76 



First noticed by Mr. C. C. Babington, growing from tbe 

 crevices of rocks about Higb Force in Upper Teesdale. Stems 

 ascending, a foot or more in height, very slightly compressed, 

 smooth ; bearing usually from four to six leaves with smooth 

 striated sheaths, the uppermost of the latter being almost always 

 longer than its leaf. Of the five or six joints of the stem, several 

 are generally uncovered, the uppermost always so. Ligule very 

 short and truncate, or terminating abruptly, " six times as broad 

 as long, but longer than that of P. nemoralis." Panicle rather 

 close, with slender rough branches. Glumes unequal, acute, three- 

 veined, the midvein minutely toothed towards its extremity. 

 " Flowers not webbed, although occasionally one or two longer 

 hairs may be taken for a web." Lower palea five-veined ; the 

 central and lateral veins hairy or silky, the intermediate ones 

 more or less obscure, smooth. 



Perennial. Flowers in July and August. 



The above description is but very slightly abridged from that 

 given of the Grass before us in the fourth volume of the Supple- 

 ment to the English Botany, and is sufficiently circumstantial, it 

 is to be hoped, to satisfy the most ardent of species manufacturers. 

 As, however, several of the features enumerated are common to 

 P. nemoralis, it will be convenient to select those by which it may 

 be known from the latter. I cannot do better than copy a pass- 

 age to this effect from Dr. Parnell : — " Poa Parnellii is di- 

 stinguished from Poa nemoralis by its fl.owers not being webbed, 

 audits upper sheath being longer than its leaf; whereas in Poa 

 nemoralis the flowers are distinctly webbed, and the upper sheath 

 is shorter than its leaf." Now this is terse and decisive; and 

 though we may not agree with the talented author of the ' Grasses 

 of Britain ' as to the differential value of the characters thus pre- 

 sented, such is mere matter of opinion between us, open to ques- 

 tion and demonstration. In the meantime, facts, minor as they 

 may be, are always valuable in the pursuit of natural science. But 

 what says the discoverer and recorder of P. Parnellii in support of 

 the value of these facts, upon the establishment of which it is se- 

 parable from its congener P. nemoralis ? Simply this : " Occa- 

 sionally there is a slight trace of a web to the llowers," and that 

 the "upper sheath is usually longer than its leaf." What would 

 our great masters in natural history, from Aristotle down to 

 Linnaeus and Cuvier, have thought of species, the assumed leading 

 characteristics of which admit the application of such adverbs ? 

 Mr. Babington may well remark, that the two plants are, perhaps, 

 too nearly allied. 



