The British Vegetation Committee. 
203 
THE BRITISH VEGETATION COMMITTEE. 
INCE the proceedings of this Committee were last reported 
(New Phytologist, Vol. VI., 1907, p. 103), five meetings have 
been held. Manchester, with its central position and other facilities, 
claimed the winter meetings in November, 1907 and December, 
1908; a meeting was held in London in March, 1907, one in Dublin 
in September, 1908 and one at Cambridge in April, 1909. Attendance 
is a very good measure of keenness, and it is interesting to note that 
one-third of the members were present at all five meetings, 80 per 
cent attended three meetings, while every member has been present 
at least once. This is an excellent record, when it is remembered 
that different members live as far apart as London, Dublin and 
Edinburgh. 
It is now nearly five years since the suggestion was first made 
to combine the scattered forces of the workers on the vegetation of 
these islands, and the experiment is generally felt to prove its 
success increasingly with every season that passes. The question 
of forming a Society with a more extended organisation has been 
considered more than once, but the smaller body with practically 
every member actively at work and having a direct vote in all 
decisions, is still thought by a considerable majority of members 
of the Committee to remain at present the best instrument for 
advancing the subject. There are very few serious workers on 
problems relating to British vegetation, who are not directly or 
indirectly represented on the Committee, and records are kept of 
all vegetation surveys in progress in Britain. 
Excursions. 
The increasing attendance at excursions, which have been 
organised on a more elaborate scale than heretofore, is one feature 
of the period under consideration. A good excursion to the woods 
and heaths of the Lower Greensand, and to the oak-woods of the 
Weald in West Kent was made at the end of March, 1907. A small 
semi-primitive naturally rejuvenating area of oak-wood on Weald 
Clay was compared with the prevalent “ coppice with standards ” 
type. Six members were present on this excursion. A most 
interesting week 1 was spent on the classic floristic ground of 
Connemara and Clare, just before the Dublin Meeting of the British 
Association last year, under the leadership of Mr. Lloyd Praeger, 
1 New Phytologist, Vol. VII., p. 253. 
