8
the year, mysteriously disappears for the remainder; and that
the strictest police supervision should entail on. all insects
whose purposes or habits are unknown."
When we look at the numerous woodland patches scattered
throughout the County of Essex, we can entertain no doubt
but that our district was originally covered with forest. It is
recorded that in the reign of Henry III. a royal forest
extended right across the county in a north-easterly direction
from Stratford Bridge to Manningtree. In the reign of
Charles I. the great Waltham Forest comprised Epping and
the now almost extinct Hainhault Forests, thus forming a
large woodland area bounded to the east by the River Roding,
to the west by the River Lea, to the south by the great
Chelmsford and Colchester road, and stretching northwards
for sixteen miles as far as Roydon, almost on the boundary of
the county. Thus, as might have been anticipated, our
district is especially rich in woodland species. Epping Forest
itself, so far as my own experience goes, certainly does not
appear to be so productive from a collecting point of view as
some of the woods of Kent and Surrey to the South of Lon-
don ; but our county, taken as a whole, has furnished many
rarities. We shall hope in the course of time to be in a posi-
tion to furnish local catalogues of animals and plants, for the
preparation of which we shall look to our ornithologists,
botanists, entomologists, microscopists, &c. I do not propose
on the present occasion to enter into much detail respecting
the natural productions of our district, as I should thus only
have to tax your patience with a long list of specific names ;
but I will restrict myself to a few general remarks.
Mr. Edward Newman has given the names of seven species
of bats* as being found in the Forest; and with regard to
birds, Mr. James English, one of our members, whose name as
a collector was long associated with that of the late Henry
Doubleday of Epping, has recorded about 120 species,* 20 of
which are occasional visitors driven into the Forest by stress
of weather or other causes. The total number of birds consi-
* See Appendix.