preface 9 



be found upon the same day in the following year, 

 but probably within a short period, earlier or later, 

 each object will be discovered. 



It need not be thought that one must be far away 

 from cities in order to learn about nature. I live 

 only twelve miles from Charing Cross, and yet I find 

 abundant subjects for study in my own place and the 

 adjacent common. I think it is especially interesting 

 to try and find treasures in most unlikely localities. 



Having on one occasion to wait a whole hour 

 on a pouring wet day at Bedford railway station, 

 I determined to see if I could collect anything 

 to while away the time. Things looked very un- 

 promising outside the station ; new houses in the 

 act of being built, heaps of sand and mortar, and 

 plenty of mud everywhere, seemed hopeless enough ; 

 but a bare patch of common, across which ran a 

 newly gravelled road, caught my eye ; there might 

 be possibilities in the gravel, so I made my way to 

 the new road, and before long I had the pleasure of 

 finding there several rare fossils, pieces of chalcedony 

 and jasper, a shell impression, and sundry other 

 treasures ; so, in spite of rain and wind, my waiting 

 hour passed, not only without weariness, but in 

 positive enjoyment. 



I believe I have heard of as many as fifty species 

 of wild flowers being found in a single field, and 

 a well-known scientist discovered an equal number 

 of wild plants in a piece of waste ground in the 

 outskirts of a large town. 



