1 8 Lincolnshire Notes & Queries. 



The flora of the marshes and the sea-coast is a very 

 attractive and interesting one, and our knowledge of the same, 

 as well as of Lincolnshire botany generally, has been greatly 

 increased by the researches of the Rev. W. Fowler, of 

 Liversedge ; Dr. F. Arnold Lees, of Harrogate ; the Rev. 

 Adrian Wood ruffe- Peacock ; Mr. F. M. Burton ; Mr. O. 

 Thimbleby, of Spilsby, and others. 



The collection of facl:s in connection with this district 

 commenced as far back as 1590, and the great naturalists of 

 former days Gerarde, Ray, Dr. Martin Lister, and Sir Joseph 

 Banks have each in turn visited and investigated its floral 

 treasures. 



Before leaving this portion of the county I should like to 

 call attention to the marine mammalia, the seals, and various 

 forms of whale, grampus, porpoise, and dolphin. Although in 

 recent years considerable additions have been made to our local 

 list, we still require much further knowledge and more scientific 

 investigations. The capture of a seal or the stranding of a 

 whale and such occurrences are by no means unfrequent 

 should at once be noted, and an examination carried out on 

 the spot, careful notes and measurements made, the skull, at 

 least preserved, and where possible a photograph taken before 

 the carcase is removed. In this branch of zoology, as well as 

 ornithology, the official representative of our Vertebrate Section, 

 Mr. G. H. Caton Haigh, has done some excellent work. 

 There is, so far as I know, no list of marine fish ; the 

 colle&ion of fa&s in connection with these and with Marine 

 Zoology generally, might well be taken up by those members 

 who live near or have most frequent access to the coast. The 

 Entomology, more particularly in this district the Aquatic- 

 entomology, Conchology, and Micro-zoology and Botany, also 

 present wide fields for close and careful study. In the former 

 we have in the Rev. Canon W. W. Fowler, a member whose 

 reputation as an entomologist is not only local and national, 

 but world-wide. We must not fail to recognise, also, the good 

 services rendered by Mr. H. W. Kew, formerly of Louth, and 

 Mr. James Eardley Mason, of Alford. 



There is no other faunal area in Lincolnshire where the old 

 glories have so entirely vanished as in the fenland, formerly a 

 vast level of peat-moor, morass and bog, with league beyond 

 league of shallow mere, interspersed with a vast growth of reed 

 and bull rush and various water-loving plants, and on the drier 

 portion deep sedge and doubtless some rich pasturage, with 



