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THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 



Fig. 4. Amyan Macfadyen and David Le Cren examining 

 Dew Pond 2, October, 1 938. 



While the dew ponds may have been die direct 

 cause of the revitalisation of interest in natural 

 history in the school, it is clear that the underlying 

 motivation continued to come from Ian Hamilton 

 (nicknamed by members of the Society 

 'Buttercup')- It was he who acted as the NHS Ark's 

 editor, in addition to writing many of the articles 

 himself. He also contributed nine pages on spiders, 

 his special interest, illustrated with his own drawings 

 and including a brief list of local species, to the Ark 

 Supplement. 



Another of Hamilton's initiatives was to begin 

 the publication of an annual School House Natural 

 History Society Report. The first issue came out in 

 1939 and publication continued until at least 1956. 

 Forty pages of the first issue were given over to 

 reports on the fauna and flora of the surrounding 

 area. Subsequent issues were shorter, and after 1950 

 the number of animal groups dropped dramatically. 

 The wealth of information about individual species 

 published in the annual Reports is explained in the 

 first issue: 'Last year was an important one for the 

 SHNHS because we have now adopted a successful 

 working system. Each member undertakes to study 

 one group of animals or plants, and makes as many 

 records as he can, carries out experiments and 

 identifies specimens that other members may 

 collect. In this way he endeavours to find out as 

 much as he can about the biology of his group in 

 the district surrounding the school. Each year he 

 writes a report of his work, and he also makes all 

 his records available for publication in a fauna list.' 

 'This report is really the more interesting and 

 illuminating of these records, plus any experiments 

 and conclusions connected with diem. In addition, 

 we thought it might be as well to give some hints 

 on methods of collecting, preserving and other data 

 that might be used by future generations of 

 Dauntseians taking up any of these groups'. 



The 1942 Report is interesting as it contains 

 possibly the first article by the young Desmond 

 Morris, subsequently to become famous for his 

 broadcasts and writings on animal and human 

 behaviour. By the age of fourteen, Morris had taken 

 on responsibility for Amphibia and Reptilia. He 

 made more than twenty expeditions to the Manor 

 swamps, the Mill Stream, and the Viaduct, in the 

 course of which he became particularly interested 

 in toads (Figs. 5,6). By 1944 he had also taken on 

 the Vivarium in which he made 'a new organisation 

 of pits and tunnels'. His final year, 1945, brought 

 further responsibility in the form of a lecture to the 

 members on 'the system of recording, card 

 indexing, and making records'. 



Fig. 5. Drawing of a toad with a puffed out side by 

 Desmond Morris, 1 945. 



Morris's own approach is summed up in an 

 account he wrote of a small grass snake which he 

 found coiled up by the side of the road: 'It made no 

 attempt to move when picked up, and stayed as 

 before. It was suspected that there was something 

 wrong with the animal, and subsequently it was 

 carefully inspected. Water was found to refreshen it 

 considerably, and there were no visible wounds, but 

 there was a swelling on the side of the head and 

 neck. It was kept under observation for some time 

 and the swelling appeared to go down a little. The 

 animal showed no desire to eat, and its general 

 condition of inactiveness remained the same. A 

 week or so later, after it had been left unobserved 

 for some time, its maggot-riddled carcase was found 

 stretched out in its tank. This condition was very 

 unfortunate as the corpse was rendered unfit to 

 dissect, and the disease - if it was a disease - was 

 never brought to light.' 



The Dauntsey Fauna List was undoubtedly the 

 Society's best known publication at this time. 

 Although inscribed prominently on the cover with 

 the dates 1920-1939, no records before 1931 are 

 included. A large proportion of the 236 species listed 



