LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
Division OF AGROSTOLOGY, 
Washington, D. C., January 5, 1901. 
Sır: I have the honor to transmit herewith copy for 
a revised edition of American Grasses—II, Bulletin 
No. 17 of this Division, and I respectfully recommend 
its early publication. The first edition of this work 
was quickly exhausted, and there are frequent applica- 
tions for copies which it is impossible to supply; a new 
edition is necessary to meet this demand. American 
Grasses— [I was published as Bulletin No. 7 of the 
Division of Agrostology, and contains descriptions and 
illustrations of 302 species, Three revisions of that 
work have been published. In this bulletin 325 addi- 
tional species are described and illustrated, making a 
total for the two bulletins of 627 species. In this 
revision the synonymy has been carefully gone over 
and revised or extended, and the same is true of the 
descriptions, which have been entirely rewritten. This 
has been made possible by the adoption of the present 
form and the use of smaller type, permitting more 
ample descriptions, which have been deemed necessary, 
and the occasional addition of economie notes. Many 
of the illustrations are drawn from type specimens. 
This is especially true of the new species of Panicum. 
For information concerning the forage or other eco- 
nomic values of the grasses described, the reader is 
3 
