HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIR 



183 



an able and most exhaustive work, embodying all 

 recent investigation. Though it might not convert 

 Mr. Robertson to a belief in the " selection theory," 

 it would probably convince him that the theory in 

 question possesses even more advantages than *' the 

 equivocal merit of plausibility " ! 



A. G. Tansley. 



ANOTHER DAY AMONG THE SALT 

 MARSHES AT HUNSTANTON. 



IN our "day at Hunstanton," in August 1881, we 

 passed over many of the plants which abound 

 in the salt marsh and along the shore, the weather 

 being too wet to allow of a prolonged search. This 

 year we were favoured with a gloriously fine day, 

 and were able to examine the neighbourhood more 

 closely. We drove to a place called Holme (pro- 

 nounced "Hullum"), within a few hundred yards 

 of the marsh. Crossing the sand dunes, a bright 

 purple colour over the low-lying lands showed us 

 that we had arrived at our destination, and that the 

 sea-lavenders were in profusion. A little before this 

 Erythraa centaurmm grew among the sand. The 

 three species of statice do not grow mixed together : 

 S. Hmonium covers the wetter parts of the marsh ; 

 the rarest one, S. caspia, forms a narrow line where 

 the wet ends ; while .S". auriculafoliitm covers the 

 sand a little higher up, but does not extend any- 

 where far from the marsh. On .S". Hmonium we 

 found the uredo and teleutospores oi Puccinia statices. 

 Armeria vulgaris grows in many places, and the 

 flowers were very pale. In the wet parts grows also 

 Aster Tripolium ; both the discoid and radiate forms 

 occurred, though the former was most abundant. 

 The discoid form looks very like a senecio at first 

 sight ; the other cannot be mistaken, as the contrast 

 between the whitish purple flowers of the ray and 

 the yellow florets of the disc is very striking. The 

 sea purslane {Atripkx porttilacoides) forms greyish 

 spreading shrubs. Suada fruticosa and maritima 

 grow together in some parts near the edge of the 

 marsh ; the samphire {Salicornia herbacea), the sea 

 sagina {Sagina maritima), and Triglochin maritimum 

 nearly in the water. ■ In the marsh are many cracks 

 caused by shrinkage, and filled with water. On the 

 bottom of these diatomacese grow luxuriously, but 

 under them was such dirty-looking black mud that I 

 was afraid to gather any, knowing that I should not 

 be able to clean them for some weeks. 



And here may I make a slight digression, and 

 mention a few of the diatoms I got here in 1881. 

 They were mixed with so much dirt that I had to 

 pick many of them out. Pletirosigma balticum and 

 other Pleurosigmas abound, but cannot be got pure ; 

 Bacillaria paradoxa, ActinaoptycJms undulatus, Bid- 

 dulphia rhombus, B. aurita, Navicula Bombus ; and I 



found one solitary frusture of Auliscus sculptna, and 

 numerous others of less beauty. 



We made a prolonged search for Frankenia all in 

 vain. We then turned our attention to the plants on 

 the sand dunes, and found the sea holly (Eryngium 

 maritimum), the sandwort {Arenaria peploides) in 

 seed, thelyme-grass (Elymus arenarius), the sea bind- 

 weed {Convolvulus soldandla) in fruit, the saltwort 

 {Salsola itali), and the sea cakile [Cakile maritima). 

 The grayling butterfly {Hipparchia Semele) was flying 

 about among the Eryngium. 



Following along about high-water mark, we picked 

 up a number of pieces of a silicious sponge, some 

 Echini, Flustra foliacea, and other Polyzoa, &c. 

 Turning seaward, we came to some pools in the sand, 

 the bottom of which was covered with bubbles. One 

 of our party suggested that they were due to some 

 confervoid algae, but I bottled some and found I had 

 a pure gathering of a diatom (Amphiprora ?), almost 

 free from all dirt, except sand. Farther on we came 

 upon part of the submerged forest among the sand. 

 Continuing back under the cliffs, we took a few 

 minutes examining the red chalk, but, of course, did 

 not find any fossils that we could bring back. Our 

 time being now up, we returned laden with " finds, 

 and well satisfied with the results of a most enjoyable 

 excursion. 



G. H. Bryan. 



Pcterhouse, Cambridge. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



The Delegates of the Clarendon Press have the 

 following works ready for early publication :— An 

 edition, with notes for students, of TertuUian's 

 "Apology," by Mr. T. H. Bindley of Merton College ; 

 " Selections from Burns," by Mr. J. Logic Robertson 

 (uniform with *' Selections from Clarendon," just 

 published); Mr. Oliver Aplin's "Birds of Oxford- 

 shire." In mathematics they will issue shortly the 

 second volume treating of Electro-Dynamics of 

 Messrs. Watson and Burbury's " Mathematical Theory 

 of Electricity and Magnetism," and a new edition of 

 the fourth volume on the Dynamics of Material 

 Systems (which has long been out of print) of Professor 

 Bartholomew Price's " Treatise on Infinitesimal 

 Calculus." A school edition of Scott's " Marmion," 

 by Mr, Thomas Bayne, is nearly ready. 



Mr. a. H, Arnold Bemrose has completed a 

 very useful " Alphabetical Index to the Collection of 

 Minerals in the Derby Museum," The arrangement 

 is the same as that used in the British Museum. 

 Curators will find this catalogue of much service. 



Mr. W, p. Pycroft, of the Leicester Museum, 

 sends us a paper read by him before a meeting of the 

 Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society, on " The 

 Recent Immigration of Pallas' Sand-grouse." This 



