FIELD MEETINGS FOR 1916 211 



Of the above, the Petty Whin was by far the rarest plant 

 observed. The discovery of an Adder's Tongue fern in the 

 pasture field before entering the wood was noteworthy, as 

 owing to its growth amongst the grass, this fern often goes 

 unnoticed. Among the birds seen or heard during the walk 

 through the fields were skylarks, lapwings, green linnets, 

 Starlings and corncrakes. 



On entering Dipton woods, the trees and shrubs were the 

 first objects of study. From a botanist's point of view, how- 

 ever, the visit was much too late to see the most interesting 

 stage of the majority of our forest trees, when the copious 

 showers of pollen are M'afted by the March winds to pistils 

 separately borne on branches of the same tree, or to pistils 

 growing on other trees of the same species. 



The ant hills, which were found chiefly in the neighbour- 

 hood of the pines, proved a great attraction. Many of the 

 hills are from 4 to 6-ft. in circumference and 2 to 3-ft or more 

 in height, each hill being inhabited by a very large population 

 of ants which consist of the red ant {Formica rzifa). Their 

 homes are built chiefly of chips of bark from the pine trees, 

 placed together on the roofs in a very methodical manner, like 

 the slates on the roof of a house, thus defying the storms of 

 all seasons. On disturbing the habitation rudely with a stick 

 the crowded community became greatly agitated and seized 

 the pupae or baby ants, which they carried instantly to a place 

 of greater safety. 



Next a large area of very damp land was visited, bearing 

 young birch timber trees in an advanced stage of decay, and 

 more or less covered with the growth of a large destructive 

 fungus, the 'Birch tree V o\y ^oxe^ {Foly poms betulimis). No 

 doubt these young birches became weak and diseased owing 

 to the marshy state of the soil, which would render them liable 

 to attacks of this destructive fungus, as plants can only defend 

 themselves against these most deadly foes by maintaining a 

 healthy growth. To meet the destructive attacks of their 

 hosts of fungoid foes (the spores of which are omnipresent) our 



