Mr. J. Ball on the Botany of Sicily. 339 



tour, which I did not at the time conceive to be worthy of 

 publication. On looking over the catalogue of species given 

 by Mr. Hogg I was strvick with the extreme meagreness of its 

 contents, extending to scarce half the number of species already 

 known as natives of Sicily, though probably a far more complete 

 one would come far short of adequately representing the exube- 

 rant richness of its gorgeous flora. It is indeed extraordinary 

 that an island so easily accessible to travellers, which presents 

 to them probably less of difficulties and inconveniences than 

 any part of the South of Europe, and which offers so many ob- 

 jects of surpassing interest, both those already known, the theme 

 of the historian and the poet, and those yet in store to reward 

 the investigations of the antiquarian or the naturalist, should 

 be so little visited and so imperfectly known. To be told that 

 the temple of Segesta stands in solitary grandeur amongst 

 mountains rarely tracked by the foot of a traveller, that the 

 guide can scarcely determine the uncertain course amidst the 

 pathless sands where arise the colossal ruins of Selinuntium, 

 that there are yet unexplored tracts where hundreds of new and 

 beautiful species would doubtless reward the botanist, whilst 

 the geology offers many most interesting problems to the future 

 historian of the earth, seems a sort of reproach on the activity 

 and energy of the numerous travellers who yearly quit En- 

 gland, seeking throughout Europe for new objects of inquiry. 

 I find that even amongst the limited number of species which 

 it was possible for me to collect during a hurried ride round 

 the island under an almost vertical sun, there is a great por- 

 tion not contained in the catalogue furnished by Mr. Hogg ; 

 and I think it may tend to show what the real extent of the 

 Sicilian flora must be, and at the same time be interesting to 

 botanists who may visit the South of Europe, to give a list of 

 the known species of the single family of Grasses, to which I 

 have paid some attention, with some remarks, attracting their 

 notice to various points which may be studied on the spot by 

 any one having sufficient time to spare for the purpose. I 

 have added a few notes of my tour, pointing out localities for 

 some of the more remarkable plants, those interesting either 

 for their rarity, beauty, or scientific importance. The autho- 

 rities for most of the s[)ecies in the following list, not seen by 

 myself, are extracted from the first volume of Bertoloni's 

 ' Flora Italica,' a work well known to many of your readers 

 as indispensable to the student of Italian, indeed of European 

 botany ; as unsurpassed, and scarcely equalled, for the accu- 

 racy of its descriptions, the soundness of its criticism, or the 

 extent of research which has been bestowed upon it. 



The traveller landing in Sicily from Naples is at once sur- 



