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XXVIIL Defer iptions of five ye Britifh Species of Carex. By "fame: 
Edward Smith, M.D. F.R.S. P.L.S. z 
Read December-3, 1799. 
^ 
 F'TER fo copious a harveft of Britifh Carices as that with 
Which. my learned friend Dr. Goodenough has enriched the 
fecond and third volumes- of our Tranfactions, no great acqui- 
fitions of the fame kind are to be expected. - The cleanings only 
of this ample and well-cultivated field, folately an impenetrable 
wildernefs, have fallen to my lot; and though but about the tithe 
of the crop, I have fpared no pains to colle& and methodize them. 
The value of fuch difcoveries increafes in proportion to what we 
- have already obtained y and I am very well aware how much I am 
indebted, for their perfpicuity and certainty, to the clue my prede- 
ceffor had left me. 
In labouring at the genus Carex for the Flora Britannica, I Buy, 
asin every other inftance, examined the. fubje& throughout, without 
taking any thing for granted; but in no tribe of equal intricacy 
have I found fo little at prefent to correct. What I am now about 
to offer is chiefly the defcription of 5 fpecies, in addition to the 47 
defcribed by Dr. Goodenough. For the difcovery of thefe I am 
entirely obliged to the friends whofe names will hereafter appear. 
. I have ony to anfwer for the fpecific determination of 4 of them. 
_ Of the preceding 47 fpecies the Carex axillaris only has not come 
fo completely under my examination as I could have wifíhed, 
though 
