OF THE DORSET MTQRAIc HISTORY FIELD SLOB. EDITED BY HENRY SYMONDS. VOLUME XXXVI. Dorchester : PRINTED AT THE "DORSET COUNTY CHRONICLE" OFFICE 1915 0?, R A f5^ MAY 2 8 1965 %»S,TVOFTO?S^ 984686 670 CONTENTS. PAGE List of Officers of the Club since the Inauguration . . . . v. Rules of the Club . . . . . . . . . . vi. List of Officers and Honorary Members . . . . . . xi. List of Members . . . . . . . . . . xii. List of New Members elected since the Publication of Vol. XXXV. xxv. Publications of the Club ; Societies and Institutions in Corres- pondence with the Field Club . . . . . . . . xxvi. THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CLTTB from May, 1914, to May, 1915 xxvii. MEETING AT DEWLISH AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD . . . . xxvii. MEETING AT CHRISTCHTJRCH, HANTS . . . . . . xxxii. The Priory Church . . . . . . . . xxxiii. FIRST WINTER MEETING . . . . . . . . . xxxv. SECOND WINTER MEETING . . . . . . . . xl. ANNUAL MEETING . . . . . . . . . . xliv. The Hon. Treasurer's Statement of the Club's Receipts and Expenditure The Hon. Secretary's Account Anniversary Address of the President . . . . . . Hi. Notes on Excavations at Dorchester on the Site of the Roman Defences, by Captain J. E. Acland, F.S.A. . . . . 1 Some Old Village Jokes and Games which obtained in the Black- more Vale in the Last Century, by E. A. Rawlence . . 6 A Dorset Worthy, William Stone, Royalist and Divine (1615-1685), by the Rev. Canon J. M. J. Fletcher, M.A. and R.D. .. 16 Early Man in Dorset, by the Rev. H. Shaen Solly, M.A. . . 28 Magic, by W. Ralph G. Bond .. .. .. .. 41 The Augmentation Books (1650-1660) in Lambeth Palace Library, by Edw. Alex. Fry . . . . . . . . 48 Phonological Report on First Appearances of Birds, Insects, &c., and First Flowering of Plants in Dorset during 1914, by W. Parkinson Curtis, F.E.S. . . . . . . 106 A Tentative Account of the Fungi of East Dorset (part II.), by the Rev. E. F. Linton, M.A., F.L.S.. . .. .. 148 Returns of Rainfall in Dorset in 1914, by the Rev. H. H. Tilney Bassett, R.D. . . . . . . . . . . 195 IV. Reports on the Excavations at Dewlish, 1914, by Dr. Colley March, Clement Reid, Henry Dewey, &c. . . 209 The Ancient Memorial Brasses of Dorset, by W. de C. Prideaux, F.S.A., L.D.S., F.R.S.M. . . 225 Index to Volume XXXVI. . . • • • . . . 230 INDEX TO PLATES AND ENGRAVINGS. PAGE OR TO FACE PAGE. Ecclesiastical Stonework found at Grimstone . . . . xxxvii. REPORTS ON THE EXCAVATIONS AT DEWLISH, 1914 — Plan .. .. .. .. .. .. 209 Sections I., IL, III. .. .. .. .. .. Plan View Looking into Potholes in Field at Eastern End of Excavations .. .. .. .. .. 211 View of Excavation looking East, showing Fissure partially cleared .. .. .. .. .. .. 215 View of Excavation looking West, showing River in Valley . . 223 THE ANCIENT MEMORIAL BRASSES OF DORSET — Edward Coker, mural, South Aisle, Bridport . . * . 226 Cheselborne, mural, East Wall of North Aisle . . . . 227 Giles Long, mural ; Robert White, mural ; Robert White, mural — West Stafford . . . . . . . . 228 William Gould, above " Altar " Tomb outside North Wall of Chancel, Upwey .... 229 H>orset IRatural 1btetor$ anfc Hnttquarian ffielfc Club, INAUGUKATED MAECH 26TH, 1875. Presidents : 1875-1902— J. C. Hansel- Pleydell, Esq., B.A., F.G.S., F.L.S. 1902-1904— The Lord Eustace Cecil, F.E.G.S. 1904 * Nelson M. Richardson, Esq., B.A. Vice -Presidents : 1875-1882— The Eev. H. H. Wood, M.A., F.G.S. 1875-1884— Professor James Buckman, F.S.A., F.G.S., F.L.S. 1S89-1900— The Rev. Canon Sir Talbot Baker, Bart., M.A. 1880-1900— General Pitt-Rivers, F.R.S. 1880 * The Rev. O. Pickard- Cambridge, M.A., F.R.S. , F.Z.S. 1885 * The Earl of Moray, M.A., F.S.A. Scot., F.G.S. 1892-1904— Nelson M. Richardson, Esq., B.A. 1904~19°2 } * The Lord Eustace Cecil, F.R.G.S. 1900-1909— W. H. Hudleston, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S., F.L.S., Past Pres. Geol. Society. 1900-1904— Vaughan Cornish, Esq., D.Sc., F.C.S., F.R.G.S. 1900 * Captain G. R. Elwes. 1902 * H. Colley March, Esq., M.D., F.S.A. 1904 * The Rev. Herbert Pentin, M.A. 1904 * The Rev. W. Miles Barnes, B.A. 1904 * The Rev. Canon J. C. M. Mansel- Pleydell, M.A. 1904-1908— R. Bosworth Smith, Esq., M.A. 1908-1909— Henry Storks Eaton, Esq., M.A., Past Pres. Roy. Met. Society. 1909 *The Rev. Canon C. H. Mayo, M.A., Dorset Editor of " Somerst and Dorset Notes and Queries." 1909 * E. R. Sykes, Esq., B.A., F.Z.S., Past Pres. Malacological Society. 1911-1912— The Rev. C. W. H. Dicker, R.D. 1912 * Alfred Pope, Esq., F.S.A. 1913 * Henry Symonds, Esq., F.S.A. 1913 * His Honour J. S. Udal, F.S.A. 1915 * Captain John E. Acland. M.A., F.S.A. Hon. Secretaries : 1875-1884— Professor James Buckman, F.S.A., F.G.S., F.L.S. 1885-1892— The Earl of Moray, M.A., F.S.A. Scot., F.G.S. 1892-1902-Nelson M. Richardson, Esq., B.A. 1902-1904— H. Colley March, Esq., M.D., F.S.A. 1904 * The Rev. Herbert Pentin, M.A. Hon. Treasurers : 1875-1882— The Rev. H. H. Wood, M.A., F.G.S. 1882-1900— The Rev. O. Pickard-Cambridge, M.A., F.R.S., F.Z.S. 1901-1910— Captain G. R. Elwes. 1910-1915— The Rev. Canon J. C. M. Mansel -Pleydell, M.A. 1915 * Captain John E. Acland, M.A., F.S.A. Hon. Editors: 1875-1884— Professor James Buckman, F.S.A., F.G.S., F.L.S. 1885-1892— The Earl of Moray, M.A., F.S.A. Scot., F.G.S. 1892-1901— Nelson M. Richardson, Esq., B.A. 1901-1906— The Rev. W. Miles Barnes, B.A. 1906-1909— The Rev. Herbert Pentin, M.A. 1909-1912— The Rev. C. W. H. Dicker, R.D. 1912 * Henry Symonds, Esq., F.S.A. * The asterisk indicates the present officials of the Club. VI. RULES OF THE DORSET NATURAL HISTORY AND ANTIQUARIAN •FIELD CLUB. OBJECT AND CONSTITUTION. 1.— The Club shall be called The Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, and shall have for a short title The Dorset Field Club. The object of the Club is to promote and encourage an interest in the study of the Physical Sciences and Archaeology generally, especially the Natural History of the County of Dorset and its Antiquities, Prehistoric records, and Ethnology. It shall use its influence to prevent, as far as possible, the extirpation of rare plants and animals, and to promote the preservation of the Antiquities of the County. 2.— The Club shall consist of (i.) three Officers, President, Honorary Secretary, and Honorary Treasurer, who shall be elected annually, and shall form the Executive body for its management ; (ii.) Vice -Presidents, of whom the Honorary Secretary and Treasurer shall be two, ex officio ; (iii.) The Honorary Editor of the Annual Volume of Proceedings ; (iv.) Ordinary Members ; (v.) Honorary Members. The President, Vice-Presidents, and Editor shall form a Council to decide questions referred to them by the Executive and to elect Honorary Members. The Editor shall be nominated by one of the incoming Executive and elected at the Annual Meeting. There may also be one or more Honorary Assistant Secretaries, who shall be nominated by the Honorary Secretary, seconded by the President or Treasurer, and elected by the Members at the Annual Meeting. Members may be appointed by the remaining Officers to fill interim vacancies in the Executive Body until the following Annual Meeting. The number of the Club shall be limited to 400, power being reserved to the Council to select from the list of candidates persons, whose membership they may consider to be advantageous to the interests of the Club, to be additional Members. PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENTS. 3.— The President shall take the chair at all Meetings, and have an original and a casting vote on all questions before the Meeting. In addition to the two fx-offido Vice -Presidents, at least three others shall be nominated by the President, or. in his absence, by the Chairman, and elected at the Annual Meeting. Vll. HON. SECEETAEY. 4. — The Secretary shall perform all the usual secretarial work ; cause a programme of each Meeting to be sent to every Member seven days at least before such Meeting ; make all preparations for carrying out Meetings and, with or without the help of a paid Assistant Secretary or others, conduct all Field Meetings. On any question arising between the Secretary (or Acting Secretary) and a Member at a Field Meeting, the decision of the Secretary shall be final. The Secretary shall receive from each Member his or her share of the day's expenses, and thereout defray all incidental costs and charges of the Meeting, rendering an account of the same before the Annual Meeting to the Treasurer ; any surplus of such collection shall form part of the General Fund, and any deficit be defrayed out of that Fund. HON. TREASTTKEK. 5. — The Treasurer shall keep an account of Subscriptions and all other moneys of the Club received and of all Disbursements, rendering at the Annual General Meeting a balance sheet of the same, as well as a general statement of the Club's finances. He shall send copies of the Annual Volume of Proceedings for each year to Ordinary Members who have paid their subscriptions for that year (as nearly as may be possible, in the order of such payment), to Honorary Members, and to such Societies and individuals as the Club may, from time to time, appoint to receive them. He shall also furnish a list at each Annual Meeting, containing the names of all Members in arrear, with the amount of their indebtedness to the Club. He shall also give notice of their election to all New Members. ORDINARY MEMBERS. 6. — Ordinary Members are entitled to be present and take part in the Club's proceedings at all Meetings, and to receive the published "Proceedings" of the Club, when issued, for the year for which their subscription has been paid. 7.— Every candidate for admission shall be nominated in writing by one Member and seconded by another, to both of whom he must be personally known. He may be proposed at any Meeting, and his name shall appear in the programme of the first following Meeting at which a Ballot is held, when he shall be elected by ballot, one black ball in six to exclude. Twelve Members shall form a quorum for the purpose of election. A Ballot shall be held at the Annual and Winter Meetings, and may be held at any other Meeting, should the Executive so decide, notice being given in the programme. In the event of the number of vacancies being less than the number of candidates at four successive Meetings, the names of any candidates proposed at the first of such Meetings who have not been elected at one of them shall be withdrawn, and shall not be eligible to be again proposed for election for at least a year after such withdrawal. Provided that if at any Meeting there shall be no vacancies available, it shall not be counted in estimating the above named four Meetings. VI 11. 8.- The Annual Subscription shall be 10s., which shall become due and payable in advance on the 1st of January in each year. Subscriptions paid on election after September in each year shall be considered as subscriptions for the following year, unless otherwise agreed upon by such Member and the Treasurer. Every Member shall pay immediately after his election the sum of ten shillings as Entrance Fee, in addition to his first Annual Subscription. 9._No person elected a Member shall be entitled to exercise any privilege as such until he has paid his Entrance Fee and first Subscription, and no Member shall be entitled to receive a copy of the " Proceedings" for any year until his Subscription for that year has been paid. 10.— A registered letter shall be sent by the Hon. Treasurer to any Member whose Subscription is in arrear at the date of any Annual Meeting, demanding payment within 28 days, failing which he shall cease to be a Member of the Club, but shall, nevertheless, be liable for the arrears then due. 11.— Members desiring to leave the Club shall give notice of the same in writing to the Treasurer (or Secretary), but, unless such notice is given before the end of January in any year, they shall be liable to pay the Annual Subscription due to the Club on and after January 1st in that year. HONOEAEY MEMBERS. 12.— Honorary Members shall consist of persons eminent for scientific or natural history attainments, and shall be elected by the Council. They pay no subscription, and have all the privileges of Ordinary Members, except voting. MEETINGS. 13. — The Annual General Meeting shall be held as near the first week in May as may be convenient ; to receive the outgoing President's Address (if any) and the Treasurer's financial report ; to elect the Officers and Editor for the ensuing year ; to determine the number (which shall usually be three or four), dates, and places of Field Meetings during the ensuing summer, and for general purposes. 14. — Two Winter Meetings shall usually be held in or about the months of December and February for the exhibition of Objects of Interest (to which not more than one hour of the time before the reading of the Papers shall be devoted), for the reading and discussion of Papers, and for general purposes. The Dates and Places of the Winter and Annual Meetings shall be decided by the Executive. 15. — A Member may bring Friends to the Meetings subject to the following restrictions :— No person (except the husband, wife, or child of a Member), may attend the Meeting unaccompanied by the Member introducing him, unless such Member be prevented from attending by illness, and no Member may take with him to a Field Meeting more than one Friend, whose name and address must be submitted to the Hon. Secretary and approved by him or the Executive. The above restrictions do not apply to the Executive or to the Acting Secretary at the Meeting. IX. 1(5. — Members must give due notice (with prepayment of expenses) to the Hon. Secretary of their intention to be present, with or without a Friend, at any Field Meeting, in return for which the Secretary shall send to the Member a card of admission to the Meeting, to be produced when required. Any Member who, having given such notice, fails to attend, will be liable only for any expenses actually incurred on his account, and any balance will be returned to him on application. The sum of Is., or such other amount as the Hon. Secretary may consider necessary, shall be charged to each person attending a Field Meeting, for Incidental Expenses. 17. — The Executive may at any time call a Special General Meeting of the Members upon their own initiative or upon a written requisition (signed by Eight Members) being sent to the Honorary Secretary. Any proposition to be submitted shall be stated in the Notice, which shall be sent to each Member of the Club not later than seven days before the Meeting. PAPEES. 18. — Notice shall be given to the Secretary, a convenient time before each Meeting, of any motion to be made or any Paper or communication desired to be read, with its title and a short sketch of its scope or contents. The insertion of these m the Programme is subject to the consent of the Executive. 19. — The Publications of the Club shall be in the hands of the Executive, who shall appoint annually Three or more Ordinary Members to form with them and the Editor a Publication Committee for the purpose of deciding upon the contents of the Annual Volume. These contents shall consist of original papers and communications written for the Club, and either read, or accepted as read, at a General Meeting ; also of the Secretary's Reports of Meetings, the Treasurer's Financial Statement and Balance Sheet, a list to date of all Members of the Club, and of those elected in the current or previous year, with the names of their proposers and seconders. The Annual Volume shall be edited by the Editor subject to the direction of the Publication Committee. 20. — Twenty-five copies of his paper shall be presented to each author whose communication shall appear in the volume as a separate article, on notice being given by him to the Publisher to that effect. THE AFFILIATION OF SOCIETIES AND LIBEAEIES TO THE CLUB. 21. — Any Natural History or Antiquarian Society in the County may be affiliated to the Dorset Field Club on payment of an annual fee of Ten Shillings, in return for which the annual volume of the Proceedings of the Field Club shall be sent to such Society. Every affiliated Society shall send the programme of its Meetings to the Hon. Secretary of the Field Club, and shall also report any discoveries of exceptional interest. And the Field Club shall send its programme to the Hon. Secretary of each affiliated Society. X. The Members of the Field Club shall not be eligible, ipso facto, to attend any Meetings of affiliated Societies, and the Members of any affiliated Society shall not be eligible, ipso facto, to attend any Meetings of the Field Club. But any M, ml., r i.f an affiliated Society shall be eligible to read a paper or make an exhibit at the Winter Meetings of the Field Club at Dorchester. Any Public Library, or Club or School or College Library, iu England or elsewhere, may be affiliated to the Dorset Field Club on payment of an annual fee of Ten Shillings, in return for which the annual volume of the Proceedings of the Field Club shall be sent to such Library. SECTIONAL COMMITTEES. 22.— Small Committees may be appointed at the Annual General Meeting to report to the Club any interesting facts or discoveries relating to the various sections which they represent ; and the Committee of each section may elect one of their Members as a Corresponding Secretary. NEW EULES. 23.— No alteration in or addition to these Rules shall be made except witli the consent of a majority of three-fourths of the Members present at the Annual General Meeting, full notice of the proposed alteration or addition having been given both in the current Programme and in that of the previous Meeting. XI. ZTbe Dorset IRatural Ibistorp an& Hntiquadan jfielfc Club, INAUGURATED MARCH nth, 1875. President : NELSON M. RICHARDSON, ESQ., B.A. Vice-Presidents : THE LOED EUSTACE CECIL, F.R.G.S. (Past President}. THE REV. HERBERT PENTIN, M.A. (Hon. Secretary). CAPTAIN JOHN E. ACLAND, M.A., F.S.A. (Hon. Treasurer). HENRY SYMONDS, ESQ., F.S.A. (Hon. Editor). CAPTAIN G. R. ELWES, J.P. THE REV. CANON J. C. M. M ANSEL -PLEYDELL, M.A. H. COLLEY MARCH, ESQ., M.D., F.S.A. THE REV. CANON MAYO, M.A. (Dorset Editor of " Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries "). THE REV. W. MILES BARNES, B.A. THE EAEL OF MORAY, M.A., F.S.A. Scot., F.G.S. THE REV. O. PICK ARD- CAMBRIDGE, M.A., F.R.S., F.Z.S. ALFRED POPE, ESQ., F.S.A. E. R. SYKES, Esq., B.A., F.Z.S. (Past Pres. Malacological Society}. His HONOUR J. S. UDAL, F.S.A. Executive Body : NELSON M. RICHARDSON, Esq., B.A. (President). The Rev. HEEBEET PENTIN, M.A. (Hon. Secretary), St. Peter's Vicarage, Portland. Captain JOHN E. ACLAND, M.A., F.S.A. (Hon. Treasurer), Wollaston House, Dorchester. Hon. Editor : HENEY SYMONDS, Esq., F.S.A., 30, Boltoii Gardens, London, S.W. Publication Committee: The EXECUTIVE, The HON. EDITOE, H. B. MIDDLETON, Esq., Dr. COLLEY MARCH, and E. R. SYKES, Esq. Sectional Committees : Dorset Photographic Survey — The MEMBERS of the EXECUTIVE BODY ex officio The Rev. W. MILES BARNES, B.A. C. J. CORNISH BROWNE, Esq. Colonel and Mrs. W. D. DICKSON (Hon. Directors) The Rev. S. E. V. FILLEUL, M.A. Dr. E. K. LE FLEMING C. H. MATE, Esq. A. D. MOULLIN, Esq. Miss HILDA POPE The Rev. J. RIDLEY Earthworks — Dr. H. COLLEY MARCH, F.S.A. (Chairman) CHAS. S. PRIDEAUX, Esq. (Corres- ponding Secretary) The PRESIDENT J. G. N. CLIFT, Esq. The Rev. W. O. COCKRAFT, B.A. H. LE JEUNE, Esq. Lieut.