session 1901-1902. 
XXN1X 
For bringing tbe question of systematic work before the Con¬ 
ference of Delegates the thanks of all provincial Societies which 
are not doing good local work for want of knowing what to do and 
how to do it, are due to Mr. Bevan, but it is evident that the exact 
terms of his resolution could not have been adopted. No reason 
was given by him for the exclusion of geology, nor why the only 
department of zoology taken up should be ornithology. “ The 
proper study of mankind” occupies somewhat anomalous positions, 
coming both first and last, and the position of meteorology between 
two biological sciences is curious. A consecutive arrangement of 
subjects for research is, however, almost impossible, but I would 
suggest the following as a convenient sequence : meteorology, 
geology, botany, zoology, anthropology, the last to include the 
first two and the last two of Mr. Be van’s subjects, or the study of 
man and his works from the earliest times to the present day. 
The complete local elucidation of these departments of natural 
science should be the end and aim of all provincial Natural History 
Societies, while special attention may for the present be given to 
the subjects recommended by the Committee and endorsed by the 
Delegates at this meeting. It is not, of course, every Society 
which can undertake them all, the subject of coast-erosion, for 
instance, being outside the province of an inland Society such as 
ours. Again, some of these subjects have already been worked out 
for Hertfordshire, an archaeological survey having been compiled 
by Sir John Evans and published by the Society of Antiquaries, 
and our Society having published a very complete Flora of the 
County, the Cryptogamic portion of which is being more thoroughly 
worked up by several of our members. B-ecords of wells and bore¬ 
holes in Hertfordshire should be communicated to Mr. Whitaker, 
although it is doubtful whether any will escape his vigilance. In 
‘‘tracing the course of underground water” there is a fine field 
open in Hertfordshire. It would be a splendid piece of work to 
determine the course of the water which sinks into the Chalk from 
our swallow-holes, and conversely to determine whence comes the 
water which rises in our most notable springs. 
What is really required is the systematic local study of Nature, 
from physical phenomena and the simple elements up to the most 
complex and marvellous of the works of the Creator. 
The rest of the Conference was devoted to the consideration of 
special departments of research brought forward by Delegates from 
the various Sectional Committees of the Association. Of these the 
following are all which are of interest to us. In Geology, erratic 
blocks, the movement of underground waters, and geological photo¬ 
graphs, of which the Geological Photographs Committee has only 
10 from Hertfordshire, while it has 446 from Yorkshire. In Botany, 
botanical photographs, a Committee of the Association having been 
appointed to consider the desirability of collecting, preserving, and 
systematically registering photographs of botanical interest. And 
in Anthropology, the collection of anthropological photographs, 
and the “very great desirability of systematically collecting and 
