A SURVEY UF THE LOWKK TKKS MARSHES il"] 



disappointment. Both, altliougli originally as wide as the 

 first-named, are now almost silted up and thus contain sheets 

 of shallow water standing over soft muddy bottoms. In con- 

 sequence, they are fitted for no great range of vegetation, and 

 even if they were so, their greater brackishness would prove 

 a hindrance to its development. To tell the truth, whilst 

 Swallow Fleet does manage to support a little Myriophylltan 

 spicatuin in the clear central channel, both are otherwise 

 overgrown by a thick continuous mass of Scirpus maritiinus 

 vat: monostachys and ikir. coinpacta. 



The total absence of type Scirpus maritiinus is exceedingly 

 curious in itself, but it is combined with two or three other 

 equally striking features. At no time do the two varieties exceed 

 in height three quarters that of the normal form, and this I 

 have verified even in Swallow Fleet where type and variety 

 grow side by side. When I visited the main Fleets on 

 September 22nd, 1917, the Scirpus in Swallow and Mucky 

 Fleets was quite brown and dying back, whilst that in Holrrie 

 Fleet was in full vigour- further, although the type was fruit- 

 ing freely, the variety bore little, and in most cases no fruit. 



Of Todler's Fleet one can say very little so completely has 

 it silted up ; and depending on this fact, it has been drained 

 by means of a deep cutting. Naturally, therefore, all of the 

 aquatic forms have disappeared, leaving us with the usual 

 fresh water plants of the various marsh and stell associations 

 except that Glaux maritima and Spergularia marginata, 

 breaking into the harmony, form a discordant element and 

 remind us of past conditions gone never to return. 



The Main Drainage Lode. 



With but unimportant interruptions this lode or ditch skirts 

 the road and earthwall on the landward side for fully three 

 miles. 



Throughout its length, its depth varies between six and 

 eighteen inches. Just south of Saltholme Farm, it appears to 

 be nothing but a ditch full of stagnant, but nevertheless, fresh 

 water ; as it proceeds towards Greatham Creek, owing to its 