-ColonelF. G. L. MAIN WARING VERE L. OLIVER, Esq. ALFRED POPE, Esq., F.S.A. W. DE C. PRIDEAUX, Esq., F.S.A. The Rev. W. RHYDDERCH Miss E. E. WOODHOUSE Numismatic — H. SYMONDS, Esq., F.S.A. (Corres- ponding Secretary) Captain JOHN E. ACLAND, M.A., F.S.A. Lieut. -Colonel F. G. L. MAIN WARING Restored Churches — Canon J. C. M. MANSEL-PLEYDELL, M.A. W. DE C. PRIDEAUX, Esq., F.S.A. H. F. RAYMOND, Esq. The Rev. A. C. ALMACK, M.A. (Corresponding Secretary) J. ALLNER, Esq., A.R.I.B.A. H. W. CRICKMAY, Esq. The Rev. JAMES CROSS, M.A. The Rev. Canon FLETCHER, M.A. R.D. R. HINE, Esq. The Rev. Canon MAYO, M.A. W. B. WILDMAN, Esq., M.A. The Rev. A. C. WOODHOUSE Xll. Eist of jttcmbm OF THE Dorset jflatural fyistovp ani Antiquarian jfidi Ciutu Honorary Members : year of Election. (The initials " O.M." signify " Original Member.") O.M. W. CARROTHERS, Esq., Ph.D., F.K.S., F.G.S., F.L.S., Bntish Museum (Nat. Hist.), South Kensington. 1889 A. M. WALLIS, Esq., 29, Mallams, Portland. 1900 CLEMENT REID, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G S., One Acre, Milford-on- Sea, Hants. 1900 A. SMITH WOODWARD, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., British Museum (Nat. Hist.), South Kensington, London. 1904 Sir WM. THISELTON DYER, K.C.M.G., C.I.E., LL.D., Sc.D., Ph.D., F.R.S., The Ferns, Witcombe, Gloucester. 1904 Sir FREDERICK TREVES, Bart., G.C.V.O., C.B., LL.D., Thatched House Lodge, Richmond Park, Kingston-on-Thames. 1908 THOMAS HARDY, Esq., O.M., D. Litt., LL.D., Max Gate, Dorchester. Members : 1903 The Most Hon. the Marquis of Salisbury, M.A., C.B. The Manor House, Cranborne 1903 The Most Hon. the Marchioness of Salisbury The Manor House, Cranborne O.M. The Right Hon. the Earl of Moray, M.A., F.S.A. Scot., F.G.S. ( Vice -President} Kinfauns Castle, Perth, N.B 1911 The Right Hon. the Earl of Ilchester Melbury, Dorchester 1902 The Eight Hon. the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.C.V.O. 1884 The Eight Hon. Lord Eustace Cecil, F.E.GKS. (Vice -President) 1903 The Eight Hon. Lady Eustace Cecil 1904 The Eight Eev. the Lord Bishop of Durham, D.D. 1892 The Eight Eev. the Lord Bishop Of Worcester, D.D., F.S.A. 1912 The Eight Eev. the Lord Bishop of Salisbury, D.D. 1889 The Eight Hon. Lord Digby 1907 The Eight Hon. Lord Wynford 1907 The Eight Hon. Lady Wynford 1910 Abbott, F. E., Esq. 1893 Acland, Captain John E., M.A., F.S.A. (Vice-President and Hon. Treasurer') 1892 Acton, Eev. Edward, B.A. 1899 Aldridge, Mrs. Selina 1907 Allner, Mrs. George 1908 Almack, Eev. A. C., M.A. 1906 Atkins, F. T., Esq., M.E.C.S., L.E.C.P. Ediii. 1907 Atkinson, George T., Esq., M.A. 1902 Baker, Sir Eandolf L., Bart., M.P. 1912 Baker, Eev. E. W., B.A. 1906 Bankes, Mrs. 1912 Bankes, Jerome N., Esq., F.S.A. 1902 Barkworth, Edmund, Esq. 1904 Barlow, Major C. M. 1894 Barnes, Mrs. John lies 1889 Barnes, Eev. W. M., B.A. (Vice- President) 1903 Barnes, Mrs. A. 1884 Barrett, W. Bowles, Esq. 1906 Barrow, Eichard, Esq. 1895 Bartelot, Eev. E. Grosvenor, M.A. St. Giles. Wimborne Lytchett Heath, Poole Lytchett Heath, Poole Auckland Castle, Bishop's Auckland Hartlebury Castle, Kidderminster The Palace, Salisbury Minterne, Dorchester Warmwell House, Dorchester Warmwell House, Dorchester Shortwood, Christchurch, Hants Wollaston House, Dorchester Iwerne Minster Vicarage, Blandford Denewood, Alum Chine Eoad, Bourne- mouth National Provincial Bank, Sturminster Newton The Eectory, Blandford St. Mary Cathay , Alumhurst Eoad , Bournemouth Durlston Court, Swanage Eanston, Blandford The Eectory, Witchampton Kingston Lacy, Wimborne 63, Eedcliffe Gardens, London, S. W. South House, Pydeltrenthide Southcot, Charminster Blaudford Weymouth Avenue, Dorchester Lyndhurst, Glendinning Avenue, Weymouth 2, Belfield Terrace, Weymouth Sorrento House, Sandecotes, Parkstone Fordington St. George Vicarage, Dorchester XIV. 1893 Baskett, S. R., Esq. 1904 Baskett, Mrs. S. R. I Hi:: Uassctt, Rev. H. H. Tilney, R.D. (Hon. Editor of the Dorset n.nnfall Reports} 1909 Batten, Colonel J. Mount, C.B. H.M. Lieutenant of Dorset 1910 Baxter, Lieut. -Colonel W. H. 1910 Baxter, Mrs. W. H. 1888 Beckford, F. J., Esq. 1908 Benett-Stauford, Major J., F.R.G.S., F.Z.S. 1910 Blackett, Rev. J. C., B.A. 1912 Blackett, C. H., Esq. 1912 Blackett, W. E., Esq. 1903 Bond, Gerald Denis, Esq. 1906 Bond, Nigel de M., Esq., M. A. 1903 Bond, Wm. Ralph G., Esq. 1910 Bond, F. Bligh, Esq., F.R.I.B.A. 1913 Bone, Clement G., Esq., M.A. 1894 Bonsor, Geo., Esq. 1889 Bower, H. Syndercombe, Esq. 1900 Bower, Rev. Charles H. S., M.A. 1898 Brandreth, Rev. F. W., M.A. 1901 Brennand, John, Esq. 1895 Brymer, Rev. J. G., M.A. 1907 Bulfin, Ignatius, Esq., B.A. 1900 Bullen, Colonel John Bullen Symes 1914 Burton, Miss 1907 Bury, Mrs. Henry 1905 Busk, W. G., Esq. 1905 Busk, Mrs. W. G. 1901 Bussell, Miss Katherine Evershot Evershot Whitchurch Vicarage, Blandford Up-Cerne House, Dorchester The Wilderness, Sherborne The Wilderness, Sherborne Witley, Parkstone Hatch House, Tisbury, Wilts Keys, Stour Road, Christchurch Rosapenna, McKinley Road, Bourne- mouth Blanchland, McKinley Road, Bourne- mouth Holme, Wareham Hasler House, Crowborough, Sussex Tyneham, Wareham The Guild House, Glastonbury 6, Lennox Street, Weymouth El Castillo, Mairena del Alcor, Sevilla, Spain Fontmell Parva, Shilhngstone, Bland- ford Childe Okeford Rectory, Shillingstone, Dorset Buckland Newton, Dorchester Iimisfallen, Rossmore Avenue, Park- stone Ilsington House, Puddletown The Den, Knole Road, Bournemouth Catherston Leweston, near Charmouth Blake Hill House, Parkstone May field House, Farnham, Surrey Wraxall Manor, Cattistock, Dor- chester Wraxall Manor, Cattistock, Dor- chester Thorneloe School, Rodwell, Wey- mouth XV. 1903 Butler-Bowden, Mrs. Bruno 1911 Butlin, M. C., Esq., M.A. 1891 Carter, William, Esq. 1905 Chadwyck-Healey, Sir C. E. H., M.A., K.C., K.C.B., F.S.A. 1903 Champ, A., Esq. 1913 Champ, Miss Edith 1913 Champ, Miss Eva M. 1897 Chudleigh, Mrs. 1894 Church, Colonel Arthur 1904 Clapcott, Miss 1905 Clark, Mrs. E. S. 1895 Clarke, E. Stanley, Esq. 1912 Clift, J. G. Neilson, Esq. 1883 Colfox, Miss A. L. 1878 Colfox, Colonel T. A. 1905 Collins, Sir Stephen, M.P. 1904 Collins, Wm. W., Esq., E.I. 1905 Colville, H. K., Esq. 1912 Cooke, Eev. J. H., M.A., LL.D. 1902 Cornish, Eev. W. F., M.A. 1903 Cornish -Browne, C. J., Esq. 1891 Cother, Eev. P. L., M.A. 1886 Crespi, A. J. H., Esq., B.A., M.E.C.P. 1909 Crickmay, Harry W., Esq. 1884 Cross, Eev. James, M.A. 1914 Cross, Miss Florence 1885 Curme, Decimus, Esq., M.E.C.S. 1896 Curtis, C. H., Esq. 1897 Curtis, Wilfrid Parkinson, Esq., F.E.S. (Hon. Editor of the Dorset Phenological Report) 1903 Dacombe, J. M. J., Esq. 1914 Dalton, Mrs. E. E. 1912 Dammers, B. F. H., Esq. 1907 Daniell, G. H. S., Esq., M.B. Upwey House, Upwey 7, Westerhall Eoad, Weymouth The Hermitage, Parkstone Wyphurst, Cranleigh, Surrey St. Katharine's, Bridport St. Katharine's, Bridport Coniston, Bridport Downshay Manor, Laugton Matravers, Dorset St. Alban's, Eodwell, Weymouth The Cottage, Bradford Peverell, Dor- chester St. Aldhelm's, Wareham Trobridge House, Crediton, Devon 8, Prince's Street, Westminster, S.W. Westmead, Bridport Coneygar, Bridport Elm House, Tring, Hertfordshire Stoborough Croft, Wareham Loders Court, Bridport Shillingstone Eectory Steepleton Eectory, Dorchester Cory ton Park, Axminster 1, Clearmount, Weymouth Cooma, Poole Eoad, Wimborne 49, St. Mary Street, Weymouth Baillie House, Sturminster Marshall, Wimborne Stock Gaylard Eectory, Sturminster Newton Childe Okeford, Blandford Blandford Aysgarth, Longfleet, Poole 27, Holdenhurst Eoad, Bournemouth Cerne Abbas, Dorchester Eoyal Temple Yacht Club, Eamsgate Dale House, Blandford xvi. Darell, D., F.Z.S. I., F.G.S., F.L.S. 1904 Davies, Rev. Canon S. E., M.A. 1894 Davis, Geo., Esq. 1909 Day, Cyril D., Esq., B.A. 1904 Deane, Mrs. A. M. 1910 Devenish, Major J. H. C. 1907 Dicker, Miss Eleanor H. 1912 Dickson, Colonel W. D. 1912 Dickson, Mrs. W. D. 1911 Dillon-Trenchard, Miss Margaret 1906 Dodd, Frank Wm., Esq., M.Inst.C.E. 1908 Dominy, G. H., Esq., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. 1912 Dru Drury, G., Esq., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. 1904 Dugdale, J. B., Esq. 1905 Duke, Mrs. Henry 1907 Duke, Miss M. Constance 1908 Duke, Mrs. E. Baruaby 1896 Dundas, Ven. Archdeacon, M.A. 191C Eaton, Rev. A. E., M.A., F.E.S. 1913 Edwards, Aubrey, Esq. 1913 Ellis, Henry, Esq., F.R. A. S. 1885 Elwes, Captain G. R. (Vice- President) 1913 Facey, C. S., Esq., M.B. 1886 Falkner, C. G., Esq., M.A. 1884 Farley, Rev. H., M.A. 1913 Farrar-Roberts, W., Esq. 1903 Farrer, Colonel Philip 1912 Ferguson, Miss E. M. 1912 Ferguson, Miss Constance 1904 Ffooks, Mrs. E. Archdall 1904 Fielding, Thos., Esq., M.D. Hillfield House, Stoke Fleming, Dart- mouth, Devon Wyke Regis Rectory, Weymouth West Lodge, Icen Way, Dorchester Glenhurst, Dorchester Clay Hill House, near Gillingham Springfield, Weymouth Brook House, Upwey, Dorchester Southill, Dean Park, Bournemouth Southill, Dean Park, Bournemouth The Ridge, Durlston Park Road, Beach House, Weymouth Milton Abbas, Blandford Corfe Castle, Wareham Sandford, Wareham Manor House, Godmanstone, Dor- chester The Limes, Dorchester Maen, Dorchester Milton Abbey Vicarage, Blandford. Richmond Villa, Northam, North Devon The Pinetum, Wellington Road, Park- stone Boat Close, Lyme Regis Bossington, Bournemouth The Elms, Chickerell, near Wey- mouth Ireton Bank, Rusholme, Manchester Overbury Road, Parkstone Plas Lodwig, St. John's Road, Bournemouth West Binnegar Hall, Wareham Elwell Lea, Upwey, Dorchester Elwell Lea, Upwey, Dorchester Kingscote, Dorchester Halford House, West Hill Road, Bournemouth XV11. 1892 FiUeul, Rev. S. E. V., M.A. 1889 Filliter, George Clavell, Esq. 1893 Filliter, Eev. W. D., M.A. 1910 Filliter, Mrs. W. D. 1901 Fisher, Mrs. J. F. 1911 Fisher, Eev. J. Martyn, M.A. 1890 Fletcher, W. H. B., Esq. 1906 Fletcher, Mrs. W. J. 1907 Fletcher, Eev. Canou J. M. J., M.A., R.D. 1914 Fletcher, Walter T., Esq. 1885 Floyer, G. W., Esq., B.A. 1895 Forbes, Mrs. 1897 Forde, Henry, Esq. 1910 Forder, B. C., Esq. 1893 Forrester, Hugh Carl, Esq., B.A. 1893 Forrester, Mrs. James 1910 Freame, Major B. E. 1895 Fry, Edward Alexander, Esq. 1903 Fry, George S., Esq. 1896 George, Mrs. 1908 Gildea, Miss W. P. C. 1890 Glyn, Captain Carr Stuart 1912 Glyn, Mrs. Carr o.M. Glyn, Sir E. G., Bart. 1895 Godman, F. du Cane, Esq., F!E.S. 1906 Gowrmg, Mrs. B. W. 1888 Greves, Hyla, Esq., M.D. 1904 Groves, Herbert J., Esq. 1906 Groves, Miss S. J. 1912 Groves, Miss 1906 Gundry, Joseph, Esq. 1896 Haggard, Eev. H. A., M.A. 1912 Haines, F. H., Esq., M.E.C.S., L.E.C.P. 1903 Hambro, Sir Everard, K.C.V.O. 1905 Hambro, C. Eric, Esq. 1913 Hamilton, Miss 1893 Hankey, Eev. Canon, M.A., E.D. All Saints' Eectory, Dorchester St. Martin's House, Wareham East Lulworth Vicarage, Wareham East Lulworth Vicarage, Wareham Vines Close, Wimborne St. Paul's Vicarage, Weymouth Aldwick Manor, Bognor, Sussex Wyrley, Colehill, Wimborne The Vicarage, Wimborne Minster Icen Way, Dorchester West Stafford, Dorchester Culverhayes, Shillingstone, Bland- ford Luscombe, Parkstone Whatcombe, Blandford St. John's Cottage, Shaftesbury Westport, Wareham The Chantry, Gillingham 227, Strand, London, W.C. Chesham, The Grove, Nether Street, Finchley, London, N. Fleet House, near Weymouth Upwey Eectory, Dorchester Wood Leaze, Wimbome Wood Leaze, Wimborne Gaunts House, Wimborne Lower Beeding, Horsham 49, High West Street, Dorchester Eodney House, Bournemouth Clifton, Weymouth Thickthorne, Broadwey, Dorset Blackdown, Weymouth Eed House, Queen's Avenue, Dor- chester Molash Vicarage, Canterbury Winfrith, Dorchester Milton Abbey, Dorset Pickhurst Mead, Hayes, Kent Affpuddle Vicarage, Dorchester Lambert House, Dorchester xviii. 1910 Harbin, Eev. Prebendary E. H. Bates, M.A. 1898 Hassell, Miss 1894 Hawkins, W., Esq., M.K.C.S. 1903 Hawkins, Miss Isabel 1908 Hawkins, Rev. H. 1893 Hayne, R., Esq. 1905 Heath, F. R., Esq. 1911 Hellins, Rev. E. W. J., M.A., LL.B. 1911 Hellins, Mrs. E. W. J. 1899 Henning, Mrs. 1912 Hichens, Mrs. T. S. 1910 Hill, Miss Pearson 1902 Hine, R., Esq. 1902 Homer, Miss E. C. Wood 1907 Homer, Mrs. G. Wood isss Huntley, H. E., Esq. 1915 Jackson, Major R. W. H., R.A.M.C. 1903 Jenkins, Rev. T. Leonard, M.A. 1912 Jordan, Miss 1915 Kentish, G. C. A., Esq. 1893 Kerr, E. W., Esq., M.D. 1895 Lafontaine, A. C. de, Esq., F.S.A. 1876 Langford, Rev. Canon, M.A. 1907 Lees, Captain Edgar, R.N. 1907 Lees, Mrs. Edgar 1910 Le Fleming, E. K., Esq., B.A., M.B. 1900 Legge, Miss Jane 1902 Lewis, Rev. A., M.A. 1S90 Lister, Miss Gulielma, F.L.S. 1905 Llewellin, W., Esq., M.A. 1900 Lock, Mrs. A. H. 1892 Lock, His Honour Judge B. Fossett 1911 Long, Rev. H. R., B.A. 1910 MacCormick, Rev. F., F.S.A. Scot., M.R.A.S. 1888 MacDonald, P. W., Esq., M.D. Newton Surmaville, Yeovil Westfield Lodge, Parkstone Hillfield, Broad wey, Dorchester Ryme, El well Street, Upwey 1, Wcsterhall, Weymouth Spring Bottom, Osmington The Woodlands, Weymouth Marnhull Rectory, Dorset Marnhull Rectory, Dorset Frome, Dorchester Flamberts, Trent, Sherborne Rax, Bridport Beaminster Bardolf Manor, Puddletown Bardolf Manor, Puddletown Charlton House, Blandford 10, Greenhill Terrace, Weymouth Leigh Vicarage, Sherborne The Ridge, Durlston Park Road, Swanage Longcroft, Windsor Road, Park- stone South Walks House, Dorchester Athelhampton, Dorchester Southbrook, Starcross, S. Devon White Cross, Wyke Regis White Cross, Wyke Regis St. Margaret's, Wimborne Allington Villa, Bridport Chardstock Vicarage, Chard High Cliff, Lyme Regis Upton House, Poole 53, High West Street, Dorchester The Toft, Bridlington, East Yorks Tolpuddle, Dorchester Wrockwardine Wood Rectory, Wel- lington, Salop Herrison, Dorchester XIX. 1902 Mainwaring, Lieut. -Col. F. G. L. 1890 Manger, A. T., Esq. 1399 Mansel-Pleydell, Rev. Canon J. C. M., M.A. (Vice- President} 1896 March, H. Colley, Esq., M.D., F.S.A., M.R.S.A.I., F.A.I. ( Vice -President) 1883 Marriott, Sir W. Smith, Bart. 1904 Marsh, J. L., Esq. 1911 Mason, W. J., Esq. 1911 Mason, Mrs. E. E. 1907 Mate, C. H., Esq. 1879 Maunsell, Rev. F. W., M.A. O.M. Mayo, Rev. Canon, M.A., ( Vice -President} 1912 McDowall, A. S., Esq., M.A. 1914 Mead, Colonel 1907 Michell, Theo., Esq. O.M. Middleton, H. B., Esq., M.A. 1909 Middleton, Miss A. 1890 Milne, Rev. Percy H., M.A. O.M. Moorhead, J., Esq., M.A., M.D. 1905 Morgan, Mrs. 1911 Morris, Sir Daniel, K.C.M.G., D.Sc., D.C.L., F.L.S. 1914 Moule, Rev. A. C., B.A. 1897 Moullin, Arthur D., Esq. 1914 Nash, Mrs. 1909 Newnham, H. S., Esq. 1905 Nicholson, Captain Hugh 1906 Oke, A. W., Esq., B.A., LL.M., F.S.A., F.G.S. 1886 Okeden, Colonel U. E. Parry 1908 Oliver, Vere L., Esq. 1908 Oliver, Mrs. Vere L. 1904 Oliver, Weston, Esq., M.A. 1908 Ord, W. T., Esq., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., F.G.S. Wabey House, Upwey Stock Hill, Gillingham 10, Clarence Terrace, Regent's Park, London, N.W. Portesham, Dorchester The Down House, Blandford White Cliff Mill Street, Blandford St. Denis, Cann, Shaftesbury St. Denis, Cann, Shaftesbury Elim, Surrey Road South, Bourne- mouth Lansdowne Villa, "Wey mouth Gillingham, Dorset Norden, Corfe Castle ' Chescombe House, near Blandford Trewirgie, 37, Christchurch Road, Bournemouth Bradford Peverell, Dorchester Bradford Peverell, Dorchester Hornblotton Rectory, Castle Gary The Imperial Hotel, Bournemouth The Vicarage, Yetminster 14, Crabtoii Close, Boscombe Little Bredy, Dorchester Fermain, Cranbourne Road, Swanage The Launches, West Lulworth Rodlands, Dorchester Nettlecombe, Melplash 32, Denmark Villas, Hove, Sussex Turnworth, Blandford Whitmore Lodge, Sunninghill, Berks Whitmore Lodge, Sunninghill, Berks Castle House, Weymouth Greensted, 14, Madeira Road, Bourne- mouth \\. 1911 Ouless, W. W., Esq., R.A. 11M1 Ouless, Miss Catherine 1914 Pass, Alfred Douglas, Esq. IS'JO Patey, Miss 1905 Patterson, Mrs. Myles 1907 Paul, Edward Clifford, Esq., M.A. 1907 Paul, Mrs. Edward Clifford 1894 Payne, Miss Florence O. 1906 Pearce, Mrs. Thos. A. 1909 Pearce, Edwin, Esq. 1901 Peck, Gerald R., Esq. 1894 Penny-Snook, S., Esq., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. 