FERNALD. — VARIATIONS OF BOREAL CARICES. 497 
Var. virEscEeNSs, Anders. Cyp. Scand. 46; Bennett, 1. c.— Scales 
pale and short, mostly hidden by the closely imbricated perigynia, thus 
giving the spikelets a pale green color.— Northern Evrorr. The 
only American specimens seen are from MicniGan, without locality 
(Michigan State Collection in herb. Gray); near Alma (C. A. Davis). 
Material from Pownal, Vermont, closely approaches this variety, but 
has longer darker scales. 
Var. cuspipaTa, Laest. ex Fries, Bot. Not. (1843) 104; Bennett, 
1. c. — Spikelets slender, 3 or 4 mm. thick: scales cuspidate, distinctly 
exceeding the perigynia. — Northern Europe. Quesec, Grand Etang, 
Gaspé (J. Macoun): New Jersey, Camden (C. F. Parker). The 
Gaspé plant is a perfect match for Lapland material from Nylander, 
but the New Jersey specimen shows a nearer approach to typical C. 
aquatilis. 
Var. EPIGEJOS, Laest. Kongl. Vet. Akad. Handl. (1822) 339; Bennett, 
1. c. — Very slender: the leaves 2 to 3.5 mm. broad: spikelets at most 
5 cm. long, 2 to 4.5 mm. thick; scales dark and blunt. — Northern 
Evrorr, GREENLAND. Newrounpianp (La Pylaie); Packs Harbor 
(A. C. Waghorne, no. 85): Lasrapor, L’Anse au Loup (/. A. Allen) : 
QurBec, Mont Louis, Cape Rosier, and Madaline River, Gaspé (/. 
Macoun, nos. 23, 27, 31). The material examined matches well Scan- 
dinavian material from Ahlberg. It is also identical with plants from - 
Lapland distributed by Andersson as var. sphagnophila. The latter 
variety, however, is said by Andersson to differ from var. epigejos in 
its pale not dark scales. 
CAREX PILULIFERA and C. COMMUNIS. 
Carex pilulifera, L., a common species of Europe, presents three rather 
marked tendencies. The original plant of Linnaeus was apparently the 
common form with the pistillate spikelets subapproximate or slightly 
remote at the tip of the somewhat curved culm. This form with the 
lower spikelets sometimes 1 em. apart, is represented in the Gray 
Herbarium by specimens from many parts of northern and central 
Europe. In this plant the perigynium is 2.5 to 3.5 mm. long, tipped by 
a short bidentate beak less than 1 mm. in length. Another phase of 
the plant, evidently rare in Europe, has larger more scattered spikelets, 
the lower often subtended by a conspicuous leafy bract; and the larger 
perigynia more ellipsoid or with the longer beak equalling the stipitate 
spongy basal portion and thus giving the perigynia a symmetrical spindle- 
VOL. XXXVI. — 32 
