On the Origin and Distribution of the British Flora. 79
Appendix.
On the River-Basins of Essex as Natural-History
Provinces.
[Read September 24th, 1881.]
Plate VI.
At the request of our Secretary I have drawn a sketch-map
of our county, divided, for purposes of Natural-History in-
vestigation, into provinces and subprovinces according to the
river-basins, and have added the following explanations:—
Essex falls into three Provinces : those of (A) the Thames
and South-east, (B) East Anglia, and (C) the East Fen and
Secondary. Besides the narrow strip of land in the south of
the county which drains directly into the Thames, in the first
province are included that part of the county which drains
into the Lea, the Boding, the Pym, the Ingrebourne, and other
smaller streams. I may here remark on the difficulty I have
found in obtaining accurate information as to minor streams.
Those who live on their banks are ignorant of their names
and of their courses. Like too many of the natural features
of the country, they are beneath the notice of the county
historian, and the writers of topographical articles and the
draughtsman of small-scale maps think the brook that flows
on for ever of less importance than such transitory accidents
as noblemen's seats or parks, and accordingly omit it
altogether, or, worse still, record it inaccurately. It would be
a service to our society, and to the best interests of Essex, if
some local member would draw up a thorough account of the
topography of these small streams, the position, character
and altitude of their sources, the area they drain, and their
gradients. The article on Essex in the new edition of the
L'Ancienne Vegetation Polaire' (1877), or Professor Dyer's lecture in the
Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society for 1878. Of course Sir
Joseph Hooker's valuable Address to the Geographical Section of the
British Association at York was delivered subsequently to this lecture
of mine.