1907 Penny-Snook, Mrs. S. 1901 Pentin, Rev. Herbert, M.A. (Vice -President and Hon. Secretary) 1894 Peto, Sir Henry, Bart. 189G Phillips, Miss 1908 Phillips, Rev. C. A., M.A. 1893 Pickard-Cambridge, A. W., Esq., M.A. o.M. Pickard - Cambridge, Rev. O., M.A., F.R.S. ( Vice- President) 1908 Pickard-Cambridge, Miss Ada 1908 Pickard-Cambridge, Miss Catherine 1903 Pike, Leonard G., Esq. 1903 Pitt-Rivers, A. L. Fox, Esq., F.S.A. 1904 Plowman, Rev. L. S. 1896 Pond, S., Esq. 1894 Ponting, Chas. E., Esq., F.S.A. 1908 Poole, Rev. Sealy, M.A. O.M. Pope, Alfred, Esq., F.S.A. (Vice- President} 1906 Pope, Alfred Rolph, Esq., M.A. 1906 Pope, Mrs. Alfred Rolph 1909 Pope, Francis J., Esq., F.R.Hist.S. 12, Bryanston Square, London, W. 12, Bryanston Square, London, W. Wootton Fitzpaine, Charmouth 185, Oakwood Court, Kensington, London, W. Conygar, Broadmayne, Dorchester Eastbrook House, Upwey Eastbrook House, Upwey Rydal, Wimborne Ivythorpe, Dorchester Fore Street, Taunton Muston Manor, Puddletown Netherton House, Weymouth Nethertou House, Weymouth St. Peter's Vicarage. Portland Chedington Court, Misterton, Somer- set Walton House, Bournemouth Walton House, Bournemouth St. Catherine's, Headington Hill, Ox- ford Bloxworth Rectory, Wareham Picardy, Rodwell, Weymouth Picardy, Rodwell, Weymouth Kingbarrow, Wareham Rushmore, Salisbury Ibberton Rectory, Blandford Blandford Wye House, Marlborough Chickerell Rectory, Weymouth South Court, Dorchester Culliford House, Dorchester Culliford House, Dorchester 17, Holland Road, London, W. XXI. 1914 Powell, H. Bolland, Esq., A.M.I.C.E. 1909 Pratt, Colonel, E.A. 1896 Prideaux, C. S., Esq., L.D.S. 1900 Prideaux, W. de C., Esq., L.D.S. F.S.A., F.K.S.M. 1905 Priugle, Henry T., Esq., M.D. 1905 Pringle, Mrs. Henry T. 1888 Pye, William, Esq. 1905 Eamsden, Mrs. 1912 Rawlence, E. A., Esq. 1886 Reynolds, Mrs. Arthur 1904 Rhydderch, Rev. W. 1887 Richardson, N". M., Esq., B.A. (President} 1901 Ridley, Rev. J. 1911 Robson, Colonel H. D. 1886 Rodd, Edward Stanhope, Esq. 1907 Roe, Miss M. M. E. 1909 Roe, Rev. Wilfrid T., M.A. 1912 Romilly, Geo., Esq., M.A. 1907 Roper, Freeman, Esq., F.L.S. 1889 Russell, Colonel C. J., R.E. 1910 Russell -Wright, Rev. T., M.A. 1905 Sanderson -Wells, T. H., Esq., M.D. 1905 Saunt, Miss 1905 Saunt, Miss B. V. 1910 Schuster, Mrs. W. P. 1904 Seaman, Rev. C. E., M.A., R.D. 1883 Searle, Alan, Esq. 1906 Shephard, Colonel C. S., D.S.O. 1896 Shepheard, Thomas, Esq., F.R.M.S. 1906 Shepherd, Rev. F. J. 1903 Sheridan, Mrs. A. T. Brinsley 1884 Sherren, J. A., Esq., F.R. Hist. S. 1914 Sherring, R. Vowell, Esq., F.L.S. 1913 Shields, Rev. A. J., M.A. 1908 Shortt, Miss E. F. Hillsdon, Springfield Road, Parkstone The Ferns, Charminster Ermington, Dorchester 12, Frederick Place, Weymouth Ferndown, Wimborne Ferndown, Wimborne Dunmore, Rodwell, Weymouth The Dower House, Lew Trenchard, Devon •Newlands, Salisbury Wyndcroft, Bridport Owermoigne Rectory, Dorchester Montevideo, Chickerell, near Wey- mouth The Rectory, Pulham, Dorchester St. Oswald, West Lulworth Chardstock House, Chard Trent Rectory, Sherborne Trent Rectory, Sherborne The Grange, Marnhull Forde Abbey, Chard Clavinia, Weymouth Mountside, Westbourne Park Road, Bournemouth 16, Victoria Terrace, Weymouth The Cottage, Upwey The Cottage, Upwey Lullingstone, Wimborne Stalbridge Rectory, Blandford Ashton Lodge, Bassett, Southampton Shortlake, Osmington, Weymouth Kingsley, Bournemouth West The Presbytery, Dorchester Framptoii Court, Dorchester Helmsley, Penn Hill Avenue, Park- stone Hallatrow, Bristol Thornford Rectory, Sherborne The Manor House, Martinstown 190S Shortt, Miss L. M. 1897 Simpson, Jas., Esq. 1 ML") Simpson, Miss 1912 Smith, Rev. A. Hippisley 1915 Smith, Mrs. Hamblin 1899 Smith, Howard Lyon, Esq., L.R.C.P. 1909 Smith, Nowell C., Esq., M.A. 1908 Smith, Mrs. Spencer 1888 Solly, Rev. H. Shaen, M.A. 1901 Sotheby, Rev. W. E. H., M.A. R.D. 1905 Stephens, J. Thompson, Esq. 1908 Stephens, A. N., Esq. 1900 Storer, Colonel, late R.E. 1895 Sturdy, Leonard, Esq. 1896 Sturdy, Philip, Esq. 1907 Sturdy, Alan, Esq. 1905 Sturdy, E. T., Esq. 19U Sturrock, J., Esq., C.I.E. 1898 Sturt, W. Neville, Esq. 189S Suttill, H. S., Esq. 1905 Suttill, John, Esq. 1913 Swaffield, A. Owen, Esq. 1912 Swinburne -Hanham, J. C., Esq. 1893 Sykes, E. R., Esq., B.A., F.Z.S. (Vice-President) 1889 Symes, Colonel G. P., M.A. B.C.L., M.V.O. 1904 Symonds, Arthur G., Esq. 1904 Symonds, Henry, Esq., F.S.A. ( Vice- President and Hon. Editor} 1912 Symonds, F. G., Esq. 1913 Symonds, Wm. Pope, Esq. 1901 Telfordsmith, Telford, Esq., M.A., M.D. The Manor House, Martiustown Minteme Grange, Parkstone Penolver, Gleudinuing Avenue, Wey- mouth Knowlton House, Surrey Road, Bournemouth Medical Officer's House, The Grove, Portland Mount Pleasant, Inkberrow, Wor- cestershire School House, Sherborne Vine House, Sturminster Newton Southcote, Alexandra Road, Parkstone Gillingham Vicarage, Dorset Wanderwell, Bridport Haddon House, West Bay, Bridport Keavil, Bournemouth Trigon, Wareham The Wick, Branksome, near Bourne- mouth Linden, East Lul worth Norburton, Burton Bradstock, Bridport 12, Greenhill, Weymouth 9, Lansdown Crescent, Bath Pymore, Bridport 24, West Street, Bridport Rodwell Lodge, Weymouth 106, Goldhurst Terrace, N.W. Longthorns, Blandford Monksdene, Dorchester Road, Wey- mouth 10, South Street, Dorchester 30, Bolton Gardens, London, S.W. The Firs, Sturminster Newton Newton House, Sturminster Newton The Knoll, Parkstone XX111. 1906 Thomson, Chas. Bertram, Esq., F.E.O.S. 1907 Towers, Miss 1898 Troy te -Bullock, Mrs. 1905 Truell, Mrs. O.M. Udal, His Honour J. S., F.S.A. (Vice -President} 1908 Udal, 1ST. "R., Esq., B.A. 1890 Usherwood, Eev. Canon T. E., M.A. 1910 Vivian, S. P., Esq. 1887 Walker, Eev. S. A., M.A. 1905 Ward, Samuel, Esq. o.M. Warre, Kev. Canon F., M.A. 190-i Warry, Mrs. King 1904 Warry, Wm., Esq. 1905 Watkins, Wm., Esq., F.E.G.S. 1893 Weaver, Eev. F. W., M.A., F.S.A., F.E.Hist.S. 1910 Webb, Miss 1908 Whitby, Mrs. J. 1914 Widnell, Edward, Esq. 1904 Wildman, W. B., Esq., M.A. 1903 Williams, Captain Berkeley C. W. 1884 Williams, Colonel Sir Eobert, Bart., M.P. 1884 Williams, Lady 1908 Williams, Miss Ehoda 1906 Williams, Miss Meta 1912 Williams, Mrs. Arthur S. 1906 Winwood, T. H. E., Esq., M.A. 1910 Woodd, A. B., Esq., M.A., M.E.I. 1913 Woodhouse, Eev. A. C. 1913 Woodhouse, Mrs. A. C. 1898 Woodhouse, Miss 1903 Woodhouse, Miss Ellen E. 1906 Woodhouse, Frank D., Esq. 1906 Woodhouse, Mrs. Frank D. Eomansleigh, Wimborne Talbot Cottage, Eoslin Eoad, Bourne- mouth Silton Lodge, Zeals, Bath Onslo\v, Wimborne 2, Marlborough Hill, London, N.W. Gordon College, Khartoum Bagdale, Parkstone 22, Eoyal Avenue, Chelsea, S.W. Charlton Manor, Blandford Ingleton, Greenhill, Weymouth Bemerton, Salisbury 39, Filey Avenue, Upper Clapton, London, N. Westrow, Holwell, Sherborne 62, London Wall, E.G. Milton Vicarage, Evercreech, Somerset Luscombe, Parkstone Preston, Yeovil Eoyston, Wimborne The Abbey House, Sherborne Herringston, Dorchester Bridehead, Dorchester Bridehead, Dorchester Bridehead, Dorchester South Walk, Dorchester Hill House, Yetminster Eothesay, Dorchester Heckfield, Milford-on-Sea, Hants Winterborne Monkton Eectory, Dor- chester Winterborne Monkton Eectory, Dor- chester Chilmore, Ansty, Dorchester Chilmore, Ansty, Dorchester Old Ford House, Blandford St. Mary Old Ford House, Blandford St. Mary XXIV. 1911 Woodhouse, Miss A. M. R. Xorden, Blandford 1902 Wright, Rev. Herbert L., B.A. Church Knowle Rectory, Corfe Castle 1910 Yeatman, H. F., Esq., M.A., B.C.L. '2S, Cecil Court, Hollywood Road, London, S.W. AFFILIATED LIBE ABIES (Rule XXI.). 1911 Central Public Library Bournemouth 1915 Sherborne School Library Sherborne The above list includes the New Members elected up to and including the May meeting of the year 1915. (Any omissions or errors should be notified to the Hon. Secretary.) XXV. jltentbm ELECTED SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF THE LIST CONTAINED IN VOL. XXXV. PROPOSED MAY 12TH, 1914. Nominee. Proposer. Seconder. Colonel Mead, of Chescombe The late Joseph Whitby, E. R. Sykes, Esq. House, near Blandford Esq. Mrs. Nash, of The Launches, The late Rev. W. P. The Rev. W. D. West Lulworth Schuster Filliter. Edward Widnell, Esq., of Sir Richard G. Glyn Captain Carr S. Glyn Royston, Wimborne Walter T. Fletcher, Esq., of Canon J. M. J. Fletcher C. S. Prideaux, Esq. Dorchester PROPOSED JUNE 30TH, 1914. Nominee. Proposer. Seconder. Mrs. Dalton, of Cerne Abbas, The Rev. H. Hawkins Dr. T. H. Sanderson Dorchester Wells PROPOSED JULY 21sT, 1914. Nominee. Proposer. Seconder. H. Bolland Powell, Esq., F. J. B. Beckford, Esq. James Simpson, Esq. A.M.I.C.E., of Hillsdon, Springfield-road, Parkstone PROPOSED DECEMBER STH, 1914. Nominee. Proposer. Seconder. Mrs. Hamblin Smith, The Hon. Secretary. The Rev. H. Hawkins. Medical Officer's House, The Grove, Portland Major R. W. H. Jackson, Dr. S. Pemry Snook. The Hon. Secretary. R.A.M.C., 10, Greenhill Terrace, Weymouth PROPOSED FEBRUARY 16TH, 1915. Nominee. Proposer. Seconder. The Mayor of Poole (G. C. R. Barrow, Esq. Canon T. E. Usherwood. A. Kentish, Esq.), of Windsor Road, Parkstone XXVI. PUBLICATIONS. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club. Vols. [. - XXXVI. Price l()s. (id. each volume, postfree. General Index to the Proceedings. Vols. I.— XXVI. Price 6d., by post 7d. The Church Bells of Dorset. By the Rev. Canon RAVEN, D.D., F.S.A. Price (in parts, as issued), 6s. 6d., post free. By the late J. C. HANSEL -PLEYDELL, B.A., F.G.S., F.L.S. The Flora of Dorset. 2nd Edition. Price 12s. The Birds of Dorset. Price 5s. The Mollusca of Dorset. Price 5s. By the Rev. O. PICKARD- CAMBRIDGE. M.A., F.R.S., F.Z.S. Spiders of Dorset. 2 vols. Price 25s., post free. The British Phalangidea, or Harvest Men. Price 5s., post free. British Chernetidea, or False Scorpions. Price 3s., post free. By the PRESIDENT : Second Supplement to the Lepidoptera of the Isle of Purbeck. Compiled from the notes of Eustace R. Bankes, M.A., F.E.S. Price Is. The Volumes of Proceedings can be obtained from the Hon. Treasurer (Captain John E. Acland, Dorset County Museum) ; the Church Bells of Dorset, from the Rev. W. Miles Barnes, Dorchester ; Mr. Mansel-Pleydell's works, from the Curator of the Dorset County Museum, Dorchester ; the Rev. O. Pickard- Cambridge's works, from the Author, Bloxworth Rectory, Wareham ; the Lepidoptera of the Isle of Purbeck, from the President ; and the General Index, from the Assistant -Secretary (Mr. H. Pouncy, Dorset County Chronicle Office, Dorchester). SOCIETIES & INSTITUTIONS IN CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE FIELD CLUB. BODLEIAN LIBRARY, OXFORD. BOURNEMOUTH NATURAL, SCIENCE SOCIETY, MUNICIPAL, TECHNICAL AND ART SCHOOL, BOURNEMOUTH. BRISTOL AND GLOUCESTERSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, GLOUCESTER. BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON. BRITISH MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, SOUTH KENSINGTON, LONDON. BRITISH ASSOCIATION, BURLINGTON HOUSE, LONDON. CAMBRIDGE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, CAMBRIDGE. DEVONSHIRE ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND ART (THE HON. GENERAL SECRETARY, CARE OF MESSRS. W. BRENDON AND SON, PLYMOUTH). ESSEX MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, STRATFORD, ESSEX. GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, LONDON. HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB (CARE OF MESSRS. GILBERT, SOUTHAMPTON). ROYAL SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, DUBLIN, IRELAND. SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, LONDON. SOMERSET ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, TAUNTON CASTLE, TAUNTON. UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, CAMBRIDGE. WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, DEVIZES. JFtje firoceetungg Dorset Jftatural Ijistarp anti Antiquarian Jfidti Club. (FROM MAY, 1914, TO MAY, 1915.) FIRST SUMMER MEETING. DEWLISH AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. Tuesday, 30th June. The members and their guests assembled at the South- western Railway Station, Dorchester, under the leadership of the President, Mr. Nelson M. Richardson. There was a large attendance on this occasion, about 130 being present. The first objective was the recent excavation at the " Elephant Trench " in Dewlish, which was reached after a pleasant motor drive via Puddletown. The party then climbed the hill to the site of the cutting which had been made under the superintendence of Mr. C. S. Prideaux. It may be briefly recalled that the remains of elephas meridionalis were originally discovered at this spot in 1813, that subsequently our first president, Mr. J. C. Mansel- Pleydell, explored the fissure, and that he communicated two papers thereon to our Proceedings, viz., in vol x., p. 1, and vol. xiv., p. 139. The present investigation of the site forms a supplement to the researches of our late president, the chief objects of the Earthworks Committee being to determine the nature of the trench or fissure, and to search for any traces of prehistoric man, of whose presence or handiwork no evidence had previously been found. The tusks and XXviii. DEWLISH AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. molars of the elephant which were unearthed in 1888 are to be seen in the County Museum at Dorchester, and Canon Mansel- Pleydell was able to add to the interest of this meeting on the hillside at Dewlish by exhibiting a photograph of his late father and the other workers, taken when they were engaged in the excavations of twenty-six years ago. After the members had examined the deep cutting and the circular holes found at the bottom of the trench, Mr. Prideaux, as director of the operations, gave a short description of the results attained. He said that they had dug out the trench with every care, plans had been made, and all the finds had been classified as far as was possible. Several bones had been brought to light, but they were unfortunately in a very friable condition and difficult to move. They had also discovered a good molar, and a number of flints which were highly polished by the action of river or desert sand. A few flints might perhaps be regarded as showing signs of human workmanship, but it was a doubtful point. Notwithstanding that the soil had been moved on several previous occasions they were able to obtain some very good sections. The party then visited a tent in wrhich Mr. W. de C. Prideaux exhibited and commented upon the various objects mentioned by his brother. Mr. Clement Reid, at the invitation of the President, afterwards addressed the meeting. He expressed the opinion that the work then in progress was an important scientific enquiry, which became more and more puzzling as they went on with it. The question of the origin of the trench had again come to the front. His friend, the Rev. Osmond Fisher, thought that it was a pitfall made for trapping animals, as was the practice in the Soudan and elsewhere. He, Mr. Reid, did not share that view, as he believed that the trench was a natural formation ; but he had been assured that the traps in the Soudan were similar in shape, becoming narrower towards the bottom so that the animal was wedged between the two walls. The remains which had been found were not those of the mammoth well known in other parts of the DEWL1SH AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. XXIX. country. This was a much older elephant, which became extinct, as they believed, in pre-Glacial times. It had been found in the Cromer Forest bed, beneath some 200 feet of Glacial deposits, and in a few other places, but always in ancient beds and without, as far as he knew, any clear evidence of man. The polished flints, almost with a lapidary's polish, were exactly like those found in the Sahara desert and in a limestone fissure at Portland. Another point had been made clear, viz., that the fissure at Dewlish ended in a series of pot holes instead of a definite floor at the bottom. Until these holes had been thoroughly examined they could not say positively whether the opening was natural or artificial. No hand-worked implement had been found in the trench, but one had been picked up in the field. A aetailed report, with plans of the excavation, will be printed in the later pages of this volume. Subssquently the members drove to Bingham's Melcombe, where they were enabled, by the kindness of Mr. W. H. LongbO;tom, to visit and explore the house and gardens, the chaim of which has been so well told by the late Mr. Bosworti Smith in his Bird life and bird lore. The visitors having sssembled in the courtyard, the Rev. H. Pentin addressed them on the history of the house, which had been the home of the Bingham family during a continuous period of 600 yef,rs. He reminded them that the house was first built, as ms believed, during the time of Edward I., but the building as they saw it on that day was for the most part Tudor, a beautiful example of the domestic architecture of the sixteentl century. The gatehouse, said to be the oldest portion of tie structure, was particularly worthy of notice, as were the lingham arms carved on the stone of the oriel. Mr. Pentin alio drew attention to the table in the hall, the heraldic glass, the portraits, among which were those of Straff ord and laud, and the ancient bowling green with the yew hedge of Tidor days. Mrs. Longbotom escorted the party through the hall and the principal roons, pointing out the chief objects of interest, xxx. I>I;\VI.ISH AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. historical and artistic. After a ramble through the old-world gardens, the President expressed tho thanks of the Field Club to Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom for allowing them to visit the house. It had been intended to walk up to the " Dorsetshire Gap " and to enjoy the view over Blackmore Vale, but the mid-day heat suggested prudence, and the drive was continued to the neighbouring manor house of Melcombe Horsey. Here was seen another type of house, which nevertheless presented many points of attraction to the antiquary. Before entering, Mr. Pentin told the Club that the building, although externally modernized, was the surviving portion of the old manor house of Lord Rivers. At the time when the Tudor style was merging into the Jacobean, the owner w&s Sir Thomas Freke, of Iwerne Courtney, to whom was attributed the 'erection of the domestic chapel at the north-east end of the house. The outer walls of this chapel are built of ashlar and blue flints in alternate courses ; on the south side ire two large windows of debased Gothic, and on the north is a series of Perpendicular windows, which were transferred, as it is believed, by Sir Thomas Freke from the ruins of a previously existing parochial chapel. At the present time tie chapel is converted to other purposes, a floor divides it horizontally, and the upper part is used as a loft. The vis tors then inspected the interior of the house, where they fjund large rooms with moulded plaster ceilings, and parelled walls with Jacobean overmantels. In earlier days, however, the woodwork had been covered to a large extent wth layers of paint. In the chapel, the original waggon roof, hiilt of chest- nut and oak, was much admired, also the car'ed bosses of the timbers, some of which retained their herallic colouring. Before leaving Melcombe Horsey, Mr. Richaxlson thanked Mr. and Mrs. F. O. Kent for their kindness h receiving the Field Club at their pleasant home. The last item on the day's programme was a visit to Chesilbourne and its church, where the patfy was met and welcomed by the Rector, the Rev. F. S. Belle. DEWLISH AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. XXXI. Mr. W. de C. Prideaux, in the course of his description of the church, said that the fabric was mainly built in the middle of the fourteenth century. He directed attention to the twin hagioscopes, a grotesque head carved on one of the capitals, and the scratch dial* over the south porch. Mr. Prideaux had made, and then exhibited, a successful rubbing of the grave slab of Richard Baskett and Ureth his wife, and he kindly gave to the members some photographic prints of the Kete brasses on the east wall of the north aisle. The Rector showed the Elizabethan chalice of 1574, and the parish register dating from 1649 ; the latter contained interesting entries as to collections for church briefs. Mr. Alfred Pope then commented on the details of the preaching cross, which, like the church, was of fourteenth century work. The tapering shaft was square with moulded angles, and the steps of the Calvary were unusually deep. Mr. Pope also referred to the ancient dole table near the cross. The party subsequently adjourned to the Rectory garden, where Mrs. Beale had very kindly undertaken the task of providing tea. A business meeting was then held, at w^hich the President announced that Colonel and Mrs. Dickson, of Bournemouth, had promised to act as joint directors of the Dorset photographic survey, and he also took the opportunity of congratulating the Honorary Secretary on his recent appointment as Vicar of St. Peter's, Portland, and of expressing the Field Club's appreciation of his work. Finally, Mr. Richardson tendered the thanks of the visitors to the Rector and Mrs. Beale for all the trouble which had been taken on their behalf. A quick drive to the railways at Dorchester brought to a close a very successful meeting. * For examples of this early form of sundial, see Somerset Arch, and X.H. Society, vol. 59, p. 25. XXxli. CHRISTCHITRCH, HANTS. SECOND SUMMER