708 



Mr. Edwin Brown, growing " in profusion," in the Trent, near Bur- 

 ton-on-Trent, and also in the canal there. Mr. Brown was convinced 

 that the plant was new to that locality. He describes it as forming 

 " very large submerged masses, of a striking appearance." All the 

 flowers were females. At Christmas, 1850, it was found, by Mr. Kirk, 

 in Warwickshire, near Rugby, " in the greatest abundance," and in 

 July, 1851, by the same gentleman, in the Oxford Canal, near Wy ken 

 Colliery. 



The Rev. W. M. Hind, writing from Burton-on-Trent, in July, 

 1851, describes the plant as occupying a much larger portion of the 

 river than when first noticed, eighteen months before, and adds : — 

 " In fact, it bids fair in a short time to block up one of the two 

 streams into which the Trent here divides." 



Last year (1851) the Anacharis was noticed by myself and others 

 in the river between Ely and Cambridge, but not in great quantities. 

 This year it has increased so much that the river may be said to be 

 full of it ; but I must defer a more particular account of its behaviour 

 in the Cam and Ouse till my next letter, when I will dispose of the 

 remaining questions, of whence it came, how it got here, and by what 

 means it is to be got rid of 



Letter 3. 



Having in my last traced this plant from its first discovery in Ber- 

 wickshire, in 1842, down to its recent appearance in the Cam and 

 Ouse, I propose to devote this letter to a particular account of its be- 

 haviour in our own rivers, believing the chief interest connected with 

 it to lie in this direction. 



I have already described the weed as growing in dense, submerged 

 masses, distinguishable at once fi-om all others by its " leaves growing 

 in threes, round a slender, stringy stem ;" and, although this brief de- 

 scription is amply sufficient to identify the troublesome pest, a short 

 further account of its appearance and habits may not be uninteresting. 

 The colour of the plant is a deep green ; the leaves are about half an 

 inch long by an eighth wide, egg-shaped at the point, and beset with 

 minute teetJt^ which cause them to cling. The stems are very brittle, 

 so that whenever the plant is disturbed fragments are broken off". 

 Although at present it cannot propagate itself by seed, its powers of 

 increase are prodigious, as every fragment is capable of becoming an 

 independent plant, producing roots and stems, and extending itself 

 indefinitely in every direction. Most of our water-plants require, in 

 order to their increase, to be rooted in the bottom or sides of the river 



