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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. IV, July, 1950 
served by placing the perigynia in a moist 
petri dish for a few days. This variation in 
color may occur as in Fosherg 12675 and 
12674, where all gradations may be seen on 
a single spike, or it may be found without 
intermediates, the perigynia being not only 
black or turning black but somewhat oval 
with exaggerated rostra, as in Krauss 476, 
479, 478. The species responds with unusual 
sensitivity to the environment and may de- 
velop some of its different forms as a result 
of recombinations of one or more slightly 
different mutant genes affecting shape and 
surface of the perigynia. 
Carex sandwicensis Boeck. based on Re my 
148, Molokai, 1851-55 (G), is a later syn- 
onym published in 1875 and made by Boeck- 
ler apparently without knowledge of the 
earlier publication of Boott in 1867. It has 
been accepted and used widely but must be 
submerged. 
Carex Crustacea Nelmes, represented only 
by the type, is rather unusual in the great 
length of the internodes between the spikes 
and also in the reduced size of the spikes. 
The more normal internodes are 2—3 cm. 
long at the base and seldom as long above, 
as in Nelmes’ Carex Crustacea. It is believed 
from a study of the population that Carex 
Crustacea cannot be maintained as a species. 
It is regrettable that at this stage in our sci- 
ence a species should be described from one 
fragmentary specimen and in a few vague 
words as a footnote to a key. 
Carex Prescottiana Boott is illustrated in 
Boott’s Illustrations of the Genus Carex from 
a collection of the U. S. Exploring Expedi- 
tion (the Wilkes Expedition) from "the for- 
est above the sawmill, Hawaii.” The spec- 
imen secured from Kew has a note as follows: 
Laid in from herb. Boott, Oct. 1894. This 
is the whole Sandwich material which 
Boott subsequently pasted down in his 
type cover of Carex Prescottiana. From 
California Boott founded his Carex Pres- 
cottiana on Wall. Col. 3386 and pub- 
lished it in Proc. Linn. Soc, v. I, p. 280. 
When he got this material from Hawaii 
he determined it as identical with Wai- 
lich n. 3386 and then marked a query 
against Wallich’s locality Nepal. I con- 
sider that the Hawaiian plant differs 
specifically from the Nepal one. It is 
Carex sandwicensis, Boeck. 
C. B. Clarke, Oct. 1894 
All that remains of this specimen is a 
packet of one dozen loose fruits. On exam- 
ination the black spots illustrated in Boott 
(1867: 45, PL 115) prove to be spots of a 
fungal infection. The veins shown in Boott’s 
illustration are not found in all perigynia and 
in none as strongly as drawn. The two teeth 
of the rostrum are distinct in most of the 
fruits though the infected ones seem to be 
broken or missing. Clarke’s conclusion is 
valid. The remaining specimens, however, do 
suggest a gradation into variety Degeneri 
which is found on Maui and Hawaii. 
The type material which is figured by 
Boott is mentioned only as coming from the 
Wilkes Expedition collections in the district 
of Waimea, Hawaii. The material from the 
Wilkes Expedition marked Carex alligata 
Boott is now in the U. S. National Herbarium 
and is the only specimen which fits Boott’s 
plate. The specimen, although it is the type, 
is not typical. It is a small young plant with 
somewhat narrower perigynia than those 
commonly found. Moreover, the perigynia 
have become dark although the typical sur- 
face persists. 
Carex alligata Boott var. Degeneri var. nov. 
Figs. 18, I9a-b 
A specie differt in squamis foeminis pur- 
pureis aut purpureis-nigris in marginibus gla- 
bris aut albo-fimbriati carinis albis centralibus 
saepe aristatis, utriculis 1-2 mm. longis 2-5 
mm. latis ovalibus aut ellipsoideis in linea- 
menta tenuiter biconvexis incorporis fulvis 
