TILE SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF NATURE RESERVES.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPEC/MB:] read with interest the article in your issue of March
29th on the preservation of common-lands, and observed the
reference to the splendid work done by the National Trust There was, however, no mention made of the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves, the objects of which are of a similar nature. This Society was founded in 1913 with the following aims :— (1) To collect and collate information as to areas of land in the United Kingdom which retain their primitive conditions and contain rare and local species liable to extinction owing to building., drainage, and disafforestation, or in consequence of the cupidity of collectors. All each information to be treated as strictly confidential. (2) To obtain and bold these areas under such conditions; as may be necessary. The Society has been granted a charter of incorporation with power to possess landed property. (3) To preserve for posterity as a national possession some part at least of our native land, its fauna, flora, and geological feature: (4) To encourage the love of Nature, and to educate public opinion to a better knowledge of the value of Nature study.
The control of the Society's affairs is in the hands of a repre- sentative Council consisting at present of the following :— President: the Right Hon. J. W. Lowther, M.P. Dr. I. Bayley Balfour,. F.R.S., Sir Edward H. Busk, Sir Francis Darwin, F.R.S., Dr. F. D. Dewitt, G. Claridge Druce, Professor J. Bretland Farmer, F.R.S., Dr.. S. F. Harmer, F.R.S., Sir L. Fletcher. F.R.S., Viscount Grey of Fallodon, K.G.,. Viscount Harcourt, Sir H. Maxwell, E. G. B. Meade-Waldo, F. E. Lemon, the Right Hon. E. S. Montagu, M.P., Sir 13. Morris, Professor F. W. Oliver, F.R.S., the Earl of Plymouth, C.B., Professor E. B. Poulton; F.R.S., Sir David- Prate, P.R.S., the Hon. N. C. Rothschild, W. H. St. Quentin, Dr. R. F. Scharff. Professor A. G. Teasley, F.R.S., A. Trevor-Battye. lion. Treasurer : C. E. Fagan, I.S.O. Hon. Secretaries: W. R. Ogilvie-Grant and the Hon. F. R. Henley.
The Trustees of the British Museum have kindly given permission to the Committee to use the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, S.W., as the address of the Society.
To carry out the objects of the Society prompt action must be taken, for year by year suitable areas become fewer; and local plants. and insects are found to have• been extirpated when the acqeisition of sr few acres of land would have saved them. Such land is often unsuitable for other purposes; an isolated spot on Government property, a piece of marshland. a birch:haunted' cliff, or a stretch of- wood and copse where the undergrowth• has been allowed' to follow its own devices are admirable. subjects- for Nature reserves. Above all, it is essential that the land saluted or reserved should as far as possible retain its primitive wildness. Such lands still exist in the United Kingdom.. though each year they become more rare, and once deprived. of their indigenous occupants they can never. be restored to a. natural elate. It should be borne in mind that if in the course of time owing to• the growth of a city, or for some other reason, a Nature reserve has ceased to serve its purpose, the ground would still be valuable as an
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