1049 



from it by the much greater size of all its parts, Us awnless leaves, 

 its sepals not spreading from the ripe capsule, and equalling, or 

 slightly exceeding it. Its capsule is of the same form, its mode of 

 growth is apparently similar, and its leaves are sometimes bluntish, 

 and in other instances have a long apiculus." 



What are the grammatical antecedents to the second "which" and 

 first "it" of the passage quoted? Through the want of a conjunc- 

 tive word, we are left in the uncertainty of two antecedents for the 

 former ; while the grammatical antecedent of the latter is certainly 

 the " maritime state" of S. apetala, which cannot be intended by the 

 writer. Then we have five repetitions of the pronoun " it, its, its, its, 

 it," all in one sentence, though apparently intended to refer to three 

 different objects or antecedents, which are confused together through 

 this use of the one ambiguous substitute for their names. Next fol- 

 low the halves of two comparisons, both meaningless, because neither 

 of them is completed by any mention of the object with which "it" is 

 to be compared. But, if we rightly guess at the Author's meaning, it 

 may be conveyed without confusion or ambiguity, and still nearly in 

 his own words, by changing the grammatical construction of the pas- 

 sage, and supplying the ^omissions, thus : — 



" There is another plant usually called S. maritima in England, 

 which is the S. debilis of Jordan, and the S. maritima of Grenier, and 

 which may very probably be a maritime state of S. apetala ; but it 

 differs from the ordinary form of that species by the much greater size 

 of all its parts, by its awnless leaves, and by its sepals not spreading 

 from the ripe capsule, which they equal or slightly exceed. Its cap- 

 sule is of the same form as that of S. apetala ; its mode of growth is 

 apparently similar to that of the same species, its leaves are some- 

 times bluntish, and in other instances they have a long apiculus."] 



Literature : Thurmann's Essai de Phytostatique. Payer's Bota- 

 nique Cryptogamique. Contents of botanical journals. 



Proceedings of Societies : Linnean Society. Microscopical Society. 

 Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 



Miscellanea : Record of Localities. Morphology of Grasses. 



Vol. hi. 6 t 



