NOTE.— The plate of Mantellia nidiformis will be forwarded by the Secretary, as it has not yet been finished. EDITOE. PROCEEDINGS OF THE DORSET NATURAL HISTORY & ANTIQUARIAN FIELD CLUB, EDITED BY Professor BUCKMAN, F.G.S., F.L.S., &c. 2. PUBLISHED BY LOUIS HENEY BUEQGK 1878. fM 2 8 1Sea 0846G5 DA 67^ V.SL CONTENTS. Page. List of Members . . . . . . . . . . v. Fossil Cycads, by J. C. Mansel-Pleydell . . . . . . 1 On some Slabs of Trigonia Clavellata, by J. Buckman, F.G.S., &c. . . 19 The Glass Rope Sponge, by T. C. Maggs . . . . . . 21 ^ On the So-called Fairy Pipes, by W. J. Bernhard-Smith . . . . 28 On the Botany of a Dorset Parish, by Rev. H. H. Wood, M.A., &c. 32 On some Diggings at East Farm, Bradford Abbas, by J. Buckman . . 53 On Stamped Glass Bottles, by J. Buckman . . . . . . 59 On the Salts of Iron, illustrative of the Colours of Rocks, by E. Cleminshaw, M.A. . . . . . , . . . . . . 63 V •'' Daniel De Foe in Dorsetshire, by T. B. Groves, F.G.S. . . . . 67 The Cherry, by E. Lees, F.L.S., &c 76 On the Species of Astarte, by S. Buckman . . . . . . 79 On the Cherry Tree at Over Compton, by J. Buckman . . . . 93 On Worked Flints, by J. Buckman . . . . . . . . 97 Notes on the Portesham Cromlech . . } . . . . . . 104 Notes on a Saxon Pendant from Dorchester > By the Editor . . 109 Notes on Adam and Eve Dishes . . . . ; . . . . . . 112 LIST OF PLATES. Frontispiece, Adam and Eve Dishes . . . . . . i. Mantellia nidiformis . . . . . . . . . . 1 Trigonia clavellata . . . . . . . . . . . , 19 Hyalonema mirabilis . . . . . . . . . . 21 Plate of Astartes . . 84 Ditto 86 Cherry Tree at Compton . . . . . . . . .„ 94 Worked Flints— Arrow Heads, &c. , . . . . . . . 98 Ditto Scrapers, «fec. .. .. .. •• .. 100 Cromlech, Portisham ) 104 Ditto Morbihan j Pendant from Dorchester, coloured . . . . , , . . 109 Marginal Woodcuts, &o. THE DORSET NATURAL HISTORY AND ANTIQUARIAN FIELD CLUB. (INAUGURATED 16th OF MARCH, 1875.J J. C. MANSEL-PLEYDELL, ESQ., F.G.S, &c. EEV. H. H. WOOD, F.G.S. (Treasurer). Prof. JAMES BUCKMAN, F.G.S., F.L.S. (Hon. Secretary). Jftembmt: Eev. M. J. BERKELEY, F.E.H.S.L., &c., Sibbertoft Vicarage, Northampton M. H. BLOXAM, Esq., F.S.A., &c., Eugby. E. BRISTOW, Esq., F.E.S., F.G.S., Ordnance Geological Survey. W. CARRUTHERS, Esq., F.E.S., F.G.S., F.L.S., British Museum. THOMAS DAVIDSON, Esq., F.G.S., 3, Leopold Eoad, Brighton. E. ETHERIDGE, Esq., F.E.S., F.G.S. , Ordnance Geological Survey. E. A. FREEMAN, Esq., D.O.L., Summerleaze, Wells. E. LEES, Esq., F.L.S., F.G.S., Vice-President of the Worcester- shire Naturalists7 Club, Worcester. J. H. PARKER, Esq., C.B., Oxford. J. PRESTWICH, Esq., F.E.S., F.G.S., Professor of Geology, Oxford. Eev. Prebendary SCARTH, F.S.A., &c., Bath. CHARLES WARNE, Esq., F.S.A., 45, Brunswick Eoad, Brighton. H. C. WATSON, Esq., Thames Ditton, Surrey. J. 0. WESTWOOD, Esq., Professor. G. B. WOLLABTON, Esq., Chiselhurst. of sK J ielir The Eight Hon. the EARL OF SHAFTESBURY, K.G., St. Giles's House, Cranborne, Salisbury. The Eight Hon. LORD DIGBY, Minterne, Dorchester. The LORD EICHARD GROSVENOR, M.P., Brook-street, London. Acton, Eev. J Akers, Lieut. -Col Aldridge, Dr Amyatt, Capt., F.G.S. Baker, Eev. Canon, Bart. Barnes, Eev. W. Bartley, Dr Batten, John, Esq Bethell, E., Esq Blanche, Eev. J. Blennerhassett, Eev. J. Broadley, Eev. Canon. . Bond, N., Esq Bond, T., Esq Boucher, Eev. H. Brand, J. S., Esq Buckman, Prof., F.G.S. (Vice- President and Hon. Secretary} Iwerne Minster, Blandford "Weymouth Yeovil Weymouth Eanston House, Blandford Came Eectory, Dorchester Weymouth (Sur. M. 39th Eegt.) Alden, Yeovil London Sherborne Eyme Eectory, Sherborne Bridport Holme Priory, Wareham Tyneham, Wareham Thornhill House, Blandford N.P. Bank, Sherborne Bradford Abbas, Sherborne VI ". Littlehales, B., Esq Lyon, Rev. W. H McAlistor, Miss Maggs, T. C., Esq Malau, Eev. Canon Mansel-Pleydell, J. C., Esq., F.G.S. (President} .. Mayo, Rev. C. H Medlycott, H. B., Esq. Micklejohn, Dr. Middleton, H. B., Esq. Middleton, H. N., Esq. Miller, Rev. J Montague, J. M. P., Esq. Moorhead, Dr. Parsons, J. F., Esq Payne, Miss Penny, Rev. G. H Penny, Rev. J. . . Phillips, Rev. G. E Pike, T. M., Esq Pope, A., Esq Portman, Hon. Miss Portman, Hon. W. H. B., M.P. Ravenhill, Rev. H. E Raven, T. E., Esq Raymond, W., Esq Raymo.ul, F., Esq Rawlinson, Rev. H. Buckshaw House, Sherborne Sherborne Colyford, Axminster Yeovil Broad winsor, Bridpoifc Longthorns, Blandford Longbur con Rectory, Sherborne Ven, Sherborne H.M.S. Warrior, Weymouth Bradford Peverell, Dorchester Bradford Peverell, Dorchester Wej mouth Down Hall, Bridport Weymouth Portland Weymouth Abbotsbury Tarrant Rushton Stalbridge Rectory, Blandford Wareham Dorchester Bryanstone Durvreston, Blandford Buckland Vicarage, Dorchester Sherborne School Vicarage Street, Yeovil Church House, Yeovil Symondsbury IX. Reid, Miss Reynolds, R., Esq. Rickman, Chas., Esq. Roberts, Rev. R Robinson, J., Esq., F.S.A. . . Rogers, Rev. 0. M Rollo, Honble. W Routledge, W., Esq Routledge, Mrs. Roxby, Rev. Wilfred Ruegg, L. H., Esq. . . Sanctuary, Ven. Archdeacon . . Serrel, H. D., Esq Smith, Rev. J. . . Shipp, H., Esq Sparks, D., Esq Stephens, R. Darell,Esq., F.GKS. Stephens, Miss . . Stuart, J. Morton, Esq. Surtees, N., Esq Tancock, Rev. 0. W. . . ; , Tregarthen, Rev. W. F. Thompson, Rev. G. Todd, Colonel Udal, J. S., Esq Warre, Rev. F. Watts, Rev. R. R Weatherby, Rev. C Bridport Haselbury, Crewkerne Summerhayes, Blandford Milton Abbas, Blandford St. Adhelms House, Swanage Oborne Sherborne Sherborne Thorr*ord Sherborne Powerstock, Bridport Haddon Lodge, Stourton Caundle, Blandford Kington Magna Rectory, Gil- lingham Post Office, Blandford Crewkerne St. Stephen's, Plympton Hill Side, Bridport Blandford Purse Caundle, Sherborne Sherborne Weymouth Leigh Yicarage, Sherborne 12, Victoria Square, S.W. Melksham, Wilts Stourpaine, Blandford Weytown, Bridport X. "VVeld, C.,Esq Whitehead, C. S., Esq. Williams, W. H., Esq., M.D. Wood, Eev. A Wood, Eev. H. H., F.GKS; . . Woodforde, Beadon, Esq. Yeatman, M. S., Esq. Yeatman, Captain, E.N. Young, Eev. E. M *#* Please notify any errors Chideock, Bridport Sherborne School Sherborne Sherborne Holwell Eectory, Sherborne (Vice-President fy Treasurer} Sherborne Stock House, Sherborne West Lodge, Blandf ord The King's School or omissions to the Secretary. By J. C. MANSEL-PLEYDELL, F.G.S., F.LS., &c., &c., President. | HE Geologist has but few opportunities of acquainting himself with the Flora of any past period, because the perishable parts of their structures, unless rapidly covered over, leave scarcely any traces. The actual vegetation therefore of a formation is rarely met with, and still more so the old land-surface on which it grew. Exceptions are the coal-fields of the Carboniferous age, and the Dirt- Beds of the lower Purbecks, from which the fossil I now propose to bring under your notice was exhumed. It belongs to an order of plants which, although exogenous has some links of affinity with Cryptogams. This Gymnospermous order includes Conifera?, Cycadea3, and Gnetaceas, the earliest flowering plants known ; of these three, the Conifers only now grow in Europe. They are distinguished from the higher forms of Cryp- togams, mosses, equisetaa, and ferns (which also have leaf-appendages and vascular tissue), by bearing a distinct flower, a seed which is naked, and the stems having rings of annular growth. In point of time the conifers preceded the cycads, and as early as the Carboniferous age formed as prominent an object in the landscape as they do now. The late Hugh Miller found one in the lower division of the Old Eed Sand- stone, near the town of Cromarty. They increased greatly towards the close of the palaeozoic age, both in genera and species. The dioecious Taxinian branch of this Order has been met with in the Calciferous Sandstones of Edinburgh — a Lower Carboniferous for- mation— also the stem and spike of an Aroid. Cryp- tograms of higher organization than their present congeners clothed the lower levels of the land at this period, while Stigmaria and Sigillaria, which had hitherto formed so important a feature in the palaeo- zoic vegetation, began to decline, and entirely dis- appeared before the secondary period was ushered in. At this time of the earth's history the first cycad appeared, accompanied by new forms of conifers equi setae and ferns, which began to cover the heights of the newly emerged land, giving quite a new aspect to the flora. No true grass is known to have lived at this period. New forms of cycads successively appeared, and became more and more numerous during the latter part of the permian age ; during the oolitic age they reached their maximum in England, and probably also over the whole globe. After the wealden period they showed symptoms of decline, and from that time, although perhaps slowly, receded step by step, leaving no traces of their existence for long periods. The cretaceous age was properly the closing period for cycads. Professor Nordenskiold brought home no less than eight species from the Lower Cretaceous beds of Greenland, lat. 70, N. The monocotyledonous Palm family, which is met with in the carboniferous beds, like the cycads, dwindled down at this time to three species ; but afterwards recovered itself so marvellously that the eocenes can claim twenty-nine, and the miocenes thirty-one species, while the cycads disappeared entirely. I say this with some reserve, as Le Comte de Saporta states that Professor Heer has found a cycad in the middle tertiaries of Switzer- land ; * but on referring to the Professor's valuable work, " The Primeval World of Switzerland" the translation of which was published under his direc- tion, last year, I find the following : f — Cycadese, formerly so numerous, of the Gymnospermous sub- class, are represented only by two species; and of these the fragments of stems and remains of leaves, that have come down to our times are so imperfect that their determination cannot be regarded as cer- tain." Again, a fossil cycad is reported to have been found very recently in a miocene deposit at Koumi, in the Negropont. The specimen consists of a frond, each foliole of which measures about four inches ; its characters agree with that of Encephalartos, a living African family, which, if so, we are led to the conclu- sion that while several families of cycads of the secondary age have entirely disappeared in Europe, * Paleontologie Frai^aise, 2nd ser., voL.ii., p. 4. f Vol. i., p. 323. others existed, whose generic representatives are now peculiar to Southern Africa. This tendency to extinc- tion cannot be attributable to a decrease of temperature like that of the Palm tribe and other tropical plants, nor to the introduction of more vigorous plants ; but to a slow and inevitable decline, due, probably, to their unyielding character, as well to a difficulty of propa- gation. Their decline, which was accompanied with the appearance of some of the first dicotyledonous angiosperms, was so effectual that for ages more or less remote, they have left no trace in Europe. The living representatives of cycads are dispersed over the globe, but only in small groups, separated by enormous tracts and confined to the tropical and temperate regions of Asia, Southern Africa, America, and Australia. They prefer the slopes of mountains and moist sandy spots sheltered by trees, for the protection and growth of the young plants, whose stages to maturity are slow and lingering. ,The internal structure of the whole family is similar, consisting of a large pith, the cells of which afford the tree a rich supply of starch. The stem is very slow of growth, and becomes in course of years a stout column, which sometimes attains a height of some feet. The surface of the stem is furnished with leaves, arranged spirally, and a rosette of large foliage leaves is annually or biennially produced, in the centre of which the terminal bud is embosomed, enveloped with scales, under whose protection the new whorl of leaves is slowly formed. An axillary bud is often attached to the exterior of the trunks of fossil cycads, which are either the rudiments of a branch or of a young plant. The living cycad has occasionally a bud at the base of its stem representing a true bulbil, which remains a considerable time in a state of inactivity, and after sending out rootlets produces a leaf which is at first simple, but afterwards becomes divided into a few pinnules ; the young plant then assumes the character of the parent. The leaves of cycads, with one exception, are pinnate, adhering laterally, or on the upper surface of the furrowed rachis. The leaflets have simple parallel veins, and, like ferns and grasses, decay on the stem ; but, owing to the petiole being disarticulated, the portion nearest its junction with the trunk remains attached, and thus adds to its bulk. The flowers of this family are all dioecious ; the male and female flowers of its living members, with the exception of Cycas, resemble fir cones externally, the carpel bearing only two ovules, attached right and left to a peltate expansion on a slender pedicel. The Purbecks already alluded to are the uppermost beds of the oolitic series. This fluvio-lacustrine forma- tion forms the limits of the great oolitic gulf of which it forms its western boundary. The presence of all kinds of aquatic, amphibious, and land-remains leads to the inference that this great estuary, or lake, was in contiguity with a continent, drained by a large river, which supplied it with its varied land-spoils. The Dirt-Beds, in which so many vegetable remains are found, are the first sediments that were deposited by the fresh- water which covered the Upper Portland beds. They indicate the commencement of the delta which extended over a great part of south em England, and extended to Germany. The Skull-cap, a bed from 1ft. to 3ft. in thickness, lying upon the topmost bed of the Port- land, beds is succeeded by a thin seam of black earth, which is barren of vegetable remains in Portland, but at Eidgway, where it is only a few inches thick, it contains " the trunks of large trees having the appearance of being much decayed externally, with none of the bark preserved. A laminated fresh-water limestone, about eight feet in thickness, divides it from the famous Black Dirt, or Dirt Bed, which is about a foot thick, consisting of a dark loam, containing a large proportion of earth, lignite, and water-worn stones. It must have supported a luxuriant vegetation, for in and upon it are numerous remains of coniferous and cycadeous trees, lying partly in the black