THE ENTOMOLOGIST 
Von. XLIX. | RAN UUAR Y, £916. [No. 632 
WICKEN FEN: ITS PAST, ITS PRESENT CONDITION, 
AND ITS FUTURE. 
By W. G. Suenvon, F.E.S. 
In vol. lxvii, p. 185, of this magazine, there is an article 
on Wicken Fen from the able pen of Mr. H. Rowland- 
Brown. Different people, however, view a subject from different 
standpoints, and thus a few jottings on certain impressions I 
formed during a visit in June last may not be without interest. 
It was then about forty years since I commenced to take an 
active interest in matters entomological, but during the whole 
of that period I had never once visited the Wicken district ; any 
impressions were, therefore, those of a stranger, and to pick up 
some local knowledge I spent a considerable time conversing with 
certain of the natives respecting the past and the present condi- 
tion of the Fen. 
It is, of course, known to everyone who is likely to read this 
article, that in consequence of the munificence of the late Mr. 
G. H. Verrall, the beginnings of the first British Nature Reserve 
came into being some few years ago; by a clause in his will 
bequeathing his property in Wicken Fen to the nation. 
Since then the National Trust for places of Historic Interest 
or Natural Beauty, in which the Guardianship is vested, have, 
thanks to other generous gifts, been enabled to purchase various 
further small plots of the Fen as they came into the market, and 
| 4 understand that it is their intention, if and when funds permit, 
_ to endeavour to purchase, as opportunity offers, the whole of the 
remaining portion. 
This question of nature reserves is getting more pressing 
every year, if the rarer British plants and creatures are not to be 
exterminated. 
Other nations are far in advance of us. The most 
magnificent nature reserve in the world is, of course, the 
Yellowstone Park in America, but nations nearer home are 
making great strides in protecting their floraand fauna. One of 
ENTOM.—JANUARY, 1916. B 
