[96 ] 



1Rotc6 on flora met witb on tbe occasion of 



tbe Bscursion of tbe Socfet^^ to UDampstea^, 

 witb Special IReference to tbat of Caen MooD.* 



By Dr. H. J. Wharton, M.A. 



AFTER a pleasant walk from Hampstead across the Heath, 

 during which Mr. Clement Reid, of the Geological Survey, 

 gave some interesting sketches of the geology of the 

 locality, the excursion was, through the courtesy of Lord Mans- 

 field, pleasantly and unexpectedly diversified by an interest- 

 ing detour into Caen Wood, although the autumn day was 

 too short for us to do anything like justice to the locality. Caen 

 Wood is better known by name than it is in reality, but the spot 

 has no equal, from the naturalist's point of view, within a similarly 

 short distance of London. 



We are now taught, by those who should know best, that we 

 ought to call Caen Wood " Ken Wood," and that Kentish Town 

 is no other than Ken-ditch Town. Certain it is that the Avell- 

 known series of Highgate Ponds have their source in Caen Wood, 

 and that they empty themselves into the Thames by way of 

 Kentish Town; only the brook, whose name still survives in that 

 of Fleet Street, has long since been converted into a main sewer. 



The lake in Lord Mansfield's park had a great interest to 

 those who had brought collecting-bottles with them ; and some 

 examples of Nitella, one of the Characece, were readily found 

 close to a little forest of bulrushes {Typha latifolia). I have no 

 doubt that many lowly fresh-water Algce were obtained at the 

 same time, of which we may hear more hereafter. But I was 

 anxious to push on, and ascertain whether any plants of the rare 

 May-lily {^Maianthemiim bifoliiim) were still to be discovered. My 

 search, however, was vain, for I could not find the spot where it 

 grows. 



This flower is the great speciality of Caen Wood. I may 

 mention that it rarely produces fruit there, although in that 



* This paper was also read at the meeting of the " Middlesex Natural 

 History Society," in Dec, 1886. 