earth and partly covered by the super- jacent calcareous bed, having the appearance of dome- like concretions which surround the stumps. Of these there are good examples about a quarter-of-a-mile East of Lulworth Cove. The trees are still erect with their roots in the vegetable soil, and broken off a short distance from the ground. A submergence, or change of level, converting the high lands, on which the trees grew into a morass, would inevitably cause the destruction of the forest, and occasion a rapid decay, especially at the bases of the trees, and, thus weakened, they would yield to the force of wind or flood, and break off a few inches from the root. The Dirt Bed is well exposed at the Ridgway railway cutting. The most eastern evidence of the Purbeckian forest in Dorsetshire is at Gad Cliff, on the western side of Kimmeridge Bay, where a magnificent trunk lies among the debris of rocks, at its foot, encased in a limestone shroud ; these base-beds of the series occur again at Tisbury ; Doctor Buckland records them at Thame, in Oxfordshire, and Doctor Fitton in the Yale of Wardour ; they appear at Swindon, on the top of the Portland beds, containing conifers and a few examples of Mantellia. In 1854 there were only seven genera of cycads known,in connection with the secondary rocks of Great Britain. Mr. Carruthers, in his important and exhaustive memoir* on fossil cycadean stems of that period, read before the Linnean Society in 1868, retains the nomen- clature of two genera only — Mantellia and Bucklandia — and establishes four new genera — Yatesia, Williams- onia, Bennettites, and Fittonia, including eight new species ; two new species are added to Bucklandi and two to Mantellia. Six of the twenty-two species enumerated by the author of the memoir have been found in Dorsetshire, Yatesia gracilis, Carr, Bennettites Portlandicus, Carr, Mantellia nidiformis, Brongn, M. intermedia, Carr, M. Microphylla, Miq, M. pygmcea, Carr. * Transactions of the Linnean Society, Yol, xxvi., pp. 675-708, 8 Having brought our investigations of the cycadean family to this point, I now beg to direct your attention to the examination of two fossils, which I am enabled to bring to your notice through the courteous kindness of Mr. Clifton, Governor of Her Majesty's Convict Prison at Portland. MANTELLIA. Brongniart. Cycadeoidea, Buckland, Proc. Geol. Soc. Vol. i., p. 80. Cycadites, BuckL, Geol. and Min., p. 496. Echinostipes Porrie. Trunk cylindrical, covered with the long permanent bases of the petioles, medulla entirely cellular, with numerous gum canals. Wood consisting of a cylinder of striated tissue every where penetrated with medullary rays. Fruit borne on secondary axes generally protruding beyond the bases of the petioles. Mr. Carruthers retains Brongniart's name in prefer- ence to that of Cycadeoidea given provisionally by Buckland, but afterwards withdrawn by him in favour of Cycadites under the erroneous idea that Mantellia was doing service for a genus of sponges. Mr. Carruthers says on this subject : — " Were Buckland's name unobjectionable it ought to be retained because of its priority by a month or two, but as it originated in an error, was withdrawn by its author, and is in itself, as Brongniart and others have said, objectionable, it seems necessary to reject it in favour of Mantellia" The trunks of this genus are usually silicious, the beds surrounding them being much impregnated with silex ; their growth must have been very slow, as may be inferred from the numerous closely-packed layers of the petioles, each layer representing the successive growths of the crowns of leaves, which adorned the summit of the tree. The petioles are separated by a thick ramentum, which forms the elevated margins, cir- cumscribing the lozenge-shaped depressed areas which were occupied by the petioles during the plant's life- time. MANTELLIA NIDFORMIS. Brongn. Cycadeoidea megalophylla. Buckl. Mantellia megalophylla. Bronn. Oycadites megalopliyllus. Buckl. Zamites megalopliyllus. Presl. Enceplialartos Bucklandii. Miq. Echmostipes nidiformis. Pomel. Trunk cylindrical, permanent bases of the petioles large, lozenge-shaped, two or three inches broad, by one and a half deep, meshes in the woody cylinder small and scattered. The height of our Portland fossil is five inches, its breadth, including the cortical appendages, ten inches ; a transverse fracture has removed a portion of the stem below the snmmit, and exposes to view the internal structure of the trunk. Through pressure its natural cylindrical shape has become slightly elliptical, the centre, which is composed of true cellular tissue, free from separate woody bundles, and penetrated through- out by gum canals, is an inch and three-quarters in diameter, and circumscribed by a vascular band traversed by medullary rays, an inch and a half across ; 10 this band is much broader than that of a living Zamia, and placed nearer the circumference of the stem. A cortical zone, similar in structure to the centre medulla, surrounds the woody cylinder, and from it spring the leaves, which are supplied with vascular tissue, passing through the cortical cells into the petioles of each leaf in small distinct bundles. The petioles encircle the trunk, and are slightly keeled below, the edges are curved upwards, giving the upper surface a somewhat concave appearance. The depth of the zone of petioles exceeds the diameter of the tree, giving it the character of being much larger than it is, its exterior ornamentation looks like trellis- work, the. compartments are disposed spirally, and are seldom filled, the decayed leaves having left a cavity surrounded by the mesh-shaped ridges of the ramentum, which, during the life of the tree, clothed the under surface of the leaves, and distinctly separate each from its neighbours. Some of the most durable may be observed filling up the depressed areas. The exterior of the fossil bears three axillary branches, which are associated with the bases of the petioles, and probably supported the organs of repro- duction. Some trunks bear no branch nor bud, which may have been male plants, their staminal flowers would in that case be produced at the termination of the main axis. Mantellia nidiformis usually exhibits a deep cavity at its summit ; the apex of the stem being more perishable and longer under the influence of the II changes which occurred during fossilization, would leave a hollow, giving the fossil the appearance of a bird's nest. The fruit is borne at the end of a short and slender branch, having a number of simple acuminate leaves, which are the only foliar organs hitherto found with this species. IN CONSIDERABLE QUANTITY IN THE VICINITY OF WEYMOUTH. By EDWIN LEES, F.L.S., F.Q.S., Vice-President of the Malvern & Worcestershire Naturalists9 Clubs 10TANICAL writers of local Floras have not in general sufficiently attended to what Baron Humboldt has called the " Physiognomy of Vegetation," or what constitutes the apparent vegeta- tion of a district by the aggregation of a number of plants all of one species. This gives a feature to the country, which taken in by the eye can be well understood ; but the mere " occurrence " of a plant, though a rare one, however interesting to a botanist, may not make it belong to the endemic Flora of the place where it appears, perhaps, only as a vagrant. Every country has its peculiar or indigenous plants that when gregarious give a feature to the landscape, or to portions of the scenery, and the Palms of the tropics, the Cacti of Mexico, the Sage-plants of the deserts of North America, the Heaths of the Cape of Good Hope, the Banyans of Hindostan, the Laurels and Myrtles of 13 Greece, the Khododendrons, or " Rock-roses," of the Alps, and many other instances may be mentioned. In our own island the astonishing profusion of the Cuckoo-flower (Cardamine pratensis) gives a silvery aspect to the moist meadows where it grows, while in succession Daises, Dandelions, and Buttercups dazzle the eye in extensive pastures, and the latter plants especially give a golden week to the summer ere hay- making commences. But besides the general physiog- nomy given to the landscape where plants of a particular species crowd together, there are numerous spots of mountain, valley, and coast, where plants are localised, and a peculiar feature is given to such spots, which is most interesting to contemplate, and tempts the exploring botanist to many an expedition. Thus the Cornish Heath (Erica vagans) adorns the heathy wastes of the Lizard district, the Cheddar Pink (Dianthus coesius) can only be found in England on the Cheddar Cliffs, the Veronica hylrida is especially plentiful and beautiful on Craig Breidden, Mongomeryshire, the Sox on Box-hill, Surrey, the Thlaspi perfoliatum on the oolitic quarries among the Cotteswold Hills, the white-flowered Cistus (Helian- themum polifolium) on the rocks of Brean Down, and near Torquay, and many other favoured localities might be mentioned. Having been recently roaming about Dorsetshire, in taking advantage of a visit to my esteemed friend, Professor Buckman, I have paid some attention to its local plants, especially those in the vicinity of Bradford 14 Abbas and Weymouth, and marked the feature given to a locality by the abundance of particular plants not generally of common occurrence. This I think worthy of remark to a Dorsetshire Naturalists' Club, and in doing this I trust the worthy observant President, Mr. Mansel-Pleydell, the author of the Flora of Dorset, will not consider me as a poacher upon his manor. Among the littoral plants that adorn the stony beach between "Weymouth -and the coastguard-houses, the Sea Bladder Campion (Silene maritima) reigns supreme from its abundance, scarcely allowing space for the Yellow Poppy (Glaucium luteum) to put in an appearance, which it does but scantily ; while every waste place near the sea, and especially in the island of Portland, is covered with the small-flowered Thistle (Carduus tenuiflorus) quite in thickets. A feature is given to most of the pastures and grassy places around Weymouth by the quantities of the Parsley-leaved Water Dropwort ((Enanthe pim- pinelloides) that present themselves, for their very dense umbels of white flowers are very conspicuous all through June. Even at Preston, some distance from the sea, the meadows are filled with it. This plant is decidedly different from either (Enanthe silaifolia or (E. LacJienalii^ though Mr. Bentham, not perhaps fully acquainted with them, has placed them together as one species. I have never met with (E. pimpinelloides north of Worcester. The Portland Spurge (Euphorbia Portlandica) is conspicuous enough on the Portland Island Eocks with 15 its bloody-red stem, and I have formerly noticed a good deal of it on the railway embankment between Wey mouth and Portland, but from some cause it was not so plentiful there this year ; but the gray foliage of OUone portulacoides met the eye abundantly. Both here and on the banks of the Fleet the Sea Beet (Beta maritima) grew very tall and in great quantity. It struck me as rather curious that the Samphire (Crithmum maritimumj, that mostly grows high up on the precipitous rocks of the coast, so that it is difficult to reach it, grows plentifully on the embankment of the Portland Eailway, and on some parts of the Chesil Pebble Beach, so that gathering Samphire here would not be the " dreadful trade " that Shakspeare describes it, unless that epithet be given to an occupation that would find but few customers in the present day, though I have myself gathered it for pickling, and found it not bad. The rare local plant for wb'ch the Chesil Pebble- beach is celebrated, is the Sea Pea (Lathyrus mari- timusj, and this, where it flourishes, forms a pretty feature among the pebbles, especially when in flower ; but as it is almost confined to one side of the pebbly bank, some distance from the Portland Eail way-station, the particular spot is rather difficult for a stranger to find. The plants form several green clusters growing en- tirely by themselves, on the descent to the Fleet, and these verdant clusters may well in the distance be mistaken for rushes, and such I at first thought them to be ; and close inspection is necessary to be undeceived. I 16 am glad to report that there are several large clusters of the Lathy rus all in beautiful flower this year (1877). The Vicia lutea, or rough-podded yellow-flowered Vetch, which is a local plant, may be found in con- siderable quantity on the cliff near Sandsfoot Castle, and rather curiously, on a hedge bank on the farm of my sagacious friend Professor Buckman, who pointed it out to me. There is another place on the railway embank- ment between Weymouth and Radipole, where I found a variety of the plant having the flowers purplish, or veined with purple. This is said to have been the case with Vicia Icemgata, formerly found at Weymouth, but supposed to be now extinct, and, as except in its smooth pod and purplish flowers it differed very little from Vicia lutea, it was very probably only a variety of that Vetch. Another plant that shows itself plentifully all about the vicinity of Weymouth is the Iris fcetidissima. It is always conspicuous with its long, shining, rigid, and leathery leaves ; but its blue flowers make it still more conspicuous in July. Other commoner plants might be mentioned as from growing in extensive patches, giving a colourable feature to the scene, as the pale yellow Ladies'-finger (Anthyllis vulneraria), and the Horse-shoe Vetch (Hippocrepis comosa), both abundant on the cliffs about Weymouth, as true endemic plants, while the red-flowered Onobrycliis sativa colours railway banks in various places as an escape from cultivation, being a determined colonist not to be displaced. 