TRANSACTIONS 
OF 
THE CROYDON MICROSCOPICAL AND 
NATURAL HISTORY CLUB. 
1898-99. 
144.—Tue Commons NEAR CROYDON, AND THEIR F'Lora. 
By H. Franxrin Parsons, M.D., F.G.S. 
(Read February 21st, 1899.) 
‘Tue South-east of England owes much of its beauty and 
amenity to its numerous commons, heaths, and open grassy 
downs, over which one may roam in enjoyment of a delightful 
sense of freedom, and where we may see Nature in something 
like her primitive aspect. In this respect the south-eastern 
counties are in contrast with other parts of the country, such 
as the fertile but unpicturesque plains of the Midlands, where 
the land is all enclosed or parcelled out into formal and highly 
cultivated fields, separated by closely trimmed hedges, and 
diversified only with an occasional spinney or plantation for 
the benefit of the fox-hunter. We at Croydon, though there 
is now no common within the borough, are fortunate in_pos- 
sessing two beautiful open spaces on our immediate border— 
viz. Shirley Hills and Croham Hurst; within an easy distance 
are Mitcham and Hayes Commons, and Riddlesdown; while 
farther off are Keston Common, Worms Heath; Farthing Down, 
Park Downs, and others. In speaking of these as commons, 
I only use the word for convenience as meaning an open tract of 
land which has never been brought under cultivation, and not 
in a legal sense as implying the existence of rights of common. 
Indeed, as I understand, to the lawyer the word ‘‘common”’ 
means not a tract of open land, but a right to a share in the 
natural produce of land the soil of which belongs to another 
person. Such a tract of land as in ordinary speech is called a 
B 
