HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



97 



THE NEW FOREST. 



By E. D. MARQUAND. 



OUGHLY speaking 

 the New Forest 

 may be said to 

 comprise that por- 

 tion of Hampshire 

 which lies between 

 the Southampton 

 Water on the east 

 and the Avon on 

 the west, extend- 

 ing from the coast 

 line as far north as 

 Braemore, Bram- 

 shaw, and Totton ; 

 or, in other words, 

 the whole of the 

 south-western cor- 

 ner of the county 

 as far as the Avon. 

 Strictly, however, 

 the forest only 

 touches the sea for five miles or so near Lymington, 

 while its western limit falls short of the river by some 

 three or four miles. Though it includes the largest 

 and finest tract of wild unenclosed woodland in the 

 kingdom, there is actually within its borders less of 

 wooded than open country. " Within equal limits," 

 says Gilpin, in his "Forest Scenery," " perhaps few 

 parts of England afford a greater variety of beautiful 

 landscape than the New Forest." The northern 

 portion consists chiefly of wild rugged woods, many 

 presenting the same aspects and features as they did 

 in the days of the Red King : below this is a zone 

 of undulating moorland, breezy heaths all aglow in 

 spring and summer with golden gorse and purple 

 heather, with little rivulets winding and turning until 

 lost among the emerald sphagnum and snowy cotton- 

 grass — unfailing indicators of spongy and often 

 dangerous bogs : and further southward we come to 

 the cultivated district, a fair region of ploughed fields, 

 meadows and shady lanes, dotted over with detached 

 farms and little villages, each possessing its three 

 proverbially necessary constituents, a church, a smithy, 

 and an inn. 

 No. 173. 



Within this territory nature has scattered her gifts 

 with no sparing hand ; and yet, though perhaps no 

 portion of the United Kingdom of equal area is more 

 interesting from a naturalist's point of view, the New 

 Forest is still to a very large extent, a terra incognita. 

 Year after year it produces new insects and plants, 

 and it is a matter of regret that, notwithstanding the 

 number of diligent and careful observers who annually 

 spend a few weeks or months here, so very few are 

 willing to impart their knowledge by writing an odd 

 paper now and then for publication in such a widely- 

 read journal as Science-Gossip. Flowering plants 

 and lepidoptera seem everywhere to have received 

 considerably more than their share of attention — 

 perhaps because books upon these subjects are 

 always readily accessible ; but there are other 

 branches of entomology and botany, equally inter- 

 esting, but sadly neglected from the scarceness of 

 information about them ; and if those who make 

 special studies of these would occasionally take the 

 trouble to pen a few dozen lines showing the most im- 

 portant characters of genera and species, they would 

 confer a great boon on a large section of students 

 to whom large and costly works or voluminous 

 "Transactions" are beyond reach. The papers on 

 the diptera, for instance, in the eleventh and 

 twelfth volumes of Science-Gossip, are an excellent 

 example, and the authors deserve sincere thanks for 

 their labour ; so also are the articles on diatoms, 

 desmids, and foraminifera in the earlier volumes. 

 Papers of this kind are of more practical value 

 than * discussions about the correct pronunciation 

 of scientific names, or lengthy quotations from the 

 works of tenth-century naturalists, however good 

 these may be— and they undoubtedly are— in them- 

 selves. 



If any one will look through the fourteen volumes 

 of Science-Gossip in the hopes of gleaning informa- 

 tion upon the natural history of the New Forest, he 

 will find two or three papers on lepidoptera, perhaps 

 a couple of very meagre ones on phanerogams, and 

 possibly an odd note or two recording a rare capture 

 or discovery. This is not very much certainly, so 

 with a view of adding somewhat to the general know- 



