260  Annual  Report  of  the  Consulting  Botanist  for  1882. 
spikelet  ; in  separating  from  each  other  when  they  are  threshed 
or  gathered,  each  seed  breaks  off  at  its  base  from  the  supporting 
stalk,  and  there  consequently  remains  in  the  inner  concave 
surface  of  the  seeds,  the  short  stalk  of  the  seed  that  was  pro- 
duced above  it  on  the  spikelet.  This  short  stalk  supplies  a 
ready  means  of  certainly  distinguishing  the  two  seeds,  for  in 
the  two  fescues  of  which  I am  speaking  it  is  slender  and  cylin- 
drical, nearly  equal  in  diameter  throughout  its  length,  and 
having  the  upper  articulating  surface  slightly  expanded,  while 
in  the  rye-grass  the  stalk  gradually  increases  upwards,  so  as  to 
have  a somewhat  triangular  shape,  and  it  is  truncated,  without 
any  expansion  at  the  apex. 
Sheep’s  fescue  I have  found  largely  adulterated  with  the 
seeds  of  Molinia  ccerulea,  a grass  found  in  moors  all  over 
Britain,  but  of  no  value  as  a pasture  grass.  It  is  rejected  both 
by  cattle  and  sheep.  This  worthless  grass  or  weed  is  largely 
Figs.  3 and  4. — Crested  Dog's-tail.  Figs.  5 and  6. — Cocksfoot. 
Fig.  7. — Molinia  Caerulea. 
Fig.  3.  Fig.  4.  Fig.  5.  Fig.  G.  Fig.  7. 
All  figures  ten  times  the  natural  size. 
used  for  adulterating  the  smaller  seeds.  A sample  of  crested 
dog’s-tail  which  passed  through  my  hands  contained  50  per 
