1843.] Linnean Society. 181 



Of Carex saxatilis, L., Dr. Booth gives the following character : — 



C, saxatilis, spiels 2 — 3 atropurpureis ; mascula 1 (rarius 2) cylindrica 

 perlunculata : foemineis 1 — 2 votundatis ovatisvc infima plus minusve 

 pediinculata evaginata bracteata erecta, stigmatibus 2 — 3, perigyniis 

 subglobosis ovatisve rostratis emarginatis stipitatis patentibus enerviis 

 atropurpureis basi pallidis squama ovata abtusiuscula nigro-purpurea 

 apice albida nervo concolovi longioribus. 



C. saxatilis, L. Fl. Lapp. 2.59 (1737). 

 C. pulla, Good, in Linn. Trans, iii. t. 14 (1795). 



Hah. in Alpibus Scotiag, Norvegise, Lapponia?, Suecite, Islandise. Insula- 

 rum Fi3Broensium. 



The author enters at length into a critical examination of the ori- 

 ginal authorities which prove the Carex pulla of Goodenough to be 

 the same with Carex saxatilis, L. ; and points out the origin of the 

 confusion of the latter with C. rigida, Good. He then examines more 

 particularly the distinguishing characters of C. Grahami and C. sax- 

 atilis ; and adds that he should have no doubt of the specific distinc- 

 tion between them but for the observations of Drejer, who in his 

 ' Revisio critica Caricum Borealium ' describes, under the name of 

 C. pulla /3 fusca, specimens from Iceland and Greenland closely 

 agreeing with C. Grahami, except that he makes no mention of the 

 nerves of the perigynium, and observes that the Greenland specimens 

 are so extremely variable that it could scarcely be believed that they 

 belong to the same species. In the absence of precise information 

 respecting the perigynium of the larger Greenland specimens, Dr. 

 Boott is inclined to refer them, together with the specimens from the 

 Rocky Mountains described by him in Sir W. J. Hooker's ' Flora 

 Boreali- Americana' under the name of C. saxatilis, to C. physocarpa, 

 Presl, a native of Nootka Sound. Of the latter his knowledge is 

 derived from M. Kunth's " Cyperographia." 



In conclusion Dr. Boott leaves it to future observation to deter- 

 mine the value of the specific character which he has given of C. Gra- 

 hami ; whether it is to be considered as a distinct species, referred 

 back to C. saxatilis, L., or transferred to C physocarpa, Presl, re- 

 peating that at present he considers it, with Mr. Wilson, entitled 

 to rank as a species. 



Read also an " Account of the Trees producing Myrrh and Frank- 

 incense, as found in those parts of the coast of the Red Sea and In - 

 dian Ocean whence those Gums were obtained in the first dawn of 

 Commei-ce." By Major W. C. Harris, latj on an Embassy to the 