17 I was pleased to observe on the bank of a meadow which descends towards the Eiver Yeo, in the parish of Bradford Abbas, an enormous quantity of the little white-flowered Trefoil (Trifolium subtermneum), which is in such profusion, that when in flower it quite whitens the side of the hill, and it might well furnish specimens to the herbaria of every English botanist, and yet an abundance of the plant would remain. I also noticed that the Monkshood (Aconitum Napellus) had got upon the banks of the river Yeo, near Bradford Abbas, and very probably will increase to the extent it has done on both sides of the stream near Whistle Bridge, where any stranger might report it as " truly wild," and certainly giving a peculiar feature to the banks of the brook. In like manner I observed in Portland, on the rocky ground below Bow-and- Arrow Castle, that the Borage (Borago officinalis) had spread in an extraordinary manner by hundreds, giving a wide-spreading azure-blue tint to the ground, and suggesting — not as Darwin has stated, that in the struggle for existence, that " the fittest" maintain their hold upon the soil — but the strongest, and it may be often said the same in the case of the Docks, the Oraches, Goosefoots, and Nettles, the coarsest and the ugliest. Unfortunately the operations of Man destroy the beauties of Nature, and cultivation introduces useless if not noxious plants, which alter the vegetation of a country, and obstinately flourish as villainous though showy weeds, in spite of every attempt to dislodge 18 them. It is, however, the duty of a botanist to mark vegetable changes, and notice the spread, continuance, or diminution of plants, whether native or of foreign introduction. Trigonia clavellata. Sow. FEOM OSMINQTON MILLS, DOESET. By Professor J. BUCKMAN, F.L.S., F.G.S., Ac. I HE genus Trigonia of Bruguiere, Lyriodon, of Goldfuss, is represented by some three forms of species or 9] varieties, now found on the Australian shores ; while over 100 species occur in the fossil state. Our present remarks apply to a form which, from its being armed with raised tubercles, is placed in the division of the Clavellata — and our species is called Trigonia clavellata — and is typical of this division. One of the best drawings of this species is by Sowerby, Min. Conch., pi. 87, in reference to which we have the following remark: — "I have figured this from a specimen sent me by the Eev. S. Eackett, from Eadipole, near Weymouth, such is also found at Portland. The shell is pre- served of much the same texture as a recent oyster shell which has laid in a blackening mud." (Min. Conch., vol i., p. 197). This fixes the locality and geological position, and is interesting as showing that certain clavellated forms from the inferior oolites should not be confounded with the species clavellata, though placed in the group of which it is the type. The formation whence these specimens are derived is that, perhaps, determined by Messrs. Blake Hudleston to be a 20 member of the Upper Calcareous Grit, which is thus described as it occurs at Sturminster Newton Eailway section in a valuable paper just brought out by these accomplished geologists : — " No. 36 — Rough Limestone, shelly, and hardened towards the upper part, dnd having a thin led of Hue clay lelow. This contains a few oolitic grains of all sizes up to that of a pea. Trigonia Clavellata, &c. (very many specimens of shells). The authors just quoted say that "A most fossiliferous quarry may le seen at Glanvilles Wootton, composed of hard Hue finely oolitic ragstone, con- taining shell layers, and gradually into fine shell limestone. The fossils here are Trigonia clavellata (abundant), Astarte polymorpha" Sfc. falout a dozen specimens, with bivalves J. This we may have the pleasure of seeing, &c. So abundant indeed is the Trigona Clavellata that two slabs worked out by that clever Fosil demonstrator, Mr. Bishop Eeynolds, have as many as 40 valves each displayed out with the minutest care. This subject is of interest to us, as it fixes a species, the name of which, until Dr. Lycett's Monograph was published, had been given to at least a dozen forms. The great interest, however, consists in the fact of the large masses of individuals which are met with in different places. This added to the perfect state of preservation presented by these fossils make this species one of your most interesting of oolitic fossils. Our county is rich in Trigonias, and as a prize is offered to the King's School for a paper on the different forms which occur in the inferior oolite of Dorset, we shall hope for as successful a working out of species as has already been done in the case of the genus Astarte — a paper on which will be found in the present volume. o DC LJ a. to LJ H o Ld —I Q_ Z) Ul or 2 LJ z o HYALONEMA MIEABILIS (GEAY). By T. C. MAGGS, M.G.A., &c. \ T lias occurred to me that this very interesting sponge (which was given to me a short time since by Mr. Cape, of Exeter, who brought it from Japan,) may be new to some of the members of our club, and that its exhibition, with as much information concerning it as I have been able to gather, may have more than a passing interest. This beautiful production of Nature has, like many of its kind, been the subject of much discussion. It was first described as of vegetable origin, under the name of " glass plant." Sub- sequently Professor Ehrenberg and others regarded it as an artificial production with which the Japanese sought to impose upon the credulity of the "modern barbarian," but it is now recognised as the type of the genus Hyalonema, a form of sponge, and named, by Dr. E. Gray, Hyalonema mirabilis. The general notion of a sponge is derived from the substance used for domestic and toilet purposes. The sponge before you, of which I am about to give you a brief description, would scarcely be recognised by the ordinary mind as related to the sponge of commerce ; nevertheless, such is undoubtedly the fact. The simple sarcodous substance which in one case weaves a soft, leather-like, reticulated structure, in the other elaborates a silici- 22 ous skeleton composed of spicula of varying size and outline, some like long threads of spun glass, a foot or more in length, whilst others do not exceed the thousandth part of an inch. For the following description I am indebted to Mr. F. Kitten, of Norwich, who writes. — "The Hyalonema, or 'glass rope* sponge, was formerly supposed to belong to a class of organisms called axif erous zoophytes, or barked corals. The ' glass rope,1 with its ' warty bark,' was supposed to have been distinct from the sponge-like mass, forming the base, in which it appeared to grow. Dr. Gray describes it as having a silicious axis : — ' The axis formed of many twisted fibres, and its lower end, instead of being expanded, is gradually tapering, and is parisitically embedded in a fixed sponge The part above the base is in different specimens covered to a greater or less extent (and evidently in the perfect state is entirely) with a kind of leathery bark, with truncated, nipple-shaped, scattered tubercles, having flat crowns with radiating grooves and a central depres- sion. In general the specimens are withdrawn and cleaned from the spongy base, and the lower axis is cleaned ; but it appears evident that they all are attached to such a sponge in then- natural state. The bark is formed of two distinct layers, the outer layer having the appearance of an aggregation of grains of sand, united together by a small quantity of animal matter ; the inner layer having embedded in its substance numerous very fine capillary fibres of precisely similar texture to those which form the axis of the coral, but of much smaller size ; and this portion of the bark evidently extends between and invests each of the fibres of the rope-like axis. Dr. Gray's description is exact, so far as the external appear- ance of the sponge is concerned ; but his surmise that the so-called spongy base is a distinct organism recent observations have proved to be incorrect. The basal portion is an integral portion of the sponge, and, when growing, is uppermost, the long fibres being buried in the ooze, as in the allied forms Phoeronema (HolteniaJ Carpenteri and Pharonema Grayii" As before observed, the earliest known specimens of this 23 sponge were brought from Japan, but within the last few years other habitats have been discovered. Professor Perceval "Wright found it in situ in Setubal, off the coast of Portugal, in 1868, obtaining many fine specimens from the same locality, and had the opportunity of examining them whilst alive. He states that the silicious stem is truly part of the sponge mass, and that the " Polythoa " (bark) was simply parasitic upon the stem. Some of the Setubal specimens were very large, the stems of several measuring nearly two feet in length, and the head consisting of a somewhat oval mass about eight inches in the long, and four inches in the short, diameter. On opening out the sponge the interior concave surface was found to be lined with a delicate network of spicules and sarcode. A number of large openings (oscula) were also seen, and these were covered with a network of sarcode, and the edges of the meshes thickly covered with spicules, called by Dr. Bowerbank " spiculate cruciform spicules." The Professor then goes on to say that he has "seen the parasitic polythoa in a living state on the silicious axis of the Hyalonema, and that he watched the polyps expand their tentacles, after the fashion of any other zoantharian, to prove that, though they have mouths, these mouths are their own, and not at the service, directly or indirectly, of the Hyalonema" Dr. Bower- bank is, however, of opinion that the Polythoa is a portion of the sponge, and not parasitic : — " The evidences in favour of the latter supposition are (at least as far as I have been able to ascer- tain)— first, that the glass rope has never been found without the ' bark ;' secondly, the spicules are silicious (in all other spicule- bearing species of Polythoa they are calcareous), and that some of them are common to every portion of the sponge; neither am I aware that the Polythoa has ever been found investing any other organism." The spicules in this sponge are perhaps more beautiful and varied than in any other sponge hitherto discovered. Mr. F. Kitten then proceeds to figure and describe the spicules, adopt- ing the terminology used by Dr. Bowerbank in his work on the British spongiada. He then says, " Having had an opportunity 24 of examining a series of specimens belonging to the Rev. J. Crompton, of Norwich, three of them being of considerable interest, as throwing light upon the parasitic nature of the Poly- thoa. One of the specimens was almost entirely divested of the parasite ; but near the top was a small piece of some frondose alga, attached, or rather entangled round the glass rope by several tendril-like filaments, the surface of the fragment being covered with the Polythoa, identically the same as that found investing the ' rope.' The other two specimens are still more remarkable. The Polythoa covers the rope, but beneath it may be seen, in one specimen, a piece of fine twine, and, in the other, a piece of blue paper or cloth. The twine and paper had evidently been wound round the rope in order to keep the filaments together, and the Polythoa (apparently attached to some riband-like alga, about three-quarters of an inch in width) wound round afterwards. This was probably done by some of the Japanese fishermen who dredged up the specimen." In the April part of "Annals of Natural History" for 1872 Dr. E. Gray writes : — " Mr. Kitten does not seem to be aware that Hyalonema is more common without its parasitical sponge at top than with it ; but the specimens with the sponge were for- merly more sought for by travellers and brought to England, whilst the Russian specimens, being collected by naturalists, were chiefly without this parasite, and now we constantly receive them without any appearance of sponge, covered with living polyps up to the tip." In reply to the above remarks by Dr. Gray, Mr. Kitten says : — " I am still unconvinced of the parasitic nature of the sponge, or that the Polythoa is non-parasitic. Until I saw the specimens belonging to the Rev. J. Crompton I was very much inclined to believe that Polythoa was an integral portion of the sponge ; but when I saw it growing on the alga, as stated, and this not entangled on the glass rope (anchoring spicula), but carefully twisted round it, and below it some fine twine, I could only come to the conclusion that the long anchoring spicula did not belong to the Polythoa." , 25 My reasons for considering the sponge and rope as one organ- ism are that many of the forms of spicula occurring in the heads of the sponge are also found between filaments forming the rope, particularly the spiculate cruciform, the attenuated rectangulated, hexradiate, and the multihamate birotulate spicules. The occur- rence of long anchoring spicula in Pharonema Graijii and Pharommi Carpenteri is, I should imagine, very conclusive evidence that the rope in Hyalonema is a portion of the head. Dr. Gray says he supposes I am not aware that specimens of Hyalonema occur more frequently without than with its parasitic sponge. This is very probably correct ; but they have no doubt lost the sponge, either from the decay of the sarcode, or from being pulled off by the dredger or diver ; in the former case the rope, when divested of its spongy head, would in all probability soon be invested by the parasitic Polythoa. Dr. Perceval Wright, who has had the opportunity of examining specimens in a living state, is quite satisfied as to the parasitic nature of the Polythoa. Having thus spoken of the glass rope sponge Hyalonema mirabilis (Gray), I will proceed to give a brief description of the other beautiful and wonderful, but perhaps not so rare, a sponge known as " Venus' Flower Basket," or Euplectella aspergillum, certainly one of Nature's loveliest works. It consists of a tubular body, varying from six inches to a foot in length, and from one to ten inches in diameter, and is composed of a beautiful interlaced network of silicious spicules, with its base enclosed in a thick tuft of silicious basket-work. It is found in the seas of the Phillipine Islands, where it is known as the Regadera or " Watering Pot," and is still supposed by the inhabitants to be the workmanship of a crab, from the fact that one, and sometimes two, crab-like crustaceans are often found shut up in the hollows of the sponges. The lid-like covering of the upper extremity of the Euplectella is the portion of the skeleton last formed, so that the crab must make the sponge its habitation while it is open at the one end, and therefore must remain a prisoner for life, dependent for its subsistence upon any food that may gain entrance through the network of its prison. 