a new genus .... does not allow us to accept the 

 genus as characterized and effectively pubhshed. An exception 

 is made in the case of the generic names mentioned by Linnaeus in 

 the Species Plantarum, ed. 1, 1753, names which we associate with 

 the descriptions in the Genera Plantarum, ed. 5, 1754." 



It is therefore somewhat surprising to find that several of the 

 nomina conservanda are included with reference solely to the pre- 

 sumed earlier names given by Patrick Browne. Thus Cecropia L. 

 (1758), Xylopia L. (1759), Weinmannia L. (1759), Mucima Adans. 

 (1763), Securinega Comm. ex Juss. (1789), Omphalea L. (1759), 

 Lcetia Loefl. (1758), Stemodia L. (1759), PsycJiotria L. (1759) 

 appear in the List solely because they are presumably antedated by 

 names starting from Patrick Browne and subsequently taken up 

 by other authors, sometimes as recent as the late Dr. Otto Kuntze. 

 These names may therefore be eliminated from the List, which 

 (see Art. 20) was compiled to avoid changes in the nomenclature of 

 genera occasioned "by the strict application of the rules of nomen- 

 clature." Under no recognized rule of nomenclature can the names 

 as originated by Patrick Browne take precedence of or compete 

 with subsequently published names. A list of nomina conservanda 

 should be kept within limits as narrow as possible, and it is to be 

 hoped that unnecessary entries will be omitted in later editions. 



A. B. Rendlk. 



