21 



Brasted is a typical Kentish village, consisting of a number of 

 houses and shops scattered along something under a mile of more 

 or less straight road, some half-dozen public-houses, a couple of 

 gentlemen's seats surrounded by park-like grounds, and a church at 

 a respectful distance ; the river Darent flows beside it, turning the 

 village mill, and the place is somewhat exceptionally favoured in 

 being not more than about half a mile from the railway station 

 that bears its name. The village is situated in the river valley on 

 clay and gravel soil, chalk hills rise to the north of it, and to the 

 south the long range of greensand and " Kentish ragstone " hills 

 which formed the object of our present visit. 



The party left Cannon Street Station by the 2.30 train, arriving at 

 Brasted about an hour later, and at once made their way by the 

 meadows and through the churchyard to the "Stanhope Arms," and 

 having deposited such impeditnenfa as could be dispensed with, took 

 the road to the village, reached in about half a mile from the railway 

 station. Now turning to the left along the main street for a couple 

 of hundred yards or so, the road leading to Brasted Chart is on the 

 right, exactly opposite the "King's Arms." The first part of this 

 road is bordered on either side by steep grassy banks which do not 

 suggest the probability of advantageous collecting, but beyond this, 

 for a considerable distance, an open wooden fence forms the western 

 border, and on this moths are sometimes to be found fairly commonly 

 at rest. On this occasion, however, a fresh easterly breeze was blow- 

 ing, and, as might be expected, the fence was bare, of Lepidoptera 

 at any rate. At the end of about a mile, the whole distance being a 

 gentle ascent, Brasted Chart village, a colony of perhaps a score of 

 houses, with a branch post office on which the name of the place is 

 displayed, and a public-house which does not put out a signboard, 

 is reached, and it is here that the open ground of Brasted Chart 

 commences. It consists of a spacious, well-wooded valley on the 

 left hand of the road, and undulating heaths with scattered timber 

 on the right. These heaths extend in a westerly direction almost to 

 AVesterham, and in a southerly, or parallel with the road, from which 

 they are divided by enclosures and an occasional cottage and its 

 garden, to Toy's Hill, a place that I shall have occasion to refer to 

 later. Some few of the members took the opportunity of shortening the 

 walk by spending an hour on the Chart and picking up the remainder 

 of the party on their return. It was there that Mr. Enock fell in 

 with a huge mass of that most striking wild flower the French willow, 

 or rose-bay {Epilobium angiistifolium), in full bloom ; it was growing 

 on old gravel heaps in a pit, and Mr. Enock, who took rough 

 measurements, assures me that the tallest plant exceeded six feet in 

 height, and that the flower spike alone measured fully three feet. 



The majority of the party, however, continued their walk along the 

 road for nearly another mile to the southern brow of Toy's Hill, the 

 " Fox and Hounds " being passed on the left hand a couple of 

 hundred yards before the road dips down the side of the hill to the 



