258 THE ZOOLOGIST. 





guiding line in fog and snow, in a solitude but rarely broken, 

 except by the footfall of the legionaries and the dismal creakings 

 of the baggage -train and provision carts, and above under the 

 blue heaven carolled the Lark as now, and the plaint of the 

 Golden Plover sounded sweet from off the moorlands. 



The north-east corner of Lincolnshire, notwithstanding recent 

 changes and trade encroachments, is still rich in animal and 

 plant life, and presents a wide field for future research. Further 

 westward, and beyond the Trent, lies the Isle of Axholme ; some 

 portion, adjoining the great Chase of Hatfield and Lindholme, in 

 Yorkshire, was once the hunting-ground of English kings. We 

 must turn to the pages of historians, as Leland, De-la-Pryme, Dr. 

 Stonehouse, and others, if we wish to learn its ancient condition 

 before the enterprise of the Dutchman Vermuyden transformed 

 its wastes and swamps and demon-haunted solitudes into fertile 

 lanes and at the same time banished its indigenous flora and 

 fauna. In fact, the entire district, including Thorne waste, 

 beyond our border, and portions also east of Trent, resembled 

 the "tundras" of Lapland and Northern Asia, and, like these, 

 were the breeding-homes of innumerable wildfowl and waders. 

 Most suggestive of a not remote Arctic character are the lingering 

 of such plants as Selaginella selaginoides, Lycopodium alpinum, 

 recently discovered by the Rev. W. Fowler, also Andromeda poli- 

 folia, and Empetrum nigrum,, on Thorne waste, Myrica gale, 

 generally, and the impressions of leaves of some Arctic willow in 

 the laminated silts and peaty alluviums. 



Of our sixth district, that south of Grantham and east of 

 Belvoir, I can tell you little, for, excepting in passing through by 

 rail, it is a terra incognita to me. The chief attraction is Grims- 

 thorpe Park, which contains many fine oaks, hornbeams, and 

 hawthorns, and a small herd of Red Deer — interesting as the only 

 one left in the county, and descendants of those indigenous deer 

 which at one period wandered wild, free, and unrestricted through 

 the length and breadth of the land. 



In our investigation into the natural history of this county, 

 we must remember that at no very distant period Lincolnshire 

 was part of the mainland of Europe, and there was no North Sea 

 as we know it now, and we must therefore expect to find close 

 affinity between the fauna and flora on both sides of the water. 

 Once, no doubt, a great central river, whose debouchure was over 



