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XXVni. Defcriptions of five new BritiJJ: Species of Carex, By fames 

 Edward Smith, M.D. F.R.S. P.L.S. 



Read December 3, 1799, 



AFTER fo copious a harveft of Britifli Cariccs as that with, 

 which my learned friend Dr. Goodenough has enriched the 

 rl'econd and third volumes of our Tranfadlioiis, no great acqui- 

 fitions of the fame kind are to be expefted. The gleanings only 

 of this ample and well-cultivated field, fo lately an impenetrable 

 wilderncfs, have fallen to my lot; and though but about the tithe 

 of the crop, I have fpared no pains to coUedl and methodize them. 

 The value of fuch difcoveries increafes in jDroportion to what we 

 have already obtained ; and I am very well aware how much I am 

 indebted, for their perfpicuity and certainty, to the clue my prede- 

 ceflbr had left mc. 



In labouring at the genus Carex for the Flora Britannica, I have, 

 as in every other inftaiicc, examined the fubjeft throughout, without 

 taking anything for granted 5 but in no tribe of equal intricacy 

 have I found fo little at prefent to corredt. What I am now about 

 to offer is chiefly the defcription of 5 fpecies, in addition to the 47 

 defcribed by Dr. Goodenough. For the difcovery of thefe I am 

 entirely obliged to the friends whofe names will hereafter appear. 

 I have only to anfwer for the fpecific determination of 4 of them. 

 Of the preceding 47 fpecies the Carex axillaris only has not come 

 fo completely under my examination as I could have wifhed, 



though 



