FLORA OF THE CHESIL BANK AND THE FLEET. 257 



Dorset men, having been discovered in Portland in 1711 by the 

 Rev. M. Stonestreet, and introduced into the British Flora by 

 Dillenius, in the third edition of Ray's Synopsis, published in 

 1724. 



A curious dwarf closely-matted nearly prostrate form of 

 Geranium Robertianum, L., is abundant amongst the loose 

 shingle. In its narrow petals and finely-divided leaf-segments 

 it approaches G. modes/urn, Jord. Indeed, it is strange that 

 neither the latter variety nor G. purpureum, (auct. ang.) has been 

 recorded from this beach, both being south of England shingle 

 plants. 



Some years since, after a severe autumnal gale, I was fortunate 

 in finding, thrown up on the shore near Langton Herring, Chara 

 alopecuroides, Del (Lamprothamnus alopecuroides, Braun), which 

 previously had been reported only from Newtown, Isle of Wight, 

 where it is believed to be now extinct. Subsequent dredging 

 showed it to be plentiful in the Fleet between Langton Herring 

 and Abbotsbury. The plant is dark green, four to eight inches 

 high, free from the calcareous incrustation so frequent in the 

 Characeae ; it is the only British monoecious Chara having the 

 stem composed of a single tube. It belongs to a group of 

 cryptogamic plants which, owing to its remarkable structure, is 

 of great value in the study of general biology. Into this we 

 cannot now enter, merely pointing out that the so-called roots 

 which fix the plant in the mud of the Fleet, and which broke 

 away in that autumnal gale, are simply unicellular hairs ; 

 lengthenings, in fact, produced from the superficial cells of 

 buried nodes. A paper, by Mr. Mansel-Pleydell, with plate, 

 appeared, after the finding of the plant, in this Club's " Proceed- 

 ings" for 1892. It is the greatest botanical treasure of the 

 district ; there is now but one other known station for it in 

 Britain. 



But the fact to which I wish to draw your special attention is 

 this, that at or near the Abbotsbury Swannery terminates the 

 western range, in some cases in the south of England, in others 

 in all Britain, of no less than four maritime plants (protected in 



