THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 91 



the novice, and on the other hand there will be found a series 

 of forms, full of suggestiveness to the young comparative 

 morphologist, and one serving at once to vitalize comparative 

 physiology and give broad ground for evolutionary thought 

 and taxonomic enthusiasm. 



BOTANIZING IN THE CORPUS CHRISTI 



REGION 



By R. A. Sell. 



ORPUS CHRISTI BAY, being shut off from the Gulf of 

 Mexico by a chain of narrow sand spits with only a few 

 passes connecting, is one of the most attractive resorts in the 

 world. Shallow salt water, tempered ocean breezes and the 

 absence of an undertow combined with fishing grounds where 

 an amateur can fish with some degree of success, are features 

 that have been advertised quite extensively, but the plant life 

 which is both varied and distinctive has received comparatively 

 little attention. 



As the bay is, in reality, a remnant of a larger body of 

 water much of the adjacent land is composed of sand, shells 

 and other beach deposits. Throughout a very large territory 

 a sheet of salt water can be found about on a level with the 

 surface of the bay. Fresh water cannot be had from wells and 

 while plants grow well during wet weather a period of drouth 

 is very destructive. As the Nueces river empties into the bay 

 it is said to be only semi-salt, but because of extra evaporation 

 it is practically ocean water. The Nueces, being a very slow- 

 running stream, brings a great volume of such forms of sedi- 

 ment as can be held in solution, and as the water for several 

 miles above the mouth is even more quiet than that of the bay, 

 this sediment slowly settles and forms a thick black ooze that 

 can be readily raised to the higher ground by high water. This 



