370 
and distributed under the manuscript name Ceratoschenus bre- 
virostris, n. sp. I am indebted to Mr. C. B. Clarke for the de- 
termination. The following description may serve for its identi- 
fication: Stem erect, rather stout, 3-9 dm. high, glabrous. Leaves 
linear, flat, the lower 3-4 dm. long, 6-8 mm. wide, slightly rough- 
ened on the margins, those of the stem distant, shorter; spikelets 
lanceolate 6-10 mm. long, three to five-flowered in corymbose 
clusters, the rays slender, unequal, 214-5 cm. long; clusters com- 
posed of three to five spikelets; glumes brown, ovate, acute, 
mucronate, the fertile ones larger than the sterile; nut brown, 
ovate or obovate, compressed, slightly concave on each face, 
3-4 mm. long, finely puncticulate, with a rather prominent keel 
on both edges; beak black, compressed, conic, about as long as 
the nut, slightly papillose, bristles slender, unequal, the larger 
equaling or slightly exceeding the nut, finely barbed upwardly. 
The Texan specimen differs from the Cuban only in its 
larger and denser clusters and somewhat narrower nut. The 
species comes next to R. corniculata, (Lam.) 
STENOPHYLLUS, Raf. Neogen. 4 (1825). 
This proposed genus of Rafinesque is briefly characterized by 
him and Scirpus stenophyllus, Ell. named as the type. This plant 
isthe same as Dichroma cespitosa, Muhl., and was transferred to 
Isolepis by Dr. Torrey in his monograph of the North American 
Cyperacee (Ann. Lyc. N. Y. iii. 353, 1836). In 1837 Kunth 
(Enum. ii. 209) independently referred it to /so/epis, but under a 
section which he proposed should forma genus under the name 
Bulbostylis, although he did not name the species under that 
genus. I allude to Rafinesque’s genus, here because Mr. C. B. 
Clarke has sent me specimens of the Indian /solepis barbata, a 
very closely allied species under the name Bulbostylis barbata, 
and informe me that he has adopted Kunth’s genus as distinct 
from /imébristylis and Scirpus in his forthcoming monograph of 
the Cyperacee. Rafinesque’s generic name has twelve years 
priority over Kunth’s. Our Fimbristylis capillaris (L.) and a 
number of tropical American species are congeners. The genus 
is especially distinguished by the thickened, persistent base of the 
style, and most of its species have ciliate leaves. 
