A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



reproduction, in its absence, taking place by parthenogenesis. Like 

 C. connivens, C. canescens confines itself to the neighbourhood of the sea. 



Lychnothamnus stelliger, Braun, was unknown in England till it was 

 discovered in Norfolk in 1880 by Mr. Arthur Bennett. It grows very 

 freely in the broads and waterways of east Norfolk, often carpeting their 

 bed for many square yards. A specimen from Heigham Sound is given 

 in Groves' Characece Brit. Exs. (Fasc. i. 20) above referred to. In one 

 other station only does it occur in the British Isles, at Slapton Sands, 

 south Devon, where it was discovered by Mr. H. Groves in 1884. Its 

 area of distribution through Europe is wide, in spite of its rarity. It is 

 found in Germany, Russia, Austro-Hungary, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, 

 France and Italy. 



T'olypella glomerata, Leonh., is the commonest of the Tolypellas. It 

 grows in great abundance in the fenland districts in the western division 

 of the county, especially in the season following the cleaning out of some 

 ditch or drain. The Characese are singularly sensitive of any intrusion by 

 other plants, and if they are not allowed to occupy the whole ground 

 generally retire altogether. 



T*. prolifera, Leonh., is a rare and fickle plant. A few small 

 specimens were discovered in the Gillingham marshes, east Norfolk, in 

 1898 by Mr. Bullock-Webster. In the west of the county it occurred 

 in fine condition on the Norfolk side of the Little Ouse in the same year. 

 In Professor C C. Biih'mgton'% Memorials (Macmillan, 1897), p. 321, is a 

 letter written by him to Mr. Borrer, in which he mentions that Mr. 

 Newbould had found T. prolifera ' between Creeke and Burnham, Norfolk, 

 in 1 85 1.' This would be a record for the North-Central district of the 

 county. But the statement cannot be safely accepted unless the specimen 

 referred to could be examined. The Characes were so little studied 

 and systematized till Messrs. Groves issued their ' Review of the British 

 Characeas ' {Journal of Botany, April, 1880, etc.) that any records un- 

 identified by them must be in most cases rejected. 



The discovery oi Nitella tenuissima, Kuetz., in Norfolk in 1897 is of 

 special interest. It was first observed in England so far back as 1829, 

 when Professor Henslow collected specimens in Wicken Fen, Cambridge- 

 shire, and in this original station it is to be found still in great abundance, 

 if the season be a favourable one. Fifty-three years afterwards a second 

 station was added when Mr. J. E. Griffiths discovered it in Anglesea. 

 In 1897 it was found in small quantities in Lopham Fen, Norfolk, by 

 Mr. Bullock- Webster, and these three localities are at present its only 

 known habitats in England. It has been found in Ireland, and is 

 reported from Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Switzerland. 



N. mucronata, Kuetz., is a singularly fugitive plant. It seems never 

 to occur in the same station two seasons together. It was first observed 

 in England by Mr. Borrer, in the early part of the century, in west 

 Sussex, but it has not been collected there since. In 1873 it was found 

 in the Fleet Pool, north Hants. In 1882 it was found in the Ouse 

 at Bedford, and Mr. James Sanders has since observed it in the Ivel 



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