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NOTE ON THE CHINESE NAME OF ELEUSLNE
CORACANA, Gaertii.
By H. F. H^nce, Ph.D.
In the ueighbourhood of Canton, where this cereal is sometimes
sparingly cultivated, the common native name, as obtained from the
peasantrj^ by Mr. Sampson, is Kai-keuk-kuk, literally " fowl's-foot
arrain." I have thought this worth noting;, because, bv a curious
coincidence, the closely allied Eleusiiie Indica Vjears in Spain, according
to Willkomm (Prodr. Fl. Hisp. i. 46), a precisely similar name,
" Pie de gallo."
These are various instances of similar nomenclature amongst Ch-a-
miue(s, t.y. our own " Cock's-foot grass" (^DactyUs), and Leptochloa
arabica, Kunth, which, according to Bertoloni (Fl. Ital. i. 579), is
called "Pie di gaUo raspeUone" in Italy; but in no genus is the
popular term so appropriate as in Eleimne, and it is, doubtless, to this
circumstance that we must ascribe the coincidence just alluded to.
NOTE ON HYGROPHORUS CALTPTRjEFORMIS.
The first time that I met with this beautiful Hygrophorus was in
November, 1847, when a few specimens of it were gi-owiug on the
mossy lawn at Wick House, between Brislington and Bristol, a station
which, as far as I know, remains undisturbed, although the Hauham
one is destroyed. T showed my drawing of it at the time to the late
Mr. H. O. Stephens, but he could give me no information respecting
it, and it was not till some years later that I leamt its specific name.
Since then I have seen it\three several seasons, and in three different
localities near Kenilworth. Is it, therefore, so rare a species as is
supposed ? The last time I met with it was in 1866, but I never saw-
more than a few plants in each spot. It is very lovely, and might
almost be mistaken, at a little distance, for buds of Cohhicum auiiim-
iiale, so pm'e and delicate is its colour.
Kenilworth, March IQth, 1869.
Akna Russell.
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