BOTANICAL FEATURES. 33 
prepared from living Guernsey specimens, will be found in Annals 
of Botany, vol. xiv. (1900), p. 413. 
The Characeae are not numerously represented in this island, 
and the only species worth noting here is the very rare Chara baltica 
var. affinis, which occurs, or, at any rate, used to occur in some 
quantity ten years ago, in the ditches at Grande Mare. 
Mosses In this warm, moist climate, so similar in many respects 
“to that of the south-western extremity of England, 
mosses of course abound, and are to be met with almost every- 
where. Old walls, cliff sides, rocks, and boulders are very pro- 
ductive as a rule, but tree trunks present comparatively little variety. 
Hedge banks, disused quarries, and sandy commons are rich in 
species, as also sheltered valleys and stream-sides. Bryologists who 
are acquainted with the prolific sphagnum-bogs of Devon and Corn- 
wall will be sorely disappointed with Grande Mare, the largest and 
finest piece of marshy waste land in the island, for it promises so 
much and yields so little: in fact, it is as poor in mosses and 
hepaticae as it is rich in flowering plants. Three or four species are 
abundant enough, but a host of mosses peculiar to peat bogs and 
wet heaths are absent ; even the beautiful genus Sphagnum is very 
meagrely represented by a small patch or two of S. acutifolium, 
which will soon disappear if the marsh is drained. 
The great bulk of the mosses are of course lowland forms, but 
there are a few which are strictly sub-alpine in their range, although 
the highest elevation barely exceeds 350 feet. Possibly this points 
back to a period_when-the-altitude of the land above sea-level was 
very much greater than it is now. Besides a fair share of interesting 
ee... . . - . . 
species, Guernsey possesses one, /isstdens rivularis, which ranks 
among the very rarest in the British flora, as it has hitherto only 
been found at Hastings. Another great rarity will very likely be 
discovered on the cliffs if searched for, as I have found it in abund- 
ance in Alderney. ‘This is Bartramia stricta, the only British 
locality for which is in Wales. It used to grow in one spot in 
Sussex, but it is believed to be extinct there now. 
As in other sections of the flora, several] mosses which are 
common in precisely similar localities in the south-west of England 
appear to be absent; but the western portion of the island has not 
been thoroughly investigated, and possibly in course of time some 
of these deficiencies will be filled up. At present the list comprises 
as nearly as possible one-fourth of the total number indigenous to 
the British Isles. 
: Taking the Hepaticae as a whole, they are relatively 
Hepaticae. far less plentiful in the island than mosses; they 
seldom grow luxuriantly, and many promising localities, like Grande 
Mare, are singularly barren of them. ‘The Guernsey list is not a 
D 
