EO 
cals? 
NOTES ON A SALT-MARSH AT BRANSTON. 53 
solids 134 parts, which in October of the present year had 
decreased to 20°2 and 108°7 parts respectively. 
A ditch running at right angles to the direction of the two last 
ponds, and emptying itself into the river, shows every sign of being 
fed by springs. Along its banks grow Samolus Valerandi and 
Apium Graveolens in abundance, and its water has a slight brackish 
taste. In August, 1889, it contained 49 parts of chlorine and 241°6 
of total solids, and in October this year its chlorine had reached 
the large figure of 68:2. 
Ditch No. II., running nearly parallel to No. I., has Samolus 
growing init, and its water contains 13°5 parts of chlorine. Samolus 
also occurs on the banks of Ponds III. and IV., but analysis 
shows, as botanists are aware, that salt is not absolutely essential 
to the existence of this plant, for the waters contain only 4°6 
and g‘o parts of chlorine respectively. 
Pond V. is merely a surface water one, and Pond VI. is but little 
more, containing as they do but 2'4 and 6'1 parts of chlorine, 
Repeated search over the land from this line of ponds up to 
Walton has not brought to light any maritime plants whatever, and 
on recrossing the railway no trace of salt-marsh plants was found 
until Ditch IIf. was reached. This is a wide, marshy ditch, 
evidently owing its existence to springs, from the ferruginous 
deposit at intervals in its course, and from the fact that within a 
few yards it develops from nothing into a marshy ditch of con- 
siderable size. It has a peculiar, fetid odour similar to that which 
is always associated with brackish marshes. It is rich in maritime 
plants, Juncus Gerardi, Apium Graveolens, and Scirpus maritimus 
occurring together in abundance, and this unmistakable indica- 
tion of the saline character of the water is well borne out by 
analysis, for a sample taken on 18th October last had a strong 
brackish taste, and a Specific Gravity of no less than 1004'5 ; 
its total solids amounted to 539°8 parts, and its chlorine to the 
large quantity of 169:1. A sample of water was also taken from 
what was unmistakably a spring at the commencement of the 
ditch, and it contained 60°3 parts of chlorine, and possessed a 
slight brackish taste. 
