1907. Tomlinson. — Spira n thcs Romanzoffia na in A n trim . 313 



area where the Spiranthes grows is a soft, spongy marsh, and 

 flooded apparently during the winter months. It yields 

 beneath the foot as one walks over it. In the drier, grassy 

 patches the plants were closer together ; in the more watery 

 patches, full of Comamm palustre and Mentha sativa, and where 

 it was unpleasant to tread, the orchid was either rare or 

 absent altogether. On the rock}', gravelly, and sandy stretches 

 of ground that adjoined at both ends of the marshy area the 

 plant was nowhere to be seen. A little practice soon gave 

 one the cue as to the kind of habitat most likely to sustain 

 Spiranthes Ro?na?izoffiana. Boggy, moist bottoms may be 

 searched with a fair prospect of success : but wherever rock, 

 sand, gravel, or tenacious clay predominate in the upper 

 stratum, I fear it is almost hopeless to look for it. 



On August 10 I set off to spend my half holiday once again 

 on Lough Neagh's banks, choosing as a rendezvous a rather 

 remote district, westward of Shane's Castle demesne. It was 

 part of the same area, already alluded to, which I had super- 

 ficially explored in 1^05. I knew* it contained a considerable 

 tract of marsh and swampy ground, out of which I formerly 

 thought no good thing could come, and consequently gave a 

 wide berth to. Experience had now taught me that it would 

 not be too moist, or forbidding in aspect, for Spiranthes. 

 After traversing a mile or so of varied ground, some of which 

 seemed likely enough, and some of which was too dry and 

 gravelly to hold out any hope, I at last entered an extensive 

 area of several acres of almost flat marshland. A close 

 scrutiny of this very wet, boggy pasture followed, and I was, 

 after sundry windings, soon rewarded with the sight of two 

 stunted specimens of Spiranthes Romanzofjiana. Others 

 followed in quick succession, and I soon realised that this 

 orchid held the field there. It was abundant and distributed 

 quite generally over some acres of ground. I counted over 

 120 plants, and then gave the task up. Time was flying, and 

 I was several miles from the nearest railway station, so further 

 details had to be allowed to wait for a more convenient 

 season. 1 therefore devoted the remainder of my time to 

 tracing the zone of distribution, which was clearly encom- 

 passed by low, dry, gravelly escarpments on which no trace 

 of the orchid was to be seen. On the pasturage area the 



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