T. Kirk. — On New Grasses from Macquarie Island. 353 



general appearance, but is readily recognized by the pair of 

 outer glumes, while the lodicules are not ciliated, nor are the 

 styles naked below. The palea is almost coriaceous in fruit- 

 ing specimens. 



I am greatly pleased to attach the name of its original 

 discoverer to this distinct species, if only to acknowledge the 

 great service he has rendered to botanical science by in- 

 vestigating the flora of the Broken Eiver basin and other 

 places in the Southern Alps. 



Art. XLIII. — Description of New Grasses from Macquarie 



Island. 



By T. Kirk, F.L.S. 

 [Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 20th February, 1895.] 



Festuca contracta, n.s. 



Tufted, erect, strict. Leaves erect, strict, 3in.-4in. long, 

 terete or filiform; ligule 0. Panicle strict, narrow, erect, 3in. 

 long, with one or two short branches. Spikelets shortly pedi- 

 cellate, 2-flowered, -|in. long including the awn ; outer glumes 

 unequal, the longest nearly equalling the spikelets, lanceo- 

 late, 5-nerved (two of the nerves obscure in lower glumes). 

 Flowering-glume with a short dorsal awn springing from just 

 below the apex ; palea scarcely ciliate, grain large. Glumes 

 minutely scabrid. 



Hab. Macquarie Island ; A. Hamilton ! (1894). 



Originally discovered by Professor Scott, whose specimens 

 were too immature for satisfactory identification. 



Poa hamiltonii, n.s. 



Culms leafy to the base of the panicle, erect, 6in.-9in. 

 high. Leaves flat, spreading, exceeding the panicle ; ligule 

 ovate, laciniate, the laciniae produced into long hair-like points. 

 Panicle 3in.-4in. long, strict, narrow, lower branches lin.— 2in. 

 long. Spikelets pedicellate, 2-3-flowered ; outer glumes un- 

 equal, the outermost less than half the length of the inner. 

 Flowers never webbed at the base. Flowering-glume nar- 

 row, lanceolate, 5-nerved ; lodicules ovate-acute, grain large, 

 cylindrical. 



Hab. Macquarie Island ; A.Hamilton! (1894). 



A very distinct species allied to P. foliosa, Hook, f., and 

 P. anceps, Forst., but distinguished from both by the leaves 

 23 



