BOTANICAL GAZETTE. ir/i 



up against the invading elements. It is a region where the storm 

 king holds undisputed sway, over which fierce winds and tumultuous 

 waves sweep with resistless fury. Following the shore close by the 

 swelling surf, treading the line which bounds an ocean from a conti- 

 nent, the mind is filled with a sense of awe, of unreality, with a fas- 

 cination which tempts one to wander "on and on forever,'' forgetful 

 of the past, unmindful of the future, striving to catch the meaning of 

 the ocean's strange murmur, to form a conception of its vastness and 

 of the strange world of life concealed within it. In such musings we 

 indulge for a few moments, then our attention is diverted to the 

 novel and curious objects on the shore. Hundreds of white winged 

 cranes are watching for what the sea may cast up, their moving forms 

 scarcely distinguishable in the distance from white breakers; over- 

 head sea-gulls wheel and scream, while over the beach spirit-crabs 

 hurry sidewise on the tips of their claws, watching us with their bale- 

 ful eyes and suddenly sink into their holes. Soon, everything brought 

 for the purpose, is filled with shells, coral. Sponges, Echinoderms, 

 Hydroids and Algas. Then we begin to throw out poor specimens 

 and substitute better and finally send our collections to the boat and 

 turn our attention to the singular maritime plants, which, farther 

 back from the shore are found in considerable variety. They are 

 rigid, succulent, and generally devoid of the ordinary elements of 

 beauty. Still farther from the shore the dreary landscape is bright- 

 ened by patches of a remarkable grass, a long-awned variety of the 

 MuJdenbcrgia capillaris. Its panicles are of silky softness and of a 

 purplish crimson color. Growing as it does in dense clumps, when 

 seen at a distance it has the appearance of crimson Phloxes. Near- 

 est to the ocean, growing on the dunes, is found another and very 

 different grass, the U)ilola panic alata, commonly called sea-oats, and 

 much used for ornamental purposes. It is a tough, leathery grass, 

 growing in large clumps, so deeply rooted that it is little affected 

 either by wind or waves. Its heads are borne in graceful panicles on 

 stems from three to five feet high. In almost equally exposed loca- 

 tions is found a very singular Composite, the Iva Imbrlcata. The in- 

 lluence of sea-watei upon this plant, in producing an extraordinary 

 distension of the cells and thickening of the involucres and leaves is 

 very marked, as much so as in the common maritime CJienopodiacejr, 

 which are here well represented. The Sesiiviiim, PortuJacastruui grows 

 in less exposed situations in great abundance, likewise the little 

 Vilfa Virginica. On the sandy bluffs facing the sea, is found a va- 

 riety of plants of quite a different character. The Crotoii maritimnni 