26 These sponges are found at a depth of about 1 30 fathoms, in a mud bank, three miles from the coast of one of the Phillipine Islands, where they are dredged for by the natives. When taken out of the water they are of a dirty yellowish colour, but by washing in fresh water, and exposure to the bleaching influence of the atmosphere, they become a pure white, the condition in which they are usually brought into this country. The first entire specimen — that described by Professor Owen, in 1841, and now in the British Museum — was sold for £30 ; but of late years they have become more plentiful, and in 1867 were selling at between £3 and £4 ; but are now to be purchased at from 5s. to £1 each. Whilst upon the subject of sponges it may be well to observe that domestic sponges are found principally in the Grecian Archipelago, although they are found throughout the Mediterranean. They occur at depths varying from shallow water to that of 30 or more fathoms ; those found in shallow water being of the coarser kind, while those found at the greatest depths are the softest and best. Aristotle observed this fact and tried to account for it. He says, " In general those which grow in deep and still water are the softest, for the wind and waves harden sponges as they do other things that grow, and check their growth." They are obtained by diving, an art to which the inhabitants of the Grecian Isles and the surround- ing coasts are specially trained from their earliest years, and dexterity in which is counted one of the first qualifications in a husband ; while in some places it seems at one time to have been considered a scarcely less important female accomplishment, for Hasselquist tells of a somewhat similar custom in his " Voyages and Travels in the Levant," though rather differently applied. He says." Himia is a little and almost unknown island directly opposite Ehode. It is worth notice on account of the singular method which the Greeks — the inhabitants of the island — have of obtaining their living. At the bottom of the sea the common sponge, Spongia ojficinalis, is found in abund- ance, and more than in any other place of the Mediterranean. 27 The inhabitants make a trade to fish up this sponge, by which they get a living far from contemptible, as their goods are always wanted by the Turks, who use an incredible number of sponges at their bathings and washings. A girl in this island is not permitted by her relatives to marry before she has brought up a quantity of sponges, and before she can give a proof of her agility by taking them up at a certain depth." To return to the qualifications of a husband, Pomet says, " The greatest part of the sponges that are sold come from the Mediterranean, and there is a certain island of Asia that furnishes us with a very large quantity of sponges. This island is called Icarus or Nicarus, where fathers will not allow their daughters to marry until the suitor can show that he can gather sponges from the bottom of the sea ; and for this reason, when any one would marry his daughter, a number of young fellows jump into the sea, and he that can stay longest in the water and gather the most sponges marries the maid ! These Icarian fathers evidently put little faith in being " over head and ears in love," unless it be accompanied by a fair development of the power to remain "over head and ears" in water. TT. J". BEENHAED SMITH, Barrister-at-Law. |HAT distinguished antiquary and Anglo-Saxon scholar, the late J. M. Kemble, once told me that he con- sidered tobacco pipes as " the opprobrium of Archaeologists." He meant that we knew so little about them. It was in reply to a remark of mine that I did not believe in the great antiquity of the so-called " Fairy Pipes" of Ireland, and that I thought such specimens as were said to have been found in tumuli in that country might easily have dropped out of the pocket of some labourer employed in the excavation. All such pipes from the sister island that I have seen are exactly like those found by thousands in the Thames, and wherever old ground is broken in London. I mean those with a very small bowl, much contracted at its orifice, and usually with a " milled" ring around it, and a pointed heel. Most of these pipes are, no doubt, of the 17th century. I have myself picked up scores of them at odd times whilst shooting over stubble and fallow in Berkshire and Oxfordshire, in places where fighting had been in the days of the great Rebellion. Still, my friend Mr. Kemble assured me that he himself had found pipe- bowls of exactly the same type in sepulchral cysts, where crema- tion had been practised in Pagan times. These cysts were found in the course of his diggings in the heather-covered moors of Hanover ; they contained burnt bones, bronze objects, and he 29 told me he had found these pipe bowls with his own hands, when it was impossible that those of any other person could have placed them there in recent times. Iron pipes, some with lids, have been dug up in Switzerland, associated with objects of bronze. Of course, though I began by calling them "Tobacco pipes," I did not mean that Tobacco was smoked in them — other herbs might have been used, as coltsfoot is still occasionally in some out-of-the-way places. With regard to the typical form of the bowls, dug or ploughed up in such abundance in the vicinity of large English towns, for example, Stafford, Gloucester, Ludlow, and Broseley, still famous for their manufacture ; I shall venture to call them " Gasterpods, " from their broad foot, an allusion which I think my friend, Professor Buckman, at whose instance I have thrown together these few notes, will understand at once. These pipes we can understand well enough, for the marks of the makers are impressed on the foot, in relief generally, more rarely incised, occasionally with a date, always of the 17th century or later. These bowls are of more convenient form, and tobacco itself was, no doubt, smoked in them. It is hardly possible to smoke one of the type I have first mentioned with any degree of comfort, though I have often tried the experiment. The late E. Thursfield, Esq., of Broseley, had a fine collection of old pipes from Shropshire ; I also had another, still larger, from various parts of England. Both are now in the possession of W. Bragge, Esq., the greatest collector of these objects, and the best authority on the subject, with whom I am acquainted. There is a common form of pipe with a long ungainly bowl, never bearing a maker's mark, which I am inclined to think is of Dutch origin, and to have come in with King William III. NOTE BY THE EDITOE. — As I have had great pleasure in sending my kind friend, Mr. Bernhard Smith, collections of ancient pipes both from Gloucestershire and Dorset, as I knew him to be interested in them, I pre- ferred a request that he should give me a few notes upon them for our Proceedings, and hence the preceding remarks. They are sufficient to show the interest attached to the subject. All over our farm, on the surface, and 30 at Sherbdrne, wherever any diggings take place, the email pipes have been found. Most of them are with the broad foot remarked upon by Mr. Smith, which foot is often impressed with perhaps the initials of the maker : — WL MI ID One example picked up at Bradford seems to have a lengthened inscrip - tion, but not perfect enough to be made out. Most of the examples have this broad rounded foot quite plain, without any letters or inscription whatever. The pipes with the broad foot are usually very small, and have a crenulated ornament around the outside of the bowl. Another form is common with a small pointed base at the bottom junction of the bowl with the stem. In these the bowl is usually larger than the previous ones, and in shape nearer those of the present day. The stem is longer — the bowl of the pipe is quite plain. In one example — and only one — we have the small bowl contracted and milled with the small pointed heel, and a tube 5 inches long. We have before us a collection of 20 examples, as follows : — The small contracted bowl and broad foot, with letters on the foot . . 5 Ditto, without letters 10 With larger plain bowl and pointed base . . . . . . . . 4 With email, crenulated bowl, long stem, and pointed base . . 1 20 What would be the tale of those sent away I cannot say ; but to me this enumeration is curious, as showing that the more ancient form known as the " Fairy pipe " is the most common. The first or the smaller bowls belong to those called in the country the " Fairy pipe," and it is supposed they point to a period when the fragrant weed was very scarce, and per- haps, too, a time when it was used with great caution and hesitation, the notion being to" Snatch a fearful joy," as Gray so eloquently puts it. As the custom became more common, it would seem that the bowls were made larger, but it is curious to note that these supposed more commonly- used bowls are not met with so often as the smaller ones, and it is still more interesting to note that the modern pipe is not found about our fields so often as are the fairy ones. We quite agree that the subject is curious and interesting, and if our members will kindly preserve all the bowls they may pick up, our Society may do something to remove the " opprobium of Archeeologiste." J. BUCKMAN. 31 TR EK ToP WC WS CB Marks on Pipes by J. BERNARD SMITH, Esq., mostly from the Midland Counties. KB IH M RL T-I CB C-R PC H3 MD WH MD TI IOH TH NHV MAS LP NT HVNT C O , P D M W .. W IDS HVG HES WILL DAR BEY MICH BROWN IOHN ROB ERTS By the Eev. H. II. WOOD, M.A, F.G.S. |N giving an estimate of the number of plants found in any particular county or district it is necessary, in the first place, to specify the system of nomenclature which has been followed ; otherwise the enumeration can be of little or no use for the purpose of comparison with the Flora of any other county or district. For whilst one authority is given to magnify small differences until, in his eyes, they assume the proportions of species, another, in avoiding this Charybdis, falls into the Scylla of generalizing to such a degree that he has no little difficulty in acknowledging any such thing as a species at all. As instances of these widely different methods of procedure, when applied to English Botany, I may mention the latest edition (1874) of the " London Catalogue of British Plants" and the " Handbook of the British Flora," by Mr. Bentham (1865). If we follow the first authority we have in our Flora (excluding the Characese) 1,665 species; whilst, if we take Mr. Bentham for our guide, we have only 1,292 — a difference of no less than 373 "species." The person responsible for the present form of the London Catalogue is Mr. Hewett C. "Watson, one of the very best botanists in England, who in his most valuable work, " Compendium of Cybcle Britannica," published in 1875, allowed no more than 1,428 species. But he has now been persuaded into following a suggestion made to him by another " competent and judicious botanist," which is to this effect : — By all means 33 give each, sub-species a separate number, and when in doubt give the sub-species the benefit of the doubt." Now this might have been all very well if these " sub-species " had been labelled as such ; but on the face of the Catalogue there is nothing to deter a simple youth from supposing that each of them differs as widely from his neighbours on either side as, let us say, a delicious Hautbois from a common Bramble. And, therefore, if, in the politics of Macedon, it was allowable to appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober, we may surely follow an analogous rule in the matter of our English Flora. The groups in which the widest differences of nomenclature are found are the Hieracia, the Willows, the Brambles, and the Water Ranunculus. Beginning with the Brambles, the species now given in the London Catalogue are copied from Professor Babington's elaborate work on the "British Hubi." The species thus taken are 44 in number. In Mr. Bentham's work there are only 5 — his Eubus fruticosus including the other 39. But a foreign botanist, M. Grenevier, has persuaded himself that the forms or species of Rubus, to be found in the valley of the Loire, are not less than 203. Now, what does Mr. Watson him- self tell us in his Compendium ? After confessing that ' ' botanists are not held in over-reverence by the outer world, and that collectors of Brambles are often rated very low, even by botanists," he thus disposes of the Professor: — "Professor Babington writes, p. 22: — "I believe in the distinctness of species, although unable to demonstrate it." But in whose species of Rubi are iv e to believe ? In the 200 of M. Grenevier ? In the two score of Professor Babington ? In the two units of fruticosus and coesius of Mr. Bentham's hand- book?" (p. 504). With this may be given a paragraph from a review of the Professor's work in the Journal of Botany for October, 1869 : — " We cannot see that the 203 species in the one case [M. Q-enevier] individualized and defined in perfect good faith, as the deliberate result of the labour of many years, cover a wider 34 range of form, in a materially greater degree of variability within that range, than the 43 species of the other." Next I may take the Eoses. Here, again, the specific names are borrowed from Mr. Baker's monograph of the British Roses. But in this case a different rule is followed, and the arrangement is under 13 groups — one of them, Eosa canina, being credited with 29 varieties. Bentham only allows five species in all ; whilst Professor Babington, omitting two, since admitted not to be British, gives 17. What Mr. Watson seriously thinks of the value of Mr. Baker's species, we find in his " Compendium." After pointing out the differences between the Bakerian names as given in 1864 and 1869, he says : — " These uncertainties show that the various forms of our wild roses are so connected by the interchange and crossing of technical characters, only imagined to be diagnostic between them, that the book species really depend on an arbitrary preference given to this or that set of characters, as indicating affinity, and as necessitating union or severance. Contrast tho diagnoses of rubiginosa and micrantha, for instance ; and then compare the description of their varieties with the words of their specific diagnosis. It will be seen that the diagnostic characters of one species appear as the varieties of the other species " (p. 507). But if Mr. Watson now accepts Professor Babington and Mr. Baker as infallible authorities in their respective dominions, he begins to apply a method of selection in the matter of the Hieracia, which he tells us are taken "almost exclusively " from Mr. Backhouse's work, " British Hieracia." The London Catalogue gives 35 species, Mr. Bentham only 7. If, however, there are materials more or less complete for determining the value of names in the groups already men- tioned, what