REPORT ON THE BOTANY OF THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 89 



extending to many of the islands, including New Zealand, and to some of the remote 

 islets, including the Bermudas. Another species of the same genus, Sporobolus virginicus, 

 Kunth, is almost universally spread in maritime districts, in tropical and subtropical 

 regions, and was one of the few plants found in South Trinidad by Sir Joseph Hooker. 

 The grain of these grasses is exceedingly small, that of Sporobolus indicus being about 

 -^th of an inch long and ^th of an inch broad, hence the means by which they may be 

 conveyed from place to place are almost infinite. Roxburgh regarded his " Agrostis 

 pnrpurascens" as indigenous ; Eurchell's n. 40, which we take to be the same plant, was 

 collected "by the road near Miss Mason's and in the road near Forster's;" but Burchell 

 says nothing as to its being native or otherwise. Melliss sent a specimen of the same grass 

 to Kew in 1863, labelled " St Helena," but not localised. It may be worth while reproduc- 

 ing Roxburgh's descriptive note in support of our identification : — " Indigenous on the hills 

 of St Helena, where it grows to be from two to three feet high; perfectly erect, very naked 

 of leaves, as they are only few in number, but short and very slender. The inflorescence is 

 a long slender panicle composed of numerous small, simple, or compound appressed branches, 

 crowded with numerous short-pedicelled, smooth flowers. Calycine valves unequal, scarce 

 half the length of the corolla, which has its two valves nearly equal and rather acute ; but 

 nothing like an awn either here or to the calyx." 



Agrostis simulans, Hem si. 



Agrostis simulans, Hemsl., n. sp. 



In aspect and structural character this is so near the European Agrostis alba, var. 

 stolonifera, as to require close examination in order to find any tangible differences. The 

 late General Munro had marked it as a " good species," and after a careful comparison we 

 have adopted his view. Yet it is not easy to draw up a description that would exclude 

 every other species. Perhaps it will be better to indicate the differences rather than 

 merely describe the plant. Of the same habit of growth as Agrostis stolonifera, Agrostis 

 simulans has more slender culms and smaller leaves, with scarcely any trace of a ligule 

 in the place of the prominent one of the former species. The branches of the panicle are 

 fewer and relatively longer, and ultimately become nearly horizontal ; and the pale is 

 smaller in comparison than in Agrostis stolonifera. — Hook., Ic. PL, t. 1455. 



There are copious specimens collected by various travellers, and they all exhibit the 

 differences indicated. 



St Helexa.— Endemic. Sandy Bay— Burchell, 36 ; Diana's Peak, above 2000 feet— 

 Hooker, 269 ; without locality — Melliss, in 1863. 



In his manuscript notes Burchell states that this grass was abundant in pastures in 



the interior of the island. 



(bot. chall. exp. — part ii. — 1884.) B " 



