488 HARSHBERGER— INFLUENCE OF SEA WATER [April 22, 



of such plants on the salt marsh. The first eleven plants of the 

 preceding list may be looked upon as true saline species, while the 

 other plants of the list are those which are typically found under 

 fresh-water conditions of environment. These plants have accom- 

 modated themselves to a soil of some salinity as tested by the hy- 

 drometer. On the other hand, the degree of accommodation of the 

 typic salt marsh species is indicated. The following show the widest 

 range of accommodation : Spartlna stricta niaritima, Spartina patens, 

 Jnncus Gcrardi, while Salicornia Jierhacea, Distichlis spicata, Limo- 

 niuiii caro!i)iianum show a small range of accommodation. As a 

 result one is justified perhaps in believing that this difl:'erence in the 

 degree of accommodation accounts in part^" for the general and con- 

 trolling distribution of Spartina stricta iiiariti)!ia, Spartina patens 

 and Juncus Gerardi, which are most prevailingly present in the salt 

 marshes of the Atlantic coast, while Salicornia herbacea, Limonium 

 caroliniaiium, with less power of accommodation and smaller size, 

 are rarely controlling, but form small associations, or are intermin- 

 gled with the other salt marsh species. The salt grass Distichlis 

 spicata, although it never grows in areas of great extent, yet is 

 usually found where it grows in nearly exclusive association. This 

 power of accommodation seems to be an inherent property of proto- 

 plasm and it varies within wide limits for different kinds of plants. 

 The lower plants seem to have a greater power of accommodation, 

 the higher plants a less degree. Professor G. J. Peirce, of Stanford 

 University, has undertaken to study the behavior of some ponds 

 on the flat shore of San Francisco Bay into which salt water is 

 pumped for the manufacture of salt. The water evaporates during 

 the dry season, leaving an accumulation of salt on the bottom and 

 sides of these ponds, and from a minimum specific gravity of 1.06000 

 in the rainy season the concentration rises in the course of three or 

 four months until the specific gravity reaches 1.22500. A small 

 crustacean (Artemia) and the larvse of some flies are the only ani- 

 mals living in these brines, but there are unicellular plants, bacteria 

 of various sorts, chromogenic and other kinds, Clilaniydonio)ias-like 



" The vegetative habits of these plants with powerful rootstocks and 

 methods of seed distriI)ntion must also be considered as important factors. 



