eee 
Proceedings. lv 
In reply, the Section are of opinion that :— 
(1) The species most in danger of extermination are— 
a. The primrose. 
b The Orchidaceae. 
ce. The ferns, except Pteris aquwilina. 
(2) a. The primrose is in danger chiefly from hawkers, who dig the 
plants up for sale. It has disappeared, or almost so, from accessible 
woods and places in the immediate neighbourhood of Croydon, though 
it still exists in woods from which the public are excluded. 
b. The Orchidacee are endangered by the digging up of their roots 
by hawkers for sale, and by other persons, in the generally vain hope 
of getting them to grow in their gardens; and also occasionally by the 
destruction of their habitats. Thus Aceras anthropophora appears to 
have been eradicated at Box Hill; of the two stations in this neigh- 
bourhood for Herminiwm Monorchis, one at White Hill has been 
destroyed by building, and the other at Warlingham by extension of a 
chalk-pit. At Keston, the station for Spiranthes autumnalis is in 
danger from the making of a new street. (Other plants incur similar 
dangers of accidental extinction in a neighbourhood where building is 
so rapidly progressing as around Croydon ; thus Phyteuma orbiculare, 
which grew in the same place with Herminiwm Monorchis at War- 
lingham, has disappeared with it; and Sambucus Ebulus is in danger 
of extinction through building operations at South Norwood. The 
breaking up of pasture into arable land, and the draining of wet places, 
are operations which cause the loss of wild plants in many districts, 
but are less operative in this neighbourhood.) 
c. The ferns, other than the brake, are in this neighbourhood such 
a vanishing quantity as to be no longer an object to the hawker, 
though any chance specimens that may appear are speedily rooted out 
by the private collector to plant on his rockery. The following species 
appear to have been lost to the neighbourhood of Croydon during the 
past fifteen years :— 
Lomaria Spicant.—A few small plants formerly in the side of a 
ditch at Shirley Hills, now gone. 
Asplenium Trichomanes.— Formerly grew on a hedge-bank—a 
somewhat unusual situation—at Crofton Lane, Orpington ; 
not seen for several years. 
A. Ruta-muraria.—Formerly grew in some plenty on a wall at 
Addiscombe Road, Croydon; perished during a dry summer, 
owing to ivy having grown over the top of the wall, thus 
depriving it of its supply of moisture. 
Scolopendrium vulgare.—In an old well at West Wickham ; the 
lid of the well is now fastened down, and the plants will 
probably perish. 
Lastrea dilatata.—Gone from the station at Addington mentioned 
last year. 
Polypodiwm vulgare.—Formerly at Croham Hurst; not found 
recently. 
(3) It is difficult to suggest any measures, beyond the preservation 
of commons and open spaces, for the protection of the disappearing 
members of our native flora, however much we may regret their loss. 
Building and other industrial operations cannot be stopped for their 
sake, and a strict watch against trespass is not to be expected where 
