liv Journal of Proceedim/s. 



under the direction of Mr. E. Corder. Nothing definite can be gleaned 

 from the pages of local historians as to the date or intention of this 

 earthwork. There is a rude plan of the camp in Morant's ' History of 

 Essex,' but very few details are given, and even local tradition is almost 

 silent, a vague notion that it is a military fortification of some kind only 

 obtaining in the district, and apparently some people admit feeling a 

 certain amount of scepticism as to its being a camp at all ! But there 

 can be little doubt upon that point — in moi^e than one place the form of 

 the rampart is abundantly evident, and the glacis well-defined. In the 

 absence of careful surveys and measurements, and a scientific exploration 

 of the ramparts themselves, it would not be wise to hazard any statement 

 with respect to the probable date of the work. It is evidently well worthy 

 of study, and it is very desirable that some effort should be made to clear 

 up the doubts which attach to it. 



Time did not admit of any extended " prospecting " m the neigh- 

 bourhood by the naturalists of the party. Danbury seems to be as well 

 fitted as any place in Essex for the researches of the biologist. Mr. 

 Corder stated that the j)ark is a good place for birds, and that they are not 

 disturbed. The old trees harbour Brown and Barn Owls, Green Wood- 

 peckers and Nuthatches. Hawfinches build in the park and other wooded 

 parts of Danbury Hill. Mr. W. D. Cansdale, then residmg at Witham, 

 who was of the party, stated that " although from an entomological point 

 of view Danbury might not be entitled to rank on an equality with other 

 insect hunting-grounds in the county, yet the large number of species that 

 have been taken there from time to time sufficiently indicate that if well- 

 worked the district would prove to be a very productive one. The parish is 

 well studded with woodland, with several commons, in and tlirough which 

 the entomologist can thread his way with tolerable ease. The underwood 

 consists principally of oak, hornbeam and birch, with a fair supply of 

 sallow. The wild Clematis is plentiful, a certain guarantee that many 

 species may be found which are seldom met with m districts where that 

 plant does not occur." 



The visitors noticed the pretty cornfield alien. Geranium pyrenaicum, in 

 the hedgerows, and Verbena officinalis (the favourite plant of the Druids), 

 found bordering the pathway near Danbury Church, was jokingly put 

 forward as an evidence of the British origin of the camp. Bryonia dioica 

 in fruit was a conspicuous object in the hedges. Professor Boulger, who 

 has made .a special study of our native elms, pomted out Ulmus montana, 

 Smith, var. nitida, Syme, on the second line of " ramparts." Mr. Corder 

 alluded to some interesting plants knowTi as occurring in the neighbour- 

 hood. On the commons he said were to be found Drosera rotundifolia and 

 the bog pimpernel {Anagallis tenella), and that in a certain spot grew a few 

 plants of the pretty maiden pink [Dianthus deltoides) which appears not to 

 be found wild elsewhere in Essex.* On Woodliam "Walter Common ferns 



* Gibson in the ' Flora,' gives only one station — " on a ■wall at Witham, probably 

 an escape. This is truly wild at Hildersham (Cambridge), beyond the borders of this 

 county, but has not yet been so found in Essex." — Ed. 



