38 BRITISH GRASSES. 



poor were dying from the effects of this poison the 

 disease was attributed to witchcraft, and many fell vic- 

 tims to it before its cause was ascertained. The other- 

 wise poisonous ergot is found useful as a medicine in 

 the hands of the faculty. It is collected on the Con- 

 tinent by women and children, who wade among the 

 standing rye for the purpose : they sell it at from ten to 

 twenty shillings the ounce. 



In Sweden some little flies torment and injure the 

 rye crops. They lay their eggs beneath the cuticle of 

 the stem, and the larvae make their abode in the heart 

 of the culms and stunt their growth, robbing the spikes 

 of all nourishment, and rendering them almost barren. 

 The rye moth [Pyralis secalis) deposits its eggs within 

 the sheaths, and the young caterpillars pasture on the ears. 



The Millet grasses are cereals of some importance in 

 the tropical and subtropical countries. The Sorghum 

 Dora, or Durra, or common Indian Millet, is a very 

 handsome grass, allied to our Holcus family. It is a 

 native of the East Indies, and is cultivated in the south 

 of France. The culm is as thick as a man's finger, and 

 attains a height of from six to ten feet, bearing a spread- 

 ing panicle a foot long, the light and much-branched 

 rachis trembling with innumerable downy flowers. The 

 seeds are nearly round, yellow or orange. 



The Two-coloured Millet (S. bicolor) presents a cu- 

 rious appearance when in seed, the glumes being black 

 and the seeds almost snow-white : it is said to be a 

 native of Persia. 



There are many other species, the seeds of which are 

 variously cooked in India, as well as members of other 

 genera, affording grain more or less adapted for edible 

 purposes, as the Ragee or Mand, the Menya, the Setaria 