MEETING. CHRISTCHURCH, HANTS. Tuesday, 2lst July. This meeting of the Field Club was attended by Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Richardson, the Rev. Herbert Pentin, Canon Mansel-Pleydell, Colonel Mount Batten, His Majesty's Lieutenant for the county, and about eighty members and their friends. After assembling at Christchurch railway station, a visit was made to the natural history museum of Mr. Edward Hart, who had formed, in the course of many years, a remarkable collection of birds, chiefly from the valleys of the Stour and Avon. Mr. Hart conducted the visitors through his museum, describing to them the habits and abodes of the birds and commenting upon the more notable specimens, the great majority of which had been not only shot by the collector, but also stuffed and mounted by him. In reply to a question, Mr. Hart said that the greatest treasure was a unique variety of the bittern, killed at Winkton on the Avon. Another variety was a little egret, which was very seldom found in Britain. It should be added that the collection was not limited to ornithological specimens, as it included many wild mammals from the same district. The President then thanked Mr. Hart for his kindness in acting as their guide. After luncheon at the riverside restaurant, Mr. Richardson expressed the sorrow of the Club on hearing of the death of the Rev. Osmond Fisher, the oldest of their honorary members, who had reached the age of ninety-six years. It was was regrettable that Mr. Fisher had not lived to see the completion of the work at the Dewlish trench, in which he had taken so keen an interest. CHRISTCHURCH, HANTS. XXX111. THE PRIORY CHURCH was visited under the guidance of Canon Cooke-Yarborough, the Vicar, who addressed the members when they were seated in the nave. Canon YARBOROUGH assured the club of the great pleasure which it gave him to welcome them, not only because it was ever a delight to him personally to show people over their noble Priory Church,, but also because that day he had the privilege of addressing a body which included many who made a real study of architecture and history, and were competent to form an opinion upon the many points of interest. The origin of the church was lost in obscurity. From the chartulary preserved in the British Museum it appeared that the Norman portion of the present church might be dated from 1093 — 96, and that an earlier church, which was then pulled down, was of fair size and surrounded by nine small oratories (as was the case in the Saxon Church at Winchester), and round about the adjacent chapels lived, with their wives and families, the secular canons who served the altars. This arrangement continued as late as 1150, until it became the custom for the clergy to be celibate. The man who pulled down the Saxon church and began the building of the Norman church was one of the greatest church builders of the century — Ralph Flambard, chancellor to William Rufus, who in 1093 gave him the estates connected with Christchurch. In 1100 Flambard was banished by Henry I. ; but the impress of his genius continued on the work at Christchurch for some time afterwards. The entire plan of the Norman church was due to him, and was steadily carried out through the whole of the succeeding century. In 1199 the high altar was consecrated by the Bishop of Ross, this marking the completion of the church. There was probably a low central tower, and a chancel which had gone. In 1214 the people's altar was consecrated in the nave, which was used as a church by the people of Christchurch. Behind the people's altar was the rood-screen or pulpitum, and the building east of that was reserved for the monks' church. When he became vicar, said Canon Yarborough, it was suggested to him that he should remove the fine screen, so as to afford an uninterrupted view of the whole length of the church ; but he declined to incur such a responsibility, and so to-day Christchurch Priory preserved the original arrangement of a big church in the middle ages. The Vicar then led the way round the building, pointing out, in turn, the apsidal chapels in the transepts, the crypt with its vaulted roof, the monk's walk in the clerestory, \X\iv. CHRISTCHURCH, HANTS. St. Michael's loft (long used as a schoolroom), the choir and lady-chapel, and the two chantries. During a walk round the exterior of the church, its great length and the diversity of the Norman work were more fully apparent. The ruined walls of the keep of the Norman castle were next inspected, as was also the Constable's house, a notable survival of domestic architecture of the same period. At the conclusion of the visit, the President thanked Canon Yarborough for having placed at the service of the Field Club his great store of knowledge concerning the church and its surroundings. After a short business meeting the members dispersed to their homes. The intended meetings at Edington (Wilts) and Lyme Regis, in August and September respectively, were abandoned in consequence of the outbreak of war on the 4th August. FIRST WINTER MEETING. XXXV. WINTER SESSION, 1914-15. Notwithstanding the pre-occupations caused by the war, there was a good attendance of the members of the Field Club at the first indoor meeting on Tuesday, the 8th December, at the Dorset County Museum. Mr. Nelson M. Richardson took the chair at 12.30,being supported by five Vice-Presidents, namely, the Lord Eustace Cecil (a past president), the Rev. Herbert Pentin, Canon Mansel-Pleydell, Captain Elwes, and Mr. Alfred Pope. The first business was a ballot for six candidates, all of whom were duly elected as members. Nominations of two additional candidates were announced. The PRESIDENT suggested that the hour of meeting at the Museum should be changed from 12.30 to 12.45, as the latter time would fit in more conveniently with the railway services. Among those who would benefit by the alteration was their Honorary Secretary, whose work they would desire to make as easy as possible. The proposal was adopted. Mr. E. A. FRY reported that he had attended on behalf of the Club the congress of Archaeological Societies in union with the Society of Antiquaries of London, on the 26th June last. A printed report of the congress had been circulated with the notice convening the present meeting. The PRESIDENT then read the following report from the " Restored Churches " sectional committee : — The committee have to report that a meeting was held on July 29th at Sherborne, at which five of the seven members were present. They unanimously decided that an effort to compile a record of important features lost in the alteration or restoration of our churches was eminently desirable, and quite feasible if systematic methods were adopted to procure the facts, and due time allowed. Among the sources of information that were mentioned as available were the Record Books which Bishop Wordsworth had instructed rural deans to keep, the register of faculties issued, and the files of newspapars in Dorchester Museum and elsewhere. In all such cases the kind co- operation of rural deans, diocesan officials, architects, and others \\.\vi. FIRST WINTER MEETING. would have to be solicited, while every effort would be made to cause O t~ 00 O 1O O -H TX l> O O >0 00 Is •B: 2 o I ->> IS of tijc By NELSON MOORE RICHARDSON, Esq., B.A. (Read May 1th, 1915.) N addressing you at the end of my eleventh year as your President, I do so under very special circumstances, which have not occurred before, and will not I hope do so again during our lives, for the War which has affected everything more or less has also cast a shadow over our Field Club and made us feel that much of the lighter part of our work could not be carried on when everyone is deploring the loss of relatives and friends amongst our brave soldiers and sailors. When we consider this it seems comparatively a small thing to chronicle our own losses as a Club, though some have gone from us whom we could ill spare. We have lost one of our few remaining PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. liii. original members, Rev. George Thompson, who was, to within a very few years, a constant attendant at our meetings, both winter and summer, and by his genial amiability and politeness always helped to make them pass off pleasantly. We must all feel greatly indebted to those who joined at the first, 40 years ago, in founding this Club ; and a scheme has been devised and will be submitted to you for placing them in a position apart from all other members, and thereby recognising, if only in a small degree, the obligation we owe to them and to those other founders of the Club whom we have lost. Rev. James Penny, though not an original member, joined the Club in 1878, three years after its inauguration, and was greatly interested in the natural history side of it, especially in Geology. He had accumulated a large collection of fossils and miscellaneous objects of interest which the Club inspected, also partaking of his hospitality, in July, 1909. The next oldest member of the Club is Rev. Canon Eldon Bankes, whose membership dates from 1887, and whom the older members amongst us will remember at our meetings in Purbeck, where he was then living as Rector of Corfe Castle. The last meeting that he attended was the one held at Salisbury in August, 1910. Rev. W. Percy Schuster joined in 1889 and was often amongst us. He will be missed by a large circle of those whom he has benefited. Mr. Merrick Head joined the Club in the same year, and his hospitality will be remembered on the occasion of our visits to Portland in July, 1890, and July, 1902. He was fond of Archeology and had a good collection of books, &c., relating to William Penn. Rev. Prebendary Linklater, D.D., who became a member in 1894, lived much away from Dorset and rarely attended our meetings. Mr. Joseph Whitby, who joined in the next year, was frequently with us, and entertained the Club on the occasion of its meeting at Yeovil in September, 1908. I should like also to mention with regret the loss of Dr. F. D. Lys, a former member of the Club. Of Honorary Members we have to lament the loss of three liv PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. distinguished men. Though I had the privilege of the personal acquaintance of all, Mr. Richard Lydekker, F.R.S., whose name has been so well known for many years as one of our greatest naturalists and geologists, was much the most intimate friend. His first visit to me was when he described, under the name of Cimoliosaurus Richardsoni, the large Saurian fossil from Chickerell, which Mrs. Richardson and I had then lately rescued and put together, now nearly 30 years ago. He was very versatile in his knowledge and energetic in applying it. He wrote many learned scientific monographs and other books, chiefly on Natural History and Palaeontology ; and to him we owe much of the present beautiful arrangements, chiefly of animals, in the British Museum of Natural History, where he worked for many years. His earlier geological work was done in connection with the Indian Geological Survey, where he first made his name. He has once or twice been present at our meetings, and I remember that on one occasion when the question of the identity of a certain tooth was being (I fear ignorantly) discussed by some of our members, he came up and said with decision that it was a pig's tooth. A bold person asking how he knew it, he gave the characteristic answer, " Why, what else could it possibly be ?" He has contributed to our Proceedings, and has often helped both myself and the Museum in the determination of specimens and in other ways. I could say much more, but must proceed. Rev. Osmond Fisher, elected in 1888, was one of the oldest living geologists, and even at his great age took a most keen interest in his pet science. It was almost entirely owing to his enthusiasm that the Dewlish Elephant Trench was excavated last year, and it seemed very sad that he should not have lived to hear the result, though it failed to confirm a favourite theory of his that it was an artificial work of prehistoric man made as a trap to catch Elephas meridionalis. Our early volumes contain contributions from his pen. Last, but not least, we have to lament the death of Mr. A. J. Jukes-Browne, F.R.S., who was elected an Honorary Member of our Club PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. Iv. in 1900. Though greatly handicapped by infirm health , he accomplished an immense amount of valuable work in connection with the Geological Survey and otherwise, and was the author of several books and many papers on Geology. In connection with our Club he wrote more than one paper, which are printed in our Proceedings, on the Physical Geology of this county and the successive stages through which the land had passed before arriving at its present condition, one of his favourite subjects. I have to thank him for help in various ways and Geological information, and the Dorset Museum is also indebted to him. ZOOLOGY. The war at this time takes the first place in our thoughts and actions, and I fittingly begin this part of my address by a reference to the immense benefit conferred on our and other troops at the front by the inoculation against typhoid, which has been shewn by many experiences to be of the utmost value as a protective agent. One of the most striking instances is that of the American Army of 90,000 men, in which it was made compulsory in 1911, with the consequence that in 1913 there were only 3 cases of typhoid, all of which recovered. It is to be hoped that it will before long be made compulsory in our Army. A scientific report on the Michael Sars expedition of 1910 is beginning to be published, and will add much to our knowledge of the inhabitants of the deep sea. A valuable synopsis of the species of British fleas, a group which has previously been very little studied, has lately been published by Hon. N. C. Rothschild, and a very curious sexual phenomenon has been detected in the gall fly, Neuroterus lenticularis , which, as well as other Cynipid gall flies, has two generations in the year, one of parthenogenetic females, and the other of males and sexual females. Mr. Doncaster's experiments indicate that the grandchildren of Ivi PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. any one sexual female are either all males or all females, but not both. Further investigations have lately been made with regard to the age of fish (in this case, herrings) being indicated by the number of rings on their scales ; but it seems doubtful whether this mode can be relied on. To come to birds, it would seem that kites, which have been for many years very scarce in this country, are increasing in numbers in Wales, and have bred in Devonshire. They have also been recorded in Somerset, Derbyshire, and Buckinghamshire. Kites are said to have been formerly abundant in the streets of London, where they acted as scavengers ; but as they are partial to chickens, protection will only be extended to them while they remain rare. Five species of birds new to Scotland have been observed, namely, the Lesser Grey Shrike, the Melodious Warbler, the Indian Stonechat, the Gull-billed Tern and the Scandinavian sub-species of the Lesser Black-backed Gull. All these have, however, been recorded from England ; but the Dusky Willow-Warbler (Phylloscopus fuscatus), met with at Auskerry on October 1st, 1913. is an Asiatic species not hitherto recorded from any part of Europe. A pair of Riippell's Warbler (Sylvia rueppelli), a rare East European species, were recorded for the first time as British at Baldslow, Hastings. A rare British bird, the blue breast (Sylvia suecica), was seen in my garden on May 2nd, 1914, by my niece, Miss Dorothy Rogers, who watched it for some little time and gave an accurate description. The throat was entirely blue ; but in this respect different specimens vary. It has once before occurred in Dorset. The growing scarcity of the landrail in this county has been noticed for many years by myself and others, and, from information collected by circulars, it rarely now breeds in the South and East of England. In other parts South of the Pennine Range there has been a decrease in numbers ; but in the Pennines and the district West of them, landrails are still abundant. Formerly one could always hear the harsh note of this bird, more familiar to me as the Corncrake, but now never. I have been looking PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. Ivii. at a list of useful and injurious birds, drawn up after very extensive examination of the contents of their stomachs ; and as it classes the missel thrush and starling as injurious on account of their abundance, whilst the song thrush is beneficial, I suppose that it is the case, as the writer suggests, that when a species of bird becomes too plentiful it changes its food habits. At the same time, starlings have been with us for years in immense numbers, and I do not think that they could be in any way ca]]ed injurious, but the opposite, though they have occasionally eaten a little fruit. The amount of good they do is very great in destroying leather coats and other grubs. Missel thrushes with us never eat fruit, as far as I know, and are not otherwise injurious. The same writer states (Nature, February 18th, 1915, p. 673) that all birds except doves and pigeons feed their young on an animal, chiefly insect, diet, except, perhaps, the blackcap. The Missel thrushes, however, observed by Mrs. Richardson (Proc. D.F.C., XXIII., 67) fed their young largely on elm seeds and ivy berries, as well as worms. The published accounts of the courtship and nesting and other habits of the Adelie Penguin in Antarctic regions are most interesting and entertaining, but too long to refer to here. It is well known that migrating birds are much attracted by lighthouses, and often die from exhaustion when fluttering at the light. To obviate this, perches have been placed near the lights in four lighthouses, and are crowded with birds at night during the migrating seasons. An attempt has been made to obtain information at the Natural History Museum as to all whales, porpoises, and dolphins stranded on our coasts, with such particulars as could be obtained. The results are issued in a Report, the total number recorded in 1913 being 76. My last zoological note is of a " wolf child," a girl about nine years old, who has apparently lived for years in the jungle and was recently captured near Naini Tal. The addresses of the Presidents of the British Association and of the Zoological and Physiological sections were on Heredity, Evolution, and Research in Medicine respectively, and may Iviii. PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. be studied with advantage by those who are interested in those subjects. BOTANY AND AGRICULTURE. Experiments on the partial sterilizing of soils continue, and shew the probability that the destruction of protozoa present in the soil which feed on the useful bacteria permits the growth