NOTES ON THE CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES. 121
the natural growth of plants, mosses, etc., and we hope, for instance,
that Debden Slade will be allowed to re-form itself into the delightful
swamp of former years, fragrant with mints and gay with Lychnis and
Ragworts. To the Conservators we would say, keep your paths dry
if you wish, but pray leave us our Sphagnum bogs !
We also cannot agree with the assertions as to replanting parts of
the Forest (paragraphs, 6 and 21), and the non-necessity for a nursery
of young trees. Dr. Schlich appears not to coincide with these
views of his colleagues, and we trust that the matter will be further
considered. As Prof. Meldola says : "None of us will ever live to
see some tracts of the Forest restored to anything like a natural con-
dition unless planting is resorted to."
Taking the Report as a whole, naturalists will, we are sure, be very
well satisfied, and will accept it as a satisfactory answer to recent
criticisms on the work of the Conservators.
With this document as a new Magna Charta of the Forest, we
may feel quite happy in the anticipation of living to see a restored
woodland, yearly becoming more natural and beautiful. Let us hope
also that the Report will put a stop to some of the nonsense in the
newspapers. One leading journal the other day, in the course of a
political attack on the Corporation, sneered at their work in "Epping
Forest, which they have so grossly mismanaged"! We should
recommend this writer to take a tramp this month through Lodge
Bushes and Theydon Thickets ; he would get rid of his attack of
dyspepsia, and go home with some more correct notions of the
character and beauty of the autumnal woodlands.
In conclusion, we may refer to an interesting analysis of the
Report, communicated by Prof. Meldola to Nature, of July 5th last,
under the title of "The Settlement of the Epping Forest Question."
NOTES ON THE CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES
OF THE CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES OF
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION, OXFORD, 1894.
HAVING attended the Conference of Delegates at Oxford as
Secretary of the Corresponding Societies' Committee and as
Delegate of the Essex Field Club, I have pleasure in forwarding for
The Essex Naturalist a few notes on the proceedings of the Con-
ference, of which Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., was Chairman.
K