REMAIN'S ROUND NEAR HITCHIN. 
47 
Glirarium is managed in a different manner, being surrounded by 
walls, not water. The whole is covered with stone or plaster 
within, to prevent the dormice from creeping out. There ought to 
be trees in it, that may bear acorns, but when they do not bear 
fruit, you must throw within the walls acorns and chestnuts for 
them to feed upon. You must make large holes for them to breed 
in.” Helix Pomatia, which still abounds on our Chalk, is said to 
have been imported by the Romans. 
An apiary was absolutely necessary, as honey was much in 
request, and was used for much the same purposes as we now use 
sugar. Yirgil, in his fourth Georgic, describes the wonderful 
qualities of the bee, and gives the following description of an apiary: 
“ First for your bees a quiet station find, 
Devoid access of the all-insulting wind, 
Their haunts secure from sporting kids and sheep, 
Which morning dew from flowers and blossoms sweep. 
Muskins and other birds infest the hive, 
Far from your bees enamelled lizards drive, 
The swallows catch them flying, then convey 
To their expecting young the luscious prey.” 
Then, describing stones which he recommends should be placed in 
water to enable the bees to drink, he says: 
“ The bees will on these frequent bridges stand, 
And to the sun their glittering wings expand, 
The verdant lavender must there abound, 
There savory shed its pleasant sweets around, 
There beds of purple violets should hloom, 
And fragrant thyme the ambient air perfume.” 
An osier-bed was also thought very desirable, probably to provide 
baskets in which to pack presents for sending to friends. 
All these might easily have been provided on this site, with a 
terrace round the house, a sloping lawn, at the side of which the 
box-tree was cut into the forms of various animals, a place for 
practising chariot-exercises, a farm-house, a park, a kitchen-garden, 
and many other surroundings of a Roman country house. 
Resides the places already mentioned I should refer to Wilbury 
Hill, a commanding position on the Icknield Way, about 2£ miles 
N.E. of Hitchin, where traces of an ancient camp are distinctly 
visible, with a rampart formerly surrounded by a ditch. Many 
relics have been found here from time to time, including a few 
coins. There is also a large tumulus very near. On the site of 
the residence of Mr. W. T. Lucas, at Foxholes, half a mile west 
of the town, several Roman antiquities were recently dug out, 
consisting of bronze armlets and ornaments, fibulae, Samian dishes, 
knives, and several cinerary urns ; also skeletons, one being of 
gigantic size and supposed to be that of a man nearly seven feet 
in height. 
On Bury Mead, close to Hitchin, whilst it was being prepared 
for sewage-disposal, several Roman bottles and pots and a few coins 
were found. On the chalk hills, about 4j miles to the west, is an 
unusually perfect entrenchment, named Ravensburgh Castle, en- 
