229 



error into which I have fallen, in the omission of a second species 

 of Myosurus in Mr. Geyer's Hst of plants, given at f). 67 of this 

 volume. Among my eight specimens of Myosurus from Mr. 

 Geyer (his No. 332), one is certainly a distinct species; and, as 

 it proves, identical with that recently described by Mr. Gay, 

 from Chili (and which I also possess from Bridges, his last 

 Chilean Collection), under the name of M. apelalus. My Chilean 

 specimen, as well as that from North America, does bear petals; 

 the name is therefore inadmissible. That of Mr. Bentham is 

 unexceptionable, and at once indicates the most important 

 specific distinction." 



From the foregoing statement it appears that the name of M. 

 aristatus was first applied by Bentham to the Geyer plant, the 

 locality of which is given as "Borders of pools in the Gamas's 

 (Camas) Prairie of the Coeur d'Aleine, Rocky Mountains," in 

 Idaho. Mr. Bentham even attributes the species to Geyer in a 

 note under the genus Myosurus in Flora Australiensis (i : 8. 

 1863). 



Myosurus aristatus ranges from Washington and Montana to 

 California and New Mexico. 



Fig. &, accompanying this paper, w^as drawn from a specimen 

 of Myosurus aristatus collected on Stansbury Island, Great Salt 

 Lake, Utah, by Sereno Watson, June, 1869 (enlarged 12 diam- 

 eters) . 



Myosurus apetalus Gay 



Unfortunately there are no specimens in Washington repre- 

 senting this species, so in the identifying of it we are limited to 

 the description and illustration given by Gay.* Fig. i of the 

 plate cited illustrates the whole plant, Figs, h and d the mature 

 fruit and the achenes respectively. The latter figures are en- 

 larged — probably 12 times. The dorsal side of the apparently 

 compressed achene is shown to be keeled with one large tooth 

 in the middle. This is distinctly stated by Gay, who describes 

 the fruit as follows: "El fruto forma una espiga conica, aspera, 

 6 erizada, con las capsulas algo apretadas y como empizarradas 

 k manera de escamas : cada una tiene dos lineas escasas de largo, 



* Historia fiscia y politica de Chile (Bot.), i: 31, pi. i, f. i {a-d), 1845. 



