272 The Scottish Naturalist. 



fer or fiur\ grass ; corcuir, crimson or purplish. In some 

 parts of the Highlands the plant is called brabau (Stewart.) 



Glyceria. — From Greek, yXvxvs, sweet, in allusion to the 

 foliage. 



G. fluitans — Floating sweet grass. Mi/scan uisge, millteach 

 uisge, — perhaps from millse, sweetness. Horses, cattle, and 

 swine are fond of this grass, which only grows in watery places. 

 Trout (Salmo fario) eat the seeds greedily. The name millteach 

 is frequently applied to grass generally as well as to Triglochin 

 palustre (which see). Feur uisge, water-grass. 



Briza. — Quaking-grass. Gaelic and Irish : conan, — conan, a 

 hound, a hero, a rabbit, — may possibly be named after the cele- 

 brated " Cohan Maol" who was known among the Feine for his 

 thoughtless impetuosity. He is called " Aimlisg na Feinne" the 

 mischief of the Fenians. This grass is also called feur gortach, 

 hungry, starving grass. " A weakness, the result of sudden 

 hunger, said to come on persons during a long journey or in 

 particular places, in consequence of treading on the fairy grass ' ; 

 — (Irish Superstitions). Feur sitheih sithe, — literally, a blast of 

 wind ; a phantom, a fairy. The oldest authority in which this 

 word slthe occurs is Tirechan's ' Annotations on the Life of St 

 Patrick,' in the Book of Armagh, and is translated " Dei terreni? 

 or gods of the earth. Crlth fheur, quaking-grass. Grigleann 

 (in Breadalbane), that which is in a cluster, a festoon ; the 

 Gaelic name given to the constellation Pleiades. 



Cynosurus. — Etym. kvuw, a dog, and ovpd, a tail. 



C. cristatus — Crested dog's-tail. Gaelic : goinear, or goin 

 fheur, and sometimes conau (from coin, dogs, and feur, grass). 

 Irish : feur clwinein, dog's grass. 



Festuca. — Gaelic : feisd. Irish : feiste. Latin : fastus and 

 festus. French : feste, now fete. English : feast, as applied to 

 grass, good pasture, or food for cattle. 



F. ovina — Sheep's fescue - grass. Gaelic and Irish: feur 



chaorach. 



" Mln-fheur chaorach. "— M'lNTYRE. 



Soft sheep grass. 



This grass has fine sweet foliage, well adapted for feeding sheep 

 and for producing good mutton — hence the name. But Sir 

 H. Davy has proved it to be less nutritious than was formerly 

 supposed. Mln-fheur (Armstrong), is applied to any soft grass 

 — as Holcus mollis — to a flag, a bulrush; as " mln-fheur gun 

 uisge, - " a bulrush without water (in Job). 



