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



be sure of being amply rewarded for his labour ; it would pro- 

 bably be easy to obtain such letters as would ensure resting- 

 places within a reasonable distance from the scene of his ope- 

 rations ; but the less adventurous or more hurried traveller 

 may well content himself with the vicinity of Palermo, which 

 does not disappoint the expectations excited by the magni- 

 ficence of the tirst view which he obtains from the heights 

 above Monreale. Within the amphitheatre which he overlooks, 

 there are three different regions for the botanist to examine, 

 the sea-coast, the plain, and the hills around : in the first, 

 amongst other rarities, will be found Medicago oiivceformis, 

 M. tribidoides, M. Helix, &c. ; two tropical grasses, Pennisetum 

 distyluia and Dactyloctenium (sgyptiacum, &c. In the plain 

 round the town grow Narcissus serotinus, Crocus longiflorus, 

 Zizyphus Lotus, Saccharum agyptiacum, and the beautiful 

 Lobelia tenella, Biv., which is ft-equent upon damp walls. On 

 the hills near San Martino I gathered Matthiola iristis, 

 Lychnis Cadi-Rosa and L. Coronaria, Andropogon pubescens, 

 Yis., and a new species of Dactylis, to which I propose to give 

 the name disticha, from its peculiar habit ; amongst other 

 species from the hilly district, Professor Pai'latore, a young 

 Sicilian botanist of great promise, has discovered Lepidium 

 bonannianum, ChanKspeuce stellata, DeC, and a new Agro- 

 2jyrum, which he has named A. panormitanum. That this, 

 which is considered the well-known district of Sicily, should 

 present some new object to every inquirer, may give some idea 

 of how much remains to be done by naturalists in this country ; 

 it is not too much to suppose that the following list of Grasses, 

 Avhich contains about 240 species '=^, may be nearly a hundred 

 short of the real number hereafter to be ascertained ; I can 

 only hope that the foregoing brief sketch may have the effect 

 of stimulating the zeal of future travellers, more especially of 

 those who may be able to devote a longer period to their visit 

 than 1 was myself able to do. In the following list I have 

 given localities for most of the rarer species, and where the 

 plant rests on my own authority ; and have affixed a note of 

 interrogation where I do not actually possess specimens from 

 the locality mentioned, even where I do not feel any doubt on 

 the subject. 



ISiote. — I may remark, in respect to Mr. Hogg's observa- 

 tions on the temperature of Palermo, that in July 1841 the 

 thermometer rose on three successive days to37 R. or 115°'2F. 

 in the shade ; and I have understood that this is not much 

 above the usual heat during the prevalence of the sirocco. 



» Mr. Hogg's two lists have somewhat less than one hundred. 



