85. CYPERACEiE. Ill 



Descends to the coast level, in the Penmsula. 



Ascends to 1000 yards, in East Highlands. 



Range of mean annual temperature 52 — 37. 



Native. Paludal, Pratal. Long known to British bo- 

 tanists by name of C. csespitosa, for which that of C. 

 Goodenovii (Gay) was first substituted by Mr. Babington, 

 and then again set aside in favour of C. vulgaris. We 

 have two forms of the plant in Britain ; one of them 

 densely cesj)itose, sometimes producing a score or two of 

 culms in a compact tuft ; the other running at the root, 

 and its flower-stems rising more or less separately and 

 singly. Whether these are distinct species, or varieties 

 depending on situation, I am not prepared to say. But 

 I am inclined to think, from various instances observed, 

 that Carices are rendered more stoloniferous when they 

 are more exposed to the bite and tread of cattle, or other 

 similar injuries. Perhaps the tufted form may be the C. 

 turfosa of Fries. 



Carex Gibsoni, Bab. 



Area [10], 



Incognit or Extinct. " Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire ; 

 said to be now lost by drainage." (Bab. Man. edit. 2, 3). 

 I fear this has only a name and description in a book, 

 like the Dryas depressa of the same sponsor, without 

 having ever had any real existence as a species in 

 nature. We should hold it a strange fancy in a zoologist, 

 to describe the " Porcupine Family," or " Siamese Twins," 

 or a " Living Skeleton," for distinct spfecies of Homo ; 

 and yet botanists thus name and describe indi^'idual varia- 

 tions in plants. 



