208 ON THE VARIETIES OF ANIMALS. 



*Alisma ranunculoides. Growing in the water in various reedy pools' about 



the burrows. 

 * Typha angustifolia. In pools about the morass. 

 Eriophorum vaginatum, E. polystachion, and E. angustifolium. — Plentifully 



scattered in various parts of the bog. 

 Cladium mariscus. This fine member of the Cyperacece grew very luxuriantly 

 in the boggy ditches by the side of the towing-path of the canal, on the 

 side towards the sea. 

 Carex pseudo-cyperus. In a ditch at the eastern end of the bog. 

 *Briza minor. This "very rare" grass, which I spoke of dubiously in my 

 last, as having found upon the rocks above Oystermouth, proves correct, 

 as I have since ascertained from three or four specimens I had mislaid in 

 an old Memorandum Book where I had sketched an apartment in Oyster- 

 mouth Castle. It is an interesting addition to the South Wales Mora. 

 Having at length found a practicable point at which to cross the morass, where 

 deep indentations had forced it to yield an unwilling pasturage, I determined to 

 return to Swansea by the opposite side, which, however, produced me nothing 

 but a splendid panoramic view from a precipitous hill bounding the former 

 northern border of the lake. To the left, for a long distance, the morass curved 

 into a delightful vale dotted with the traces of cultivation, and bounded by dis- 

 tant mountainous undulations, revealed distinctly without an interposing cloud. 

 To the north appeared the valley of the Tawe, with the hovering vapours of the 

 copper-works ; while just cresting an intervening wooded hill on my right, the 

 buildings, pier, and harbour of Swansea, with the indented coast to Oystermouth 

 and the Mumbles Lighthouse, glittered in the still radiance of a fervid noon. 

 Before me in magnificent repose, far beyond a wide extent of yellow sands, 

 sparkled the emerald ocean, diversified by a momentary breaker, shadowed by a 

 passing cloud, or lit up with a long quivering line of light. No vessel stole along 

 with lagging sails, and no sea-bird moved in lucid glare. I sat down on a craggy 

 block of stone on the very verge of the precipice, where a friendly dwarf Oak 

 spread forth its sinuated arms, and, resting upon it, gazed long and ardently upon 

 the glorious scene. 



A CHAPTER ON THE VARIETIES OF ANIMALS. 

 By the Rev. F. Orpen Morris, B. A. 



" Varium et mutabile semper." — Virgil, JEneid. 

 There seem to be few quadrupeds, birds, or other creatures, which are not sub- 

 ject occasionally to variation of colour, plumage, hair, or other external covering. 



