FLOBA OF HEREFORDSHIBE. 217 



Agriculture, for information respecting those plants more recently 

 introduced to the agriculturist, which he could not otherwise have 

 obtained. This firm still exists, and among the grass for pasture 

 they offer for sale is Festuca heterophylla Lam. Mr. M. J. Sutton, 

 in his work on 'Permanent and Temporary Pastures' (1886), says 

 this Fescue was introduced into England in 1814 ; he gives an 

 account of the plant, and a figure in which the character of the 

 root-leaves is not correctly rendered. The firm of seedsmen of 

 which Mr. Sutton is a member have also for many years had the 

 seeds of this species on sale. Messrs. Carter in their Grass 

 Catalogue give a small but good figure of this species, and offer it 

 for sale, recommending it as ''a popular continental grass, well 

 adapted where a heavy swarth is wanted, and desirable in mixtures 

 for ornamental grounds on account of the bright colour of its 

 foliage." Webb also gives a figure in his Catalogue, and recommends 

 it for use. And Dr. Stebler, in his ' Best Forage Plants' — I quote 

 Mr. Mc Alpine's recent translation — says: — "Several varieties of 

 this plant are in cultivation in England. The following deserve 

 mention: 1, prcBcox (an early variety); 2, purpurata (a purple 

 variety) ; 3, serratifolia (a variety with serrated leaf-blades) ; and 4, 

 glabra (a hairless variety)." I do not know what is Dr. Stebler's 

 authority for this statement, but the value of it is considerably 

 modified by his subsequent criticisms. That the plant has been 

 in cultivation for over seventy years, and that the seed can be 

 purchased at any seedsman's for a small price per pound, cannot be 

 doubted ; and these facts seem sufficient to account for its occurrence 

 in the localities noted in recent numbers of this Journal. — Wm. 

 Oarruthers. 



Gentiana Amarella var. pr-eoox. — I have lately found this in very 

 great profusion on several of our I. of Wight Downs, e. g. , Bembridge, 

 Bonchurch, Boniface, and Rew. On the latter it is especially fine, 

 some specimens being 6 in. high. The majority of specimens have 

 four cleft flowers, though I have found many pentamerous plants. 

 I have searched with others very carefully for prcBcox in the locality 

 I mention for three or four years without finding a single specimen, 

 and in some of them without even seeing an autumnal plant. 

 Some six years ago I noticed the early-flowering variety in several 

 places, but did not then know that it was a rarity. I have seen 

 four or five more flowers on the same plant. — Augustus Steuart. 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



A Flora of Herefordshire. Edited by William Henry Purchas and 



AuGusTiN Ley. Hereford: Jakeman & Carver. 8vo, pp. xi., 



xxxvii., 545. [1889.] 



The names of the two experienced and accomplished botanists 



who now, after many years' investigation, have issued this work, 



under the auspices of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club, were 



