306 Formation and Flora of a Shingle Island. [Sess. 



Plants peculiar to the fields. — The fields had Orchis mascula, 

 Habenaria conopsea, and H. bifolia almost to themselves ; 

 there being only one or two odd plants of these in the 

 riparian strip, and not one on the island. There were also 

 quantities of Viola tricolor, Lychnis Flos-cuculi, Trifolium 

 dubium, Crepis virens, and Euphrasia officinalis, quite close to 

 the island ; a little farther off was a potato -patch, and a field 

 of oats containing quantities of Chrysanthemum segetum ; and 

 in the potatoes or the oats occurred a good deal of Spergula 

 arvensis, Galeopsis versicolor, and Polygonum Persicaria. All 

 these plants were very scantily represented both in the riparian 

 strip and the island. 



Plants fecidiar to the riparian strip. — The riparian strip 

 was the sole possessor of Teucrium Scorodonia, Calluna 

 Erica, and Athyrium Filix-foemina ; and had also 8 other 

 species all to itself, though only a few plants of each, 

 namely, Caltha palustris, Alchemilla arvensis, Sedum angli- 

 cum, Epilobium montanum,^ Myosotis ctespitosa. Digitalis 

 purpurea, Urtica urens,^ and Lastraea Filix-mas.^ It contained 

 plenty of Mercurialis perennis, of which the island had only 

 one or two stunted specimens, and the fields none at all ; 

 and also, at its foot, plenty of Ranunculus Flammula, which 

 was absent from the fields, and poor on the island. 



Plants peculiar to the island. — The island had Alchemilla 

 vulgaris and Oxyria digyna in abundance ; the former being 

 scanty in the fields and riparian strip, and the latter 

 entirely lacking. In addition the island had the following 21 

 species entirely to itself : Silene acaulis, Stellaria graminea (?), 

 Saxifraga aizoides, Eibes rubrum, (Enothera biennis, Aster 

 hybrid, Tanacetum vulgare, Cnicus heterophyllus, Mentha 

 sylvestris. Polygonum Convolvulus, P. cuspidatum, Urtica 

 dioica, Tritonia crocosmiflora, Juncus effusus, J. lamprocarpus, 

 Phalaris arundinacea, Phleum pratense, Agrostis palustris, 

 Molinia varia, Glyceria fluitans, and Festuca elatior (many 

 of these, however, were only odd specimens) ; besides Cnicus 

 arvensis, which was represented on the mainland by only 

 a few specimens a good way off. 



Why certain plants, thriving in the fields and riparian strip, 

 are absent or poor on the island. — In trying to account for 



* These were on the breakwater. 



