22 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
VI—Ecology, the best method of studying the Distribution of 
Species in Great Britain. By C. B. Crampton, M.B., C.M., of 
H.M. Geological Survey. 
(Received 17th February 1918. Read 27th January 1913.) 
1. The Replacement of the Natural by the Artificial. 
2. The Difficulties of the Problem of Distribution, and the Artificiality of the 
Present Methods of Recording Distribution, are chiefly Results of this 
Replacement. 
3. The Probable Effect of Man’s Interference on the Distribution of Species. 
4. Ecology the Proper Method for Recording Distribution. 
1. THE REPLACEMENT OF THE NATURAL BY THE ARTIFICIAL. 
In parts of this country, one may now travel miles and fail to detect a 
single spot left as virgin ground. In the remoter districts extensive tracts of 
moorland still show, it is true, a close approach to these conditions, and 
smaller patches of moor, heath, fen, marsh, natural wood and grassland are 
widely scattered through the kingdom. 
Surroundings where the naturalist feels confidence in a truly aboriginal 
interrelation of the various forms of life, such as results from centuries of 
unrestricted competition and selection, are, however, becoming scarcer every 
year. The replacement of the natural by the artificial proceeds apace, and 
the delicate interrelations between the fauna and flora and their habitats 
have been rudely disturbed, and, in many places, long superseded by entirely, 
new and, at best, coarsely adjusted conditions. Not only the original life 
associations, but the soil and drainage also, have undergone a complete 
revolution to meet the economic requirements of man. 
As the outcome of these changes, certain time-honoured associations of 
plants and animals with their habitats have been destroyed, or much curtailed 
and restricted to small areas well known to, and beloved by, naturalists ; 
while other new, and frequently loosely associated, groups have sprung into 
existence, either at the instigation of man and with his direct help and 
consent, or without it, and, not seldom, to his annoyance and detriment. 
The ways and results of this disturbance have, indeed, been manifold. In 
the first place, man destroyed the larger part of the woodlands formerly 
clothing the lower ground and sheltered slopes of our mountain districts, and 
constituting the stronghold of the wolf, wild boar and other animals against 
which he exercised constant warfare. 
