DISCUSSION ON HYHENOPHYLLUM. 19 



this subject, one whose name was very dear to all botanists, Sir W. J. 

 Hooker, had passed away from this world ; and also one whose name was 

 equally dear to many of the older members of this Society, Dr. J. It. 

 Kinahan, and that both of these had believed, with the President and 

 Mr. Andrews, that the fern in question was a good and distinct species, 

 not to be confounded with H. Tunhridgense. On this point he would not 

 dwell further than to state, that he had since then seen no reason to 

 change his opinion on the subject ; and that Mr. G. Bentham, in the last 

 edition of his " Manual of British Botany," still places them as one 

 species. But he would wish to make some few observations on the sub- 

 ject of the name of Wilsoni, presuming for the moment that it was a 

 distinct species. Although he knew that it was not always possible to 

 avoid it, yet he thought it very wrong to give the names of places or 

 individuals as specific names. Sometimes it was almost impossible to 

 spell such names ; as who could be expected to be up to the etymology 

 of such words as mahabuleshwarensis — the specific name of a Besmid ? 

 But, apart from this view of the question, it appeared to him that if H. 

 Wilsoni (Hooker) really turned out to be the same as S. unilateral 

 (Bory St. Yincent), it was necessary that the prior name should stand ; 

 and that it was not right to state that, in retaining it, the English bota- 

 nists were ungenerously " depriving Mr. "Wilson of any merit." If 

 Mr. Wilson himself could determine one of his own species of mosses 

 to be the same as one that had previously been described by some other 

 botanists, he felt sure that, even if he had named it after his dearest 

 friend, he would at once sink his own specific name to the rank of a 

 synonym. If Mr. Andrews had forwarded an authentic specimen of JET. 

 Wilsoni to Bory St. Yincent, and then had the information returned to 

 him that it was distinct from S. unilaterale, in that case, of course, the 

 matter was at an end, and all the synonymic lists of this fern should be at 

 once altered; but he did not understand that this was the case, and Sir W. 

 J. Hooker, in his " Species Filicum," says that, according to a specimen 

 from Martius, the H. unilaterale of Willdenow is //. Tunhridgense ; at 

 the same time that he states that, according to Willdenow's description, 

 S. unilaterale is the same as H. Wilsoni — leaving it, therefore, not so 

 very improbable that Willdenow may have drawn up his description 

 from a genuine specimen of H. Wilsoni, and not simply copied that of 

 Bory St. Yincent. As to Mr. Andrews's statement, that because there 

 were no specimens in existence the name could not stand, he only al- 

 luded to it, afraid that junior members of the Society might fancy this was 

 one of the rules of nomenclature, whereas in very many instances, in 

 some cases in whole orders, the original type specimen could not be pre- 

 served ; and yet here, as a matter of course, the descriptions held good 

 to determine them. Br. Wright regarded this matter as one of some 

 little importance, so far as the synonymic list of one of these two plants 

 was concerned ; but he, for one, would not be sorry if the final result 

 was to definitely affix the name given to one of them by the amiable 

 and revered Hooker, in memory of one who was himself a veteran bo- 

 tanist, and whom he held in such high respect as Mr. Wilson. 



