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Journal of Proceedings.
under the direction of Mr. E. Corder. Nothing definite can be gleaned
from the pages of local historians as to the date or intention of this
earthwork. There is a rude plan of the camp in Morant's ' History of
Essex,' but very few details are given, and even local tradition is almost
silent, a vague notion that it is a military fortification of some kind only
obtaining in the district, and apparently some people admit feeling a
certain amount of scepticism as to its being a camp at all! But there
can be little doubt upon that point—in more than one place the form of
the rampart is abundantly evident, and the glacis well-defined. In the
absence of careful surveys and measurements, and a scientific exploration
of the ramparts themselves, it would not be wise to hazard any statement
with respect to the probable date of the work. It is evidently well worthy
of study, and it is very desirable that some effort should be made to clear
up the doubts which attach to it.
Time did not admit of any extended "prospecting" in the neigh-
bourhood by the naturalists of the party. Danbury seems to be as well
fitted as any place in Essex for the researches of the biologist. Mr.
Corder stated that the park is a good place for birds, and that they are not
disturbed. The old trees harbour Brown and Barn Owls, Green Wood-
peckers and Nuthatches. Hawfinches build in the park and other wooded
parts of Danbury Hill. Mr. W. D. Cansdale, then residing at Witham,
who was of the party, stated that "although from an entomological point
of view Danbury might not be entitled to rank on an equality with other
insect hunting-grounds in the county, yet the large number of species that
have been taken there from time to time sufficiently indicate that if well-
worked the district would prove to be a very productive one. The parish is
well studded with woodland, with several commons, in and through which
the entomologist can thread his way with tolerable ease. The underwood
consists principally of oak, hornbeam and birch, with a fair supply of
sallow. The wild Clematis is plentiful, a certain guarantee that many
species may be found which are seldom met with in districts where that
plant does not occur."
The visitors noticed the pretty cornfield alien, Geranium pyrenaicum, in
the hedgerows, and Verbena officinalis (the favourite plant of the Druids),
found bordering the pathway near Danbury Church, was jokingly put
forward as an evidence of the British origin of the camp. Bryonia dioica
in fruit was a conspicuous object in the hedges. Professor Boulger, who
has made a special study of our native elms, pointed out Ulmus montana,
Smith, var. nitida, Syme, on the second line of "ramparts." Mr. Corder
alluded to some interesting plants known as occurring in the neighbour-
hood. On the commons he said were to be found Drosera rotundifolia and
the bog pimpernel (Anagallis tenella), and that in a certain spot grew a few
plants of the pretty maiden pink (Dianthus deltoides) which appears not to
be found wild elsewhere in Essex.* On Woodham Walter Common ferns
* Gibson in the ' Flora,' gives only one station—" on a wall at Witham, probably
an escape. This is truly wild at Hildersham (Cambridge), beyond the borders of this
county, but has not yet been so found in Essex."—Ed,