10 THE LAKE OF STENNIS. 



tlian that induced in its two faunas. As I passed alonf]; 

 the strait through which it gives admission to the sea, T 

 found the commoner fucoids of our sea-coasts streaming iu 

 great luxuriance in the tideway, from the stones and rocks of 

 the bottom. I marked, among the others, the two species of 

 kelp-weed so well known to our Scotch kelp-burners — Fucus 

 nodosus and Fucus vesiculosus, — flourishing in their uncur- 

 tailed proportions ; and the not inelegant Halidrys siliquosa, 

 or " tree in the sea," presenting its amplest spread of pod and 

 frond. A little farther in, Halidrys and Fucus nodosus dis- 

 appear, and Fucus vesiculosus becomes greatly stunted, and 

 no longer exhibits its characteristic double rows of bladders. 

 But for mile after mile it continues to exist, blent with some 

 of the hardier confervse, until at length it becomes as dwarfish, 

 and nearly as slim of frond, as the confervse themselves ; and 

 it is only by tracing it through the intermediate forms that 

 we succeed in convincing ourselves that, in the brown stunted 

 tufts of from one to three inches in length, which continue 

 to fringe the middle reaches of the lake, we have in reality 

 the well-known Fucus before us. Rushes, flags, and aquatic 

 grasses may now be seen standing in diminutive tufts out of 

 the water ; and a terrestrial vegetation at least continues to 

 exist, though it can scarcely be said to thrive, on banks covered 

 by the tide at full. The lacustrine flora increases, both in 

 extent and luxuriance, as that of the sea diminishes ; and in 

 the upper reaches we fail to detect all trace of marine plants : 

 the algse, so luxuriant of growth along the straits of this 

 " miniature Mediterranean," altogether cease ; and a semi- 

 aquatic vegetation attains, in turn, to the state of fullest de- 

 velopment anywhere permitted by the temperature of this 

 northern locality. A memoir descriptive of the Loch of 

 Stennis, and its productions, animal and vegetable, such as 

 old Gilbert White of Selborne could have produced, would 

 be at once a very valuable and curious document, important 



