265 
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.—REPORTS OF 
MEETINGS). 
VISIT TO THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS. REGENT'S 
PARK (473rd MEETING). 
SATURDAY, 2 IST APRIL 1917. 
Some 20 members and friends visited the Royal Botanic Gardens on 
the above afternoon by kind permission of the Royal Botanic Society. 
The party was received by the Curator, at 2.30 o’clock, at the entrance, 
and personally conducted through the grounds and plant-houses. Many 
interesting objects were pointed out during the two hours’ tour of the 
Gardens, and a hearty vote of thanks to the conductor closed a very 
pleasant and instructive afternoon. 
EXCURSION TO RICKMAN S WORTH, THE CHESS 
VALLEY, AND CHENIES (474th MEETING). 
SATURDAY, I9TH MAY I917. 
A most interesting botanical ramble was carried out by 17 members 
and friends in the valley of the small river Chess in Hertfordshire, under 
the capable leadership of Mr. Robert Paulson, F.L.S. 
Travelling by through electric train from town, the visitors reached 
Rickmansworth at 2.30 o’clock and at once struck into the Park. Here 
the attention of the ecologists was arrested by the defined massesoi Stinging 
Nettle under the shade of the large old Lime trees, which form a con¬ 
spicuous avenue through the Park (one of them having a spread of branch 
of no less than 96 feet !), the nettles being sharply defined from the sur¬ 
rounding grass-land of the Park. It was suggested that deer, or cattle, 
or horses, gathering beneath the shade of the trees for refuge from flies, 
may, by pawing the ground with their hoofs, have disturbed the original 
grass-carpet, and so permitted these weeds to form a close-association, 
aided no doubt by the manure left by the cattle on the disturbed surface. 
Continuing along the Chess Valley to Sarratt Bottom, many interesting 
plants were met with in the water-meadows, one marshy meadow in 
particular being rich with flowers of Buckbean ( Menyanthes tnfohata ), 
Caltha palustris , and AIchemilla vulgaris , while Mimulus luteus (not 
yet flowering) was seen along the river-side. In a wood near Rickmans¬ 
worth, flowering specimens of Dentaria bulbifera were noticed. The 
route leading up from Sarratt Bottom to Chenies village yielded Sherardia 
avvensis , Yalerianella olitoria , Chelidonium majus, Galium galeobdolon , 
Myosoiis collina , Crepis taraxacifolia and other interesting forms. In 
all, over 80 flowering plants were noted during the ramble. 
Lichens were numerous, including much Urceolaria scruposa, Lecanora 
parella, L. atva , and Lecidea contigua on brick walls, Parmelia fuliginosa, 
Calicium liyperellum , Parmelia sulcata, P. caperata, and Pertusaria amara 
on tree-trunks, and Tr achylia tympanella, Physcia polycar pa, and P. 
lychnca (the latter not fruiting) on oak fence-rails. 
Tea was taken at the village inn at Chenies, and the party afterwards 
walked on to Chorley Wood station, where the London train was caught 
shortly before 8 o’clock. The total ramble had involved a walk of 
some seven miles. 
s 