of the latter, with good effects to the crop. In any case the partial sterilization produces excellent results, whether the means employed is heat, steam, or some antiseptic. It is found that paraffin is attacked by Bacterium prodigiosus and soil organisms to a serious extent if exposed to them. In regard to the fertility of the soil, it would seem that in Canada, and probably in many countries where new and fertile tracts are brought under cultivation, the same crop is often grown every year, and little care is exercised to prevent the first fertility from becoming greatly diminished. In Canada also the wood supply is in danger, and in our own country the scarcity and cost of wood has increased in the last 10 years, though immense quantities are imported to the value of more than £28,000,000 for unworked timber only. Much might doubtless be done in regard to some sorts of timber by extensive planting, as has been practically shewn on the Clyde, where 2,000 acres planted 34 years ago on steep and rocky hillsides, on poor soil covered with heather, have produced a net profit of £69 per acre after allowing for loss of grazing and all other expenses during that period. In the U.S.A. Forestry is well looked after by the Government. In planting a tree it is said that great advantages accrue from the use of an explosive instead of a spade in making the hole, as the ground is fractured and broken up for some distance round and beneath, which allows the roots to penetrate more easily \\hon they begin to grow. It is stated that trees planted by this method begin to bear much sooner. The President of the Agricultural Section of the British Association in his PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. lix. address dwelt upon the " bad lands " that had to be used for cultivation in our colonies and elsewhere, after the better lands had all been taken up. He gave instances of how these could be cultivated with profit, and how a labourer or small farmer often makes for himself a little oasis in the midst of barren heath or other land, on which he supports himself and his family. Such instances are common in our midst, and are probably more the result of personal labour than any great expense. The war has given an impetus to many things, and amongst others to drug growing. The supplies of belladonna, henbane, digitalis, valerian, and chamomile are all affected, and these and other drug plants are easy to grow, and would doubtless at present be extremely profitable. The Board of Agriculture publishes particulars of culture, &c. An International Congress of Tropical Agriculture was held last June in London, when a paper was read on the wheats of Tunis and Algeria and the tropics generally, a source of supply not usually realised. Rubber and cotton were also dealt with. Some careful experiments in regard to the growing of cotton with the plants at different distances from each other have shewn that the close planting practised by the Egyptian fellah gives a greater yield than when the plants are further apart. This seems contrary to our experience of most plants in English gardens ; but it is difficult to decide with certainty without making in each case accurate experiments. A great flowering of the bamboo (Bambusa polymorpha) took place last year in Burma, which had not occurred since 1860. At these periodical flowerings the plants produce seed and all die, consequently the bamboos in one neighbourhood are all of the same age. The President of the South African Association for the advancement of science in his address called attention to some remarkable cases of mimicry amongst Mesembry- anthemum and some other plants, in their wonderful resemblance to the stones amongst which they grow, not always in colour only, but in roughness of surface and general appearance. Specimens may be seen growing at Kew. lx PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. GEOLOGY. It has been observed that by far the greater number of the larger earthquakes occur in groups, successive members being separated from each other by a week or less. A violent earthquake occurred at Etna on May 8th, 1914, destroying several villages and causing loss of life. Another on May 26th in America, and one on May 27th at Panama, which did not, however, damage the canal works, and another on the same day near Tonga. Another in Asia Minor on October 3rd, and one in Greece on October 17th. The most destructive earthquake of which we have any record, though not the most violent, occurred in Central Italy on January 13th, 1915. In Avezzano, which contained 11,000 inhabitants, the death rate was 90 per cent., whilst in two neighbouring villages, 94 and 97 per cent, respectively of the people perished. Before that, the highest known death rate was 81 per cent., as far back as 1703. Italian observatories recorded another on January 27th, of which no direct account has been received, but which would probably be located in Turkey or Greece. It has been discovered that acetylene in contact with nickel at different temperatures in the presence of hydrogen gives rise to products identical with natural petroleums. These can be made, by varying the conditions, to resemble the different varieties of petroleum met with, and would suggest a new and probable theory for its origin. The oilfields in Trinidad continue to produce large quantities, and the Canadian ones are promising. I will not attempt here to deal with the address of the President of the Geological Section of the British Association, which has for its subject the various theories of the structure of the earth and the formation of the foldings and other features of its crust. As he says, " the subject is not over new, and whole fleets of hypotheses have been launched on this sea of controversy " — anyone who is interested can easily read the address itself, and will gain much information by doing so. PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. Ixi. Turning to fossils, the fossil fauna of the Crimea has lately been described, one of the most interesting species being a giraffe-like ruminant (Achtiaria expectans}. A skeleton of Gigantosaurus , 150 feet long, or about twice the length of the Diplodocus in the British Museum, has been found in German East Africa, and was destined to be set up in the Berlin Museum. May we not now hope that it may take a different course and stand near its smaller relative in London ! Two remarkable new types of Dinosaurs have also been found in the cretaceous formations of Alberta. At the British Museum amongst newly-acquired fossil skeletons are to be seen one of the Egyptian Eocene two- horned ungulate Arsinoetherium, 11 1 feet long, and a nearly perfect specimen of Opthalmosaurus, about 13 feet in length, from the Peterborough Oxford clay, mounted on an iron frame with the bones approximately in their original positions. A still more interesting fossil is that of Icthyosaurus acutirostris from the Upper Lias, Wiirtemburg, in which the soft parts remain as a bituminous impression in the rock. The triangular dorsal fin and the vertically extended tail fin are clearly visible. In the Mammoth cave, in Western Australia, remains have been found of a huge Echidna, about double the size of the living Echidna aculeata, and also larger than any other known extinct form. I have left to the last the work done by Mr. C. S. Prideaux and others at the Dewlish Elephant Trench, which was so successfully and carefully excavated, proving, I believe in the opinion of all, even the strongest upholders of the theory of its artificial origin, that it was a natural chasm in the rock. As we are hoping to receive a full report on the subject of the probable method of its formation, I forbear to say more at present about it. ASTRONOMY. The probability of the transmission of gravity being iion- instantaneous has been brought forward, with calculations ]xii PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. slu-xviiiL' that if the velocity were the same as that of light, tin- moon's mean motion would be retarded a few seconds of arc in a century. As a matter of fact there is a slight acceleration, but that is presumably due to other undetermined causes. The address of the President of the sub-section Cosmical Physics at the British Association is on the subject of the moon's motion, and also deals with its past history. It was some time ago suspected that a nebula in Virgo was rotating about a central axis ; this is now shewn to be the case, the form of the nebula being a spiral, seen edgewise. The motions of stars can only be perceived by very accurate observations at considerable intervals, but there is reason to believe that they have some connection with the stage in evolution that each star has reached and the group to which it belongs. This, if confirmed, opens out a new and large field for inquiry. The difficulties may be appreciated from the fact that the star with the greatest proper motion only moves about a quarter of a degree in a century, and nearly all are far slower. The most striking comet visible in the past year was Delavan's, which, though not a very large one, was well seen by the naked eye for a long period in the neighbourhood of the Great Bear. The tail was about 2° in length. Encke's comet was also observed in October. This is a short period comet, having a period of 3£ years, its orbit lying within that of Saturn. With regard to the variability of the sun's heat , a connection has been traced between the mean monthly radiation and the number of sunspots, an increase of the latter corresponding with an increase of the former. The various expeditions made to observe the total eclipse of the sun on August 21st, 1914, were on the whole successful, though some were greatly interfered with or stopped by the condition of things in Europe. Two parties, from the luirh Observatory and from the Royal and Royal A-inmnmical Societies, in Russia and Sweden respectively, ol.tiiim'd good photographs of the corona and other details. The transit of Mercury which took place on November 7th, PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. Ixiii. 1914, was well observed at Greenwich and elsewhere. At the Lick Observatory in July last a small object was photographed in the neighbourhood of Jupiter, which appears to be a new satellite of that planet with a retrograde motion, and some further mathematical evidence has been produced in favour of the existence of a planet outside Neptune. I am not aware, however, that any definite position has been as yet calculated, as in the case of the discovery of Neptune, so that it might be carefully searched for with the very strong telescopes which now exist, to the number of which it is hoped that the Canadian 6-feet reflector will before long be added, the casting and grinding of the reflecting disc having been successful so far as it has progressed. The 100-inch reflector for the Mt. Wilson observatory is also in course of preparation. The year seems to have been unusually productive of records of fine meteors, though nothing perhaps worth special mention, with the exception of one seen in South Africa on January 9th last, at 1.20 a.m. This meteor is said to have vividly illuminated the heavens for several seconds, and to have burst with a loud report after an interval variously estimated at from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. It may have fallen to earth, but has not been found. Of those meteorites which reached the earth by far the most interesting fell on October 13th at Appley Bridge, near Wigan, at 8.45 p.m. A sudden and vivid illumination was caused by a ball of fire moving slowly from S.S.E. to N.N.W. and bursting into flashes several times on its way. A few seconds afterwards came a tremendous explosion, followed by rumblings. The meteorite penetrated 18in. into the ground, weighed 331bs., and looked like a piece of burnt iron, being reddish in colour. On being found by a labourer, it was taken possession of by the police (a new and useful duty ! ) and handed over to the Godlee Observatory. The rate of motion was 8 miles a second and the origin possibly the radiant in Pisces. The only English meteorite which has exceeded this in weight was one which fell at Wold Cottage in Yorkshire in 1795. Meteorites fell on April 6th, 1914, at 4 places in India in the PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. M.,lalur ,li>tnct, one of which weighed 711bs. and penetrated some feet into the ground, raising a cloud of dust which led to its disco very. A vrry fine meteor, with an apparent diameter half that of tin- moon, was seen in the S. of England, and as far north as Lincolnshire, as well as in parts of France and Belgium, on March 28th last. It travelled about 175 miles from the point where it was first observed, and burst twice or more during its course. It is not known whether any portion of it reached the earth. METEOROLOGY. The attempt to ascertain the rainfall of past seasons even for hundreds or thousands of years from the growth of trees does not sound very promising in regard to accuracy, but is stated to be reliable to the extent of 82 per cent. The method is to measure the comparative breadths of the rings formed by the annual growth, the theory being that a wet BeaaoD would cause a large ring and vice versd. This has been done for California by means of the Giant Sequoias, some of which appear from their rings to be 3,000 years old. Three long wet periods 1,000 B.C. to 300 A.D., 900 to 1,100 A.D. and 1,300 to 1,400 A.D. are shewn, which are considered by the author to correspond to the three ancient civilizations of Mexico, of the dates of which there is little or no evidence, these regions being now too dry to support a large and flourishing population. The rainfall for 1914 has been considerably above the average everywhere in the British Isles except the W. and N. of Scotland, the amount for the year at Montevideo, Chickerell, being 37'95in., the average for the past 17 years being only 29'25in. The highest annual fall in my rain gauge in the 17 years was 38'53in. in 1912, the lowest having been 22'15in. in 1905. The fall for December 7'31in. in my rain gauge is, I believe, a record amount for that month in that locality, and a very unusual amount for any month. The highest monthly amount PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. Ixv. which I have any note of in my gauge is 9'14in. in October, 1907. Record rainfalls were registered also for December last in London and at many other places in the S. and S.E. of England, that at South Kensington being 6'60in., at Bournemouth 9'8in., and at Hindhead, 12in. The January rainfall was also unusually high. Serious floods have followed these rains in many places, and the camps containing our soldiers have been seas of mud, some even worse, I am told, than the one opposite my house at Chickerell on the Oxford Clay. An unusually bad thunderstorm passed over the neighbourhood of London on June 14th, with rainfall in some places of more than 2in., and large hailstones of lin. in diameter. At Teesmouth during a thunderstorm on July 2nd, numbers of gulls and other seabirds were killed by the hailstones, which must have been very large, 300 dead gulls being counted in f mile. In spite of the greater severity of tropical thunderstorms, it would seem that deaths from lightning are much rarer in India than England, the suggestion being that the storms occur higher in the air. Tall buildings and tall trees are, however, occasionally struck, especially in mountain districts. Though I have frequently heard the great December rainfall in England ascribed to the war taking place in France and Belgium, and though there seems to be really some evidence that firing does tend to produce rainfall (but only in the immediate neighbourhood), some laboratory experiments have failed to support this theory ; and it has been pointed out that Shoeburyness, where there is so much firing of big guns, has one of the smallest rainfalls in the kingdom. But little has been done in investigating the upper air by means of balloons, as the supply of these ceased with the war ; and before that took place there were more losses than usual of the instruments, through the balloons descending in out-of- the-way places and not being recovered. Further investigations on the signs of the near presence of icebergs seem chiefly to have proved that no reliable test is furnished by the temperature of the water, which does not diminish lxvi PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. owing to the proximity of the berg. Some observations on the action of thunderstorms on seiches in a Japanese lake tend to show that the rise in the water is produced by changes in barometric pressure, by local rainfall raising the surface, and by the impulsive action of the wind. These seiches or local raisings of the surface occur in many large lakes, and have been ascribed to various causes. The last meteorological phenomenon to which I shall refer is a sunpillar seen at the Stonyhurst observatory and elsewhere on February llth last. A halo of 22° radius was capped by a bright " arc of upper contact ;" and at 4.30, when the halo had become faint, a sunpillar, which had before been visible, became very bright and rose to the arc, which was also bright, forming, it would seem from the description, a sort of cross of very striking appearance, which calls to mind the cross with the moon in the centre seen by Mrs. Richardson and myself on September 28th, 1904, and described and illustrated in our Proceedings (Vol. XXVI., p. xxxiv.). ELECTRICITY. The standardisation of Electro technical symbols has been for some time under consideration by the International Electro technical Commission, and these symbols were finally agreed upon at the meeting of the Commission in September, 1913, at which 24 nations were represented, and have now- been published. This it is hoped will remove a difficulty which has been much felt in regard to the intercourse amongst different nations on the subject. A discovery which, though it sounds obscure, may prove of the highest importance in the investigation of the structure of the atom, is that when hydrogen in a state of luminescence is placed in an electric field of suitable strength and direction, the spectral lines are resolved into 3 or more components. The desirability of research work in wireless telegraphy has been put for\\.ii(l strongly by a committee appointed by the Postmaster General to consider the subject, and it is PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. Ixvii. hoped that a research laboratory for the purpose may be founded as a result of their recommendation. At the British Association meeting it was noted that with a wave length of 600 metres the ranges by day and night were 450 and 2,000 miles respectively, and that by increasing the wave length say to 800 metres an enormous increase was observed in the range by day, whilst that by night was unaffected. In some cases there was a maximum in the strength