shall be said of ' ' Eanunculus aquatilis " ? Instead of the single species of Bentham, we have in the London catalogue 8 forms given as species, with 10 varieties. The Com- pendium allows only four, the number which Eay had given in his Botany. " On the whole," says Mr. Watson, " it may be said 35 that circinatus and fluitans are now familiar to most botanists, and that they are seldom confused with the other two unless by beginners. But as to the limits and distinctions between heterophyllus and pantothrix, or between the two groups of Segregates into which they are cut up, these may still come under the showman's liberally given choice to the childish mi&ds, 'which you please, my little dears' "(p. 430). Whence, then, has Mr. Watson derived his present inspira- tion ? It is from an elaborate paper of Mr. Hiern in the Journal of Botany, February, 1871. He does not, however, take Hiern' s list in its entirety, but gives a selection as far as he can understand the names ; and as no descriptions could be given of the varieties retained out of Hiern's 21, or reasons given for the omission of the rest, we are left pretty much in the dark as to what is meant by the names in the Catalogue. A reference to Hiern's own monograph will not help us much, for he thus describes his method of determi- nation : — " Each species is placed in a given plane with reference to two axes of co-ordinates, the abscessa being the same number of units of length as the normal number of Stamens, and the ordinate being the number of veins on each petal. After being placed in this manner, those numbered 1 — 5, Bab., lie in a straight line whose equation is x — 4 y. +11 = 0. Those num- bered 6-8, in a parallel straight line, whose equation is 0-4^4-6 = 0; and the remaining four, 9- 12, in a third straight line, whose equation is x-y-^. Let me give one practical comment on this learned trifling. A large specimen of one of these forms of E. aquatilis was some- what maliciously cut in two and submitted to one of these " competent and judicious authorities." One of the two portions, when returned, was found to be labelled radians, the other Godroni. To be sure they are allowed, even at head-quarters, to be only varieties of diversifolius ; but who can put much faith in " varieties " after such a warning ? Some other sentences in the Compendium are so wise that I cannot help quoting them : — 36 "Partly owing to more exact discrimination, but it maybe feared chiefly under a weak-minded craving- for name — notoriety, the modern system is to subdivide species on differences so slight and uncertain that descriptive language now almost fails to male o them intelligible to other botanists without the aid of portrait figures or selected specimens. To such an excess lias this practice been carried of late that we now find in print long and worth- less descriptions miscalled specific, made only from a single indi-* ridual plant — say from a single fern frond, or from the dried twig of a rose, briar, or bramble bush. It would be almost as wise to describe an individual Hottentot or Eskimo, a Tom Thumb or a Daniel Lambert — a one legged Donato, or a three- legged baby, as a species distinct from the fair-skinned and two- legged Homo Sapiens (Linn.) of medium size." (p.p. 35-6). " The tendency of this practice (segregation) must be to make book botany attractive only to the lowest class of minds which can engage in science at all — the minds which devote themselves exclusively to minute details, and which find their right vocation there, simply because incapable of anything higher " (p. 428). But whatever objections there may be to the latest form of the London Catalogue from a scientific point of view, it still has its use. It is easily procurable ; it is in the hands of nearly every possessor of an Herbarium ; it is constantly quoted in natural history periodicals, and, therefore, it is a convenient book to use for purposes of Botanical comparisons between counties or districts. Testing the Dorset Mora by it, we see at once what reason we have to be proud of this portion of our natural history. When the admirable work by our President was in preparation an earlier edition of the Catalogue was all that was available, and the remark then made about our Flora was this : — " The preceding pages show that of the 1,428 British plants comprised in the London Catalogue, 989 have been found within the limits of our county, including 2G which are probably extinct and 68 aliens. There are also 36 sub-species and 44 varieties." But the new edition of the Catalogue enables us to give still larger numbers. After a careful comparison of the two lists I have 37 arrived at the following computation : — Dividing the plants into five classes, according to the frequency or rarity of their occur rence, we have described in the Flora of Dorset, A. Generally distributed, or very common . . 289 species B. Common . . . . . . . . 151 ,, C. Frequent 280 ,, D. Bare 237 „ E. Very rare 43 „ amounting in all, very curiously, to the exact number of 1,000 species. Besides this there are 30 species, probably once found in the county, but now extinct ; five admitted through mistakes on the part of " authorities, " and two species now excluded from British lists. Four out of the five mistakes must be charged against Dr. Pulteney, namely, Arabis perfoliata (a species of Brassica). Trifolium ochroleucum ( = maritiinum). Chenopodium glaucum ( = ficifolimn). Euphorbia Stricta ( = platyphylla). Mr. Salter is responsible for the fifth, his Crepis biennis being, no doubt, the large form of Crepis virens, which is not uncom- mon in various parts of the county. The two species now excluded are Petasites fragrans and Cannabis sativa. Some very interesting additions have been lately made to our Flora, and there is some hope that a portion, at least, of the plants that once grew in the county may yet be recovered.* But in any case, I think it may confidently be asserted that it would be difficult to find any County Flora that surpasses our own in interest and variety, and that very few counties can at all compare with it. If I take so small a portion of the county as the parish of Holwell as the subject of a local Flora, I am led to do so, among other reasons, because it has one special item of value — it is almost * This hope has already been realized in three instances, Polycarpum tetraphyllum, Euphorbia Peplis and Lycopodium Selago, the second having "been discovered by Mrs. J. Clark, of Street, the other two by our President. 38 entirely on the Oxford Clay. There are two isolated patches of other formations in it, but both of very trifling extent, one of Cornbrash, the other of sands belonging to the Calcareous Grit. Comparing the plants found here with those of the county generally, I obtain the following results: — Of the 289 plants described as " generally distributed," the following, so far as I know at present, are wanting : — Fumaria officinalis. Helianthemum vulgare. Scleranthus annuus. Geranium rotundifolium. 5 Prunus domestica. Poterium Sanguisorba. Epilobium palustre. Callitriche etagnalis (platycarpa). ,, hamulata. 10 Petroselinum segetum. Pastinaca sativa. Centaurea Scabiosa. ,, Cyanus. Matricaria Chamoniilla. 15 Filago Germanica. Senecio Jacobeea. Leontodon hirtus. Campanula rotundifolia. Atriplex Smithii. 20 Kumex nemorosus v. viridis. ,, Hydrolapathum. Polygonum amphibiuni. Scirpus palustris. Eriophorum angustifolium. 25 Car ex vulgaris. ,, paludosa. Holcus mollis. Poa nemoralis. ,, compressa. 30 Festuca elatior. The absence of some of these is remarkable ; but in the case 39 of others the doubt arises whether they should not really be placed in the next class. Class B gives me 90 out of 151 ; class 0 63 or, adding 10 as the probable number of Bubi which I have not ventured to label, 73 out 280 ; D not more than 12 out of 237 ; whilst the 43 of E are represented by a single species, Euphorbia platy- phylla. Thus the number of species found in Hoi well up to the present time amounts to 435 ; * and as, probably, a dozen or so more have thus far escaped my notice, it will be seen that we possess in our little parish more than a quarter of the plants to be found in the whole of the British Isles. There are, however, some deductions that ought perhaps in fairness to be made from this list. Mentha Pulegium, though now fast taking possession of a considerable portion of waste ground, is, no doubt, a garden escape ; Phalaris Canariensis is a casual ; and Sedum album must have been brought, though not at a recent period, to the wall on the Manor House, where two years ago it grew in profusion, though I fear it is now destroyed. Parietaria diffusa is only found on the walls of the same place ; and in what was the farmyard are five plants which are waifs and strays of cultivation, Tanacetum vulgare, Verbena officinalis, Geranium rotundifolium, Urtica urens, and still more strange, Lamium album. Of this plant, so abundant in most places, I have only found a single specimen away from the Manor House, in a roadside ditch. Lathyrus Nissolia, which formerly grew in two localities, has for the present disappeared. Of the other specimens, at present unique, I must mention Ranunculus sceleratus, Chrysanthemum segetum, Agrostemma Githago, Carduus nutans, and I once had as a weed in my garden a single specimen of Solanum nigrum. The Cornbrash patch gives me three plants, Circsea Lutetiana, Thymus Serpyllum, and Clematis vitalba. I had noticed the profusion of this last * To these must be added Arctium minus, not mentioned in the Flora of Dorset, and three " Colonists," Trifolium incarnatum, T. hybridum and Lolium Italicum. 40 plant in neighbouring parishes, and wondered at never having seen it in my own, till it struck me that it was only on limestone soils that I had elsewhere noticed it ; and on going to the only probable locality I found it in profusion. The patch of Cal- careous Sand did not, somewhat to my disappointment, contribute a single plant, though I examined it somewhat carefully, and I did get two species of mosses which I had not met with elsewhere. I have myself seen the introduction of one plant into the parish — Carduus eriophorus. Just on the opposite side of the little nameless stream which forms our boundary for some "dis- tance is a field, in the parish of Bishop's Caundle, where it grew in abundance ; but though thousands of seeds must have been carried off in various directions by the winds, I never saw a plant of the thistle in Holwell till two years ago. As it has tl selected " a piece of waste ground for its new habitat, I hope it has a chance of life in the struggle for existence ; and all the more, because there is a probability of its disappearing from the former locality through " improvements." These have already destroyed the only locality in my neighbourhood where I ever found Samolus Yalerandi. The river, which has at last been crossed by the thistle, has proved, so far, an insuperable barrier to other plants. I can stand at a particular locality and see half-a-dozen plants or so on the other side, on soil in every respect identical, not one of which occurs where I should like to find it ; such as Linaria spuria, Centaurea Scabiosa, and even Laniium album. If soil has anything to do with the colours of plants, as I suppose it undoubtedly has, it may be of interest to mention that I have found white varieties of the following plants on Oxford Clay : — Primula vulgaris, Centaurea nigra, Carduus arvensis, Scilla nutans, Bartsia odontites, Scabiosa succisa, and Erythrsea Centaurium. One of the most beautiful varieties I have met with was of Centaurea uigra, with white rays and a red centre. 41 LIST OF PLANTS. Clematis vitalba. Anemone nemorosa. Eanunculus peltatus. 5 „ diversifolius. ,, Drouettii. ,, hederaceus. „ Sceleratus. ,, Flammula. ,, auricomus. 10 „ acris. ,, repens. „ bulbosus. ,, parviflorus. „ arvensis. 15 „ Ficaria. Caltha palustris. Nuphar lutea. Papaver Kheeas. Chelidonium majus. 20 Corydalis lutea. Sinapis arvensis. „ alba. Brassica Napus. ,, Rutabaga. 25 Sisymbrium officinale. ,, Alliaria. Cardamine pratensis. ,, hirsuta. ,, sylvatica. 30 Arabis thaliana. Barbarea vnlgaris. Nasturtium officinale. „ palustre. Draba verna. 35 Capsella Bursa-pastoris. 42 Lepidium campestre. Senebiera Coronopus. Viola odorata. ,, Lirta. 40 ,, sylvatica v. Eiviniana, ,, canina v. flavicornis. ,, tricolor Polygala vulgaris. Silene inflata. 45 Lychnis vespertina. ,,^ diurna. ,, Flos-cuculi. ,, Githago. Cerastium semidecandrum. 50 ,, glomeratum. ,, triviale. Stellaria aquatica. ,, media ,, Holostea. 55 ,, graminea. ,, uliginosa. Arenaria trinervis. ,, serpyllifolia. Sagina apetala. 60 ,, procumbens. Montia fontana. Hypericum Androseemum. ,, perforatum. ,, tetrapterum. 65 ,, humifusum. ,, pulclrrum. ,, hirsutmn. Malva moschata. ,, sylvestris. 70 ,, rotundifolia. Linum catharticum. 43 Geranium molle. ,, dissectum. ,, lucidum. 75 ,, Eobertianum. Oxalis Acetosella. Ilex Aquifolium. Euonymus Europaeus. Rhamnus catharticus. 80 ,, Frangula. Acer pseudoplatanus. ,, campestre. Ulex Europeeus. „ Gallii. 85 Genista anglica. ,, tinctoria. Ononis spinosa. ,, arvensis. Medicago lupulina. 90 Trifolium pratense. medium. „ repens. 95 ,, fragiferum. ,, procumbens. ,, minus. Lotus corniculatus. ,, tenuis. 100 ,, major. Vicia Hrsuta. ,, tetrasperma. ,, cracca. ,, sepium. 105 „ Sativa. „ angustifolia. Lathyrus Nissolia. 44 Lathyrus pratensis. Prunus spinosa. 110 ,, instititia. Spiraea Ulmaria. Agrimonia Eupatoria. Alchemilla arvensis. Potentilla Fragariastrum. 115 „ Tormentilla. „ reptans. „ anserina. Fragaria vesca. Rubi (see below). Geum urbanum. Eos89 (see below). 120 Crateegus Oxyacantha. Pyrus Malus. Lythrum Salicaria. Peplis Portula. Epilobium hirsutum. 125 „ parviflomm. „ montanum. ,, tetragonum. Circaea lutetiana. Myriophyllum alternifoliunL 130 Oallitriche verna. , Eibes Ghrossularia. ,, rubmm. Sedum album. „ acre 185 „ reflexum. Sem/pervivum tectorum. Cotyledon umbilicus. Saxifraga tridactylites. Helosciadium nodiflorum. 140 Sisou Amomum. Bunium flexuosum. 45 Pimpinella Saxifraga. (Enanthe pimpinelloides. ,, crocata. 145 ^Bthusa cynapium. Silaus pratensis. Angelica sylvestris. Heracleum Spondylium. Daucus Carota. 150 Torilis Anthriscus. ,, nodosa. Chserophyllum sylvestre. ,, temulum. Scandix Pecten-Yeneris. 155 Conium maculatum. Hedera Helix. Cornus Sanguinea. Adoxa moschatellina. Sambucus nigra. 160 Viburnum Opulus. „ Lantana. Lonicera Periclymenum. Qalium verum. „ Mollugo. 165 „ Saxatile. „ palustre. ,, Aparine. Sherardia arvensis. Valeriana officinalis. 