T. Holm — Studies in the Cyperacece. 479 



Xow in regard to Dewey's species, it is our intention to 

 demonstrate that some of these have been misunderstood; that 

 some of these are not so difficult to identify, if we give prefer- 

 ence to the diagnoses, and not to the specimens extant. It 

 appears to the writer that the reprinting of the original diag- 

 noses may be necessary, inasmuch as some of these are not known 

 to several caricologists, who have no access to the earlier vol- 

 umes of this Journal, in which they were published. But what- 

 ever importance may be attached to the present supplemental 

 notes on these species, we must not forget to mention that we 

 owe much information to a prolonged correspondence with the 

 late cyperographer C. B. Clarke of Kew, who was so very 

 familiar with the large herbarium of Boott and many others. 

 The modern method of identifying species by means of " sup- 

 posed types'' was, according to Clarke, a most dangerous 

 experiment, since in particular respect to Varices neither 

 Dewey nor Boott worked with types. In a note on Carex 

 Tolmiei Boott," Clarke has shown how very difficult it may be, 

 sometimes, to reach an exact conclusion even from a work so 

 excellently written and illustrated as that of Boott : Illustra- 

 tions of the genus Carex.\ The species of Dewey which we 

 intend to discuss are : C. petasata, C. Barbaras, C. magnified, 

 C. SchottvL C. petrieosa and C. mivata. Of these C. petasata 

 has been suppressed entirely, as will be shown in the subse- 

 quent pages ; C. Barbaras. C. Schottii and C. mirata have 

 either been referred to other plants, or have been merged into 

 each other as synonyms ; C. magnifica was never described, 

 but mistaken for C. Sitchensis Prescott, while C. petrieosa 

 was known only from very immature specimens. With the 

 exception of C. Barbaras of which there is no material in Kew, 

 but in Cambridge, we have had the opportunity to compare 

 the others with authentic specimens, authentic to the full 

 extent of the word, since they were in accordance with the 

 original diagnoses ; this material was made accessible to the 

 writer through the kindness of Mr. Clarke. In regard to C. 

 Barbarm a young, but nevertheless quite complete, specimen 

 named by Dewey in the Gray herbarium was loaned to the 

 writer; beside that we succeeded in finding some mature 

 specimens of this very rare species in the collections of Mr. 

 Parish, now deposited in the IT. S. Xational Museum. 



* Journ. Linn. Society, vol. xxxv, p. 403. 



+ " Boott has named in his own hand many Varices in the herbarium and 

 X takes these as ' authentic ' ; but they are, in very many cases, authen- 

 tically wrong. In his herb, propr., Boott usually pasted down, all mixed 

 together. 3, 4 or even 7 collections on one sheet. His figures often include 

 utricles from several collections, to show his idea of the range of variation 

 •in each species.' If. however, the utricle varied really to the degree he 

 depicts it. it would be of verv little use in diagnoses of species" (C. B. Clarke 

 in litteris. Oct. 11. 1899). 



