TI1E TYPE-SPECIES OF PTEKIS 
9 
no. 13, P. aquilina) is European. Pteris aquilina was, it must be 
admitted, the only included species indigenous from the standpoint 
of the author, but it was a very minor element in the original 
assemblage of species, and it ought not now to be selected casually as 
the type of the genus, particularly in view of the subsequent his¬ 
torical facts. These are, that the aquilina element was segregated 
as a new genus, Pteridium , by Scopoli in 1760 ; that this genus has 
for many years past been recognized as valid, and under this name; 
and that the main body of “ Pteris ” species have been consistently 
retained in Pteris by most fern writers. There is nothing to show 
that P. aquilina played any special part in forming the generic 
concept of Linnaeus. Moreover, it is evident that other of the 
included species were known to him in a living condition. Thus 
of the 19 “ Pteris ” species of the Species Plantarum six carry cita- 
tations to “ Pteris ” species of the Hortus Cliffortianus. Of the 
six, the first two are Pteris grand folia and P. long/folia; the third 
is Notholama trichomanoides ; the fourth is P)oryopteris pedata ; 
the fifth and sixth are Pteridium aquilinum and P. caudatum 
respectively. Five of the six are American, and these were presumably 
known to Linmeus from living cultivated plants. 
Itecapitulating briefly : Of the 19 species of Pteris in the /S Species 
Plantarum eight, or nearly one-half, belong to Pteris as commonly 
understood, while no other genus has more than two. This pre¬ 
ponderance, coupled with historic usage, should be sufficient ground 
for retaining the application of Pteris in the usual sense. Further¬ 
more, of the eight species two (P. grandifolia and P. longifolia ) 
were presumably known to Linnseus in a living condition. The selec¬ 
tion of P. longifolia as the type of Pteris in accordance with tacit 
practice is quite as justifiable as the choice of P. aquilina under the 
former code provision that stipulates for the selection of an indi¬ 
genous species. 
Typification of Pteris through the Genera Plantarum leads to a 
similar conclusion. As above mentioned, there are no citations under 
Ptei'is in the fifth edition (1754). The first edition (1737) contains 
what is, apparently, the first generic use of Pteris by Linnseus. The 
brief diagnosis—“ Fructificationes in lineam, subtus cingentem mar- 
ginem folii, digestse ”—is accompanied by a brief reference to 
“ Malp. 30 ” and by citation of 13 plates of Plunder’s American 
ferns. The Malpighi reference is presumably to plate 51, figure 300 
(not fig. 30), of Anatome Plantarum (1675), representing a small 
conventionalized drawing of a fern segment, doubtless Pteridium 
aquilinum , which is discussed briefly by Malpighi as Filix (page 72). 
The 13 Plunder plates cited are all American, and pertain to at least 
six genera ; six belong to Pteris , and one to Pteridium. 
With a single typographical change, an identical entry occurs in 
the second, third, and fourth editions of the Genera in 1742, 1713, 
and 1752, respectively. There is nothing to show that Linnaeus’s 
concept had undergone any change at the time the fifth edition 
appeared, 1754. 
Typifying the genus on the basis of the first four editions of the 
Genera Plantarum , therefore, it is seen that the basis of Pteris is 