of signals at midnight. An electrical sterilization of milk has been in successful use at Liverpool, the bacteria being killed by an alternating current of high potential. By this method no heating is produced, wrhich is doubtless an advantage. CHEMISTRY. There are few things that are at present more discussed in connection with Chemistry than the disadvantages under which some of our great industries labour, in having hitherto imported products that are necessary to them from Germany and the best means of carrying out the manufacture of them in this country. This is perhaps especially applicable to certain dyes, 80 or 90 per cent, of which were imported from Germany, and great efforts are being made by the Government and others to establish works for their production, but so far with but little success. Germany seems to have been well aware that the co-operation of chemists and other scientific men is in the highest degree important for the success of such an undertaking, and it is greatly due to the comparative ignoring of this fact by our leading manu- facturers that she has outstripped us in the preparation of dyes and various other articles. And even now both the Government and those who propose to establish these works seem very slow to realize this important point, and to include scientists amongst their managers. It is, however, to be hoped that in this matter they will follow the lesson that Germany has taught us, and that British dyes, as well Ixviii. PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. as other necessaries hitherto imported, will be successfully made and used in our factories. The manufacture of many pure chemicals and synthetic drugs is in a similar condition, and some are almost unattainable now that the German source of supply is closed. Phenacetine and some others havr. however, already been made here, and steps are being taken to supply the others needed. It is very desirable in thi> connection that alcohol should be allowed duty free with proper restrictions to the research chemist, as methylated spirit is not suitable for many processes. It is now possible chemically greatly to improve weak flour, so that it shall work better, absorb more water, and give a larger loaf of lighter texture. The address of the President of the Chemical Section of the British Association dealt with the structure of crystals and their chemical constitution, on which some light has been thrown by the discovery of the wonderful results produced by the passage of X-rays through crystals alluded to in my address last year and by other recent investigations. It has been found that a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen is detonated by the radium emanation, forming water. Some experiments, in which immense pressures were used up to something like 200 tons to the square inch, shew that the accepted theories of the melting of liquids do not hold at high pressures, and it would seem probable that a liquid can be frozen by sufficient pressure, at any temperature. Several new solid forms have been obtained, especially forms of ice which are denser than water. Many new members have been recently added to the disintegration series of radium, and it is considered that this series is now nearly complete. ENGINEERING. The subject of aviation, with which I often begin my notes on engineering, has been very forcibly brought to our notice by the way in which it has altered the character of warfare and rendered it most difficult to carry out any strategic PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. Ixix. plans without the enemy's knowledge. It has probably made much more difference in this respect than in its more distinctly destructive work of dropping bombs, which has not, perhaps, been so effective on the whole as had been anticipated. One cannot but feel that many of these wonderful inventions are very far from being a benefit to the human race, and some of them are great evils, though as soon as they exist, it is unfortunately impossible to ignore them. Aeroplanes have much increased in stability, and there are recent records of rates of 135 miles an hour, and of ascents to an altitude of 5 miles. A gyroscopic motor car with two wheels like a bicycle has been invented, and a trial was lately made in London ; but the engine was not strong enough to wrork the gyroscope and also to drive the car at more than 4 miles an hour. I am not aware that it has yet been tried with a stronger engine. The quick turning of corners may prove difficult. The optophone is an ingenious instrument intended to render ordinary printed type into sounds by means of a moving disc perforated with holes through which the light is thrown on the printed page and reflected on to a selenium bridge in connection with a telephone, different sounds being caused according to the intensity of the light. This is said to be sufficiently clear to enable a blind person to read the printed page by hearing the sounds which are produced, and, if successful, it will be of great value to those thus afflicted. Other inventions are a firedamp indicator, in which the presence of a minute quantity of firedamp produces a musical note, and, secondly, the application of the Hughes induction balance to military surgery, when again a sound is produced by the presence of metal. A monster locomotive engine has been built for steep gradients on the Erie railroad, the wheel base being 90 feet in length and the weight of engine and tender 380 tons. A cable is now laid between Sweden and Denmark, where the width of The Sound is only 3£ miles, to supply Denmark with electric power, and is the first submarine cable laid for such a purpose. It seems probable that electrolytic iron may Ixx. PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. become an industrial product, as tubes have been made in this manner of considerable size. The iron is very pure and fit for use after annealing, though hard and brittle when first deposited. I have alluded to certain manufactured articles which have hitherto been imported, but which attempts are now being made to produce in this country. Our optical glass has been chiefly made elsewhere, but it would seem that we are likely to be successful in its manufacture in England. The President's address to the Engineering Section of the British Association deals with stress distribution in materials, but though full of valuable matter is too technical for more than a passing mention here. It has been found that the timber supporting the joof of Westminster Hall is so unsound through decay that a system of steel reinforcement is to be added to it, which it is con- sidered will make all perfectly safe, but will take 6 years to accomplish. As regards the Museums and Galleries in London, it is satisfactory to know that the authorities are taking steps to prevent, as far as possible, damage by bombs dropped by aircraft, especially in the case of the more precious articles in their care, though we must hope that no such raid will now actually take place. ARCHEOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY. At our last meeting in February, in connection with the Report of the Earthworks Committee of the Congress of Archaeological Societies, the Club expressed its appreciation of the action of the late Sir Edward Hulse, the owner of Bokerly Dyke, in stopping the injury which was being caused by chalk digging. No other earthworks in Dorset were alluded to in the Report as suffering damage. The excavations made last summer in the Dewlish Elephant Trench I have referred to under Geology, as the trench appeared to be of natural and not human formation. A claim for the existence of man in Miocene times has been PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. Ixxi. made on account of the discovery in Buenos Ayres of a mammalian femur of that period penetrated by what is supposed to be a flint arrow-head ; but the evidence seems quite insufficient to establish this. In Queensland a com- pletely mineralised human skull has been found in the Darling Downs. From the fact that this skull is in the same condition as bones of Diprotodon and other extinct animals from the same district, and for other reasons, it is considered that it may date from Pleistocene times ; and it is undoubtedly the earliest human find hitherto made in Australia. In the Museum at Melbourne the British Association inspected a fine series of native stone implements, going back to Palaeolithic, and perhaps Eolithic, specimens. In this connection I may mention that a book, " Wookey Hole, its Caves and Caved wellers," giving an excellent account of his explorations and the various human and other remains found there, has lately been written by Mr. H. E. Balch, to whom the Club was greatly indebted for help some years ago when they visited that locality. Fresh excavations have been carried out at Kent's Cavern, which our Club has also visited, and Palaeolithic implements and bones have been found, also a tooth, pronounced to be human, of early date. Excavations at Hengistbury Head, near Christchurch, have yielded Bronze Age pottery, an incense cup, gold, amber, and bronze articles, also pottery of the period shortly before the Roman occupation, and about 4,000 gold, silver, and bronze coins, mostly early British, many in mint condition. Excavations recently made in Crete have produced some remarkable bronze swords, double axes, and interesting pottery. Another investigation, the results of which have just been presented to the American Museum of Natural History at New York, has brought to light, from their kitchen middens, many relics of the Arawak Indians, who inhabited Jamaica when Columbus landed there. The relics consist chiefly of fragments of pottery, celts, and other stone implements. Another race which has now died out is that of the Tasmanians, the last of whom died recently at the lxxii PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. age of 80. Her mother was a full native, but her father a white man. Many races are, like this, fast dying out, or so modifying their habits and mode of life that very soon the chances of anthropological investigation which still exist will have vanished, and, unless speedily undertaken, much valuable information about them will be lost. In kitchen middens in South Africa are found flat stones with an artificial depression in the centre, the use of which seems uncertain. It is stated that they cannot be for sharpening weapons, and a theory is propounded that they are cooking stones, the depression being to receive the gravy! Not having seen them I cannot attempt to decide. I was also interested in seeing an illustration of a fine stone circle in the Naga Hills in Assam. From the figures standing by the stones, their height would seem to be about 15 feet. There is clear evidence of the smelting of iron in India in the 3rd Century B.C., and there is some reason to believe that iron was used in very early times before 1,000 B.C. In Egypt, iron was used as early as about 1,200 B.C., and in Assyria about 300 years later. This information as to the early use of other metals in Egypt is contained in an article by Flinders Petrie in the first number of " Ancient Egypt " for 1915. GENERAL. I have already under the heading of Chemistry spoken of the great temporary disadvantages caused by the war to some trades through the shortened supply of dyes and some other chemical products which we have been accustomed to import from Germany, but which it is hoped that before long we shall be in a position to manufacture to the extent required here in England. These remarks apply also in a modified degree to many other articles which have of late years been " made in Germany " and imported for our use, but which could just as well be made in England, if the prices could be kept down to the German ones. For this, PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. Ixxiii. however, the co-operation of our workers is required, and that is a question into which I do not propose to enter here. The disgraceful and reckless destruction of many of the monu- ments of anliquity, such as cathedrals and other beautiful and historic buildings, and the celebrated library of Louvain by the Germans are utterly unworthy of a people calling themselves civilized, and cannot be justified by any military necessity ; we can only regret them, and would not desire to retaliate by destroying German works of art any more than we should desire to murder innocent women and children as they have done. The British Association has last year extended its operations to Australia, and visited Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, and, in the course of the excursions, many other parts of Australia as well as New Zealand. All the sections were well cared for, and most interesting programmes provided for them. In the Education Section the President insisted much on the importance of a scientific training, and commented on the want of originality developed by the present mode, which turns out pupils like a machine, all with the same ideas and ways. The French Association for the Advancement of the Sciences met at Havre, and extended an invitation to those members of the British Association who did not go to Australia, including the representatives of the Corresponding Societies, whose meeting was held there. The tercentenary of Napier, the discoverer of Logarithms, was celebrated at Edinburgh last July, when their importance in Mathematical calculation was emphasised. At a discussion as to the admission of women as Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society, which was decided in the affirmative by a large majority, 15 societies, including the Linnsean, Royal Geographical, and others, were enumerated which admitted women, and there have certainly been several distinguished astronomers of that sex well worthy of the honour. A nature reserve in the apparently unpromising locality of Spitzbergen is under serious consideration, as in that, as in more genial climates, the animals are much persecuted either Ixxiv. PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. for trade or sport. The introduction of the metric system into this country comes up occasionally, and will probably iak«- place some day, and may possibly be helped by our alliance with France in the present war ; but another standing di>h. the Daylight Saving Bill, has lately sustained a great loss in the death of its enthusiastic promoter. The war has interfered considerably with the usual habits of our Field Club in respect to the summer meetings, though not appreciably with the more serious and I fear less popular indoor meetings for the reading of Papers and exhibition of objects of interest. I can only hope that before the next annual meeting we may have peace through all the world, and that our Club, with all other good things, will come out with fresh youth and enthusiasm from the cloud that at present envelopes us. on (Excavations at Dorcljcstrr on tl)c j&itc of tljc Kmnan Defences. By Capt. J. E. ACLAND, F.S.A. (Read 8th December, 1914.) years ago Mr. H. J. Moule complained that no systematic research had ever been attempted into the construction of the Roman defences of Durnovaria, and nothing has been done since. We know of course that the town was provided with a wall on three sides and on part of the fourth side, and it is generally (but inaccurately) stated that the avenues and walks are on the site of the walls. We are, however, still ignorant of the details of the fortifications, and have to be content with such facts as are accidentally revealed from time to time by excavations for other purposes. An occasion of this sort occurred in 1911-12 when a surface water conduit was laid on the East and South of the town, under Salisbury Walks, South Walks, and Bowling Alley Walks. Owing to the kindness of the Borough Surveyor 2 EXCAVATIONS AT DORCHESTER. I made frequent examinations of the cutting, and obtained from him a number of carefully-measured sections as the work progressed. They are kept in the Museum Library, ;in the " Dorset Album," Vol. I., Part II. Commencing on the East side of the town in the Salisbury Walks, which part was formerly called "The Great Walls," solid undisturbed chalk was reached at a depth of 3ft. to 5ft. of loose chalk ; the upper surface of the solid chalk was horizontal, and was covered by a seam of an ancient turf line, leading to the conclusion that the wall stood exactly over this spot. On turning into South Walks, a section opposite Culliford Road shewed an entirely different sequence of soil. There was no loose chalk above, no ancient turf line, and the solid chalk was not reached till a depth of lift, of dark-coloured snil had been removed. The upper surface of the solid chalk, instead of being horizontal, shewed a clearly-defined slope from North to South, obviously the inner slope of the main ditch. This feature remained in view, though altering gradually, till the cutting had passed Acland Road, where the sloping surface of solid chalk had disappeared, shewing that the site of the ditch had been left. On approaching South Street, the ground appeared to have been more dis- turbed, and at a depth of 10ft. Gin. I picked out of the loose brown soil two good fragments of thick Roman brick. A little further on there were rough courses of stones without mortar, but presenting the appearance of foundations. They were seen first on the Northern or inner side of the cutting, and no doubt were connected with the main Southern gate of the town. Between South Street and Trinity Street the drainage cutting revealed once more the inner slope of the ancient ditch ; and there also appeared a secondary trench at right angles to the main ditch on the South side. It was very similar to the XVII. Cent, trench discovered across the entrance to Maumbury Rings in 1912, being " V "-shaped in section, Tft. wide at the top and 1ft. Gin. at a depth of 7ft. It did not EXCAVATIONS AT DORCHESTER. 