Now that some of the old literature is available online, it is possible to clarify a number of troublesome nomenclatural points that long remained obscure owing to the difficulty of accessing the publications concerned. Here I discuss two early publications: the Primitiae Florae Holsaticae of F. H. Wiggers, and the Flore Agenaise of J. F. B. de Saint-Amans.
Wiggers' Primitiae Florae Holsaticae discusses 93 species of lichens and introduces 47 new names and combinations, many of which are still in use, for example Cladonia subulata and Usnea hirta. Authorship of these new names has been variously ascribed to “F. H. Wigg.”, “Weber ex F. H. Wigg.” or “Weber”. As shown below, the only correct form is “F. H. Wigg.”.
When discussing a lichen, Wiggers sometimes cites authors of earlier publications in which the same lichen was mentioned (either under the name used by Wiggers or under a different name). Weber is one of the authors cited, though he is not cited especially often, and he is not singled out in any way. When Wiggers introduces a new name he never explicitly ascribes it to anyone, so it must be regarded as his own name unless there is evidence elsewhere in Primitiae Florae Holsatiae that he intended to ascribe it to some other particular author. Article 46.7 of the Code, and Example 35 which immediately follows it, clearly illustrate this point.
Weber has become entangled in this because two sentences in the Preface mention him. The first of those sentences reads: Nomina pleraque LINNAEANA sunt, reliqua celeberrimi Praeceptoris WEBERI, ex scriptis & praelectionibus eiusdem collecta, aut aliorum auctorum, quos suo quemque loco nominatos invenies. [Names are taken from the writings and lectures of, for the most part, Linnaeus; the rest from [my] illustrious teacher Weber, or from other authors cited by them.] This sentence is too vague to allow us to associate the name of any particular botanist with any particular new name published by Wiggers. Even careful scrutiny of the published works of Linnaeus and Weber would not help, as we have absolutely no idea what Linnaeus and Weber said in their lectures. The other sentence reads: Novam quam libellus tradit cryptogamicarum plantarum dispositionem, sed nondum ab omni parte absolutam, ex praelectionibis celeberrimi WEBERI, hausi. [I prepared this small, but still imperfect, book, which relates a new arrangement of cryptogamic plants, from the lectures of the illustrious Weber.] Although this suggests that Weber may have been the source of some, or even all, of the new names published by Wiggers, it does not explicitly say that he was, and other interpretations are possible.
Since nothing written by Wiggers explicitly ascribes any particular new name in Primitiae Florae Holsaticae to Weber, it is not correct to cite the author of any name as “Weber ex F. H. Wigg.”. There is even less justification for using “Weber”. They must all be ascribed to F. H. Wigg. (It may be worth noting that, since Wiggers only published once on lichens, it is never correct to use “Weber ex F. H. Wigg.” in the lichenological literature.)
New lichen names in the Flore Agenaise of Saint-Amans have variously been ascribed to “St.-Amans”, “Chaub. ex St.-Amans”, and “Chaub.”. On page 8, Saint-Amans writes: Je ne saurais surtout assez publier les obligations que j'ai, sous ces divers rapports, à M. Chaubard, dont j'ai eu tant d'occasions d'apprécier le zèle, les connoisances et la sagacité; plusiers genres difficiles, les mousses, les lichens, lui appartiennent en entier. [I can not adequately acknowledge my debt on many matters to M. Chaubard, whose enthusiasm, knowledge and wisdom I have noted on many occasions; several difficult genera, mosses, lichens, belong entirely to him.] In other words, Chaubard wrote the whole of the section on lichens. New names must, therefore, be ascribed to Chaubard alone, for example Caloplaca haematites (Chaub.) Zwackh, Lecanora pruinosa Chaub. It is not correct to use “Chaub. ex St.-Amans” or “St.-Amans”.
The name Verrucaria circumscripta Chaub. is validly published on page 484 of Flore Agenaise (1821); it may be a synonym of V. viridula. Chaubard's name renders illegitimate the later Verrucaria circumscripta Taylor (1836), in Mackay, Flora Hibernica 2: 96–97, a synonym of Peterjamesia circumscripta and usually assumed to be its basionym. Taylor's epithet circumscripta was combined into Sagedia by Leighton (Reference Leighton1851: 24) in The British Species of Angiocarpous Lichens, and fortunately this was before any other epithet had been used for this lichen. Leighton's name is legitimate (Article 58.1). The name Peterjamesia circumscripta can thus be retained, but it should be cited as P. circumscripta (Leight.) D. Hawksw., and its basionym is Sagedia circumscripta Leight.
