164 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Suss. LXXxv. 
THE FLORA OF THE FENLAND, AS COMPARED WITH THAT 
OF THE Bocs, MARSHES, AND MossEs OF SCOTLAND. 
By ArtHuR H. Evans, M.A. ' 
In spite of the extirpation of certain plants by long-con- 
tinued drainage, the Fenland still remains a district of 
much interest to British botanists, as it was to Ray and 
others of the olden time; for there, in a comparatively 
small area, are to be found a large number of species, of 
which some are almost restricted to it, and some do not 
occur elsewhere. 
The Fens proper may be taken to coincide roughly with 
what is termed, from its scheme of drainage, the Bedford 
Level, and cover a large extent of flat country reaching 
from near St Ives in the west to the confines of Norfolk 
and Suffolk on the east, and from Wisbech and Peter- 
borough on the north to within a few miles of Cambridge 
on the south. The Nene, the Ouse, and the Cam are the 
main rivers that traverse it, but the two artificial cuts, called 
the Old and the New Bedford Rivers, now convey most of 
the waters of the Ouse in a straighter course from EKarith 
Bridge to Denver Sluice. There are also numerous wide 
“dikes” or “lodes,” as they are locally called, with smaller 
cross-channels, into which the surface waters are effectually 
drained by means of powerful pumping engines. 
Peat, lying above gault or other clayey deposits, is 
characteristic of the greater part of this area, but in the 
northern part, from Wisbech to the south of March, the soil 
is chiefly of the nature of silt, a fact which must be con- 
sidered in connexion with the proximity of the Wash and 
the former course of the river Nene. Islands of clay and 
greensand are prominent landmarks in various places, by far 
the largest being the well-known “Isle of Ely.” The Kim- 
meridge or the Oxford clay found there must not, however, 
be confounded with the glacial or boulder clay which tops 
many of the eminences surrounding the Fens, where an 
entirely different flora occurs, especially noted for the 
true Oxlip. 
Fen peat is very different in appearance and composition 
from that of Scottish moors and mosses, being of a black 
