BRACHYPODIUM 595 



the fact of its occurrence in corn crops is borne in mind. It is by no means 

 confined to the two localities where I first found it, but it occurs over 

 a considerable area of the Lower Chalk cornfields, and Messrs. Stanton and 

 Tufnail have found it on the Upper Chalk in a sainfoin crop near Henley. 

 In 1895 it was very common in a field on the Coralline Oolite near Elsfleld 

 in Oxfordshire, where it was found by Mr. L. V. Lester. 



The result of my investigation is that I find all the specimens of B. hordea- 

 ceus, and its varieties glahrescens and Lloydianus, have the upper pale entire. 

 Some hundreds of specimens from France, Germany, Austria, Eussia, 

 Hungary, Turkey, Madeira, and Tasmania have been examined. I have also 

 never found specimens of B. commutatus or B. racemosus with the upper pale 

 split to the base. Fruits from specimens of Bromus interriiptus, which had 

 been cultivated before the character of the split glume had been made 

 known, as well as seeds from my earlier gatherings of B. interruptiis^ all 

 showed that the pale was split. 



The question may be asked, is B. interruptus a native of Britain? This 

 question I am unable to answer in the affirmative. We may iirge in its 

 favour that when it was sent to Prof. Hackel seven years ago it was a new 

 form to him, nor since that time have I been able to see a continental 

 specimen. From its occurring exclusively in arable ground, and chiefly in 

 crops of Vetches, Clover, or Grass seeds, it may be claimed with some force 

 that the designation Colonist would be more suitable than that of a Native. 

 In the fields where I have seen it, I have, however, observed no plants of 

 Silene dicJiotoma, Crepis taraxacifolia, or C. nicaeensis, which are often present 

 among continental Grass seeds. B. commutatus occurs with B. interruptus 

 more frequently than B. hordeaceus, although I have seen B. hordeaceus, B. in- 

 terruptus, B. commutatus, and B. sterilis in the same field. The suggestion 

 of its being a starved form due to local peculiarities is not tenable. 

 B. interruptus, cultivated by the side of B. hordeaceus, keeps quite distinct, 

 and is not so much inclined to vary, either in height or condition of 

 hairiness, as B. hordeaceus. 



That the grass has not been recently introdiiced into Britain is proved 

 by the fact that there is a specimen in the Watson Herbariiim at Kew 

 labelled B. mollis, var. pseudo-velutinus, and dated 1849. 



The specimen from Odsey has the split palea and interrupted inflorescence 

 of B. interruptus, which I have seen now from Berkshire, Oxfordshire, 

 Buckinghamshire, West Kent, and Norfolk. Mr. F. Tufnail tells me he 

 saw it rather plentifully near Lowestoft in Suffolk, and has seen specimens 

 from Lincolnshire. 

 *B. ARVENsis, Linn. Sp. PL 77 (1753), and Herb. Field Brome Grass. 



Serrafalcus arvensis. Pari. Fl. Ital. i. 393 (1848), and Godr. Fl. Lorr. ed. i , iii. 185. 

 Comp. Cyb. Br. 596. Syme, E. B. xi. 171, t. i8o6. Nyman, 823. Fl. Oxf. 346. 

 Colonist. Cornfields, waste places, and sides of railways. Local. A. June- 

 September. 

 First found by the author, and recorded in the Bot. Exch. Cflub Report, 393, 

 in 1892. 



2. Ock. Abundant in a field between Ferry Hinksey and Hen Wood. 



Abundant by the railway near Didcot. Near the Oxford Gas-works, but 

 in both counties. 



B. arvensis is recorded for the counties of Surrey, Hants, Wilts, and Oxford. 



BRACHYPODIUM, Beauv. Agrost. 100 (1812). 

 B. gracile, Beauv. Agrost. loi. Slender Wood Fescue. 



Bromus gracilis. Weigel, Obs. 15. Triticum sylvaiicum, Parnell, Grasses 

 Scot. 132, t. 61. Brachypodiuni sylvaiicum, Roem. et Schult. Syst. ii. 



Q q 2 



