NOTE ON A NEW ZEALAND GRASS.

182

Proceedings ^oftheBiological Society of

Washington.

NOTE ON A NEW ZEALAND GRASS.

Torresia fraseri

(Hook.

^f.).

Hierochloefraseri

Hook.

f.Fl. Antarct. 1:93. 1844.

Savastana_fraseri Skeels, U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. PI. Ind. Bull. 248:21.

1912.

This _species is a nativeof

New

Zealand

and

Tasmania. It has been referred to Torresia redolens (Forst.⁾

Roem. &

Schult. (Hierochloe redolens R. Br.) butdiffers in its smaller _size,

more

slender culms

and

smaller_spikelets.

Seeds ^ofthisgrasswere^sent tothe U. S.

Department

^of Agriculture

by

Dr.A.

H.

_Cockayne, of Wellington,

New

Zealand.

They

^werereferred

to

me

with the request that^Idesignate the

name

the_speciesshould bear in the forthcoming Inventory ^{of Seeds}

and

Plants Imported. ^I have recently published*^anote

upon

Torresia Ruiz.

&

_{Pav., showing}ittobe the earliest tenable

name

under the

American Code

forthe species in- cluded under Savastana

and

Hierochloe,

and

transferring^toittheNorth

American

species of the genus. Besides the

New

^Zealand speciesunder consideration there aresix or eight other species of the southernhemi- sphere that should _{be placed} under Torresia but the validity of each

name

should beinvestigated before the transfer^ismade.

—

_A. S. Hitchcock.

A NOTE ON THE OCCURRENCE OF EPIPERIPATUS IMTHURMI

(SCLATER).t

Mr.

Gilbert E. Bodkin,^the

Government Economic

Biologist for British Guiana, has recently sent

me

five specimens ^of Epiperipatus imthurmi (Sclater) which he collected in .June, 1915, at the

Government Rubber

Station, Issororo, NorthwestDistrict, BritishGuiana.

The

specimens vary from ³²

mm.

to47

mm.

in length,

and

in width from3

mm.

to 4

mm.;

^{four have 30} pairs of ambulatory legs,

and

the fifthhas31.

Mr.

Bodkin

writes: "

Idiscovered

them

beneathrottenstumps^of

wood

ina lowlying piece^{of soilat}thefoot ofahillatthe

Government Rubber

Station, Issororo.

The

soil hereis

composed

^{of aboutfivefeet of}

humus

overlyingclay,

and

isplantedwithtrees of

Havea

braziliensis

now

about six years ^old.

Only

stumps ⁱⁿ an advanced _stage of rottenness were inhabited by^{thesecreatures. I}found

them

to be

common

in this piece of land

and

secured about fourteen specimens ^{in half} an hour;

some

stumps harboured^threeor four specimens. ^Icould_easilyhave collected three times thenumber. Theircolour

when

alivewasa beautiful velvety chocolate

brown

above

and

adelicate flesh pink onthe ventral surface."

—

Austin

H.

Clark.

•Amer.Journ.Bot.2: 300. 1915.

t Publishedwith the permissionoftheActing Secretary^oftheSmithsonianInstitution.