4 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Paris. From an agrostological standpoint the collections at 

 Paris are of great importance. The herbarium is at the Museum 

 d'Histoire Naturelle in the Jardin des Plantes. The general her- 

 barium contains the types of Bonpland, Desvaux, Fournier, Richard, 

 and Steudel. The Michaux Herbarium, the Jussieu Herbarium, 

 and the Lamarck Herbarium are severally segregated. The Cosson 

 Herbarium recently acquired by the Museum contains many Poiret 

 types. The private herbarium of Drake de Castillo, now located at 

 Rue de Balzac 2, and containing the Franqueville Herbarium, has 

 come under the control of the Museum. Here are many duplicate 

 types of Michaux and Richard, and a set of Schaffner's Mexican 

 plants. 



Prague. To Americans the most important plants here are those 

 collected by Haenke and described by C. B. and J. S. Presl in Reli- 

 quiae Haenkeanae. A part of the grasses are at the Museum des 

 Konigreichs Bohmen and a part at the Botanischer Garten of the 

 German University. 



St. Petersburg. The herbarium of the Botanical Garden con- 

 tains the Mexican collections of Karwinsky and F. Mueller, among 

 which are several of Fournier' s types. To agrostologists a very 

 important herbarium is that of Trinius at the Academie Imperiale 

 des Sciences de St. Petersbourg. This is kept apart from the general 

 herbarium. 



Stockholm. The herbarium of the Naturhistoriska Riksmuseum 

 contains the types of Fries and Lindman from South America and, 

 segregated, the Swartz Herbarium of West Indian plants. 



Vienna. The most important herbarium is that of the Kaiser- 

 liches und Konigliches Naturhistorisches Hofmuseum. 



type specimens. 



As indicated in a previous paper a the type specimen of a species 

 is that specimen or one of the specimens from which the author 

 drew up the description, or the specimen which the author had chiefly 

 in mind when writing the description. Not infrequently the descrip- 

 tion is based upon a single specimen, in which case there is no doubt 

 as to what specimen is the type. Sometimes the author had several 

 specimens at hand, in which case it becomes necessary to determine, 

 if possible, which specimen represented to the author his ideal of the 

 species. This may be shown, in case the author has designated no 

 type, by the specific name, which may indicate a collector or locality, 

 or by a careful comparison of the description, and especially of notes, 

 with the specimens, or by some note upon the sheets of specimens 

 which the author is known to have had before him at the time of 



a Hitchcock, Types of American Grasses, Contr. Nat. Herb. 12: 113. 1908. 





