372 NEW SPECIES OF BACTKIS, 



explanation seems at present liardly sufficient to account for the 

 evident diU'erences between C. xanthocarpa and any form o\'JIava. And 

 against it we have the positive testimony of DegUind himself, who has 

 mentioned the fruit, and of ]ioreau, who asserts that his plant remains 

 constant under cultivation. The evidence of Boott, who certainly 

 included C. xanthocarpa under his typical /w^i'rt, and who has described 

 and figured a fertile as well as sterile form, may be taken as lending 

 additional weight in the same direction. It seems more probable 

 that both species have sterile forms. 1 have not found fully-developed 

 fruit in our Hertfordshire examples, but the perigynia, which in 

 this respect agree precisely witli those of JF. Schultz's specimens, are 

 considerably smaller and less inflated than those of C. Ilornsclmchiana 

 (with mature fruit), and in this respect difler widely from those of 

 M. Greuier's sterile plant, which are said to be " du double plus gros, 

 plus enfles, et pour cela plus divergents" (Grenier, 1. c). It is (jues- 

 tionuble pehaps whether the slender " spindle " shape of the male 

 spikelet, on which some stress is laid by Babington in his description 

 of C fuka, may not sometimes be owing to a parallel afiection of the 

 masculine element. 



C. didans, L. 



Kot uncommon on the wet moorish ground at the foot of the 

 chalk hills in the north of the county, extending from Ashwell on 

 the borders of Cambridgeshire to Wilstone on the very verge of Eucks. 

 It occurs in several localities about Hitchin, and accompanies CEnanihe 

 Ladienalii and Samolus VaUrandi, both plants of a semi-maritime 

 character, in each of their recorded stations. The correctness of the 

 name has been questioned, as in the case of other inland counties, but 

 the continental distribution is not against its occurrence in such 

 situations, and it has been confirmed by high authorities. After the 

 examination of a considerable number of specimens I can see no 

 reason to doubt the accuracy of their conclusion. The Carex in the 

 Kew herbarium from the neighbourhood of Barton, Bedfordshire 

 (see p. 26), distributed as C. fulva, var. speirostachrja, and which 

 was collected at Sliardeloes by Mr. Isaac Brown, must be referred 

 also to tlie present species. 



C. hinervis, Sm. 



The true plant! but quite confined to the south of the county, 

 where in shaded places it attains very large dimensions. 



C. Iccvigata, tSm. 



This is given lor Hertfordshire in the appendix to the "Flora of 

 Aliddlesex," but I have never been able to trace on what authority. 1 

 need not add that I should be very pleased to be able to iuclude it in 

 our list. 



DESCKITTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF BACTRISYS THE 



HEEBAIUUM OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



Bi- James W. H. Trail, M.A., M.B., F.L.S. 



Eactris Aubletiana, sp. wot'.— -Inermis (nisi spatha interiore 

 aculeata), B. simpHcifrondis, Mart., habitu ; spadix trifidus vel quadri- 

 fidus. Caudice penntc cygneac crassitie, apicem versus vaginis obvelato ; 



