Yorkshire Naturalists at Robin Hood’s Bay. 
135 
Primroses in the higher parts of the ghylls made a fine show and 
accentuated the relative scarcity nearer the town, where one saw them 
being eagerly gathered and even the plants dug up. A very noticeable 
absentee was found in the Cowslip, as the clayey soil seemed very 
suitable for it. The Wood Anemone provided a snowlike carpet in 
many places and the opposite leaved Chrysosplenium clothed the 
damper spots with a few scattered lots of the alternative leaved species. 
Mosses and Hepatics (Chris. A. Cheetham) : — Amongst the Mosses 
Tetr aphis Browniana was the most interesting. It was first seen near 
Ramsdale Mill and its habit of growing on the underside of the rocks 
was seen particularly well far inside the low shaft in the Alum quarry. 
Here, on the clay bottom, Pellia fruits inclined almost to a 30-deg. 
angle in an endeavour to reach the light at the entrance, but the Moss 
fruits stood out at right angles to the flat roof and showed not the 
slightest inclination towards the light. By the Mill Heterocladium 
heteropterum and Pterogophyllum lucens occurred on damp rocks, the 
latter in a rather unusual habitat — the vertical face of the rock. There 
was a good deal of Dicranella varia on the clay banks and a little 
Dichodontium pellucidum in the stream bed, but the almost complete 
absence of mosses or hepatics in the streams seems to need some 
explanation. It might be suggested that, it is due to the roughness of 
the flood torrent, but higher up, where this effect was less evident, the 
same scarcity was seen. At the stream head a little Hyocomium 
flagellare was found and also some Funaria ericetorum. In some peaty 
water a growth of Dicranella squarrosa was seen which, with the 
exception of an eighth of an inch of new growth, was quite black. 
Hypnum revolvens was also black in this place. The Dicranella was its 
usual bright yellow-green in more marshy places. A little Blindia 
acuta was also seen at this spot. At Foulsyke Hypnum cuspidatum was 
in fine fruit, and a good sheet of Mnium subglobosum was found. On 
the banks near the stream mouth at Mill ghyll, Barbula spadicea was 
plentiful with occasional patches of Trichostomum crispulum. 
Marine Alg^e (C. D. Bingham) : — By far the commonest alga on 
the Robin Hood’s Bay reefs is Corallina officinalis. This calcareous 
‘ red ’ is seen encrusting the floor and sides of all the rock pools except 
the very highest which are liable to fresh water contamination or to 
drying up. 
The general zonation of the shore is more or less preserved although 
it is complicated by the general upward slope of the slates towards the 
sea and the sudden steep reef edges. Several of the important ‘ browns ’ 
are entirely absent ( e.g . Pelvetia). The useful zoning types are 
Enter omorpha intestinalis (top), A scophy llum nodosum, Fucus vesiculosus, 
and Fucus platy carpus (lower), Fucus serratus (normal low tide), 
Laminaria digitata and Laminaria saccharina (low spring tides). 
As well as these, which are all very . prolific, the following are 
commonly found mixed in the various zones. Ulva lactuca, Cladophora 
spp., Pylaiella littoralis, Chondrus crispus, and Ceramium sp., usually 
in the upper zones but spreading downwards. 
Polysiphonia fastigeata, epiphytic on A scophy llum , H alidrys siliquosa, 
Ahnfeltdia, Polysiphonia spp. Rhodocorton sp., Furcellaria fastigiata, 
Polyides rotundusl all mainly in pools in the F . serratus zone. 
On the Laminaria reefs Laurentia and Himanthalia lorea are dominant. 
On the Laminarias, Rhodymenia palmata is most prolific while 
Rhodymenia ciliata, several Delesserias , Plocamium coccineum, Ptilota 
plumosa, and Lomentaria articulata were found washed up. The sea 
weeds at Robin Hood’s Bay, particularly the ‘ reds,’ are more stunted 
and less frequent than at Port Erin and district. This is probably due 
to colder sea and less protection from waves. 
1933 June 1 
