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PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 
the bog-trotter from getting his boots full of water ; and by 
boots, I may say that we mean, locally, “ boots par 
excellence,” crotch boots, without which the peat beds 
cannot, of course, be crossed in winter. Sedges generally 
grow upon a firmer bottom than many of the rushes. An 
expanse on which the Potentilla-like leaves of the Marsh 
Cinquefoil are conspicuous, and also beds of Sphagnum, 
may be usually trodden upon without hesitation, so long as 
one avoids the tiny pools of clear water wherein nothing 
apparently grows. Walking over floating or semi-submerged 
bogs, when one foot goes down deeper directly the other is 
taken up for the next step, is rather trying to the nerves of 
the novice, and a zig-zagging Jack Snipe is as likely to be 
missed under such conditions, as a wild-rising Frenchman is 
apt to escape the best intentions of a tired sportsman when 
walking across the ringes of a thick piece of Swedes at the 
end of a hot September day. As to walking on ice, “crack 
she bears, and bend she breaks,” is a safe though rather 
alarming rule to follow ! Open slads of water, the clear 
bottoms of which are covered with Chara, are trustworthy 
walking, but isolated patches of stunted reed should be 
looked upon as danger signals, and also small clumps of 
Reed Mace (Typha latifolia). The Yellow Iris, when in 
large masses and growing as it sometimes does as a floating 
aquatic, makes so hard and closely compacted a root growth 
as to support the careful walker. Where the going is at all 
uncertain, the great thing is not to hesitate on one leg, or 
“put one’s false weight ” upon one foot, or dwell between one’s 
steps, and also to plant one’s feet not parallel with, but at 
an angle to the body, so as to avoid breaking through the 
crust of vegetation with points of toe or heel. It may be 
only a curious coincidence, but it is a fact that I have often 
noticed (once at Wroxham, three cases in one day), that when 
one does go in, it is generally with the left leg. The habitat 
of the true Bulrush ( Scirpus lacustris ) is never walkable, as it 
