126 
NATURE NOTES 
to keep them waiting. He was glad to say that each year of 
the life of the Society had been marked by a progressive growth ; 
but there was one subject he had keenly at heart and that was 
the illustration of the magazine. At present they were dependent 
on the courtesy of publishers for the loan of blocks, and it very 
frequently happened that they would be very pleased to illustrate 
an article if only they had the funds. As the Treasurer was not 
present that evening, he could speak freely, and say that that was 
one thing for which they wanted money. Another point was 
that in each successive number he felt that someone would be 
displeased by the fact that certain subjects had been omitted. 
In the next number, some would say that Africa loomed very 
large to the exclusion of England ; but space was limited. He 
also wanted to say something about the New Forest. It was a 
national question, and if the nation did not look after it he did 
not know who would. The Commoners would not — all they 
cared for was plenty of grazing ground for their horses and 
cattle. The Crown could not, as they were tied by Act of 
Parliament and could not even thin the woods under the existing 
Act. Another source of danger had been pointed out to him in 
a letter he had received, and that was with regard to the cutting 
of fern. The Commoners have no power to cut fern, but the 
Crown has, and in the cutting of this fern a number of seedling 
trees are destroyed. He agreed that the only way to preserve 
the Forest seemed to be by enclosing certain parts for a term 
of years until the young trees had become strong. This question 
of the Forest was one of the most urgent lying immediately 
before them. There was an immense amount of work to be 
done, and he hoped that no one would think that only those 
topics mentioned in the Magazine remained to be dealt with, for 
there were many others besides. This was the only occasion 
in the year when the general body of the members came 
together ; but the Council met once or twice every month, and 
this involved a good deal of work, and they were very grateful 
to those who came there to do this work, and he had much 
pleasure, therefore, in seconding the election of the newly pro- 
posed Officers and Council. 
The Hon. J. Scott Montagu said he must first express his 
regret that he was hardly in time to hear the opening words of 
the Chairman’s remarks about the New Forest, as, taking the 
interest that he did in that part of the world and representing it 
in Parliament, he would have been pleased to hear what had 
been said. It was a very vexed question, and it had been in his 
mind a subject of great doubt for some years as to how it should 
be treated. He, among others, was very watchful to see that 
the Forest was preserved as a great national playground for the 
people, and he thought that it was pretty well agreed that, 
subject to the proper use of common rights, it was belter to do 
entirely away with the idea that the Forest should be treated 
from the money point of view and that the Treasury should 
