587 



C|e Po^s |[oni of Hje Piivttorouslj 



By H. N. Dixon, M.A., F.L.S. 



The Bryology of the Marlboiough District remains at present 

 almost completely uninvestigated. In the new Census Catalogue 

 of British Mosses the only source of records quoted for N. Wilts 

 is a MS. list compiled by Mr. A. B. Jackson ; a short list, I believe, 

 mostly of mosses gathered in Savernake Forest in 1906. During 

 a short stay in the neighbourhood of Marlborough last July [1907] I 

 was attracted by one or two rather interesting mosses occurring on 

 the Sarsen Stones, or Grey wethers, and I took note afterwards of the 

 species I was able to observe growing on them. The results are, 

 I think, of sufficient interest to be worth recording. 



I should premise that my collecting was confined to a few hours 

 on three days during hot dry weather in the summer (perhaps the 

 only week that could be fairly so described during the whole of 

 that unspeakable season), and therefore at the most unsuitable 

 time of the year. The only localities visited were Clatford Bottom 

 and the slopes of the Downs above, a few stones near the Ptidgeway 

 south of "West Kennett, and a few others noticed during a short 

 half -hour in Lockeridge Dean. No doubt a more extended search 

 at different seasons of the year would add considerably to the 

 results thus obtained. 



These boulders, composed of almost pure siliceous sandstone, 

 lying high and dry on the slopes and bottoms of the chalk downs, 

 would hardly be expected to furnish a rich moss-flora, and indeed 



' This short paper was printed in The Report of the Marlborough College 

 Natural History Society for the Year 1907, pp. 28—30. As it is an in- 

 teresting subject which has never before been touched the author and the 

 editor of the Report have kindly allowed it to be reprinted here. — [Ed.] 



