ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 5 



Palese very unequal, chartaceous ; lower oblong, seven-nerved, all except the 

 middle one evanescent at about two-thirds the length of the palea ; scabrous, 

 largely scarious margined and pointed ; upper palea spathulate, bicarinate, cili- 

 ate, one-third shorter than the lower. 



Ovary obovate, contracted near the truncated apex, sessile, smooth ; styles 

 terminal, divergent ; stigmas plumose ; pilis fasciculate, minutely serrate ; 

 squammulse very small, connate, entire ; stamens three ; caryopsis ? 



Root perennial ; culms upright, terate, striate, one and one-half feet high, 

 very brittle ; sheaths striate, scabrous ; ligula exserted, lacerated ; leaves nar- 

 row, one-sixteenth to two-sixteenths of an inch wide, acuminate, outside and 

 margins scabrous, (four to seven inches long) striately nerved, upright, nearly 

 appressed. 



Raceme upright, rather simple ; branchlets smooth, appressed, few-flowered ; 

 pedicels pubescent at the angle. 



Collected by Mr. George W. Dunn, at Silver City, Nevada Territory. 



Regular Meeting, February 2d, 1863. 

 President in the Chair. 



Present, fourteen members. 



Prof. P. P. Carpenter, of Manchester, England, was elected a 

 Corresponding Member. 



Donations to the Cabinet were received as follows : 



Three jars of reptiles and fishes, collected by Mr. J. Xantus, in 

 Lower California, and mostly near Cape St. Lucas, were presented 

 by Mr. Samuel Hubbard. 



Donations to the Library : 



Volumes 1-27 of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, by H. G. 

 Bloomer. Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, for October, November, and December, 1862, from the 

 Society. Descriptions of shells collected in the Rocky Mountains in 

 1860 by Dr. J. G. Cooper, by T. Bland and J. G. Cooper. 



The Publishing Committee laid volume two of the Proceedings of 

 the Academy, for the years 1858-62, upon the table : it was 

 ordered by the Academy that one hundred copies be sold- to the 

 members at one dollar per copy, and that fifty copies be presented 

 to the Smithsonian Institution for foreign distribution. 



Professor Whitney read the following communication : 



