314 T. Holm — Studies in the Cyperacece. 



pendnla: ovate, acute to aristnlate ; in C. eapillipes : ovate- 

 lanceolate, mucronate. The perigyniuni is in (J. cryptocarpa : 

 broadly elliptical, minutely scabrous along the upper margins, 

 and with the veins hardly visible ; in C. Lyngbyei : obovate, 

 glabrous, prominently veined ; in (3 . filipendula : oval to obo- 

 vate, glabrous, obsoletely veined ; in G. eapillipes : subovate, 

 scabrous along the upper margins, obsoletely veined. In 

 Flora Arctica the description of these four species " C. Lyng- 

 byei " reads thus : " scales three-nerved, acuminate with elon- 

 gated midvein longer than the faintly nerved utricles." In 

 the hundreds of specimens which we have examined of the Alas- 

 kan C. cryptocarpa, we have invariably found the scales simply 

 acute, and we failed to observe any deviation from the descrip- 

 tion of the perigynium. In regard to C. filipendula, of which 

 we have examined material from Greenland and Iceland, we 

 cannot but express our doubt as to the identity of this with 0. 

 cryptocarpa, and we are indeed much more inclined to con- 

 sider it as a nearer ally of C. salina, an opinion that has 

 already been pronounced by such critical students of the genus 

 as Blytt and Boott. C. Lyngbyei is too characteristic a species 

 to be confounded with any of the others and appears, thus, to 

 be the only endemic species of the Fserce islands ; and finally 

 in regard to C. eapillipes this is yet imperfectly known, but as 

 long as some distinctive characters have been noted, especially 

 in the perigynium, it would be safer to keep it as a distinct 

 species itntil it is again studied and better known.* 



Car ex macrochmta C. A. Mey. 



Although being exceedingly frequent on the Alaskan coast 

 and the islands, the species shows but slight variation. The 

 terminal spike is usually wholly staminate, but we found, how- 

 ever, a few specimens from Unalaska in which this was either 

 androgynous or gyneecandrous or even entirely pistillate. Two 

 quite striking varieties were noticed, viz : 



var. emarginata nob. 



Taller and more slender than the typical plant ; spikes very 

 long, loose-flowered, remote ; scales of pistillate spike promi- 

 nently emarginate with a seta four times as long as the body 

 of the scale. 



Alaska : Kukak Bay, collected by Messrs. Coville and 

 Kearney. 



• 



* To give the reader some further idea of the treatment of the Carices in 

 Flora Arctica, we might quote, for instance, the synonymy given of Carex 

 rotundata : " ambusta," " compaeta" ' ' membranacea " and " vesicaria y 

 alpigena.' n Such errors are the inevitable result of compilation without 

 access to authentic material and to the most important literature, the works 

 of Boott for instance. It is, indeed, a pity to see the interesting Arctic 

 plants submitted to so poor a treatment. 



