10 



that of his Hst of forty-one cynipideous oak-galls known as 

 British, he has found all but six in Essex. In 1868 only four- 

 teen species were known as British, so that twenty-seven 

 species have been added in twelve years — a fact which surely 

 offers encouragement to our workers to pursue further investi- 

 gations in this direction. The absence of sandy banks will 

 account for our poverty in fossorial Hymenoptera. Of other 

 orders of insects, Mr. Doubleday has published a list of thirty 

 species of dragon-flies (OdoncUa) as being known to occur in 

 our Forest, this number being about two-thirds of the British 

 species. 



To the botanist our district offers a fine field — Epping 

 Forest is indeed regarded as being among the richest localities 

 for plants in the vicinity of London ; but I should be over- 

 stepping the bounds of all reasonable time did I attempt to 

 specify any of the rare flowering plants, ferns, fungi, mosses, 

 and lichens that nature has so lavishly spread through the 

 county. At present the standard work of reference for our 

 botanist is Gibson's *' Flora of Essex," published in 1862, and 

 there is an older and now extremely rare book by Eichard 

 Warner entitled ** Plautae Woodfordiensis," published so far 

 back as 1771.^'= 



The outdoor study of the natural history of the county will 

 of course be conducted as heretofore by our members indepen- 

 dently, each according to his particular subject, but the for- 

 mation of this Club will, I venture to think, add greatly to 

 the i^est of their pursuits. The pleasure of adding some new 

 or rare species to the Essex fauna or flora, or of making some 

 new and interesting observation, will assuredly be greatly 

 enhanced by knowing that at the next meeting of the Club 

 the captor or observer will have an opportunity of making 

 known his results to those of kindred tastes, and an additional 

 impulse will thus be given to his work. Such observations as 

 our members may bring forward, or such specimens as may 

 be exhibited at our meetings, will be gladly welcomed by the 

 Council, and will be recorded in our publications. 



To many, and especially to our younger members, the new 

 Club may perhaps be a means of inducement for taking up the 



* See Appendix, 



