234 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



character may not, however, be a permanent one, although it is 

 very marked in Warwickshire examples. 



Last autumn the Rev. H. P. Reader sent me a carious Alopecunis 

 collected by him in very wet spots by the Trent near Armitage, 

 Staffordshire. This plant has not the glaucous tint of the Warwick- 

 shire A. hi/hndiis, and the hairs fringing the glumes are finer and 

 less shaggy; but in all other respects it resembles Wimmer's plant, 

 and must, I think, be left under it. It is difficult to understand 

 why Wnnmer named the Silesian novelty A. hybrldus, while doubting 

 its hybrid origin. 



I have not had an opportunity of consulting the specimens 

 named A. promis in Mr. Borrer's herbarium at Kew, but Newbould, 

 who, according to Syme, made a casual examination of them, ex- 

 pressed the opinion that there was a mixture of specimens, or that 

 they were hybrids. If the latter be the case, it is possible, as Mr. 

 Bennett suggests, that they are the same as A. hyhridus. 



I hope that British botanists will keep a look-out for this 

 interesting grass during the present summer. It may possibly 

 prove to be not uncommon in moist meadows. 



P.S. — Since writing this paper, Prof. Hackel has supplied me 

 with further information regarding A. hyhridus, and has also fur- 

 nished me with its distribution on the Continent. The following 

 is an extract from his letter : — 



''Alopecunis hyhridus Wimm. Fl. v. Schles. 3 ed. 31 (1857) is 

 certainly a hybrid oi }>ratensis x genicuJatus; Wimraer himself gave 

 this name [prat, x genie.) for it in Denkschr. Schles. Gesellsch. 149 

 (1853) ; at a later period (1857) he doubted the hybrid nature of 

 the plant, but he was wrong in doing so. The identification with 

 A. nigricans Horn. {A. ventricosus Pers., A. arundinaceus Poir.) was 

 made by Wichura in Act. u. Verand. Schles. Ges. 1845, 59 ; 1846, 

 p. 63, not by Wimmer, and was erroneous. 



" The synonymy of the plant is : — 



Alopecurus pratensis X GENicuLATUS Wimmer, Denkschr. 



Schles. Ges. 1853, p. 149. 

 A. nigricans Wichura, I.e. 1846, p. 63, non Hornem. 

 A. hyhridus Wimm. Fl. v. Schles. ed. 3, p. 31 (1857). 

 A. intermedius Hallier, FL v. Helgol. Bot. Zeit. xxi. (1863). 



" Distrihution. Germany : Bremen, Helgoland, Tilsit, Jena, 

 Saalfeld, Leipzig, Schlesien (Lieguitz). Bohemia: Prepechy. 

 Galizia : Lemberg. Russia: Fernia, St. Petersburg." 



[The plant is also described in Ascherson and Graebner's 

 Synopsis Mitteleuropdischen Flora, liefer, vii, part 2, pp. 138, 139 

 (1899), to which reference may be made. — Ed. Journ. Bot.] 



