74 
THE PLANT WORLD. 
Puccinia as Puccinia poculiformis (Jacq.), as Wettstein has done. 
For that would imply that Jacquin under his Lycoperdon po'culi- 
forme had meant the Puccinia graminis Pers., and that Wettstein 
having' in fact recognized this, had only transferred a circum¬ 
scribed and definite species into another genus. This is, how¬ 
ever,” continues Dr. Magnus, “altogether false. Jacquin had 
really no idea of the Puccinia graminis Pers., which Persoon had 
first comprehended and described. Now as the characters of the 
genus, to which this fungus belongs, and also the specific charac¬ 
ters in large part, are directly derived from the teleutosporic form, 
the fungus should, therefore, retain the first name given to this 
characteristic teleutosporic form, which in this case is Puccinia 
graminis Pers.” Dr. Magnus proceeds fi> give other examples 
of what he considers the wrong and the right way of applying 
names to polymorphous fungi, but what I have taken will answer 
sufficiently well for a text. The same ideas have recently been 
expressed in quite similar language by Professor P. A. Saccardo,* 
in stating his rules for guidance in describing and naming fungi, 
and some years ago were presented in a more extended form by 
Dr. W. G. Farlowf in his comments on the third and eleventh 
centuries of Ellis’ exsiccati. 
There is no difference of opinion among the parties to this con¬ 
troversy regarding the desirability of using the oldest specific 
name for all 'fungi, and other plants as well, providing the name 
selected has been properly established. But is a name given to 
a secondary form of the fungus worthy of recognition under the 
law of priority; that is the question. Leaving aside the matter 
of expediency, it seems to me that the answer depends upon what 
is implied by a name. 
When a name is given to a new plant, does that name apply 
to all parts of the plant, even if the author of the name does not 
specifically mention certain of them, of which in fact he may 
have no knowledge; and does it cover the plant in all its forms, 
even such as the author did not know existed; or must the name 
* Ann. Myc. 2: 195-8; English translation in Jour. Myc. 10: 109-112. 
1904. 
r Proc. Amer. Acad. Sci. 18: 66-69. 1883. 
