BOTANICAL NEWS. 61 
rence on the sheep and cattle runs of settlers were probably introduced rather 
than indigenous. Of Festuca duriuscula, I find it recorded in my field-book 
that my Otago specimens closely resemble forms of F. ovina, collected by my- 
self at North Queensferry, Fifeshire, in June, 1859. But of F. bromoides, my 
Otago forms have less general resemblance to British specimens of that species 
than to those of Bromus diandrus. ' Again, Koeleria cristata is recorded in the 
Handbook Fl. (p. 335), as native, though Dr. Hooker adds, it is "probably in- 
troduced only." But in a letter [Jan. 31, 1865] he says, "I have increasing 
reasons for considering it introduced." Nevertheless, the plant occurs high on 
the Alps (4000 feet) of Canterbury and Otago, most remote from cultivation 
or settlements. Poa annua is regarded as introduced, but it was the most ex- 
tensively distributed grass I met with in Otago, growing in a great variety of 
habitats, and in a corresponding multiplicity of conditions. Phalaris cana- 
densis was gathered by Foster in 1772, being before the colonization of New 
Zealand (Otago was colonized so recently as 1847), but three years subsequent 
to Cook's first voyage (1769). It is difficult in such a case to understand how 
it came to be introduced, and yet it is included in Dr. Hooker's list of natura- 
lized grasses. I found it growing in Otago apparently as wild as those British 
grasses, to be hereafter mentioned, which are considered truly indigenous. A n- 
thoxanthum odoratum has been gathered at elevations of 3000 to 4000 feet on 
the glacier Mount Cook (13,000 feet high). It is extensively distributed 
throughout New Zealand, and it is one of the grasses I found growing in great 
profusion and luxuriance in several parts of Otago. Specimens indistinguish- 
able as to size and general aspect from my Otago plant were collected by my- 
self in 1850, on the meadows bordering the Elbe, Holstein. It is included, 
however, in Dr. Hooker's category of naturalized grasses, as is also Bromus 
mollis, which has been found on the Canterbury Alps at 4000 feet. On the 
other hand, the following are recorded by Dr. Hooker as native i—Agrostis 
canina, Alopecurus geniculatus, and Deschampsia caspitosa. I do not think 
the problem is now capable of satisfactory solution in all cases. In certain 
cases there may be a strong probability that the plants were introduced, such 
as Lolium perenne, A nthoxanthum odoratum, or Poa annua, but I do not admit 
the conclusiveness of the evidence according to which certain British species of 
Festuca, Agrostis, A lopecurus, and Deschampsia are determined to be native, 
and those of Koeleria, Phalaris, Bromus, and Festuca to be merely naturalized. 
It is equally impossible to assert that the former are not native, or the latter 
also native; all that I hold i3 that, in the present stage of colonization, -in 
the present state of our knowledge of the botany of New Zealand,— proof of 
a sufficient or satisfactory kind to establish either one set of propositions or the 
other is probably impossible of attainment. 2. Notice of a species of Tricho- 
scypha, and of a species of Sarcocephalus from Old Calabar, sent by the Rev. 
Alexander Robb. By Professor Balfour. Professor Balfour stated that the 
Rev. A. Robb, of Old Calabar, had sent some plants of interest from that dis- 
trict. One of these is Trichoscypha Mannii of Hook. fil. The fruit, how- 
ever, had not been seen by Hooker, and was, therefore, omitted in the descrip- 
tion. Mr. Robb had sent the fruit, which is a drupe about the size of a pigeon's 
e gg, of an orange-red colour, and Professor Balfour has forwarded a specimen 
