62 
NATURE NOTES 
members unattached to Branches, of the Secretary, 20, Hanover 
Square, W. A stamped addressed envelope (not small) should 
accompany each application. 
Recent Publications of the Society.- — The attention of 
members is directed to the recent issue of a revised leaflet 
addressed to boys and girls on gathering wild flowers. Copies 
may be had of the Secretary, 20, Hanover Square, W., at gd. 
per 100 post free. The Society, having as one of its objects 
“ the protection of places and objects of antiquarian interest,” 
has also issued a small but most useful chart, compiled by the 
Secretary, showing the dates and the styles and periods of 
English Gothic Architecture, with the varying nomenclature of 
Rickman, Sharpe and other authorities. Single copies of this 
may be had at a id., if a stamped addressed envelope be enclosed, 
or 20 copies post free for is., 50 for 2s., or 100 for 3s. 
Visit to Selborne. — The visit to Selborne is definitely 
fixed for June 13, under the guidance of Dr. Bowdler Sharpe. 
It will be of great importance to ascertain the number of those 
likely to join this ramble ; and for this purpose the names must 
be sent in to Mrs. Percy Myles, 7, Lincoln Street, S.W., by April 
30. It will be a whole day excursion ; and dinner and tea will 
have to be arranged for, beside a six-mile drive to and from the 
station to Selborne. The estimated expense will be from 15s. 
to £1. Any member of the Selborne Society is eligible to attend 
the ramble. 
The Protection of Devonshire Plants. — The following 
appeared in The Standard for February 25 : — 
Efforts are being made in Devonshire to put a stop to the wholesale spoliation 
of the hedgerows by fern and flower gatherers. There are men who make a 
business of plucking up primroses by the roots, and sending them to Covent 
Garden and the Midlands. So systematic are these spoilers that thev leave some 
of the hedgerows almost as bare as if they had been visited by locusts. In fining 
William Johnstone, fern and flower gatherer, London, £ 2 and £i costs, for 
digging up primrose roots belonging to Sir Edmund de la Pole, the Colyton 
Magistrates said any others who came before them for this offence would be sent 
to piison without the option of a fine. 
From The Exeter Gazette of February 21, it appears that the 
actual charge was “ malicious damage to the property of Sir 
Edmund de la Pole by digging up primrose roots.” This is a 
point of some importance in view of the fact that magistrates 
elsewhere have doubted as to their power to convict for mere 
removal of wild plants. 
A Lost Charm at Selborne. — We are very sorry to hear 
that one of the old thatched cottages that formed one of the great 
charms of Gilbert White’s village has been set on fire by lightning 
and destroyed. 