170 Valerianella dentata. Dipsacus sylvestris. Scabiosa succisa. „ arvensis. Oarduns nutans. 175 ,, crispus. ,, lanceolatus. ,; eriophorus. 46 Carduns palustris. ,, pratensis. 180 „ acaulis. ,, arvensis. Arctium ma jus. ,, minus. Serratula tinctoria. 185 Centaurea nigra (decipiens). Chrysanthemum segetum. , , Leucanthemum . Matricaria Parthenium. ,, inodora. 190 Tanacetum vulgare. Anthemus Cotula. AchiUsea millefolium. ,, Ptarmica. Gnaphalium uliginosum. 195 Senecio vulgaris. ,, eylvaticus. „ erucifolius. ,, aquatieus. Bidens tripartita. 200 Inula dysenterica. Bellis perennis. Tussilago Farf ara. Eupatorium cannabinum. Lapsana communis. 205 Hypochseris radicata. Leontodon hispidus. ,, autumnalis. Helminthia echioides. Tragopogon pratensis. 210 Taraxacum officinale. Sonchus oleraceus. „ asper. „ arvensis. 47 Crepis virens. 215 Hieracium Pilosella. Erica tetralix. Calluna vulgaris. Fraxinus excelsior. Ligustrum vulgare. 220 Erythreea Centaurium. Convolvulus arvensis. ,, sepium. Solanum Dulcamara. Scrophularia Balbisii. 225 ,, nodosa. Linaria Cymbalaria. „ Elatine „ vulgaris Veronica hederifolia 230 „ polita ,, agrestis ,, Buxbaumii ,, arvensis ,, serpyllifolia 235 „ officinalis ,, Chamsedrys ,, Anagallis ,, Beccabunga Euphrasia officinalis 240 Bartsia Odontites Pedicularis sylvatica Bhinanthus Crista-Galli Verbena officinalis Lycopus Europraus 245 Mentha hirsuta ,, arvensis ,, Pulegiuni Thynius Serpylluni Calamintha Clinopodium 48 250 Nepeta Glechoma Prunella vulgaris Scutellaria galericulata ,, minor Ballota nigra 255 Stachys Betonica ,, palustris „ sylvatica „ arvensis Galeopsis Tetrahit 260 Lamium purpureum „ album Ajuga reptans Lithospermum arvense Myosotis palustris 265 „ Arvensis „ versicolor Symphytum officinale Primula vulgaris 270 „ officinalis Lysimachia vulgaris Anagallis arvensis Plantago major „ media 275 „ lanceolata Chenopodium polyspermum „ album Atriplex angustif olia „ deltoidea 280 Eumex conglomeratus ,, obtusifolius ,, crispus ,, Acetosa Polygonum Convolvulus 285 ,, aviculare „ Hydropiper 49 285 Polygonuni Persicaria „ lapathifolium Daphne Laureola Eiiphorbia Helioscopia „ platyphylla 290 „ Peplus „ exigua Mercurialis perennis Parietaria diffusa Urtica dioeca 295 ,, urens Humulus lupulus Ulmus suberosa ,, montana Quercus robur 300 Fagus Sylvatica Corylus Avellana Carpinus Betulus Alnus glutinosa Betula alba 305 Populus alba ,, tremula „ nigra Salices (see below) Pinus sylvestris Taxus baccata 310 Sparganium ramosum ,, simplex Arum maculatum Lemna minor Potamogeton natans 315 „ lucens Sagittaria sagittifolia Alisma Plantago ,, ranunciiloides Orchis Morio 50 320 ,, mascula ,, incarnate ,, maculuta Habenaria chlorantha Spiranthes autumnalis 325 Listera ovata Iris Pseudacorus Narcissus Pseudo-Narcissus Tamus coinmunis Scilla nutans 330 Allium vineale ,, ursinum Luzula campestris Juncus conglomeratus „ effusus 335 ,, glaucus ,, acutiflorus ,, lamprocarpus ,, supinus ,, bufonius 340 Scirpus lacustris ,, sylvaticus Carex pulicaris ,, vulpina ,, divulsa 345 ,, remota ,, ovalis ,, acuta glauca ,, prcecox 350 ,, panicea „ sylvatica „ flava liirta ,, riparia 355 Antlioxantliuni odoratum 51 Digraphis arundinacea Phalaris Canariemis Alopecurus agrestis ,, geniculatus 360 ,, pratensis Phleum pratense Agrostis setacea ,, canina ,, alba 365 ,, vulgaris Phragmites communis Aira csespitosa Avena flavescens „ pubescens 370 „ fatua ,, elatior Holcus lanatus Triodia decumbens Molinia cserulea 375 Melica unifLora Glyceria fluitans Schlerochloa rigida Poa annua ,, pratensis 380 ,, trivialis Briza media Cynosurus cristatus Dactylis glomerata Festuca scinroides 385 ,, ovina ,, rubra (duriuscula) ,, pratensis Bromus giganteus „ asper 390 „ steriHs secalinus 52 ,, mollis Brachypodium sylvaticum Triticum caninum 395 ,, repens Lolium perenne ,, Italicum Hordeum pratense Nardus stricta 400 Pteris aquilina Lomaria Spicant Asplenium ruta-muraria ,, Trichomanes ,, Adiantum-nigrum 408 Ceterach officmarum Scolopendrium vulgare Aspidium aculeatum ,, angulare Nephrodium filix-mas 410 „ dilatatum Polypodium vulgare Equisetum arvense ,, palustre ,, limosum. Total number in the List 414 Add for Eubi, Kosse, and Salices . . . . 24 438 Professor J. BUCKMAN, F.L.S., F.G.S., &c ]N first going over the lands of my present farm I was particularly struck with the fact that in most fields were found some interesting archaic remains. Worked flints, described in the present volume, and rude pottery, took us back to the Celtic inhabitants of the district, while remains of a more refined fictilia with tesselse of pavements, roof tiles, as described in the previous volume, molars, &c., &c.? testified to the fact of Eoman occupation. On breaking up East Hill with the steam plough remains of these kinds were turned up in such abundance that we determined to institute a systematic enquiry into their extent, and so having sent men to work with pickaxe and spade, we now lay the results before the members of the Club. The field of enquiry is one of fifty acres in extent, on the north side of the hill to the East of Bradford, called East Hill ; the first excavations were made near the middle of the field, as at this point bits of pavement and pottery were met with in abundance on the very surface of the turned-up soil. 54 ROOF TILES. Here, after removing the surface soil, we came upon heaps of broken roof tiles, of the shape figured in our Proceedings.* FIG. A. — ROMAN ROOF TILES IN POSITION. These are made from the blue fissile slabs of the lias limestone, and no doubt they were brought from the adjoining county of Somerset. Some of the tiles had the nails with which they were fastened still remaining in their holes. They were found resting upon a surface of many square yards, which was roughly paved with slabs of the same kind of material. EOMAN MOLAES. On removing the soil from the floors we found the remains of several kinds of querns, of which the following, in granite, affords an interesting example : — FIG. B. — ROMAN QUERN, OR HAND MOLAR OF GRANITE. Vol. i., p. 43, fig. B. This is here reproduced to show their form. 55 It is made of Cornish granite, probably brought from Dart- moor ; it is twelve inches in diameter, and six inches thick, and is the only specimen of this material which we have found. This, and a portion of a molar of a Volcanic Grit from Andernach, 011 the Ehine, and several parts of these early querns composed of Upper Green Sand, presented, when dressed, a biting tooth, that made them suitable for grinding purposes, not so, however, the next series, which were composed of differ- ent members of the oolitic formation, of which we have met with examples in Dorsetshire for the first time. The annexed figure is of a perfect one of these, which though not dug up at the spot we have been describing was got from the same hill, probably turned out in removing the soil from a quarry : — FIG. C. — A ROMAN QUEEN OR HAND MOLAR OF GREAT OOLITE. This perfect example was made from a block of Great Oolite, probably from the Bath district ; it measures fifteen inches across, and is 4£ inches thick. Like all our examples it was an Upper Millstone, the nether stone being far less frequently met with. Portions of Molars of the Inferior Oolite from Ham Hill, and even from some of the coarser beds of this rock were got out of our diggings, and they are interesting as showing that where stone abounded, soft, and not the best lasting materials were 56 used for grinding purposes, as the more fitting materials (some of which were even imported from the Continent) must have been more or less difficult to obtain. In pursuing our diggings there were found bits of Sarsen stone, and different grit stones, probably used for sharpening Celts and knives, portions of drains, and a various assortment of rough building materials. BONE OBJECTS. In bone objects, besides the usual remains from animals used as food, were found a flat bone rounded at the ends, which had probably served the purpose of an arm-guard from the bow- string ; a rudely-shaped bone pin, and a prettily formed bone button or stud. Oyster shells of the commoner sort, probably from the Devonshire coast, were somewhat abundant. Bits of Kimmeridge coal-rings of different sizes seem to com- plete the natural objects. FICTILIA. These consisted of some remains of a very rude kind of pottery, both black and red, that had been but very imperfectly baked. A kind of bead or spindle-bob of ,the same rough make. Some black pottery of better form and workmanship, with some red pottery, of which were examples from Martoria, the interiors of which were studded with small bits of quartzose pebbles, the better to assist trituration, bits of red, rare, red clay tiles, and other futile objects usually met with in poorer dwellings. Lips of different vessels show the usual variety as regards form. Among the less common pottery were some bits of the Northamptonshire ware, but there was not even a brace of the so-called " Samian." REMAINS IN IEON. Of these, different formed nails were the most frequently met with, especially the common ones used for fastening on the roof tiles, bits of clamps, staples, and the like portions also of the usual Roman type of horse shot — very flat and without the kalk. 57 COOKING STOVES ? On removing all the debris from the floors we came upon a curious structure, which we here figure : — Our drawing shows a flask-shaped pit, narrow at the opening, and expanding at the closed end. This was built up of the oolite stones of the district, and covered at the top of this kind of wall with flat lias stones, and around this, for many feet square, was a pavement of the like stones. Some two or three of these structures were found in the centre of the floors, while others were in the angles formed of rough foundations. They were all very much alike in shape and size, about two yards long and a yard wide ; their interiors were blackened or reddened from heat, and its consequent different forms of oxidation of the iron in the materials, whilst a layer of carboraceous matter was found at the bottom of the pits. These facts led to the supposition that they were employed for cooking stoves and bakeries. They might, however, have been used for baking the rough pottery previously described. 58 But whatever their object they are highly curious, and I think are here figured and described for the first time. The five of them met with on East-hill seemed to mark as many distinct dwellings or sheds ; they were at some distance apart, but in all the same kinds of objects were met with, so that they evidently mark a somewhat general use. The foregoing remarks show quite clearly that we have not in this place hit upon a Roman Villa, but the few bits of pavement that were met with in our excavations and the quantity of scattered tesselse lead to the inference either that we have not discovered its site or, if so, it has been removed by some pre- vious workers. We incline to the opinion that it will yet be discovered, for we caanot help thinking that this hill must have been occupied by early Roman settlers, and that the dwellings we have described were inhabited by Celts, who were their slaves or labourers. That a Celtic people occupied this hill before the Eoman occupation is certain, this seems to be proved both from the rude pottery we have described, and also from the quantities of flint implements which are found scattered over the fields. The present paper then is only intended to mark what has already been accomplished, but it is hoped that much more may be done at some future opportunity. By Professor J. BUCKMAN, F. G.S., F.L.S., &c. IN our 1st Vol., p. 89, will be found an article on " Some Glass Bottles from Thornford." These were impressed with, curious circular stamps which at once pointed to their ownership. These were squat, big-bellied forms, with the stamp on the shoulder. They were of two sizes, one a pint, the other of the capacity of a quart. These bore a Baron's crest, and our figure is here reproduced for the purpose of greater clearness, A BOTTLE PHOM THOBKFOKD. HALF SIZE. 60 Besides this and the other examples figured- we have since obtained two additional ones from Dorset. A very interesting stamp was kindly communicated by C. "W. Dale, Esq., found at Glanvilles Wootton, which will be best seen from the accompanying illustration. BOTTLE STAMP FROM GLANVILLES WOOTTON. The Henlys formerly lived at the Grange at Glanvilles 'Woot- ton. Sir Robert Henly died in 1758, and we are told by Mr. Dale that Lady Barbara Henley lies buried in the Churchyard at Glanvilles Wootton. The name, by Mr. Dale and in " Hutchings's," is spelled Henley, but in our stamp the latter e is omitted. Whether our stamp belonged to Sir Eobert or no we cannot pretend to say, but it seems to have belonged to a time prior to his death. The next specimen from the district is here figured. 