284 MR. W. A. NICHOLSON ON BOTANY OF SUTTON. 
the absence of further information on the constitution of the 
soils and adjacent water, it would be rash to hazard a theory 
to account for this apparent contradiction. A closer ex- 
amination of the position of these xerophytes may show, 
that, though they appear to be associated with a more or less 
hygrophytic flora, they may, in fact be confined to islands, 
as it were, or patches of a more gravelly or sandy nature, 
scattered here and there about the marshes. 
“The term Xerophytes includes three groups of plants, 
salt-loving plants or Halophytes, plants living in dry well- 
drained soil, and plants living in badly-drained soil, where 
evaporation being rapid upon the surface so cools the under- 
lying soil or water that absorption is very slow.”* 
It may be that in the last part of the preceding sentence 
lies the explanation of the occurrence of these Xerophytes in 
our marsh-flora, amongst the ordinary marsh species. 
With a view to forming an idea of the comparative abund- 
ance and absolute number of species growing in a typical 
portion of the marsh, a square yard was marked off in the 
Middle marsh at Sutton, and a rough census taken of its 
vegetable inhabitants, with the following results : — 
26 plants of Menyanthes trifoliata. 
24 ,, JUNCUS EFFUSUS. 
20 fronds of Lastrea Thelypteris. 
12 plants of Spirea Ulmaria. 
9 ,, Rhinanthus Crista-Galli. 
7 ,, Arundo Phragmites. 
5 ,, Peucedanum palustre, small. 
3 „ Salix (sp.). 
2 „ Epipactis palustris. 
1 ,, Anagallis tenella. 
1 ,, CEnanthe fistulosa. 
Also, Hydrocotylc vulgaris in quantity, with Equisetums and 
various seedlings, forming a rather thick undergrowth. 
The above figures can, of course, only be taken as an 
* See ‘Flora of Cambridge District,’ A. Wallis, B. A., in Handbook 
to Natural History of Cambridgeshire, p. 214. 
