GENERIC TYPES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO GRASSES 25 1 
edition of Linnaeus's Genera Plantarum which appeared the following 
year. There are no descriptions of genera in the former work, these 
being set forth in the latter. Linnaeus often cites, in that place, a 
figure in some earlier work which may determine the type. Under 
Coix is cited Tournefort's plate 302, which represents the first of 
the two species above mentioned. We are thus justified in selecting 
this species as the type of Coix. 
Erianthus Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer. i: 54. 1803. Michaux 
describes 2 species, E. saccharoides and E. hreviharhis. He derives 
the generic name from two Greek words meaning hairy flower because 
the flowers are involucrate with very dense wool. The first species is 
selected as the type because the spikelets are very woolly, while in the 
second species the hairs are short. 
Andropogon L. Sp. PI. 1045. 1753. Linnaeus describes 12 
species. The reference in the Genera Plantarum is *'Roy. lugdb. 
52," that is, the Flora Leydensis, published in 1740, in which Royen, 
the author, describes 2 species of Andropogon. I think the type 
should be selected from these two. There is no reason to think that 
one of these was more familiar than the other to Linnaeus or to Royen. 
Andropogon virginicus is selected as the type because this has priority 
of position in the Species Plantarum, and because this selection retains 
the generic name for the group universally known as Andropogon. 
The other species, A. hirtus, belongs to the genus or subgenus Cym- 
bopogon. If A. hirtus were made the type of Andropogon, that name 
would have to be applied to the group now known as Cymbopogon and 
the genus long known as Andropogon would have to receive a different 
name. Logical typification may lead to confusing shifting of names, 
but confusion should not be brought about by the arbitrary selection 
of the type species. 
HoLCUS L. Sp. PL 1047. 1753. Seven species are described by 
Linnaeus, H. sorghum, the nonsaccharine sorghum, H. saccharatus, 
the sweet sorghum, H. halepensis, the Johnson grass, H. lanatus, the 
velvet grass, and three other little-related species. The nomenclatorial 
history of these species shows a conflict between concept and fact, 
between what should have been done and what was done. The first 
3 species were segregated from the others in 1763 by Adanson who 
applied to them the old pre-Linnaean name Sorghum. The last three 
of the original 7 species were assigned to other genera, leaving under 
Holcus the remaining species, H. lanatus. This procedure was equiva- 
