8.
Interest in Ray seems to have been
reawakened by such an exhibition, and if
Linnaeus spoke of him as "the incomparable
Botanist" and Gilbert White as "the excellent
Mr. Ray" we may be overlooking the contribu-
tion that this Essex man made to the Natural
History and scientific classification, and
the fact that his title as "The Father of
English Botany" is one that should be wider
known and appreciated.
Terry Illsley
---oOo---
EPPING FOREST WILDLIFE
Irene Buchan writes, "I mentioned in the
last issue but one the enjoyment the children
get from our Round the Rides Map Reading pro-
gramme (Irene is a teacher/Naturalist at the
Suntrap Field Centre, High Beach. Ed.) This
year some of them had quite a surprise - they
shared their lunch with a family of stoats.
While the last group of a class was waiting
its turn to set out on its route, their teacher
turned round to see a stoat drag a sandwich
from a bag, into the bushes. They were so
close they could see the animal's typical
black tipped tail and all heard the hidden
commotion which followed - ham, I think, was
the filling."
---oOo---
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