268 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



Hedw. and OrtJiotriclmm cmomalum ya,i\ saxatUe Milde occasionally 

 on churchyard walls in very small tufts ; Orthotrichum imlchellwn 

 Smith, at Narford ; Eurhynchium tenellum Milde, at Narborougli, 

 and SphcBrocarpus terrestris (Sm.). 



Bearing in mind its European distribution, the prevalence of 

 this last-named rare hepatic throughout the county is notable. It 

 is fairly common in Italy and in the central and north-western 

 provinces of France ; Baden is the only German State which has 

 produced it ; it has been recorded from Sardinia, Teneriffe, England, 

 and Ireland, but so sparingly that we might venture the opinion 

 that in England, at the present time, Gloucestershire is the only 

 county besides Norfolk where it could be found with ease. The 

 Norfolk botanists of a century ago recorded it from Heydon, 

 Holt, Norwich, and Yarmouth, but during the past few years we 

 have traced it in more than fifty parishes from Sheringham and 

 Eyburgh southwards to Loddon and Winfarthing ; and from 

 Upton, westwards to Swaffham, involving an area of more than 

 five hundred square miles. 



Morckia is an interesting genus which has been added to 

 Norfolk hepatics ; during 1910 traces of it were seen in such 

 widely separated parishes as Bio' Norton (v.-c. 28), Elordon, and 

 Whitwell (v.-c. 27). It probably belongs to M. Flotoioiana, but 

 the habit of our marsh plant differs so much from the mat-like 

 growth of the west coast that it seems advisable to keep it under 

 observation before coming to a final decision. 



Another group of plants which claimed special attention was 

 the genus Utricularia. Bladderwort was an uncommon plant to 

 us, as it is to many botanists, until opportunity allowed us in 

 recent years to visit the low-lying districts of the county. Utricu- 

 laria vulgaris occurs in incredible quantity in marsh pools ; a 

 single branch has been measured six feet in length, flower stalks 

 up to fifteen inches ; and the crackling of its tiny bladders when 

 one wades amongst it is magnified by numbers into an audible 

 sound. U. minor usually accompanies it. Some recently cleaned 

 dykes in Feltwell Fen were carpeted over many square yards with 

 a delicate lace-work of this species, which was in almost complete 

 possession and showed up very prettily against a background of 

 black peat. 



"We specially desired, however, to acquire field knowledge of 

 U. intermedia ; chance had put us on its track, at Swannington 

 in v.-c. 27 during the autumn of 1909, and having once recognized 

 it, we found it to be by no means so uncommon as expected ; a 

 difference in habit possibly accounts for it being overlooked ; it is 

 not free-floating, like vulgaris, but anchors itself to the sub- 

 stratum by its bladder-bearing branches which are aphototropic, 

 developing amongst the underlying moss and herbage, or even 

 penetrating the soft mud, and are devoid of chlorophyll ; only 

 one example came to our notice of a plant with floating green 

 bladders. We walked through hundreds of square yards of 

 shallow pool at Eoydon, treading on it at every step, its foliage 

 forming a carpet without visible bladders suggestive of a minia- 



