24 TiMEHRI. 
more like small bits of leaves than perfe6l plants. On 
careful scrutiny however this apparently confused mass 
of vegetable matter resolves itself into thousands of tiny 
plants, each perfe6l and quite distin6l from its neigh- 
bour. It is Wolfia lingulata, one of the smallest flower- 
ing plants known. 
This little plant sometimes disappears from our tren- 
ches for long periods, cropping up again when least 
expected, and often in localities where it had previously 
been unknown. Some months ago, it was very plentiful 
in the trenches about Ruimveldt. 
But the most singular of all our trench plants is 
the curious water fern, Ceratopteris thalictroides, which 
is so unlike the rest of its family, that none but a bota- 
nist would ever guess at its true affinities. The plant is 
very common in some places and in general appearance 
resembles a floating Pacu grass, a species of Lacis grow- 
ing in the falls on the Mazaruni and Essequebo rivers. 
Sometimes the water in our trenches assumes a pale 
sea-green colour. This is due to the presence in count- 
less numbers of a tiny alga, having a very long name, 
Protococcus viridis, and which is nearly allied to the 
little plants, that produce in cold countries the phenomena 
of red snow, gory dew, &c. 
The sides of our trenches also give support to a very 
interesting though not very beautiful flora. Here are 
usually to be seen the blue flowers of the Minnie root 
or Snapdragon (Ruellia tuberosa) the sulphur blossomed 
" Fire burn" bush (Bannisteria fulginosa), the delicate 
indigo-flowered Demerara Forget-me-Not (Commelina 
nudiflora), and the Water " Shame plant" (^schynomene 
sensitiva) a shrub allied to the Shola or pith helmet plant 
