604 
MR. F. LONG ON PROTECTION OF WILD PLANTS. 
in the case of the former, the association seems to have brought 
the present law to bear upon the stealers, on account of the 
great number of them, when the necessary damage to uphold 
a conviction has been proved. 
In Gloucestershire, Ferns and Primroses are comparatively rare 
and only exist in the north-western part of the county ; to 
these might be added, Daffodils, Fritillaries and Lilies of the 
Valley ; but in the present state of the law the Club consider 
that it would be useless to attempt the formation of an associa- 
tion as only tending to give rise to ridicule, and to frustrate 
any future endeavours that might be made. 
The other class of offenders are villagers and trippers, and it 
is easy to understand that in some places rare plants are known 
to grow and that they are dug up and taken away by the latter. 
These areas under a new law might be protected by notices 
posted about saying that such and such plants are not to be 
taken under penalty. Of course the picking of flowers to 
a moderate amount does no great harm, it is the wholesale 
rooting up that does the damage. 
Botanists, I am afraid, would come under the spell of the 
new regulations, but as Mr. Druce remarks, he has never known 
any real harm done in this way, instancing the cases where 
some plant exists in only one place in the kingdom and still 
remains. Botanists, I think, will take good care that a species 
does not become extinct, and will take the necessary measures 
to protect it. 
In demarcating localities for protection, it would not be advis- 
able to have too many, as I think it would appear to savour of 
rather a grand-motherly protection and might produce ridicule. 
There is the other side of the question, viz. : that the very 
fact of demarcating a certain locality on account of a rare plant, 
probably only known to be rare by botanists, would tend to 
excite undue interest and bring the plant into evidence before 
the public and so hedge it in with danger, whereas if left alone, 
no one is wiser as to its being a rare plant. Many of the 
members, I think, can bear witness to this. 
Besides these preventable causes of the destruction of wild 
plants, there are some unpreventable, but which by timely 
notice, botanists might be able to check, and Mr. Druce gives 
