Jan., I92i] CHASE — THE LINNAEAN CONCEPT OF PEARL MILLET 47 
From the foregoing it seems quite probable that, as in the case of 
subsequent authors, Linnaeus sometimes had very vague or confused 
''concepts" and that, Hke many another busy author, he ''revised" his 
books with a pair of scissors and a paste cup. May it not be possible, 
even, that some of the students whose botanical papers form Linnaeus's 
numerous Dissertationes academicae, wielded the scissors and paste brush 
for him? At any rate the revisions do not show careful reconsideration. 
Should subsequent changes of diagnoses, that in each case serve to blend 
further the diverse elements, outweigh the original almost clear application 
of the name Panicum glaucum to pearl millet? 
So much for Linnaeus's concept; now to take a rapid survey of the 
species as treated by subsequent botanists. Pearl millet was not generally 
confused with other species, but there were diverse views as to its proper 
generic position, all realizing that it did not belong to either Panicum or 
Holcus. In Murray's revision of Linnaeus's Systema Vegetabilium, 1774, 
he placed Panicum alopecuroides (itself uncertain as shown above, but 
applied to pearl millet by Murray) in Alopecurus (A. indica). Cavanilles 
in 1802 placed it in Cenchrus. In 1805 L. Richard (in Persoon's Synopsis 
Plantarum) established the genus Pennisetum for this and allied species, 
renaming pearl millet P. typhoidetim, possibly, because of the confusion in 
the Linnaean names, wishing to reject them all. In 1809 Willdenow, 
apparently unacquainted with the recently published Pennisetum, proposed 
Penicillaria for pearl millet. Running through the more important subse- 
quent botanical works containing the species we find: 
Pennisetum typhoideum used by Persoon, 1805; Sprengel, 1825; Trinius, 
1826, 1834; Steudel, 1854; Hooker, 1896; Stapf, 1898; Watt, 1892, 1908; 
Trimen, 1900; Battandier and Trabut, 1902; Cooke, 1908. 
Penicillaria spicata used by Willdenow, 1809; Roemer and Schultes, 
1817; Link, 1821; Kunth, 1823; Nash, 1903. 
Pennisetum americanum used by Schumann, 1895; Leeke, 1907; Hitch- 
cock, 1908. 
Pennisetum spicatum used by Kornicke, 1885; Beal, 1887. 
Pennisetum glaucum used by Stuntz, 19 14; Hitchcock, 1920. (Brown 
used this name for yellow foxtail.) 
Panicum spicatum used by Roxburgh, 1820. 
Cenchrus spicatus used by Poiret in Lamarck's Encyclopedia, 18 16. 
It will be seen that Pennisetum typhoideum has been the favorite in 
recent years but has not had a majority. 
In 1916 Drs. Schinz and Thellung discussed the case. They state that 
Panicum glaucum L., 1753, is a composite (Sammelart) of three different 
species. [If the citations given as belonging to the species itself as well as 
j8 and 7 are included, it contains six.] The authors further state that in 
1759 (in the Systema) Linnaeus himself restricted the name to his earlier 