3 appear to be a portion of the Roman work, but may well have been cut when Dorchester was prepared for defence against the Royalists. From Trinity Street to West Walks the drainage conduit was made by tunnelling, and where shafts were sunk, solid cha]k was reached at a depth of about 7ft., having a level upper surface, probably, therefore, under the site of the wall. The direction of the conduit can be traced by the iron covers to manholes marked " Surface drainage." The Proceedings of the Dorset Field Club contain two papers connected with this subject, one by the Rev. W. Miles Barnes, dealing with " Roman fortification, with special reference to the Roman defences of Dorchester." (Vol XII., 1891, page 135), the other by Mr. H. J. Moule, " Notes on the Walls and Gates of Durnovaria," (Vol. XIV., page 44). In his book " Dorchester Antiquities," Mr. Moule records some interesting discoveries, the result of excavations. On the West side of the town, during the construction of a flight of steps on Grove Hill, opposite Christ Church, the scarp of the Roman wall was plainly seen. "The chalk seemed to have been cut to a good even face, and perhaps in modern times covered with from one to two feet of earth." Colliton Walk itself is on, or nearly at the top of, the ancient wall ; and within the boundary wall of Colliton Park, and parallel with the walk, there is still to be seen a grass bank, obviously a portion of the original defences. In 1896 a drain was carried from the angle of West Walks and Bowling Alley Walks to the Great Western Road. A sec- tion drawn by the Borough Surveyor shews a portion of the ancient scarp and the ditch, and also two ridges or banks of solid chalk about 6ft. high, rising from the level of the bottom of the ditch. Again, when South Court and stables were built at the East- ern end of South Walks, and therefore at exactly the opposite corner of the Roman defences to that last described, very similar features were discovered in connection with the original ditch, i.e., outlying banks. They were measured and drawn 4 EXCAVATIONS AT DORCHESTER. by Mr. Moule (1892-3) and may be found in the Dorset Album, Vol. I, part II. Both these sections are nearly at right angles to the main wall, and are therefore of special interest. The principal facts brought to light up to the present time may therefore be stated thus— On the East of the city, the wall was on the site of Salisbury Walks ; on the South, the present avenues and walks occupy the position of the ancient main ditch, the wall lying more to the North where the houses now stand; and on th3 West, the wall was on the site of West Walks, and Colliton Walks. The most noteworthy features, and not at all easy cf ex- planation, are those revealed at the extremities of the Southern face, where the two parallel, outlying banks of chalk were found beyond the main ditch. They are probably the remains ot the ramparts described by early writers,* who state that " Dor- chester was anciently encompassed by a high and thick wall of stone, beyond which again were, two ramparts of earth 1,700 paces in length." Outlying banks and ditches are so unusual in the normal tvpe of Roman fortifications, and so typical of those constructed b\ the earlier inhabitants of Britain, that it may be suggested perhaps that Durnovaria was built on the site of a pre-historic " oppidum." But although this district was no doubt thickly populated in the Bronze Age, it would appear improbable that there was a third fortified camp in the immediate neighbour- hood of Maiden Castle and Poundbury. Moreover, the features we are discussing are very similar to a description of Silchester given by Mr. John Ward, " the fortifications of which (he says) are of earthwork faced with a strong wall, external to which are the remains of two ditches." One more fact should ba noted. The plan, or outline, of the Roman defences did not follow the usual rectilinear design, but occupied an area equivalent to a quadrant of a circle. The two faces, South and West, are at right angles and of equal length. See Bayley's "Civil War in Dorset," page 94. EXCAVATIONS AT DORCHESTER. 5 about 760 yards ; the remainder of the enclosed space falling more or less on the arc of the circle, conforming to the natural configuration of the ground in that part. This plan, however, is not altogether detrimental to the idea of a Roman origin. In Mr. John Ward's instructive book " Romano-British Build- ings and Earthworks," there is a fairly long list of what he terms " unsymmetrical Roman towns ;" and he adds that it scarcely accords with facts to make the quadrilateral form a test of military (i.e. Roman) origin." These notes should not close without a passing reference to the only fragment now visible of the once massive stone walls that surrounded the Roman town. It may be seen in the West Walks between High West Street and Princes Street, and was presented to the town of Dorchester by Mrs. Lucia Catherine Stone, Jan. 1st, 1886. There is much difficulty in ascertaining the period wiien these walls were destroyed. Some say it was the work of the Danes, A.D. 1002, but much more probably it was the gradual result of time and neglect through many centuries. Such documentary evidence as we have shall be given. In the Borough Records, under date A.D., 1633, it is stated in an official letter that the town is " surrounded with ditches and walls ;" while in 1642 there are detailed instruc- tions for the defences and custody of the several gates of the town. If gates, surely there must also have been walls. In 1723 Stukeley says, " on the West side a great deal of the wall was standing, and much more within memory ; " while in Savage's " History of Dorchester," written 1832, we read that the " pleasant and spacious walks were made about 1700 and 1712, and planted with rows of sycamore and horse chestnut trees." The final demolition of the walls, rapidly (no doubt) falling into a ruinous condition, took place therefore, in all probability, at that period. Oil) DiJJitgc Jokes itut» (Games obtained in tljc $Jitdunorc in tl)c East By E. A. RAWLENCE. (Read Sth Dec., 1914.) N a paper which I had the pleasure of reading before the Field Club last year, we considered some old-time remedies for various ailments to which poor humanity is subject. I now propose to touch upon two other sides of Village life which, as the sequel will show, are somewhat interlaced. In regard to Village jokes, it appears to have been a practice, probably during the first half of the nineteenth century and some way back into the eighteenth, to catch hold of some faux pas or delinquency of which one individual or more in a particular village had been guilty, and as a consequence attach some nickname to the inhabitants of that village. These nicknames often caused a considerable amount of irritation, and even a number of broken heads amongst the more susceptible portion of the community ; and naturally the more irritation any member showed the more was he made a butt. I have met with some difficulty in my OLD VILLAGE JOKES AND GAMES. 7 endeavours to trace out the origin of these nicknames, as while some were willing enough to tell about the delinquencies of a neighbouring village, they were as ignorant as new-born babes the moment you began to question them as to the origin of the sobriquet attaching to their own . A QUAINT DOGGRELL. Coming now more particularly to the subject of my paper, there is an old doggrel attaching to the south side of the Blackmore Vale, as follows : — "Houghton Owls. Ansty shear-dogs. Mappowder hedge-pigs. Haselbury Ba-lambs. Buckland Nanny-goats. Pulham Hogs. Holwell men. And Caundle dogs." I give the origin of these so far as I have been able to trace them. HOUGHTON OWLS. It appears that one Jonathan Joyce lost his way in Houghton Wood on a dark night. He wandered about in despair shouting " Man Lost ! Man Lost ! " Just then an owl from a tree near by cried " Hoo . . . Hoo ... !" Jonathan, thinking that it was a friendly voice responding to his call, shouted back " Jonathan Joyce o' Houghton, the honestest man that ever broke bread ! " Thus, because Jonathan answered the owl, all his neighbours were associated with that species. ANSTY SHEAR-DOGS. Ansty was celebrated for its brewery and its gang of sheep- shearers. Upon a day, one of the gang took too freely of its 8 OLD VILLAGE JOKES AND GAMES. " nut-brown beer " and, after having finished shearing one sheep, in his fuddled condition he essayed to lay hold of another, but instead he seized the old shepherd's shaggy- coated dog, and proceeded to divest it of its jacket. The dog waa only a "passive resister," and when the operation was finished the Ansty man, whose name tradition does not hand down, turned up the old dog and let him go, remarking admiringly " Ther' now, 1 calls thic zheep turned out darned well," and Ansty has had to pay the penalty of his folly ever since. MAPPOWDER HEDGE-PIGS. The real origin of this is obscure. From two sources I have been told the same tale — that it originated through two Map- powder men having been mistaken at a public -house at Haselbury Bryan for two gipsies wiio had stolen something. Mappowder men were also called " Gips," as Mappowder Common before its enclosure was a noted rendezvous for gipsies, and gipsies were supposed to eat hedgehogs, hence the not very logical connection between a Mappowder man and a hedge -pig. Anyway, this seems to have been sufficiently established to the bucolic mind. The nickname seems to have been much re- sented by some of the more susceptible inhabitants, and as a consequence was assiduously applied to them either in fun or spite by their neighbours. An old inhabitant told me that there was one Michael New who was particularly irritated at the sobriquet, and that as a boy he used to delight in looking over the hedge and saying " Michael, hav' e' zeed ar'a hedge- pig to-day ? " and Michael would drop his tool and chase him tor a mile. Not infrequently, when one ot these touchy people came out of doors in the morning, he would find a hedge-pig suspended by its hind leg to the latch of his door. This badinage seems to have been carried on especially between the Haselbury Ba-lambs and the Mappowder hedge-pigs. The following amusing incident was told me by my old friend W.M. of Haselbury. OLD VILLAGE JOKES AND GAMES. 9 One day he was at work at Armswell Farm, and there chanced to be two Mappowder men at work there as well. W.M. put up his trap in the cart -house in which a dead lamb was hung up, from which the shepherd fed his dog. When W.M. returned to his cart at dinner time he found a leg of this " Ba-lamb " carefully wrapped up in paper and placed under the seat. W.M. at once spotted the practical joker, and he told me " 1 made up my mind to be up-zides wi'n for this, zo I knocks off me work a bit earlier and drives back through Mappowder. I knocks at the door of his cottage and out comes his missus. Good evenen', Mam, says I, look'ee here, I owes yer man a turn zo I 've brought 'en a leg o'lamb and you'll let 'en hav' it when he comes home." Of course the poor soul was pro- foundly thankful for so handsome a present, and W.M. drove on. The sequel is hidden in mystery, but let us hope that the Mappowder man did not find the leg ready cooked for his supper on his return from Armswell. The term " Gip " does not seem to have been so resented. One day an old inhabitant was explaining to me that he was not a MappowTder man, but a Sherburnian wrho had been sent to Mappowder by " Old Squire Digby," when he bought the estate. I asked him where his Missus came from, and his reply was, " Oh, she wrer' a true Gip." HASELBURY BA-LAMBS. I have had some difficulty in tracing the origin of this. My friend W.M.x who would yarn to me as long as I liked to listen about Mappowder hedge -pigs, became delightfully ignorant directly I touched on the origin of Haselbury Ba-lambs, and it was only recently that I have been able to ascertain this through the assistance of Mrs. Topp, who obtained it from Martha Legg, an old bed-ridden woman of Mappowder. This was her statement : " In an old house that was next to Mr. Carter's shop near the Antelope there lived a man by the name of C., who had been a gentleman's servant, but he had lost his character and situation and was very lazy. One day 10 OLD VILLAGE JOKES AND GAMES. he stole a sheep from the field below the Cow-stall. The con- stable traced the sheep to his house and found it hung up and dressed in his back-house. He got 5 or 7 years in gaol. Also one T.R. stole a cow and drove her to Exeter and sold her. He got seven years. From this, Haselbury men of that generation got a bad name for sheep stealing and cattle lifting, and Mappowder men retaliated on them by nicknaming them " Ba-lambs." I have hitherto been unable to trace the origin of " Buckland nanny-goats " or " Pulham hogs," but " Hoi well men " and " Caundle dogs " seem to have originated from the prowess of the men of these villages in the rough games of cudgel-playing and cut-leg, and there appears to have been a great rivalry between the men of these villages for the championship. Two OLD GAMES. CUDGEL-PLAYING AND CUT -LEG. This brings me to the second part of my paper as to the games of cudgel-playing and cut-leg. These old games pro- bably came into vogue when the more brutal combats of the tournay died out, and possibly helped to maintain the fighting qualities of our country-folk which proved such a valuable asset in our Continental wars. The game of cudgels was " played," mark you, with a weapon about three feet long and an inch in diameter, made of ash. I have been unable to obtain an original cudgel, but Mr. Old, of Bishop's Caundle, who has seen them, has kindly reproduced a pair for me, which I now show. Some cudgels have basket hand-guards, and some only a leather thong-lcop to go round the wrist. Wm. Loder, of Pollbridge, Bishop's Caundle, who died in 1909 at a great age and had seen the game " played," gave me the following information. CUDGEL-PLAYING. It was generally " played " at the Pulham, Holwell and Caundle feasts. The modus operandi was to construct a plat- form of the tables used at the feast, resting them either on beer OLD VILLAGE JOKES AND GAMES. 11 barrels or trestles. The challenger would ascend the platform and throw down his cap, and his opponent would mount and pick it up. Evidently, a remnant of the knightly challenge by throwing down a glove. Hitting below the knee was forbidden, and the attack was made more especially on the body between the knee and neck, and the object was to wind or double up an opponent ; when this was accomplished the victor was entitled to cut his opponent across his head with the sharp edge of the top of the cudgel, which was especially cut across level for the purpose. As soon as blood was drawn the game was won. Also, if the cudgel were knocked out of an opponent's hand it counted a game. The game was " played " at Bishop's Caundle on a piece of waste land near a large oak where Giles Lane, Brown's Street, and Pound Lane meet. In his younger days Mr. Old had seen the game " played " there. Of the last generation of cudgel players in that district, the most noted was John Combes, of Lower Buckshaw, who was known as Tallyho Combes. Mr. Old told me that when he put him into his coffin he noticed that his ribs on the left side were battered in and the centre of his chest forced out of position, through having been continually hammered in the " play." Next came Mr. Stephen Spicer, John Ryall, of Caundle Mill, two keepers by names of Tite and Loder, and Mr. Wm. Jesty, who was a lime-burner. Tallyho Combes, who was admittedly champion, was an extra- ordinarily active man ; he was reputed to be capable of standing against a five -barred gate with both hands in his pockets and springing over without any run. The following quaint entry appears in the Bishop's Caundle Parish Register, 1789 — " Antony Notley, 63 — after nine days illness, a stout robust man, and had been famous for his prowess among the heroes of the cudgel, good in his temper and understanding." The Notleys occupied Fontleroi Farm in Caundle Marsh parish for several generations, and their tenancy terminated at 1856. Sherborne was also a noted centre for cudgel " playing," and the days on which the Lenthay races took place were 12 OLD VILLAGE JOKES AND GAMES. further popularized by bouts of cudgel " play " before and after the races. Through the kindness of Mr. Wingfield Digby I am able to exhibit a poster dated August 1817; announcing the race meetings. After advertising the race meetings the poster announces " Cudgelling ; to be played for by young gamesters. A purse of three guineas each Day. To mount the stage precisely at Ten o'clock or no Play." The play on the first day took place in front of the old Town Hall and the stage was set up in front of the steps to the Abbey, about the spot where the weighbridge now stands, and on the second day the bout was on Green Hill in front of the old Angel Hotel, which was a noted posting house and stood where the Rev. H. Dunkin's School House now is. William Barrett, who died recently, aged 88, remembered these games well. His descriptions coincide with those of Mr. Old and Wm. Loder, except that sometimes the combatants played with two cudgels each, but the one held in the left hand was used only as a guard, answering to the shield of former days. When only one cudgel was used the player's left arm was strapped behind his back, presumably to prevent its being broken and to present a better target of the ribs. The town crier, who held office under the lord of the manor of Sherborne, acted as " master of ceremonies " and announced the commencement of the " play " with his bell. The chal- lenger then mounted the platform and threw down his cap, which was duly taken up by his opponent. When blood had been drawn from the head of one of the combatants, the crier rang his bell and cried " Another man's head broken, another man wanted." The last crier thus to act as master of the ceremonies was William Simmonds, who died in 1865. Four generations of Simmonds held this office, and through the kindness of Mr. Archdall Ffooks, the steward of the manor, I am able to exhibit photographs of the last two of these im- portant personages, not indeed announcing " another man's head broken," but the advent to the town of a big supply of mackerel from West Bay. There was always a great rivalry OLD VILLAGE JOKES AND GAMES. 