PREFACE 
The accompanying paper by A. S. Hitchcock, Systematic Agros- 
tologist of the United States Department of Agriculture, and Agnes 
Chase, Assistant Agrostologist, brings together in a single convenient 
publication our knowledge of the grass flora of the West Indian 
Islands. Though some of the earliest collections of plants sent from 
America to Europe came from the West Indies, and though the flora 
of this region has since been studied by many botanists, no account 
of the grasses of the whole region has hitherto been published. The 
present paper is based upon large collections from practically all the 
islands of the group and upon field studies by both authors. It 
includes 110 genera and 455 species, of which one genus and 17 species 
are new. The new genus, Saugetia, is named in honor of Brother 
Leén, Joseph Sylvestre Sauget, of the Colegio de La Salle, Habana, 
one of the most active of Cuban botanists. 
The brief descriptions, giving the salient characteristics of the 
species and genera, are intended to supplement the keys and confirm 
identifications. To facilitate the use of the work as a manual the 
detailed citation of specimens under each species is omitted. Ap- 
pended to the paper, however, is a list of all the numbered specimens 
of West Indian grasses in the United States National Herbarium. 
Freperick V. Coviue, 
Curator of the United States National Herbarium. 
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