61 This was picked up by one of the men on our farm. It is one of a late date, but we hardly think it belongs to the parish of Bradford. Compton Parish adjoins Bradford, and, indeed, part of our farm consists of land exchanged with Mr. Goodden, of Over Compton, and it is not impossible that the bottles stamped as figured belonged to a Robert Goodden. Besides these, through the kindness of friend W. J. Bernhard Smith, Esq., of the Middle Temple, we are enabled to point, among others, to examples picked up in the Thames. One probably meant as a reversed F as follows : — Another with a crown for a crest and a complicated coat of arms with the word 'PYRMONT WATER' for an inscription, from which we gather that these stamped bottles were not always employed as wine decanters. In this collection is a stamp found near Abingdon, Berks, with the inscription of This was doubtless a stamp from a big-bellied bottlo. The next two stamps are so modern that they are in use at the present time. One with the lamb and flag, as a crest surrounded by the words MIDDLE TEMPLE. Ordinary wine bottles so stamped on the shoulder are still used by the benches for port wine. 62 We have before us an ordinary shaped claret or light wine bottle, with the following labels : — CHATEAU YQUEM HAUT SAUTERNES GRAND CRU. This we had recently from a wine merchant, so that stamped bottles are not yet gone out of fashion. These objects are of interest as connecting the past with the present, and if as Mr. Way supposed they were the prototypes of decanters, they show that while they were supposed to occupy the place on the table for which the decanter is used, they were made in a measure more ornamental in shape, and in their heraldic and other insignia than the stamped bottles of more modern times. . CLEMINSHAW, Esq., M.A., F.G.S., F.G.S jURING combustion in air, elements combine with the Oxygen of the air, the combinations so formed being called Oxides, and supposed to consist of a certain number of atoms of the element united with a certain number of atoms of Oxygen. These Oxides have, in many cases, the power of combining directly with water, and these compounds are divided into two classes — Acids and Bases. As familiar examples maybe mentioned , Sulphuric, Nitric, and Carbonic Acids, and Potash, Soda, and Lime. The majority of acids may be supposed to consist of an oxide combined with water ; others, as Hydrochloric or Muriatic Acid, consist of Hydrogen combined with another element. Acids and Bases have the power of acting on each other, forming a salt and water, e.g., Carbonic Acid and Soda from Carbonate of Soda and water, Sulphuric Acid and Oxide of Iron form Sulphate of Iron and water. Salts, which contain Oxygen, may be regarded as a combination of the two Oxides, e.g., Carbonate of Soda, as Oxide of Sodium and Carbon Dioxide, or as metal and Chlorine in the case of Chorides, or Salts of Hydrochloric Acid. These salts 64 are sometimes soluble substances capable of crystallising from solution in water, and sometimes insoluble earthy powders, e.g., Carbonate of Lime. In the case of Iron and some other metals, there are two Oxides which are both capable of forming salts when acted on by acids. These Oxides of Iron are supposed to be composed of one atom of Iron combined with one atom of Oxygen, having the formula, Fe 0, and of two atoms of Iron combined with three of Oxygen, having the formula Fe20s ; they may be dis- tinguished as Protoxide and Peroxide respectively, and the salts formed by their action on acids as Protosalts and Persalts. The protoxide and protosalts have the power of uniting with the oxygen of the air and passing into the state of peroxide and persalts ; and, conversely, the peroxide and persalts may be reduced, i.e., deprived of oxygen, by the action of substances having a strong attraction for oxygen, and are thus converted to protoxide and protosalt. The protoxide and protosalts are as a rule but slightly coloured, generally being of a greyish, greenish, or pale sandy colour ; while the proxide and persalts are much more strongly coloured, being generally of various shades between yellow, brown, and deep red. Now the compounds of iron are almost invariably present in all rocks in varying proportions, the compounds being generally protoxide, protocarbonate, protosilicate, peroxide, andpersilicate; and since the essential materials of the rock frequently have but little colour of themselves, the colour of the rock will frequently depend to a very considerable extent upon the kind of iron com- pound present. The hydrated (i.e., combined with water) protoxide, when freshly prepared by artificial means, is a greyish coloured precipitate, but on exposure to the air immediately begins to absorb oxygen, changing from a greyish to a greenish, and finally to a rusty-brown colour, eventually becoming converted into the hydrated peroxide. The Protocarbonate is of very considerable interest with 65 reference to the colour of rocks. When freshly prepared it is a finely granular precipitate of a very pale brownish colour. Like Carbonate of Lime, it is soluble in water containing free Carbonic Acid ; this solution, like those of other protosalts, is rapidly peroxidised when exposed to the air. The Percarbonate, however, does not appear to exist, and when the protocarbonate is peroxidised the hydrated peroxide is precipitated, since it is insoluble in Carbonic Acid solution, and Carbonic Acid gas escapes. This action may be noticed in every chalybeate spring, which springs contain the protocarbonate dissolved by the Carbonic Acid in the water ; in the bed of the stream the hydrated per- oxide, the result of the peroxidation of the protocarbonate on exposure to the air, is deposited in an ochreous layer. Again rocks, which contain protoxide of iron or protocarbonate, will weather of a rusty brown colour from a similar cause ; the Carbonic Acid dissolved in the water which soaks through the ground converting the protoxide of iron into carbonate, and then dissolving it. When this solution is exposed to the air on the surface of the rock, it becomes peroxidised, and consequently the rock assumes a rusty colour. This may be noticed in several varieties of the Inferior Oolite rocks in the neighbourhood, which are of a pale brown or greenish tinge in the interior, but rusty-brown on the weathered surface. The protosilicate is of a greenish colour. It is the cause of the green colour of the small particles which occur in certain sandstones, notably in the greensand formation. If, however, this protosilicate is absent, the sandstone will not be green at all, but is sometimes colourless, sometimes of a brown colour, from the presence of the hydrated peroxide. The peroxide is the most important of the higher oxidised compounds of iron with reference to the present question. It occurs combined with water, as the hydrated peroxide, and un- oombined with water as the anhydrous peroxide. In the former state its colour is of a rusty brown ; in the latter the colour varies with the state of aggregation, varying from a rusty-red, brick-red, to reddish-black, or black in the crystalline condition. 66 When the hydrated peroxide is heated it loses its combined water, and its colour deepens considerably. This action may be noticed in brick-making, and in cases where rocks containing peroxide of iron have been subjected to heat. In the case of clay, which probably contains small quantities of the protocar- bonate, the action of heat converts the protocarbonate into the anhydrous peroxide,' the colour changing from grey to brick-red, according to the amount of iron in the clay. The persilicate occurs chiefly in certain Felspars, in which it is combined with other silicates : — e.g., red granite owes its colour to the red Felspar, which contains a certain quantity of persilicate of iron. It is obvious, from what has been said, that iron compounds could scarcely be naturally deposited under water as proto-salts or proto-compounds, from the ease with which they are peroxidised. The persalts and peroxides can however be reduced (i.e., deprived of oxygen) by certain substances, such as decaying animal and vegetable matter which have a stronger attraction for oxygen : it is probable therefore that the proto-compounds of iron occur- ring in sedimentary rocks have been reduced from the state of persalts and peroxides, in which state they would naturally be deposited, by the decay of the animal and vegetable matter deposited with the sedimentary materials. "We see therefore, that in the cases where the sedimentary rock would owe its colour to adventitious ingredients, if the iron com- pounds be present as proto-salts or protoxide the colour of the rock will be slight, or the iron compounds will have little or no effect upon it except in cases where the iron compound is present as protosilicate, in which case the rock will be coloured more or less of a greenish colour. If, on the other hand, the iron compounds are present as persalts or peroxides, the rock will be coloured reddish-brown or deep red, according to whether the peroxide is hydrated or not, and according to its state of agregation, as in the Oolites of the neighbourhood of Sherborne and the New Red Sandstone of South Devon. By THOS. B. GROVES, F.C.S., £-c., &c. | HE name of Daniel De Foe, as an imaginative writer, is probably destined to immortality, yet of late years we have heard less of his works of fiction than of his political writings. The former have been to some extent dis- placed by modern highly spiced boy's books of travel and adventure, whilst the latter are, and will remain, valuable materials for the student of the history of the [Revolution of 1689. Recently the already very numerous printed works of De Foe have been added to by the publication of a long series of articles from his pen that hitherto had not been laid to his account, and the public interest shown at the unexpected find seemed to justify the putting into print materials even of a trifling nature that might throw light on the career of so notable a character as the author of the " True-born Englishman." De Foe was, it is well known, a strong partizan of the Dutchman, and his imme- diate successor, and a sharp thorn in the side of the Jacobite party. So sharp, indeed, was the thorn he inserted that he made for himself numerous and most virulent enemies, who more than once succeeded in clapping him in prison for the publica- tion of supposed seditious pamphlets. His " Shortest way with Dissenters" were so regarded, and its appearance led to his arrest, followed by fine, pillory, and imprisonment during the Queen's pleasure. He was released in. August, 1700. Hi§ 68 biographer, Chalmers, writes: — "The year 1705 was a year of disquiet to De Foe, not so much from the oppressions of State as from the persecutions of party. When his business of whatever nature led him to Exeter and other western towns in August, September, and October, 1705, a project was formed to send him as a soldier to the army, at a time when footmen were taken from the coaches as recruits When some of the Western justices, of more zeal of party than sense of duty, heard from his opponents of De Foe's journey, they determined to apprehend him as a vagabond In his absence real suits were commenced against him for fictitious debts, &c." In his " Keview, &c.," of July 17th, 1705, appears an advertisement with reference to these suits : — " Whereas of meer Malice, and with Design, among several other Mischiefs, to Load the Author of this with Entangling Suits, and Excess of Charges, several Actions have been Entred and Suits Com- menced, some on Account of Trifles not worth naming, some for Debts after they are fairly Paid and Discharged, and some in Names of persons unknown to and unconcerned with the Author, who is made Defendant, &c if any real Debt can be made appear, for which such Actions are Entred he promises either to pay, or voluntarily to go to Prison till he can Pay them." A variety of motives probably actuated De Foe in undertaking his journey westward, where, as he writes, " he suffered danger through the proceedings of foolish justices." His own business, that of a tile-manufacturer, might have led him in that direction in quest of suitable clay for his wares ; moreover, he had the inducement of visiting his two daughters living in Wimborne, one Henrietta, the wife of John Boston, officer of Excise, the other Hannah, unmarried ; both of whom now lie buried in the Minster. But probably his chief reason for undertaking his 1 , 1 00 miles' ride was the acceptance of a commission from his friend Harloy to visit the small and numerous Western Boroughs, in order to promote the election of Ministerial parliamentary candidates. 69 It might be mentioned that the borough then returned four members, and therefore was well worth the attention of De Foe> supposing politics to have been the object of his visit. However, on July 26th, 1705, occurs a series of entries in the Weymouth Eecords, containing the examinations of witnesses seeking to establish against De Foe and others a charge of plotting against the Government. In his " Review," August 25th, 1705, he explains the occur- rence thus : — That the Author of this Paper with but one Friend, and his Friend's Servants, being in the Western Counties of England, on a journey about his Lawful Occasions, met with several Unmanlike and Unreasonable Insults upon the Road ; That at Weymouth his letters being delivered to a wrong Person, by Mistake, were showed about the Town. That a Friend having Wrote in one of them, as a Piece of News, and too true, That a certain Person had the Impudence to say in Defence of the High Churchman, That the Queen had broke her Coronation Oath, and the like — The Wise Mayor of the Town Examines all the People he found had Convers'd with him, and officiously carries them to Dorchester, before the Judges, the Assizes being at that Place It will be found that the wrong delivery of the letters was caused by confusing Capt. James Turner with Capt. Turner, and their misinterpretation can in some degree be accounted for by the fact that they were written in such ambiguous terms, and contained such queer expressions that not even the schoolmaster or the dissenting minister could make head or tail of them. The times being ticklish, and things in a state of transition, the Mayor, whom De Foe denounces as a Jacobite, thought it advis- able to bring the matter before the higher authorities, then fortunately sitting at Dorchester, and thus remove from himself the responsibility of deciding so important a case. He probably also had heard of De Foe's escapades, and regarded him as a suspected person. The Mayor in question was Mr. Edward Tucker, a person of position, who, in 1702, was one of the members for the Borough of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis, 70 and subsequent to 1705 served the office of chief magistrate on several occasions. As the evidence of the various witnesses contains here and there passages illustrative of the habits and manners of the time, which would be injured by condensation, I will reproduce them in the main in full. The first witness is " James Turner, of the borough and town of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis (com. mander of ye Diligence privateir), who, being examined, on his oath saith (vizt.) : That on Munday the Twenty-third day of this Inst. July he the dep'ent had delivered him by Mrs. Dearinge ye wife of Edward Dearing postmaster of this place One packett of letters under a Cover which contained thre inclosed single Letters. The Direction on ye Cover was to Capt. Turner to be left at Mr. Fenner's a minister in "Waymouth, and ffrancked by letters thus (S. Barker). That in ye Cover was writt some Lines he this Dep'ent Cannot Remember. But ye Cover and ye Three Letters inclosed were all Delivered to this Dep'ent ye cover being open and ye inclosed letters broken open. In ye one of ye Letters Inclosed, Dated from Norwich, part of a paragraph was in these words, ye Queen hath Broken her Coronation oath; ye rest of ye Letters were filled up and Intermixed in sundry hands, within Lines, &c. ; Termes he allowed no sense, or knew not what to