292 R. T. BAKER AND H. G. SMITH. 
lumps of the grass, at least I say sheep, a sheep (Lincoln Ram) 
I feed on hay here, sorts over armfuls given him and picks out 
all the white lumps first, just like a child picking lollies out of 
hay. . . . Looking through the hay I cannot find a flower 
on the grass but will later; we call it “Blue Grass.” A bushel 
of the manna could be gathered in an hour almost anywhere on 
the plains.” 
Later we received specimens of the grass; and when diagnosed 
these were found to be Andropogon annulatus, Forsk. This grass 
also occurs in Victoria, Northern Australia, and South Australia. 
It was described by Forskel, Fl. Aegypt Arab. in 1775, and is 
widely spread over tropical Asia and Africa. 
The description of this grass in B. Fl. Vol. vir., page 531 is as 
follows :—‘‘Stems from a tufted base ascending to about two feet, 
the nodes glabrous or slightly bearded. Leaves narrow, usually 
glaucous, Spikes two or three, nearly sessile at the end of the 
peduncle without sheathing bracts, one and a-half to two inches 
long, the pedicels and base of the sessile spikelets much less ciliate 
than in the preceding species. Spikelets about two lines long. 
Outer glume of the sessile one membranous, prominently many- 
nerved, obtuse or three-toothed, ciliate on the margin and with a 
few long hairs on the back at the top; second glume thin, the 
midrib alone prominent, third very thin and hyaline; awn or 
terminal glume one third to three-fourths inch long, without any 
hyaline dilatation at the base. Pedicellate spikelet nearly similar 
but awnless, and with a male flower or reduced to empty glumes.” 
There are several other “ Blue Grasses” occurring in the various 
colonies, such as the allied species A. sericeus, R.Br., and A. affinis 
R.Br., but we can find no record of any such substance as we are 
describing, as having been found on these, or for the matter of 
that, on any grass either in this continent or any part of the 
world. 
The manna occurs in the form of nodules at the nodes of the 
stems, where its earliest stage of formation is marked by @ slight 
