766 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE.—1912. 
tion, Mrs. White, on being applied to, said that she would be pleased to send 
an article on the lines suggested for insertion in the Journal. 
Mr. H. N. Davies (Somersetshire Archeological and Natural History Society) 
said that flowers which had almost totally disappeared were the Single Peony from 
the Steep Holm in the Bristol Channel, and the Cheddar Pink and Lithospermum 
ceruleum from the Cheddar Cliffs and the Mendips. Lovers of wild-flowers 
are guilty of collecting these rare plants and planting them in their gardens, and 
some nurserymen are verily guilty of transplanting them and cultivating them 
for sale. It is a difficult question whether rare plants and their localities should 
be brought prominently before children, as it might stimulate them to mischief. 
After some further discussion, it was proposed by Mr. H. D. Acland (Royal 
Institution of Cornwall), and seconded by Sir George Fordham: ‘ That this Con- 
ference of Delegates from the Affiliated and Associated Societies requests the 
Council of the British Association to consider what would be the best means of 
preventing the extinction of rare animals, birds, fishes, and plants in the United 
Kingdom, and to take such steps as they consider best.’ 
The Chairman remarked, in conclusion, that the discussion amply justified the 
existence of such a Conference as the present. He doubted whether by any 
direct action or by legislation any effective check could be imposed. He saw in 
education the best preventive. Rarity does not make a specimen more effective 
as a medium for teaching. He had taught more students on specimens of Caltha 
palustris than on any other species. He was heartily in agreement with the 
suggestion that a list of common species suitable for teaching in schools should 
be drawn up and circulated, so as to divert the attention of pupils and 
teachers from the rarer plants. 
Seconp Meetine, September 10. 
The first business before the meeting was the movement of a vote of sympathy 
on the death of the Rev. R. Ashington Bullen, at one time Secretary of the 
South-Eastern Union of Scientific Societies, and delezate from the Union to the 
Conference of Delegates. The vote was proposed by the Rev. T. R. R. Steb- 
bing, who bore testimony to the love in which Mr, Bullen was held, and the 
unobtrusive way in which he did good. His sudden death was a shock to all 
who had ever had anything to do with him. Mr. E. A. Martin also added a 
few words of sympathy, referring to the energy Mr. Bullen put into everything 
he undertook. 
Mr. G. Claridge Druce (Ashmolean Natural History Society of Oxfordshire) 
brought before the meeting the following resolution, which, as amended, ran :— 
‘ That this meeting of delegates cordially approve of the objects of the Society 
recently established for the purpose of obtaining areas containing interesting 
specimens of flora and fauna, and also objects of geological interest.’ Mr. Druce 
said that the resolution was of some importance at that moment, as the Societv 
had commenced operations by acquiring about two thousand acres of shingle and 
saltings at Blakeney, in Norfolk, the breeding-ground and habitat of manv 
interesting species of birds and plants. It was the intention eventually to hand 
over the area to the National Trust. 
Mr. A. H. Garstang (Southport Literary and Philosophical Society), speak- 
ing on the resolution, said that Canon Rawnsley sugcested the formation of a 
Government department or the appointment of a Government official whose 
province it should be to generally superintend the preservation of places such 
as the National Trust was formed to protect, and to whom the Trust could 
appeal in case of emergency to veto its conversion to purely commercial uses 
without adequate restrictions. As the kind of places this proposal might have 
in view might naturally include those reserved for the preservation of local 
fauna and plant life, his suggestion was, that if any such proposal took shape, 
the delegates might exert a powerful influence in supporting it. 
Mr. W. Whitaker (Essex Field Club), in the absence of Sir Daniel Morris, 
seconded the resolution, which was carried unanimously. 
Mr. H. N. Davies, speaking as a delegate for the first time, put forward the 
following suggestions as to means of making the Conferences of greater use :— 
1. The provision of a lounge where delegates might meet each other, and 
compare notes, and so obtain mutual help. 
