1858.] REVIEWS. 409 



We have frequently seen and collected both the British Poly- 

 pogons in Woolwich marshes, and also the more common one in 

 Battersea fields, only as an introduction in the latter locality, 

 and we think that Mr. Sowerby has not been quite so successful 

 in representing the tout ensemble, — the general appearance, — or 

 the characteristic distinction between the two plants, as he has 

 been in his magnified figures of the single florets. There is a 

 far greater dissimilarity of aspect than the two plates exhibit. 

 P. monspeliensis has a very woolly-like, close panicle, composed of 

 numerous secondary clustered panicles, with long silky whitish 

 awns. The rarer species, P. littoralis, has a panicle not much 

 unlike Agrostis alba. It has been mistaken for this latter. 

 Agrostis alba has been collected, and supposed by the col- 

 lector to be P. littoralis; and P. littoralis has been actually 

 collected and supposed to be Agrostis alba. We never saw the 

 secondary panicles or paniclets so dense as they are represented 

 in the figure before us. Gastridium lendigerum is not so familiar 

 to the writer of these remarks as the Polypogons are ; still it may 

 be suggested as a question whether the panicle of this grass be 

 usually so dense as it appears in Mr. Sowerby's Figure 21 of 

 ' British Grasses.^ The Milium is well represented ; so are the 

 Phleum grasses and Lagurus ovata of Part IV. 



The Editor of the ' Phytologist ' was recently requested to in- 

 form a querist which of the two rival publications on Grasses he 

 would recommend. He admitted his ignorance of the merits of 

 Mr. Lowe's work, but stated that Mr. Sowerby's work was at least 

 equal to the well-known works issued by his relatives and pro- 

 genitors ; and this, said deponent thought, was high praise. 



In Agrostis alba, or in its varieties, we have an example of the 

 importance of accessory or accidental circumstances in determin- 

 ing the value of a plant. Where the natural soil is retentive, 

 rich, and well watered, this grass is said to be almost miraculously 

 productive. In other places " it is a useless weed, wiry, nearly 

 leafless, and unpalatable to cattle." 



In one of these grasses, the term A. canina, literally rendered 

 Dog or Dog's Grass, expresses the character of the plant. Our 

 ancestors, whether of the Celtic, the Saxon, or the Roman stock, 

 applied names to plants which implied their intrinsic qualities or 

 utilities rather than their distinctive characteristics. The term 

 dog being of more frequent occurrence in the popular nomencla- 



N. S. VOL. II. 3 G 



