30 BOTANY AS APPLIED TO VETERINARY SCIENCE. 
stamens, three; styles, two 55 (Buckman); named from dacty- 
los , a finger. 
This perennial, somewhat rough and coarse-looking, grass, 
is found in all situations, and is of considerable value from 
the large amount of nutritive matter contained in nearly all 
parts of the plant. It attains a height of from one to three 
feet, and flowers and ripens its seed from the beginning to 
the end of July. Its stems and long leaves yield a valuable 
addition to the hay crop, and the rapidity of its growth after 
mowing renders it of great value for aftermath, and in this 
condition it is much sought after by all kinds of cattle. " It 
contains 59 per cent, of starch or mucilage, 11 of sugar, 30 
of extractive and saline matters. v I have, during this last 
autumn, found this grass also ergotized to a very great extent. 
Triticum rejpens (creeping wheat, or couch-grass).— Spike, 
very long; spikelets , four to eight, flowered; glumes, lance¬ 
shaped, with or without awns; glumellas, two, the outer 
glumel sharply pointed or wflth a short awn; stamens, 
three; styles, two; named from tritum, beaten or thrashed” 
(Pratt). 
This well-recognised and troublesome pest to the farmer, 
known by the names of white couch, twitch, stroil, and 
quickens, is found in almost all situations. It attains a 
height of from one to three feet, and flowers during the 
summer months, but propagates itself with astonishing 
rapidity by its roots, which contain a much larger amount 
of nutriment than any other part of the plant. It is much 
liked by all kinds of cattle. In this country the roots are 
generally collected and either burned or made into manure 
with lime, but “ in Rome and Naples they are extensively 
used, either in a simply washed condition or mixed with 
carrots, as food for horses. And in Britain they might be 
given raw to pigs, or steamed or boiled to horses and cattle. 
They might also, after having been w ashed and macerated, 
be manufactured into farina for human beings, as they con¬ 
tain nutritive matter of the same kind and in nearly the 
same proportion as potato tubers. 5 ’ I have likewise found 
this grass much ergotized this autumn. 
A short time since, a circumstance occurred in connexion 
with this grass, which, though of slight importance in itself, 
may nevertheless be of some service to those whose observa¬ 
tion has not been called to the subject. Upon visiting a 
horse belonging to a gentleman in this neighbourhood, my 
attention W'as directed to a pointer dog, which w r as picking 
out the leaves of some kind of grass and eating them, a habit 
that had been frequently noticed in him. Before and after 
