448 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 
which are genetically very distinct. Consequently, as stated, an attempt 
has been made to get at a more satisfactory basis for classification by 
studying the characteristics of the perigynia, which, naturally, are sub- 
ject to less variation than is the superficial aspect of the inflorescence 
as a.whole. But since variations in texture and nerving, which are per- 
fectly evident upon comparison of specimens, are extremely difficult to 
render clear in descriptions, it has been found advisable to employ as 
the primary basis of division, at least in the groups here discussed, the 
actual or proportional measurements of the perigynia or the achenes. 
Even this method of careful measurement may sometimes prove mislead- 
ing, but in most species the perigynia vary within certain clearly defined 
limits, and it is only the very exceptional individual which will not fit 
the system here proposed. And, although in rare cases a species thus 
presents perplexing forms in which the perigynia are not characteristic, 
many attempts to classify the members of this group have convinced 
the writer that by actual measurement alone can we safely identify 
plants of such strong outward resemblance as Carex straminea, C. 
scoparia and C. tenera, or C. alata and C. albolutescens. 
As a result of these studies it has been found desirable to treat many 
plants in a manner somewhat different from that in any current synopses 
of the genus, and in some cases a study of the original descriptions and 
specimens has brought the writer to conclusions very different from 
those generally accepted by American caricologists. Some of these 
points are of slight significance, others of fundamental importance; and, 
since it is inadvisable to complicate the synoptic treatment of the species 
with detailed discussions as to the identity and synonymy of different 
forms, the more important questions may be here discussed. 
Carex. scoparia, Schkuhr, presents little difficulty, as the original 
figure is unmistakable. The species has, however, been made to harbor 
plants of very different aspect; and a study of the fruiting characters 
shows these to fall into three groups with marked and constant char- 
acteristics. C. scoparia, itself, has the perigynium very thin and scale- 
like, with the wings so strongly developed as to minimize the apparent 
thickness of the body. This plant in its different forms is of bro 
range south and west of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. i 
The other two species which have been included with Carex scopa™@ 
have the narrower subulate or elongate-lanceolate perigynia 8° little 
winged as quite to lack the scale-like character seen in that spect©S 
_-‘The best known of these two plants is the form described by Francis 
3 Boott as C. scoparia, var. minor. The material from which Boott’s 
