MR. a. EBNTHAM OIT GBAMIITEJE. 117 



following fairly distinct sections : — 1. Cataclastos, Doell, includes 

 J?, ciliaris, Link, ^. peruviana, Trin., and a few other tropical 

 species, which, on account of their short spikelets with few 

 flowers and fragile rhachilla, have been restored to Poa by Four- 

 nier and some others ; but the shape and nervation of the glumes 

 are quite those of Mragrostis, and the inflorescence, though pecu- 

 liar, is not more that of Foa than of JSragrostis. Macrohlepharus 

 of Philippi, judging from his description, does not seem to differ 

 from the true H. ciliaris. 2. PlagiostaoJtya comprises some 

 African and East-Indian species, which, with the flat several- 

 flowered spikelets and continuous rhachilla of Uragrostis proper, 

 have an inflorescence approaching that of Chlorideae. The species 

 are rather dissimilar in habit. ^. iifaria, Steud., has the long 

 simple terminal spike nearly of Tripogon, with obtuse glumes. 

 E. SoMmperi {Sarpachne Schimperi, Hochst.) has a shorter simple 

 spike and acuminate flowering glumes. I], hrevifolia and E. 

 CoelacJiyrum, Benth., the latter forming the genus Goelachryum, 

 Nees, and figured in the last part of Hooker's Icones, have 

 nearly the habit of some species of Eleusine (Dactyloctenium) or 

 of .^luropus. jE. congesta, Oliv., and H. cynosuroides, Eoem. et 

 Schultes, have very numerous short sessile spikelets crowded or 

 clustered along the long terminal peduncle. 3. Myriostachya is 

 an East-Indian species, E. Wightiana {LeptocMoa Wightiana, 

 Nees), allied to H. cynosuroides, but with a more complicated in- 

 florescence. 4. Fteroessa, Doell, or Eragrostis proper, is charac- 

 terized by the usually many -flowered spikelets with the rhachilla 

 continuous or rarely articulate when old, the flowering glumes 

 usually deciduous, leaving the palea persistent on the minute 

 floral axis with its back to the rhachilla. The species are nume- 

 rous, and may be distributed into three rather distinct series : — 

 CylindrostachyoB, three or four Australasian species, with narrow- 

 linear almost terete spikelets ; Leptostachyce, including the cos- 

 mopolitan E. pilosa, TBeauv., and its allies, with narrow-linear flat 

 spikelets ;, and Megastachyce, including the widely-spread E. mega- 

 stachya. Link, and many other, chiefly American, species, with 

 broader linear or oblong flat spikelets. The generic name Mega- 

 stacJiya has undergone many vicissitudes. It was first founded by 

 Beauvois on the Poa mucronata of his Elora of Oware and 

 Benin ; but in drawing up the generic character for his ' Agro- 

 stographie ' he had in view chiefly the common E. megastachya. 

 Eoumier, more recently, founded a genua on those American 



