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Report of Field Meeting at Wisley Ponds, May 26th, 1906, 

 By W. J. Lucas, B.A., F.E.S. Read November 22nd, 1906. 



On May 26th was held the first of the field meetings of this 

 Society for 1906. The locality chosen was the district around 

 Boldermere, the large pond in front of the Hut Hotel near Wisley, 

 this spot not having been visited by the Society since 1902. The 

 morning was wet, and, though no rain fell during the time actually 

 covered by the excursion, the weather was dull, and rain came on 

 again in the evening. 



On my arrival alone at Effingham Junction, about 2.30 in the 

 afternoon, the air was moist, warm, and close, like that one expe- 

 riences in the hotter of the plant-houses at Kew Gardens. It had a 

 strongly aromatic smell, due, it would seem, to the damp earth and 

 the fresh young vegetation. Near the station the woods were resonant 

 with the songs and cries of innumerable birds of very varied note, 

 from the song of the nightingale, heard close at hand, to the cry of 

 the cuckoo, detected somewhat uncertainly in the distance. 



While waiting for the rest of the party I turned down the lane 

 branching off near the station to the right towards Cobham, to find, 

 as I had done on a previous occasion, specimens of that most unfern- 

 like little fern, the Adder's Tongue {Ophioglossum vulgatum). They 

 were discovered without much trouble, some of the fronds being 

 fertile ones — that is, bearing spikes of spore-cases. 



On the arrival of the rest of the party by the next train we at once set 

 out on our walk towards the ponds. The first part of our journey lay 

 along a very pretty narrow lane through a wood, chiefly of deciduous 

 trees, and quite sufficiently characteristic of the vegetation of the 

 London Clay over which we were passing. Soon the wood gave 

 way to open country for a time, and, till we neared Martyr's Green, 

 our way lay between hedges having a little strip of flowery green- 

 sward on each side. Here was seen a tiny roadside pond in which Mr. 

 Step once discovered the little glossy-brown mollusc, Physa hypnorum, 

 not on the list of the Conchological Society for the county of Surrey. 

 He had not, however, found it there since, nor could it be seen on 

 the present occasion. 



Resuming our way, the same conditions of country lane and hedge- 

 row, studded with trees here and there, were continued a little 

 further, till the clay gave place to the Bagshot Sand and its charac- 

 teristic covering of heath and fir, amidst which are to be found the 

 W T isley Ponds of which we were in search. 



