DAC/TYLIS GLOMERA'TA EXAMINED. 41 



third class, that grows very commonly in clear 

 ditches and streams in England. Cottages are 

 sometimes thatched with these rushes, and cattle 

 eat them when other food is scarce. 



EDWARD. 



I should like to examine some of the grasses, 

 they seem to be so useful. 



MOTHER. 



They are so very numerous, and their flowers 

 so minute, that many persons neglect them alto- 

 gether, and attend only to more striking plants. 

 Most of the species seem, at first sight, to be very 

 much alike ; but this apparent resemblance will 

 vanish when you make yourself acquainted with 

 their flowers, which you can very easily do with 

 the assistance of a microscope. I should advise 

 you, however, not to examine many grasses, till you 

 are better acquainted with botany in general. But 

 to give you some idea of their structure, we will 

 now look at one that is very common, the Dac'tylis 

 glomera'ta, rough Cocksfoot. [PLATE 5.] I have 

 already told you that the calyx of most of the 

 grasses is called the husk; in this instance it 

 is composed of two leafits, which are called valves : 

 they are both keeled, or shaped like a little boat, 

 and the inner one is larger than the other. 

 The calyx contains several florets collected into 



