210 
ST. ALBANS AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
the county has been very thoroughly investigated. For 21 years 
the monthly results of observations at four Climatological 
Stations, one of which is in St. Albans, have been published 
annually ; and for the whole period of 35 years tables of the 
monthly rainfall at numerous stations, now numbering over fifty, 
of which seven are in the district under review, have appeared. 
The information they give has proved of great practical value 
in questions relating to water-supply. In addition to the 
publication of Mr. Pryor’s ‘ Flora,’ much botanical information 
has been given, chiefly relating to cryptogamic plants. In 
almost all departments of zoology good work has been done, and 
it may be said that practically all the knowledge we possess of 
the zoology of Hertfordshire, and particularly of that of the 
neighbourhood of St. Albans, is due to the existence of the 
Society. The pre-historic archaeology and the topography of 
the county have also received much attention, the most complete 
list extant of the maps of any English county being the catalogue 
of Hertfordshire maps published by the Society. 
The subjects most in need of investigation in the neighbourhood 
of St. Albans are, in its Flora, Characeae, diatoms and desmids 
and other freshwater Algae, lichens, and microscopic Fungi; and 
in its Fauna, Protozoa, Kotifera, Annelida, Crustacea, Myriapoda, 
and Arachnida. It has not been found possible to give any 
account of the distribution or even occurrence in the district 
of species comprised in the last five divisions of the Animal 
Kingdom here named. There is therefore much work still to be 
done, and it is hoped that this Congress of Scientific Societies 
held in our Cathedral City will result in the infusion of fresh 
energy into our local naturalists, leading some of them to take 
up the study of the hitherto neglected plants and animals. 
II. TOPOGRAPHY. 
In determining the limits of the district which should for 
its scientific investigation be considered the neighbourhood of 
St. Albans it may well be assumed that the area ought not 
to be of too great extent for its most distant part to be reached 
in the course of an easy walk from our city. A radius of five 
miles from the Town Hall fulfils this requirement and moreover 
has the further advantage of not taking in any other town, for 
it excludes Hatfield on the east, Watford on the south, and 
Hemel Hempstead on the west, the nearest towns to St. Albans. 
All distances mentioned are taken from the Town Hall. 
There is much diversity in this area and it has many 
interesting features. It varies in altitude from about 190 to 
450 feet above mean sea-level (Ordnance Datum); a great part 
of it is well wooded; it is fairly well watered by the Yer, the 
Colne, and the Lea—the Yer flowing through it, the Colne 
usually rising in it, and the Lea nearly coinciding with its 
margin from north to east; and within it are No-Man’s Land, 
