MR. F. LONG ON THE SALT-MARSH FLORA OF WELLS. 523 
the family of the Laridce, and equally so on the Birds of 
Spain. His extensive travels in Europe and South America 
enabled him to speak with authority also on the distribution 
of birds, not only in the Pakearctic region, but over a much 
wider range ; and his services as an active member of the 
Zoological, Linnean, and Royal Geographical Societies, and of 
the Ornithological Unions of both England and America, 
were numerous and valuable. 
As a friend, his experience was always at the command of 
his fellow workers, and two such blanks as are created in the 
same year by Professor Newton and Howard Saunders will 
be severely felt by a large circle of friends and admirers. — 
T. S. 
II. 
THE SALT-MARSH FLORA OF WELLS. 
By Frederick Long, L.R.C.P. 
Read 29 th October, 1907. 
The following notes are based on observations at Wells and 
the district with which I have been intimately acquainted 
for many years. Probably they will apply more or less to 
other districts. 
Salt-marsh plants spend a life of their own, in their own 
wild way, severed from their congeners on the dry land by 
the line of limit of tidal water. In contrast with the surround- 
ing land, the salt-marsh possesses a weird charm of its own. 
At first acquaintance it is apt to be regarded with horror and 
perhaps even with disgust. The dead-looking, scrubby vast 
level with its contained mud-flats and creeks, does not lend 
