MARSH PLANTS 



the dot on the i in its name. Many other cases have 

 been recorded of lakes that were coloured sometimes a " pea- 

 green,"" or even brown or red by similar tiny little seaweeds. 

 As we shall see, the water of such lakes generally contains a 

 very large amount of suspended or floating vegetable life. 



Another curious appearance is Gori/ Dew. Patches of a 

 deep blood-red or purple colour are found on the ground or 

 on walls. They have just the appearance of recently-shed 

 blood. This also is due to an alga {Poj-phyiidiurn cnwntum). 

 Dr. Cooke quotes from Drayton as follows : " In the plain, 

 near Hastings, where the Norman William, after his victory 

 found King Harold slain, he built Battle Abbey, which at 

 last, as divers other monasteries, grew to a town enough 

 populous. Thereabout is a place which, after rain, always 

 looks red, which some have attributed to a very bloody 

 sweat of the earth, as crying to Heaven for vengeance of so 

 great a slaughter." 



The ordinary " Rain of Blood " which appears on not too 

 fresh meat, and looks like minute specks of red-currant 

 jelly, is due to one of the Bacteria {Micrococcus prodigiosics). 



The original algae or seaweeds probably had descendants 

 which migrated to the land and eventually after many 

 geological periods became our flowering plants and ferns. 

 But the earth has become so richly supplied with plants of 

 all sorts and kinds that it is now by no means easy for any 

 plant to find a roothold for its existence. So that a con- 

 siderable number have been forced back to the water, and 

 have accustomed themselves to live in or even under water 

 in company with their lowly cousins, the seaweeds, who 

 remained below its surface. 



These water plants are very interesting. They are always 

 competing with one another. There is a perpetual struggle 



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