AN INTRODUCTION TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE The following series of papers will, it is hoped, give some idea of the natural history of Derbyshire as far as it has been investigated at present. The general features of the Geology of the county have been dealt with so fully in the article on that subject, that it is unnecessary to add any- thing with regard to them here. A perusal of the various lists of the fauna will show that some departments have been much more thoroughly worked than others, and that there is still a wide field of exploration open to the observer. Ornithology of course appeals more or less to every sportsman, and most dwellers in the country take some interest in birds, while in Entomology the Lepidoptera invariably attract some workers ; but with a few exceptions but little has been done in other departments since the time when Edwin Brown published his list of the fauna of the Burton district. There are, however, signs of the gradual growth of interest in the subject, and the publication of the present lists can hardly fail to be of great help in bringing together for the first time a good many scattered and hitherto unpublished records and also in pointing out fresh fields for research. It may be well to note that the next decade or two will probably see considerable changes in certain parts of the county which must necessarily have some effect upon the fauna. Steps are at present being taken to put a stop to the unrestricted discharge of sewage into our rivers in many places, while the upper part of the Derwent watershed has been acquired for the purpose of ensuring a permanent water supply to four of the large towns of the Midlands. This latter scheme is of such importance that it deserves a few words to itself. In 1899 the conflicting claims of the corporations of Leicester, Derby, Sheffield, and Nottingham, and the county of Derby to the water rights of this district were reconciled by the constitution of a water board on which all were represented, and powers were obtained from Parliament to purchase the necessary land and water rights in the Derwent and Ashop valleys and to construct the required works. The drainage area chosen for this purpose was the watershed of the Derwent and its tributaries above Bamford, an area of 50 square miles, of which 42 are in Derbyshire and the remaining 8 in Yorkshire. This is a tract of the most varied character, ranging in height from 2,070 to 585 feet above the sea level, and consisting largely of sparsely populated moorland. Here it is proposed ultimately to form a series of five reservoirs, three of XXVII
