'rm-: si-.acoast 



-4.) 



sandy, it is <.|uiti- natiinil tliiil llu- inariliiiu' 

 plants l"or llio most part an- equally at hoiiu- 

 upon sand soil without salt. I%xpcrinu'nts 

 made by tlu- author with plants iVom cai-h 

 zone show that all of them can subsist inland 

 in river silt without salt. The ^■ellow Morned 

 Poppy, lor instance, will j;row and produce 

 abundant flowers and seed in an ordinary 

 };ravel drive, and Sea Campion is il" anythin;.; 

 more luxuriant in river alluvium. Sea Heath 

 does well under the s.inie conditions. .At the 

 same lime the xerophylic characters evoked 

 by the excess of sail are larjjely lost when these 

 plants are frrown inland. 



Methods of Survey. — The donation of the 

 maritime plants and the diversity of the v;.'ge- 

 tation necessitates to some extent a ditTerent 

 method of survey of each zone. But generally 

 the method of studyinjj meadow or pasture 

 plants may be applied here, more especially 

 in reijard to the salt marsh, in so far as the 

 m.ippinsjf of the association is concerned. 



The problems of soil character, origin of 



each lormation, .ind ils inroplion :m"d growlli, 

 which are rather the work of the advanced 

 student, need nol !«• delaih-d here full) (see 

 Professor Oliver's work on Hlakeney). 



In the c.ise of the sandy coast, and ihe 

 muddy coast, it is imporlant to consider ihe 

 conlinuous or discontinuous characli-r of llu- 

 plants that one notices. The distance of each 

 from the si-a at hij4h tide, the /onation of each 

 type within the first zone, the slope of the 

 shore, .ind the .aspect are each objects for 

 study. The ad.iplations of the plants to the 

 halophytic conditions are ,-ilso points for ob- 

 servation. The shingle beach m.iy be studied 

 in the same way. On the s.ind dunes the p.-nt 

 played by the Marram, Lyme tir.iss, and oilier 

 (irasses in prolecling the sand iVoni ero-ion, 

 and the influence of the Grassi's upon the other 

 types, will be the principal features to be 

 studied. In the salt marsh the associations 

 should be studied with a view to tliscovering 

 the effect of one type upon .mother, and the 

 order of colonization of each plant. 



