208 
ON THE VARIETIES OF ANIMALS. 
'^Alisma ranunculoides. Growing in the water in various reedy pools about? 
the burrows. 
* Typha angustifolia. In pools about the morass. 
Eriophorum vaginatum^ E, polgstacMon, and E, angustifoUiim .—Plentifully 
scattered in various parts of the bog. 
Cladium marisciis. This fine member of the Cyperacece grew very luxuriantly 
in the boggy ditches by the side of the towing-path of the canal, on the 
side towards the sea. 
Carex pseudo-cgperus. In a ditch at the eastern end of the bog. 
*Briza minor. This “very rare” grass, which I spoke of dubiously in my 
last, as having found upon the rocks above Oystermouth, proves correct, 
as I have since ascertained from three or four specimens I had mislaid- in 
an old Memorandum Book where I had sketched an apartment in Oyster- 
mouth Castle. It is an interesting addition to the South Wales Flora, f 
Having at length found a practicable point at which to cross the morass, where 
deep indentations had forced it to yield an unwilling pasturage, I determined to 
return to Swansea by the opposite side, which, however, produced me nothing 
but a splendid panoramic view from a precipitous hill bounding the former 
northern border of the lake. To the left, for a long distance, the morass curved 
into a delightful vale dotted with the traces of cultivation, and bounded by dis¬ 
tant mountainous undulations, revealed distinctly without an interposing cloud.. 
To the north appeared the valley of the Tawe, with the hovering vapours of the 
copper-works ; while just cresting an intervening wooded hill on my right, the 
buildings, pier, and harbour of Swansea, with the indented coast to Oystermouth 
and the Mumbles Lighthouse, glittered in the still radiance of a fervid noon. 
Before me in magnificent repose, far beyond a wide extent of yeUow sands, 
sparkled the emerald ocean, diversified by a momentary breaker, shadowed by a 
passing cloud, or lit up with a long quivering line of light. No vessel stole along 
with lagging sails, and no sea-bird moved in lucid glare. I sat down on a craggy 
block of stone on the very verge of the precipice, where a friendly dwarf Oak 
spread forth its sinuated arms, and, resting upon it, gazed long and ardently upoii 
the glorious scene. 
A CHAPTER ON THE VARIETIES OF ANIMALS. 
By the Rev. F. Orpen Morris, B. A. 
“ Varium et mutahile semperT —V irgil, Mneid, 
There seem to be few quadrupeds, birds, or other creatures, which are not sub¬ 
ject occasionally to variation of colour, plumage, hair, or other external covering. 
