A Survey and Record of Woolwich and West Kent

Abstract

THE publication of this work, originally intended for the Woolwich Congress (1907) of the South-eastern Union of Scientific Societies, has been delayed owing to alterations found desirable in the original scheme, and to the regretted death of one of the editors and the prolonged ill-health of another. As it now appears, it is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of that portion of Kent bounded by the Thames, the Ravens-bourne, the Cray, and the outcrop of the chalk between the two last-named rivers. It is, moreover, an excellent example of the beneficial result of cooperation in scientific work, for here we have brought together, in readily accessible form, records of the work of local scientific societies and isolated naturalists. The result, so far as numerical records are concerned, will doubtless be astonishing to many. From a small corner of Kent, only some fifty Ho sixty square miles in area, a considerable portion within the London postal district, none beyond what might be regarded as the outer suburban zone, a rich flora and fauna are recorded. Of plants there is a list of more than 2000. The number of animal forms is not summarised, but the records, with citations of localities, occupy just over 200 pages; of Coleoptera or beetles no less than 3264 species are enumerated.

A Survey and Record of Woolwich and West Kent.

General editors, C. H. Grinling T. A. Ingram late B. C. Polkinghorne. Pp. viii+526. (Woolwich: Labour Representation Printing Co., Ltd., 1909.) Price 10s. 6d.