316 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 



Professor P. F. Kendall said that while recognising the importance ol 

 uniformity he feared that it could not be secured unless some inducements were 

 held out to observers to conform to any scheme either by reward or punishment. 

 The strongest inducement would be to offer a good map, and if the speaker were 

 engaged upon a distributional problem he should certainly employ such a map as 

 that of Scotland, exhibited by Mr. Balfour Browne. 



Mr. Wilfrid Mark Webb (Selborne Society) said that the difficulty of the 

 task ought not to be considered, and that the method chosen should be that which 

 allowed of generalisation being most easily made. Maps showing the boundaries 

 of the river valleys would be most useful. 



Mr. Whitaker (Croydon N. H. and Scientific Society) mentioned that county 

 boundaries meant nothing from the zoological point of view. 



Mr. Harold Wager (Leeds Naturalists' Club and Scientific Association) also 

 spoke. 



Mr. Balfour Browne in his reply said the system he advocated was meant to be 

 arbitrary. The question arose as to what procedure could be taken if the Con- 

 ference passed the motion, as the Conference of Delegates apparently had no power 

 to apply to the Committee of Recommendations for the appointment of a special 

 committee. 



Professor W. W. Watts (Caradoc and Severn Valley Field Club and Birming- 

 ham N. H. and Philosophical Society) thereupon moved as an amendment : ' That 

 the Conference of Delegat€s approves of the proposal of Mr. F. Balfour Browne, 

 that a committee of biologists be formed to recommend the adoption of a definite 

 system on which collectors should record their captures ; and desires its repre- 

 sentatives to support before the Committee of Recommendations a proposal from 

 Sections D and K for the appointment of a committee to carry out the suggestion.' 

 This was seconded by Mr. W. Whitaker. 



Mr. F. Balfour Browne accepted the amendment, which was passed, and under- 

 took to bring the matter without delay before Sections D and K with a view to 

 nominating the committee. 



Second Meeting, September 6. 



In the absence of the Chairman through indisposition, the meeting was pre- 

 sided over by. Professor P. F. Kendall (Vice-Chairman). 



Professor Kendall, in calling upon Mr. T. R. Wilton (Liverpool Engineering 

 Society), laid emphasis on the far-reaching effects brought about through the 

 revived use of the roads upon the country and the people in their neighbourhood. 



The Adaptation of Roads to Fast and Heavy Motor Traffic. 

 By T. K. Wilton, M.A., Assoc.M.Inst.C.E. 



In bringing forward for discussion the desirability of a further investigation 

 of road conditions I feel that the matter is one of which a great deal has been 

 heard and about which much discussion has already taken place. Never- 

 theless, it is a matter of which a final solution can never be found, as modifica- 

 tions in traffic must take place as time goes on. It will perhaps be better first 

 to differentiate between the various kinds of traffic which use the roads at the 

 present time, and for this purpose the following rough division into classes may 

 be made: (1) Light and fast horse-drawn vehicles; (2) Heavy horse-drawn 

 vehicles; (3) Light and fast motor vehicles and cycles ; (4) Heavy fast motor- 

 vehicles ; (5) Heavy slow motor-vehicles, including traction engines. 



The varied requirements of these different classes of traffic are somewhat 

 diverse, and may be summarised briefly as follows : — 



1. Light horse-drawn vehicles require a smooth and easy-running surface 

 for the wheels, together with reasonably good foothold for the horse and 

 easy gradients, but great strength of road to withstand heavy wheel-pressures 

 without deformation is unnecessary. 



2. Heavy horse-drawn vehicles require, in addition to a smooth-running sur- 

 face for the wheels, considerable strength of road to withstand heavy wheel- 

 pressure and the action of the horses' shoes, which tend to break up the road. 



3. Light and fast mo'^cr vehicles and cycles require a smooth surface devoid 

 of mud, and one which will not become greasy in any weather or unreasonably 



