Genus Statice as represented at Blakeney Point. /. 243 
(1, 3 and 4) were provided with a further 5 cm. coating of loose shingle, 
while the fourth area (2) was left untouched. 
In August, 1914, the patches were again examined, with the following 
results : 
Area 2. — Coated with 5 cm. of shingle in 1912 and untouched after- 
wards. 
Only one isolated Statice had survived ; it was distinctly more 
luxuriant than the plants on the untouched bank around, and its leaves 
were not only longer but greener. The inflorescence was distinctly more 
branched and luxuriant, and two spikes of flowers were present instead 
of the one usual in the uncovered plants. The length of the inflores- 
cences was 12 cm. and 13 cm. respectively, while the average length of 
the inflorescence in the uncovered plants was only 5 to 7 cm. 
Areas 1, 3 and 4. — Covered with 5 cm. shingle in 1912 and a further 
5 cm. in 1913. 
The additional 5 cm. of shingle had in every case proved fatal to 
all the plants of the area, except a single runner of Agropyron sp., which 
had survived the additional shingling. 
The margins of the experimental areas had escaped the second 
shingling, and here the plants were covered with only the original 5 cm. 
of pebbles added in 1912. In this region the plants were numerous, and 
as regards their inflorescences much more luxuriant. The Obione , Plan- 
tago, and Armenia were, on the whole, distinctly more flourishing than 
the plants of the uncovered bank, and Obione seedlings were numerous. 
The Statice plants had very few leaves, and though the inflorescences 
were more vigorous, the plants had the appearance of making a final 
effort before death ensued. 
The average length of the inflorescence axis of Statice in the un- 
covered area surrounding the patch was 6 cm., in the covered patch the 
average height was 18 cm., while in one case the length attained was 
35 cm. 
An examination of the ground, on a hot afternoon after a day of 
brilliant sunshine, revealed the fact that in the experimental areas, though 
the surface shingle was dry, 2-5 cm. below the surface the stones were quite 
damp, an observation which is in agreement with the results of Oliver and of 
Hill and Hanley. 1 Beneath the coating of shingle the ground was quite 
dry, and on the adjacent untreated lateral both the surface and 2*5 cm. 
below were absolutely dry. 
In the experimental areas the effect of the loose shingle was similar 
upon all the species covered except Agropyron. It appears as though the 
1 Oliver, F. W. : The Shingle Beach as a Plant Habitat. New Phytologist, vol. xi, 1914, p. 98. 
Hill, T. G., and Hanley, J. A. : The Structure and Water-Content of Shingle Beaches. (Blak. 
Point Publ., No. 11), Jour. Ecol., vol. ii, 1914, p. 35. 
