SELBORNIANA 
23 
The Avon Gorge, Bristol. — One of the most urgent 
matters at present is the preservation of the lovely line of 
wooded river-cliff below Bristol from complete ruin at the hands 
of the Corporation of that city. That body has, it appears, 
been removing 40,000 tons of Carboniferous Limestone a year 
from the quarries, of which five have been made within half 
a mile. One local paper speaks of this stone as admirably 
adapted for road-making ; but it is so only when the traffic on 
such roads is light ; as otherwise it is soon reduced to an 
unpleasant, impalpable chalky powder. We do not hesitate to 
state confidently that, though with this cheap but unsuitable 
material at their doors, the Bristol folk would do better to 
import basalt from the Clee Hills. Fortunately for all lovers 
of the picturesque a most practical suggestion has been put 
forward by Mrs. Barnett, who is taking a leading part in a 
local committee for the rescue of this lovely spot. It is that 
a narrow working should be continued at right angles to the 
gorge, possibly along Lily Valley and that quarries may then 
be opened behind the river-cliffs, out of sight. We would 
venture to invite the many local bodies that have passed 
resolutions regretting the quarrying at Cheddar, to consider 
whether a similar course cannot be adopted there. The existing 
wide gash on the western slopes of the gorge might be narrowed 
by soiling and some planting, and be made a slightly curved 
approach to quarries that might at a short distance be wholly 
out of sight. 
PwLLYCROCHAN WooDS. — We are glad to learn that the 
Colwyn Bay District Council have determined to purchase the 
narrow belt of woodland that shelters and beautifies this attrac- 
tive North Wales watering-place and so preserve it from the 
builder who would kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. 
Protection of Animals in Uganda. — We have received 
Ordinances No. 9 and No. 13 of the Uganda Protectorate for 
1903, modifying the Game Regulations of 1900. By the latter 
of these a native chief may, for a ;^io fee, be licensed to kill two 
bull elephants, or may kill one or two elephants damaging 
shambas, without such a license. 
N.ature-Study Lectures. — The London County Council 
have arranged for ten free lectures on the Natural History of 
plants, especially those of early spring, to be given by Professor 
Geddes at the Horniman Museum, Forest Hill, on Saturday 
mornings, from January 23 to March 26. They will be followed 
after Easter by a course of five on the Geographical Distribution 
of Man, by Professor Haddon. 
A Remarkable Book. — Mr. Sherman F. Denton has trans- 
ferred the scales of Lepidoptera to a prepared paper and so 
produced fifty-six plates showing both the upper and under 
