10 THE AREA OF EPPING FOREST FOR FAUNISTIC PURPOSES.
were fewer in number and much reduced in size; most of them
could be covered by a sixpence, and anyone could have plucked
them without soiling his boots. The last time I saw the Ivy-leaved
Campanula a straight cutting had been made through the middle of
the spot on which it grew. During wet seasons no apparent harm is
done, but two or three dry seasons would bring home to us the
extent of the damage.
[The Club as a body (as well as many individual members) has
repeatedly protested in the strongest manner against the practice
of deep drainage in the Forest, but without impressing the
powers that be. Our only hope apparently lies in the great expense
of attempting this work, which must be constantly renewed to be
effectual. We say "attempting" advisedly, for most fortunately the
treading of the cattle, the natural disintegration of the soft banks,
the growth of plants, and the drifting of leaves, soon fill up the ugly
straight ditches and completely close them unless they are cleared
every few seasons. The arguments against the attempts at deep
drainage on the Forest were well stated by Dr. M. C. Cooke in a
paper published in the Appendix to volume iii. of the "Proceedings
of the Essex Field Club," and which has since been published in a
separate pamphlet entitled " Papers and Memorials issued by the
Essex Field Club on the Protection of Wild Animals and Plants and
the Present Condition and Future Management of Epping Forest"
i883).-Ed.]
THE AREA OF EPPING FOREST FOR
FAUNISTIC PURPOSES.
By WILLIAM COLE, F.E.S.
[With Map, Plate I.]
IN compiling lists of the Flora and Fauna of Epping Forest a
difficulty at once arises concerning the area which should be in-
cluded in our purview so as to afford some defined district for
natural history purposes. To regard only those parts now actually
covered with wood and under the control of the Conservators as
Epping Forest would be so clearly an artificial limitation as to be at
once rejected. There are many parcels of land contiguous to the
forest as now legally defined by the Arbitrator, which are still covered
with trees, or which have been replanted as private woods and
pleasure grounds. Plants, or insects and other animals may still
live there in a perfectly wild state, and are therefore deserving of
recognition as members of the flora or fauna of the forest. It is also
a well-known fact that woodland species may linger for many years