On the Origin and Distribution of the British Flora. 79 



Appendix. 



On the Eiver-Basins of Essex as Natural-History 



Provinces. 



[Bead September 24th, 1881.] 



Plate VI. 



At the request of our Secretary I have drawn a sketch-map 

 of our county, divided, for purposes of Natural-History in- 

 vestigation, into provinces and subprovinces according to the 

 river-basins, and have added the following explanations : — 



Essex falls into three Provinces : those of (A) the Thames 

 and South-east, (B) East Anglia, and (C) the East Fen and 

 Secondary. Besides the narrow strip of land in the south of 

 the county which drains directly into the Thames, in the first 

 province are included that part of the county which drains 

 into the Lea, the Boding, the Pym, the Ingrebourne, and other 

 smaller streams. I may here remark on the difficulty I have 

 found in obtaining accurate information as to mhior streams. 

 Those who live on their banks are ignorant of then' names 

 and of their courses. Like too many of the natural features 

 of the country, they are beneath the notice of the county 

 historian, and the writers of topographical articles and the 

 draughtsman of small-scale maps think the brook that flows 

 on for ever of less importance than such transitory accidents 

 as noblemen's seats or parks, and accordingly omit it 

 altogether, or, worse still, record it inaccurately. It would be 

 a service to our society, and to the best interests of Essex, if 

 some local member would draw up a thorough account of the 

 topography of these small streams, the position, character 

 and altitude of their sources, the area they drain, and their 

 gradients. The article on Essex in the new edition of the 



L'Ancienne Vegetation Polaire' (1877), or Professor Dyer's lecture in the 

 Proceedings of the Eoyal Geographical Society for 1878. Of course Sir 

 Joseph Hooker's valuable Address to the Geographical Section of the 

 British Association at York was delivered subsequently to this lecture 

 of mine. 



