6
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
along the western coast of Scotland, and probably elsewhere, costing as
much as 10d. per lb. Remarks on the exhibit were made by Messrs.
Nicholson, Wilson and Norman Gould, who all testified to their apprecia-
tion of the dainty.
Memorial to the late Dr. A. R. Wallace.—The President stated that,
on the proposal of Prof. R. Meldola and Prof. E. B. Poulton, in conjunc-
tion with many scientific men, a fund was being established for providing
a memorial in memory of the late Dr. A. R. Wallace, O.M., D.C.L., F.R.S.,
and that the Council recommended that the Club should subscribe £5 5s.
to the same. Dr. Wallace was one of the first honorary members of the
Club, having been elected in 1880, the year of its foundation, and he had
always been most friendly to its objects and aims. The President alluded
to Dr. Wallace's high position as a naturalist and geologist, and as co-
founder with Charles Darwin of the theory of the origin of species by
Natural Selection. [See Prof. Meldola's letter set out in Essex
Naturalist, vol. xvii., p. 237.]
Ultimately it was resolved that "this meeting approves of the suggested
subscription to the Fund" and the treasurer was requested to forward the
sum to the proper quarter.
A Trip to Swedish Lapland.
Mr. D. J. Scourfield gave an account, illustrated by lantern slides, a
Lapp cradle, Lapp knife, spoons, needle-holder, reindeer skin, etc., of a
visit to Swedish Lapland made during the previous summer. The route
taken was:—Harwich, Esbjerg, Copenhagen, Malmo, Lund, Jonkoping,
Lake Vetter and the Gota Canal to Stockholm. Then by boat along the
Gulf of Bothnia to Lulea and thence by train to Abisko (Swedish Tourist
Station) on "Torne Trask," a lake 40 miles long, about 120 miles within
the Arctic Circle. At that latitude, 681/2°N., it was quite light all night
at the end of July, although the midnight sun was no longer to be seen.
The vegetation all round the lake for a few hundred feet up the mountain
sides might almost be described as luxuriant, the effect being largely due
to the abundance of birch trees, which, in high northern latitudes, contrary
to what occurs in the Alps, form a zone above and beyond the pines.
With the plain but comfortable tourist station as a base, several very
interesting excursions were made, perhaps the most important being to
Palnoviken at the extreme western end of Torne Trask, where a few families
of Lapps have a summer camp. Mr. Scourfield was able to give many
details concerning these essentially nomadic people of Mongoloid type,
the possibility of whose existence, in what are normally such inhospitable
regions, is bound up with the possession of reindeer. Two excursions
were also made with a Lapp as guide, one up the valley of the "Abiskojokk"
to the lake "Abiskojaure," and the other over a mountain called Nuolja
(3,934 feet, or 2,800 feet above the lake). These He within the limits.
of the area which the Swedish Government has very wisely reserved as
a National Park, wherein all the wild animals and plants are to be carefully
preserved. The park also extends to a portion of the lake itself, and
includes a few islands. Reindeer, which roam about in a semi-wild con-
dition in the summer, were seen both in the valley and up the mountain
side, and also, by the aid of field-glasses, on the snowfields on more distant