make of it. That all that was mentioned of Turner's name was (my service to Capt. Turner). That haveinge shewed ye said Leters to several he was sent to on Tuesday last by Mr. Richard Arnold, the keeper (of) ye Bear Inn in Waymouth and went with the said Arnold to ye said Inn and Delivered the said letters unto a Gentm. who was a stranger to him ; this dep'ent then in company with ye said Fenner (an Independent Minister in this place) called as this Dep'ent hath bin Informed Mr. Daniell Dufoe which said Daniell Dufoe's name was mentioned very frequent in ye severall Letters, who paid him, this D'pent, 6d- for postidge of a former Letter Directed as aforesaid. That Mr. Fenner joaked this Dep'ent about ye Letters and said it came from some of his wenches, or to that effect. That on Saturday last he had also a Letter Directed as ye former, but not francked 71 and in ye said Letter writt " they would contrive to get ye next ffrancked, which Letter he Looked on as a Trick as also they and therefore Did not give any infomiac'. Altho' in ye and first Letter was writt " Let them be burned and poxed wee will manage them well enough." That he also Delivered this Letter to ye Gentleman Called as he was informed Mr. Dan. Dufoe in p'sence of Mr. Fenner. That soone after he had delivered ye Letters, one Mr. Jonathan Edwards of this place came alone into ye Eoome while ye Letters he this D'pint had Delivered (were) lyinge then on ye Table. The contents of ye severall Letters, they being so soone Required of him, he cannott more fully Eemember, but only that in one of ye Letters was writt "the Mayor of Norwich had taken some person up or put him to trouble." It will further on be seen that Captain James Turner had em- ployed the schoolmaster to decypher the letters for him. James Russell deposes to much the same effect, and " consider- ing that one of the letters contained treasonable words, advised Captain Turner it was not safe to keep such Letters about him or words to that effect." Eichard Arnold, Inholder, " on his oath saith, that on Tuesday last two Gentn., who was strangers to this Dep't, one of which went by ye name of Capt. Turner, in company of Mr. Fenner, a minister of this place, sent this Dep't to call Capt. James Turner of this place to them at ye Beare Inn in Melcombe, and to bring with him ye Letters he had directed to one Capt. Turner to be left at Mr. Fenner' s, a minister. That accordingly Capt. James Turner came with this Dep't and Delivered ye Letters to one of ye Gent'n, he thinks to that which went by ye name of Capt. Turner, but what ye contents of ye letters were he knoweth not." Peter Johnson, of the B. and T., schoolmaster, maketh oath : "That Saturday ye 21st inst. he was desired by Capt. James Turner of this place to Eead a Letter for him, which letter was Directed for Capt. Turner to be left at Mr. Fenner's, a minister in Weymouth. Ye said Letter was Dated Thursday 72 night nine a Clock, and had such Expressions in it (viz.) para- graph by paragraph, ye word Marshall, there will be ye Devill to pay for it, I advise you not to ride in ye heat of ye day ; I will endeavour to get ye next Letter f rancked ; give my service to Capt. Turner, and I wish you well to "VVeymouth ; what places else you have to go to I will direct to ye post house. That ye Letter was writt in severall hands and intermixed with such Dark Expressions he could not make sence of it." "John Fenner, of this place, Gent'n, maketh oath that on Saturday last Capt. James Turner of this place sent this Dep't a Letter Directed to Cap. Turner, &c., which Letter he this Dep't Eead. Ye contents were of such uncommon and mixed Expressions this Dep't Remembers little thereof, and Lookinge on it as some Trick took little notice thereof. That on Tuesday last Mr. Daniell Duf oe and one that went by ye name of Capt. Turner (being at ye Beare Inn in Melcombe, Capt. James Turner being sent for by Capt. Turner), Delivered ye Letter that Dep't saw and some other Letters, ye contents whereof this Dep't saw not. But Mr. Duf oe said he cared not who saw them or if they were set up at ye Market Cross, or words to that effect." " Phillip Taylor jun. of this place, M'ch't, deposed to having seen the letters and amongst other matters mentioned this para- graph : — ''that one of ye Earle of Dysart's party did say that ye Queen had broken her Coronation Oath, or something to that effect." The next entry is the Summons to appear at Dorchester— of course, a strictly ex parte proceeding. Dorset Ss. Whereas, by Examination taken upon Oath before the Mayor of W. and M.E. it appears to me that Thomas Tenner, Minister, Captain James Turner, Mr. Daniel Dufoe, Captain Turner and Mr. Jonathan Edwards of W. and M.E. are persons that have Corresponded with sevsrall disafected persons to the Government and have received Letters of Trayterous designs against her Majesty. THESE are therefore in her Maj 'tie's name to command you and every of you to bring before me on Saturday the Twenty Eight day of this Instant July, by 73 Eight of the Clock in the morning at my Lodging in Dorchester the said persons, to answer such matters as shall be objected against them on her Maj 'tie's behalf. Given under my hand and seal the vj th (? 26th) day of July, Anno D'ni 1705. (L. S.) Eo. PRICE. This was addressed " to the Mayor, Baylliffs, Constables and other Officers of W. and M.E. and every of them." The Eev. Canon Bingham very kindly, at my request, searched carefully the orders and also the minutes of the Dorset County Sessions for 1705, but was unable to find any entry referring to Dan. De Foe. We are, therefore, compelled to accept what De Foe himself says was the result of his interview with Eo Price at Dorchester. It is as follows, being the continuation of a previous quotation, " where the Impertinence being discovered, the Mayor was sent back, the Gentlemen Dismiss' d, and the Wise Magistrate thought it his Duty to send up a letter to the Court to inform her Majesty's Secretaries of State what an Officious B was trusted with the Government of that Corporation." To the news of this affair De Foe attributes his further persecution at Exeter, Bideford, Crediton, &c., where also "foolish justices " chanced to be in the ascendant. On the same date (Aug. 25) his "Eeview" contains the following uncomplimentary passages, referring to the same affair, " Peace- making being therefore such a dangerous Thing in this Age, I advise all People to have a Care how they meddle with it : Memento Mori, Gentlemen: whoever attempts to persuade the High Church to Peace let him please to accept the following Cautions. 1 . — Let him not come near the Town of Weymouth, in Dorset- shire, lest the Worshipful Mr. Mayor cry out, A Presbyterian Plot : and not daring to meddle with him Personally shall put all his Hearsays, Supposes, and Drunckeii Evidences together and carry all the Honest People he can find that Converse with to Dorchester before a Judge, where accusing the Peace- 74 maker of a Phanatick Plot, and a Bloody Design to perswade Folks to a Peaceable Rebellion, he oomes Home with a Flea in his Ear, much about as wise as he went. ... Of these, whether Mayors, Country Justices, F s, or Exeter Aldermen ; I say, as the Text in another case, " WJiat means the Heating of such kind of Cattel, and the Reply will hold, they are reserved for a sacrifice — A wise man ought to Sacrifice them all to his Peace, that is, not concern himself at any thing they say or do ; but looking on them as a sort of despicable, or as they say in that Country Madd Men, pass on to the Great Work before him, without disturbing himself about them." Here I ought properly to conclude this article, but as I happened to light upon a couple of entries in the " Reviews," which, though not very pointed, are truly local (having appeared July 28th, 1705), I will here reproduce them ; my excuse being this, they were thought worthy of publication by De Foe. " To tell us of the Danger of the Church of England, from a Protestant Queen ; a Queen ever Professing, ever Practising, ever Piously Adhering to the Church of England's Principles, has so much contradiction in it, is so Rude and Absurd, that it really exposes our own Party to the Ridicule and Contempt of the meanest People in the Nation. And I'll tell you a ahort Story, just happening upon the Spot on the occasion of Talking of this very Head. Writing this in the House of a Friend, whether (sic] High Church Malice, had obliged the Author to Enter into some debate about the Government and the like, there happened to be, another Fool beside your humble servant, I mean an Idiot, who hearing the Discourse, ask'd presently If the Queen was Turned Papist ? Why so, Jack, says his Master ? Because that Ugly Book (?) says he, tells you she is Weaned from the Church', No, Jack, says his Master, the Queen is a good Churchwoman ; Why then, says Jack, that man must be '» Fool to think the Queen should pull down her Church ; for then she must Tumble Down with it'* Not so bad for an idiot ! £ome County Antiquary might possibly be able to identify the 75 persons obscurely and it must be confessed uncharitably alluded to in the following passage. " This is like a certain Gentleman's pretending to write gratis merely for the good of that Church, and to receive no Gratuity, &c., on this account ; and a certain Clergyman near the County of Dorset, who own'd to have Collected neer to £100 among the High Church. Gentry, to make him a present for his good service, since the Author (the gentleman) must be a Lyar or the Parson a Thief ; for if tfre Author has not receiv'd it, the Parson has Cheated him of it ; and if he has, his former Allegation must be false." That Queen Ann was strongly suspected of harbouring designs antagonistic to the C&urch is shown by the following quotation from the "Keview" of Aug. 18th, 1705. "The Queen's Health, says an Honest Gentleman at his Table to some of his friends ; D n these Presbyterian Healths says the Person Drank to ; I'll Drink none of them, Here's a Health to the Church of England." It would be superfluous to enlarge on the points of this narrative. — De Foe seems to have met the fate of all sincere reformers. I will only add that the capricious use of capitals and italics is not due to me, but to the several authors. The spelling also is somewhat archaic here and there. By EDWIN LEES, Esq., F.L.S., F.G.S. j]OW, as to the common Cherry Tree (Prunm cerasus, or Cerasus aviumj that you inquire about. It is at present abundant in many of the upland woods both of Wor- cestershire and Herefordshire, so that an observer might well consider it as indigenous, and Selby says "it is allowed to be indigenous in many parts of continental Europe, and considered also by many to be so in England, as well as in Scotland." But then Pliny tells us that the Cherry was first brought to Home by Lucullus, from Pontus in Asia, and after the Mithridatic War a Cherry Tree laden with fruit was borne in procession at the triumph of Lucullus. Pliny further says, " In less than one hundred and twenty years after the conquest of Pontus, other lands had Cherries, even as far as Britain." Thus it would appear that the Romans introduced the Cherry to Britain, and certainly it is spread about by birds very much in the present day. That birds do carry the stones about is clear, as I have noticed quite a group of young Cherry Trees on the top of the battlements of Newland Church in the Forest of Dean, Glouces- tershire. The author of " The Woodland Companion," says the Cherry is " often found within the hollow trunks of old willows, into which the stones have been dropt by birds." I never noticed any perfected fruit on the wild Cherry in the Midland counties, but in Cornwall a wild variety produces a 77 small black fruit, which is called "Mazzards," and the country people bring these to market for sale. Selby and Withering say that the wild Cherry bears the name of " Gean Tree," but I never heard this name applied myself. I cannot say much as to any old and remarkable Cherry Trees, but in my "Malvern Botany" I have mentioned " a very large and tall tree with drooping branches," on the edge of a wood at the bottom of Purlieu-lane. This was eight feet in cir- cumference. Mrs. Hey, the author of " Sylvan Musings," alludes to ''remains of aged Cherry Trees still visible in some of the old Abbey Gardens," but does not give their dimensions. She also says, " There are some very fine specimens of the Wild Cherry in the neighbourhood of our English lakes, especially near Eydal Water ; one or two of which measure seven or eight feet in circumference near the ground, and rise to a proportion- able height." I have not seen or read of any Cherry Tree that equals the dimensions of the monster at Compton, which, there- fore, deserves record. In the Cherry Orchards of Worcestershire are some old nearly worn-out trees, but none of these exceed eight feet in girth. Selby, in his " British Forest Trees," says, " To the specimens mentioned by Loudon, the largest of which seem to average about nine feet in circumference, we may add several trees at Dunston Hill, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, the seat of Ralph Carr, Esq., one of these growing upon the lawn measures seven feet in circumference at two feet from the ground, and three others in a small plantation, are respectively five feet six inches, five feet three inches, and four feet eleven inches in circumference, with a height of upwards of fifty feet." Selby also states that "the Gean, or Wild Cherry, frequently attains a height of from 60 to 70 feet in the course of fifty or sixty years, with a trunk of proportionate size, and large enough for all general purposes ; in this state its wood is of great value, being of a firm, strong texture, red-coloured, close-grained, easily worked, and suscep- tible of a fine polish." The smooth rind of the Cherry Tree is said formerly to have supplied a tablet for lovers to make notes 78 of admiration upon, intended to be read by their sweethearts — " Thy words on cherry bark I'll take, And that red skin rny table-book will make." At present, in England, in the woods where the wild Cherry Tree grows, it adds to the beauty of the vernal woods by its clusters of white flowers, which are very beautiful, appearing as they do with the migratory birds — a poet says : " Better far Than boughs with fruitage crown' d, the dazzling wreaths, Which deck yon wilding Cherry, white as snow, Save where a faint soft blush, all but invisible, Steals o'er the whiteness." to