EDITORIAL. 



After this issue is mailed, the business office of this 

 magazine will be removed to Joliet, Illinois, whither our 

 other publication, the American Botanist, preceded it 

 six months ago. This change is a change of office only, 

 and will have no effect upon the contents or size of the 

 magazine ; in fact, it is quite likely that it will continue to 

 be printed at Binghamton. Letters relating to the maga- 

 zine may continue to be addressed to Binghamton until 

 the end of July, and if mailed later will be promptly for- 

 warded, though in that case they will be better addressed 

 direct to Joilet. In this connection we would again call 

 attention to the fact that we are always willing to supply 

 any missing or defective numbers free of charge. We 

 want subscribers to have complete sets from the time 

 their subscriptions began. Look over your files, and if 

 any numbers are lacking let us know at once. We have 

 very few copies of some issues remaining, and shall soon 

 have to withdraw this offer regarding them. 



A prominent fern student has recently taken the ground 

 that since species are regarded as the units of classifica- 

 tion no attention need be given to varietal or form names, 

 and with this pretext has substituted Isoetes occidentalis 

 for A. A. Eaton's Isoetes paupercida. This species was 

 first described as Isoetes lacustris paupercida, and when 

 Eaton considered it to have specific characters, he rightly, 

 in our opinion, used the varietal name for the species. It 

 makes no difference in this case that Henderson found 

 the plant and mistaking its identity called it /. occidentalis. 

 A plant once named is named, whether first named as a 

 species, variety or form. If not, then the rule should 

 work both ways, and we should be entitled to give new 

 names to every species reduced to a variety. This latter 



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