278 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



California to Utah: also found in South America and 

 New Zealand. Scapes and heads shorter and stouter than 

 in 31. minimus. 



M. sessilis, Watson. Flowers nearly sessile: fruiting 

 heads stout, conical, 2—6 lines long: carpels with a straight, 

 erect beak. — Proc. Am. Acad. xvii. 362. 



Very near the last, and probably only a variety of it, cor- 

 responding to var. apus of the first species. Found thus far 

 only in Oregon, by the Howell brothers. 



M. cupulatus, Watson 1. c. Scapes slender: heads long- 

 conical : carpels cupulate by a raised, thickened, orbicular, 

 light-colored margin, and with a broadly triangular, ascend- 

 ing beak in place of the costa. 



New Mexico and Arizona; first collected by the writer on 

 the upper Gila, in 1880, and distributed by him as M. aris- 

 tatus, Mr. Watson detecting the specific characters. It is 

 an excellent species, not likely to be found approaching any 

 of the preceding or the following new one. 



•*# 



Spur short and blunt. 



M. alopecuroides. Scapes an inch or two high, stout 

 and gradually thicker above: heads stout, conical, 3 — 6 

 lines long: back of carpel elongated, with a wide, spread- 

 ing, brownish margin, and a laterally compressed, very 

 prominent, spreading beak. 



Antioch, 1884; Mrs. M. K. Curran. 



The back of the carpel is quite as peculiar as in 31. cupu- 

 latus, yet very unlike. The heads themselves, with their 

 numerous, spreading, or often somewhat recurved beaks, 

 are very suggestive of the spikes of certain grasses. 



Myosurus Shortii, Eaf. in Sillim. Jour. i. 379, is doubt- 

 less correctly referred to 31. minimus, but specimens col- 

 lected by T. Drummond at New Orleans, in 1832, and dis- 



