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"^i^^axh. 



THE LOCAL FIELD CLUBS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



By James Britten, F.L.S. 



VIII. The Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club. 



Tliis very important body was established in 1851 for the practical 

 study of the natiu-al history of Herefordshire and the adjoinino- districts ; 

 taking its name from the valley of WooHiope. At the date of the forma- 

 tion of the Club scarcely anything was known of the fanna or flora of the 

 county, and for several years it contined its work to cataloguing the 

 various natural productions of the district; the results of these observa- 

 tions being referred to in the successive annual addresses of the Presi- 

 dents. The work already achieved by the Club is so important and so 

 comprehensive, that it would be impossible to give any account of it in 

 detail ; the following observations are, therefore, merely descriptive of the 

 botanical portion, it being remembered tliat almost every other branch of 

 natural history has met with similar attention. For the particulars we 

 are mainly indebted to Dr. Bull, of Hereford, a very energetic member of 

 the Club, and one to whom it owes no small portion of its success. 



The first botanical paper was read in 1853, by Flavell Edmunds, Esq., 

 " On the Distribution and Causes of Colour iu Plants ; " the next was 

 an important one, on " The Mistletoe in Herefordshire," by Dr. Bull, 

 which has been printed in extenso in our pages,* and, therefore, requires 

 no further remark. It was not, however, until 1866 that the Club came 

 prominently into notice. In that year the first of the annual volumes of 

 Transactions, to which it mainly owes its reputation, was issued. These 

 volumes, occu))ying as they do a position midway between the more 

 strictly scientific Transactions of the Tyneside Naturalists and the pro- 

 ceedings of such societies as the Manchester Field-Naturalists, are of con- 

 siderable importance as favourable illustrations of "popular science;" 

 while the local bearing of their contents renders them quite in keeping 

 with the scope of a local society. They are so large, and so fully illus- 

 trated, that it is a matter of surprise how they can be produced at the 

 cost stated in the balance sheet. The way in which this is managed is 

 worthy of note, and may give a hint to other local clubs. In 186G 

 an arrangement was made with tiie proprietor of the ' Hereford Times,' 

 whith has a large circulation in the West of England, that the pro- 

 ceedings of the Club should be reported in full as ordinary news, and 

 that the type employed for this purpose should be reset in octavo 

 shape for the Transactions. In this way the proceedings were widely 

 published, created great interest, and encouraged the study of natural 

 history among the public throughout the district (thus fulfilling one great 

 object of sucli a Club) ; and the Club had only to pay for the time occu- 

 pied in resetting, etc., with such additions and illustrations as might be 

 thought necessary. From this date an account of the proceedings' was 

 always published, in which all the papers read appeared at length ; and, 

 it being found that an ordinary reporter was scarcely equal to the task, 

 the work was undertaken by Dr. Bull, who is also the able editor of the 

 yearly volumes. 



* Journ. Bot. II. (ISCt) p. SGI. 



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