14:8 T. Jfolm — Studies in tlte Cyjyeraceoe. 



androgynis," O. liava " spicis sexu distinctis," etc. By study- 

 ing these various rules followed by Linnaeus in disposing of 

 the species, we have often succeeded in identifying several of 

 his critical species. 



But the assumption that Linnaeus should have intended the 

 first species in each genus as being the generic type, has no 

 foundation ; his classification of species seems to us too arti- 

 ficial, as stated above, but has the advantage, on the other 

 hand, of being an excellent guide for determining his species. 

 There are so many variations in his rules for arranging the 

 species, that no critical reader should ever get the impression 

 that the first species was intended to be the lype of the genus ; 

 sometimes the largest and highest developed species, for 

 instance in Stellaria, is the first enumerated, or the lowest one 

 as in Carex / a most complicated classification is exemplified 

 in his Amaryllis and many others, where no attempt has been 

 made to classify the species in anything like a phyletic order, 

 but only in such a way that the determination may be rendered* 

 as easy as possible. The principles of Linnaeus for the estab- 

 lishment of the genera and species must be studied in his 

 Philosophia botanica, where he gives a complete account of 

 the various characters, their meaning and respective import- 

 ance. 



We will now proceed to give a few remarks upon the very 

 comprehensive herbarium of Willdenow in accordance with 

 the criticism offered by Schlechtendahl. We need simply to 

 repeat that most important information that Willdenow's her- 

 barium does not contain specimens of all the species which are 

 enumerated in his Species plantarum. This is readily to be 

 seen from the fact that Willdenow, who made very extensive 

 exchanges with other botanists, very often removed the original 

 specimens when he received better, more completely preserved 

 ones of what "he took to be" the same species. In a number 

 of cases they were not the same, and the original ones were 

 sent out in exchange for others. Furthermore that Willdenow, 

 like Linnaeus, put many plants in his herbarium " ad interim" 

 under certain species, which he desired to keep for future 

 studies, but many of these were never studied or more care- 

 fully compared. Last, not least, when Willdenow died a num- 

 ber of specimens and labels were mixed in such cases, where 

 more than one had been laid on the same sheet. Willdenow's 

 herbarium must, therefore, always be treated with the greatest 

 precaution when the intention is to match his species in the 

 herbarium with the diagnoses of the respective species in his 

 Species plantarum, with the only exception of the Ferns, 

 which are said to have been left in good order and so far undis- 

 turbed. So much concerning Willdenow's herbarium, which 