13 between Sherburnians and " players " from Hermitage and Holnest, who \vere men of great repute at the game. Barrett's father was a doughty player, and he told me that he remembered seeing his father crack three men's heads in a morning and then go to Lenthay races as if nothing had hap- pened. The cudgel playing at Sherborne was for many years kept going through the patronage of Squire Gordon otLewTeston, Mr. Warry, who lived at the Manor House, Sherborne, and one of the Penny family, but it was very much opposed by the then Vicar, the Rev. James Parsons, and I understood from Barrett that quite a feud existed in the parish between the supporters of the respective parties. Mrs. Griffiths, now aged 86, who is a daughter of Crier Simmonds, tells me that towards the end the game was so opposed that when a. "bout" had been arranged, posters announcing the games were printed anonymously. A rap would come at her father's door (he was bill-poster as well as crier), and on opening it a bundle of posters with the money for posting them would be found left on the step by some mysterious person who had disappeared ; but, she added, " of course father knew where they came from." Since reading this paper Mr. Stride, of Hinton St. Mary, has informed me that in that village there lives an old man named John Hames, aged 80, whose grandfather, bearing the same names, was noted as being the best in his day with the Cudgels. Mr. Stride writes : "It appears that no one would stand up to him for miles around. His fame grew so, that he eventually met in the Market Place at Blandford all ' dons ' of the time from all Dorset, and for breaking the most heads he became the Champion of Dorset and won a silver Mug which is inscribed JOHN HAMES, Hinton St. Mary. Won this Mug at Cudgels at Blandford, August 10th, 1803." The present John Hames owns and greatly treasures this cup. 14 OLD VILLAGE JOKES AND GAMES. CUT-LEG. The game of '' cut-leg " was played with hazel rods about the size of one's finger and a yard long. With these the com- l.; it. -nits slashed each others' legs below the knees ; no blows were allowed above the knee, and the man who could stand it the longest won the game. Old Wm. Loder told me that in his younger days he used to cut rods for " the players " and whilst the combat was on he used to stand " wi' a bundle under me yarm " and hand out fresh rods to the combatants as they required them. Loder stated that a man that could use both hands alike had a great advantage at this game, as with his right hand he could damage his opponent's left leg and then change over and attack his right leg. The combatants were usually dressed in knee breeches and old-fashioned light blue and white stockings, and Loder told me that he had seen the knee breeches of George and Joe Warren, who were great fighters, " bust open " below the knee from the swelling caused by the blows. I believe that cut-leg was also played at the Lenthay race meetings at Sherborne, but only as a secondary game. " WROSTLEN." In Devonshire the corresponding amusement seems to have been " Wrostlen Matches ;" but true wrestling had nothing to do with the game. The procedure was as follows : — The com- batants were dressed in knee-breeches and stockings, and boots with thick soles ; but no nails were allowed in them. Each " player " then placed his hands on his opponent's shoulders and got a grip, and they then proceeded to kick each other's shins as hard as they could, and the man who stood it longest won the game. A former foreman on the Sherborne Castle estate, a Devonshire man, had been a great player at this game, and was proud to show his scarred shins in evidence of his prowess, and my late brother once saw it " played " at an Inn at a village near Okehampton. This would have been about the year 1870. The landlord of that Inn was a great OLD VILLAGE JOKES AND GAMES. 15 " wrestler," and only passed away about two years ago. As nails in the soles were strictly prohibited, it was permissible to harden the leather of the soles artifically, so as to give it as good a cutting edge as possible. The prescription of one of the above combatants to this end was to soak the soles of his boots well in bullock's blood and then dry them off. I have been given to understand that the scarred head of a Dorset "player" and the scarred shins of a Devon "wrostler" were as much the subject of pride as the scarred cheeks of a German officer who had been wounded in his military duels. Such were some of the jokes, pranks, and manly games which enlivened village life before the days of railways and daily papers. It will be seen that we are just on the verge of losing touch with the generation of those who have either participated in or actually seen these sports, and probably the next genera- tion of these villagers will be totally ignorant of these old customs and games. I trust that by thus putting on record such of the remnants as can now be scraped together, it may at least pass on to those who come after us some insight into the doings of our forebears. ;2t Dorset £Etorti)t), Htillum *tonc, Bopaiist ani Otbinc* (1615*1685,) By the Rev. Canon J. M. J. FLETCHER, M.A. and R.D. (Read 8th Dec., 1914.) N the "Bidding Prayer " which is said in Wimborne Minster at its annual Commemoration of " Founders, Benefactors and Worthies," for whose memory, benefits and good example humble thanks are given, mention is made of " William Stone (1685), a Minister of this Church, and Principal of New Inn Hall, Oxford, who endowed the Almshouse of St. Margaret's and founded the Library of this Church." From the inscription on his tomb in St. Michael's Church, Oxford, we learn that he was a native of Wimborne ; and, as he was in his seventieth year at the time of his death, A DORSET WORTHY. 17 which took place in the early summer of 1685, it follows that he must have been born about the year 1615.* Without very much doubt it may be assumed that he was the son of Mr. William Stone, M.A., who, from 1601 to 1639, was " Schoole master at Wimborne," or, as he would now be described, Head Master of the Grammar School there. During the greater part of that time, namely, from 1609 to 1637, he also occupied the dignified position of Principal Official of the (Judicial and Testamentary) Court of the Royal Peculiar of Wimborne Minster, which Court was held at the west end of the north aisle of the church. William Stone, the younger, would receive the rudiments of his education under his father's care at the Grammar School in his native town. From thence he proceeded to St. Edmund Hall in the University of Oxford, where he showed himself to be so " distinguished for learning, judgment, and piety (and) so precocious beyond belief in true talent " that, although it was " abundantly his due," his Academical degree had to be postponed for a time because he was not old enough to be permitted to take the necessary oaths which preceded it. In due time, however, on January 6th, 1633, when he was still in his eighteenth year, the degree of B.C.L. was conferred upon him. * Foster (Alumni Oxonienses) confuses him with another William Stone, the son of John, of Hampstead, Herts, who matriculated from Trinity College, in 1623, at the age of 17. And, even during his lifetime, he was confused with still another namesake, for a story was told of him and of a proctor, which, if he had been connected with it, could only possibly have happened provided that he had been a Scholar of his College (and that Magdalen, and not his own), at the early age of three years ! ! Advanced in his studies as Stone was, we cannot claim that he was such an infant prodigy as this would imply. (See Wood's Life and Times, by A. Clark, Oxford, 1891, 5 Vols. (Vol. 1, page 478). Clark adds in a note : — " Well-known stories are often handed down, each generation attaching it to a contemporary, e.g. , the bursar, who got his accounts £1,800 and odd pounds wrong by adding in the year of our Lord at the top of the column, continues to be told of present day bursars (1891)." lg A DORSET WORTHY. At that period, and indeed until about 35 years ago, Wim- borne Minster was in the somewhat peculiar position of having at the same time three "Presbyters," or "Ministers," or " Preachers," with equal authority, each of whom, with his oun clerk, was responsible every third week for the services at the Church. So highly were the character and abilities of young Stone esteemed by the good people of Wimborne that they were desirous that he should become one of their Ministers. And accordingly, in 1641, " as soon as his age permitted," and there was a vacancy on the staff of clergy, " he was appointed to preside over the church of Wimborne, his native place, in satisfaction of the earnest desire of the people." An entry in the Church accounts for the year 1641-2 shows that, in accordance with the usage of the time, a hood was provided for the new clergyman at the cost of the parish : — £ s. d. Paid for a Hoode for Mr. Stone 186 He remained at Wimborne, and ministered with much acceptance to the spiritual needs of the parishioners for some four or five years, before being, as we learn from a contempor- ary Journal, expelled from his benefice and compelled to leave the country, as a consequence of his allegiance to the Royal cause. The following is the introductory article from Mer- curius Academicus for March 2nd, 1645 (-1646).* " You have heard of Mr. Peters the mad Preacher ; If you have not yet heard of Mr. Ford the fighting Preacher, you may take notice of him now. This Ford is a captain under Colonel Bingham, and though an inferior officer to Lieutenant-Colonel Barrett Lacy (commanding at Wareham) and Major William Skutt (commander of the Poole garrison) yet their superior and attended by them in his divine rhapsodies. Yes, Sir Anthony Cooper, too, the baronet, and his brother Major George Cooper think it no disparagement to be disciples of this new Illuminate ; * Mrnin, though not of the highest order. The cranial capacity of modern Europeans averages 1,500 cubic centimetres, of Australian Bushmen it is 900, of the gorilla 500, but the highest specimens of the lower classes overlap the lowest of the class above. Very Early Man is sometimes called the " River Drift Man," because his flint implements are found in the high level plateau gravels left by rivers which then flowed at a level several hundred feet higher than their present channels, thus indicating enormous denudation before the valleys were scooped out as they are now. Somewhat later he is known as the " Cave Man," because his remains are found in the lower levels of the caves where he found shelter. Here, again, is evidence of very great lapse of time, for these paleolithic remains in caves are covered over with many feet thickness of stalagmite which must have taken millenniums to accumulate, and with other beds which in turn contain the traces of later stages of human progress. How did this very Early Man live ? Evidently by hunting. There was a struggle for existence, man trying to escape being eaten, and in one way or another finding enough to eat. During the later Tertiaries, animals wrere beginning to be much the same as they are found now in various parts of the world. For instance, the elephant was here in the pliocene period, but with the cold of the pleistocene it was replaced by the mammoth or hairy elephant, lately extinct, but occasionally found frozen in Siberia. Of the co- existence of man and mammoth we have interesting evidence, viz., pieces of ivory on which man has engraved a likeness, and a very good likeness, of the mammoth. Paleolithic man, as represented by some of the races of this period, was an artist, and striking evidence of this is furnished by France. He may have believed that by means of his drawings and carvings he could exercise a magical influence over the animals which he hunted, and, perhaps, by which he was hunted. If so, his work had a utilitarian object, but EARLY MAN IN DORSET. 31 it also possesses much artistic merit. In other respects he is not interesting. He had no pottery and no domestic animals. He neither buried nor burned his dead, but presumably left their bodies to be eaten by wild beasts. In these two respects, his artistic capacity and his treatment of the dead, he resembled the modern Esquimaux ; I do not know if any other link of connection has been found. It is a fact, and a striking one, that man, even if he existed in the previous warm and temperate periods, did not come to the front till the glacial epochs. In a warmer climate he had less chance in the struggle for existence with the lower animals. Perpetual snow and ice gave him his opportunity. He could better adapt himself to the changes in outward conditions. He clothed himself with the skins of the animals he had slain. He learned to light a fire, probably by chipping flints. So he proved himself the fittest to survive. One of the chief points to realise in connection with the pleistocene period is its enormous length, as measured by years. Certainly it lasted for hundreds of thousands of years, perhaps for a million. In the next place both altitude and climate varied greatly. At one time Britain was continental. At another time North Welsh mountains 2,000 feet high were sunk to sea level. There were true glacial epochs, characterised by intense cold, and inter- glacial epochs when the partial melting of snow and frozen ground must have caused rapid denudation. I believe our chalk downs owe their steep contours to the conditions which prevailed when glaciers were retreating northward. It must have been an uncomfortable land to inhabit, but somehow man did manage to live in it and to make more progress than he had made under less arduous conditions. I have not found it easy to ascertain indisputable facts about the earliest human bones found in Britain, but many interesting discoveries have recently been made and have given rise to no small amount of controversy. The " earliest known Englishman " may be represented by the skull found at Piltdown, Sussex. But there is an 32 EARLY MAN IN DORSET. extraordinary difference of opinion in regard to the reconstruction of this skull, one authority, Professor Keith, making the brain occupy 1,600 cubic centimetres, as large as that of a modern European ; another, Dr. Smith Woodward, making it 1,100, only just human. Another claimant to the title of our earliest countryman is the " Ipswich " man, and a little later comes the " Galley Hill Man.'" These remains were certainly discovered in interglacial beds, but, of course, everything depends on these remains belonging to the bed in which they are found and not being interments of a later date. The utmost care is taken to ascertain that the soil above is undisturbed, but it is difficult to get evidence that satisfies everybody. Here I must leave this introduction to my main subject and come without further delay to Early Man in Dorset. Let us see how his remains fit into the framework we have constructed, and how we may understand the real interest there is in the fresh discoveries and investigations that are continually being made. River Drift implements, un- questionably of pleistocene age, have been found at Dewlish and at Hawkchurch, and that is all that Sir Bertram Windle in his useful book, Remains of the Prehistoric Age in England, gives us credit for. But the High Plateau gravels of East Dorset are very rich in flint implements of a rude and early type. Moreover, it is quite easy to find in these beds flints which have been subjected to a long-continued action from fire, and this can only have happened in connection with human habitations. In the excursion of the Bournemouth Natural Science Society on May 23, 1914, we at once found these burnt flints in a gravel pit. Unfortunately none of these finds can be said to be found in any definite horizon, for the Plateau gravels are the deposit of huge floods which have swept the materials down from higher levels and must have shuffled them in this process like a pack of cards. An extremely interesting find was lately made by two boys of Sherborne School, let us hope within the borders of the county, and exhibited when the South-Eastern Union of EAELY MAN IN DORSET. 33 Scientific Societies held their Congress at Bournemouth. This was a fragment of a horse's rib on which was a paleolithic engraving of a horse's head, the second example, only, of paleolithic pictorial art found in England. Our county possesses no caves. Did the glaciers of these glacial epochs extend as far south as Dorset ? The orthodox teaching of the Geological Survey and the principal textbooks say that they extended no further than the valley of the Thames. This may be true of great glaciers, several hundred feet thick ; but Dr. Colley March has collected abundant evidence of the action of snow and ice in Dorset, and this is now recognised by the members of the Survey. We should further remember that the glaciers would retreat and advance, as a series of epochs would be distinguished by comparative mildness and greater severity of climate ; and then we must use our imagination to help us conceive what life must have been like in those wild times, and how Early Man would find his hunting grounds on the skirts of the glaciers and wander over the lands of frost and thaw and flood. THE NEW STONE AGE. There does not seem to have been any violent transition from the Old to the New Stone Age, but the latter is comparatively short, lasting about 10,000 years, say, from 12,000 to 2,000 B.C. The principal race of men whom we can now distinguish are allied to those of the Cromagnon type, and, like them, they are long-headed. This, at least, is true of the skulls found in Dorset, Wilts, and Gloucestershire. But in North Wales another race of men, round-headed, seem to have lived contemporaneously. Neolithic men are not artistic, and have left no pictures. On the other hand, they bury their dead, at any rate their great chieftains, in what are known as Long Barrows, and they sometimes place in the grave valuable tools which afford evidence of their stage of civilization. They make pottery, and keep 34 EARLY MAN IN DORSET. some domestic animals. When we say they polished their implements, this does not mean that they did not continue to use roughly chipped flints as well. Undoubtedly they did this, and it is not always easy to assign a roughly chipped implement to any definite period. What we can say is that there is marked progress in the delicacy of the manufacture of flint tools and weapons, and that these still found a " market " long after the introduction of metals. This was particularly the case with arrow heads. In the Farnham museum there is a human vertebra with a flint arrow head firmly fixed in the front. The deadly arrow must have passed through the man's body and have been arrested by the bone. When art appears in later Neolithic days it furnishes no representations of human or animal life, such as we find in paleolithic times. Neolithic Art is geometrical ornamentation. It is an imitation of thong work, basket work, and other forms which the eye had been accustomed to see and expected to see. A Neolithic cupped stone was found in a barrow at Came, Dorset. Pottery is abundant, but it is rough and made without the potter's wheel. Potteries have been discovered in the New Forest, but they may belong to the Bronze Age. Dorset is well supplied with Long Barrows, the most important being at Bere Regis, Chettle, Eastbury, Gussage, Kingsdown, Badbury Rings, Litton Cheney, Pimperne, Tarrant Hinton, and Worbarrow. In every case a cell or hut was first built of the largest stones available. Sometimes there is a central passage with cells on either side. After one or more interments had taken place, a huge mound of earth was heaped up over the whole. In some localities, especially on sloping ground, the earth would in course of time be washed away and nothing Isft but the great stones, then called a "dolmen." Neolithic man is in this way connected with the megalithic or great stone monuments which are found not only in Europe, but over North Africa , and as far afield as India and Japan. He reared EARLY MAN IN DORSET. 35 the Stone Circles as temples of worship. Of these, Avebury is by far the largest and also one of the oldest examples in our own country. Stonehenge probably represents two periods of erection. In its later grandeur it belongs to the very end of the Stone Age, when Bronze was just beginning to be used, about 2,000 B.C. In Dorset we have some fine specimens of dolmens. There is one in ruins alongside the Dorchester-Bridport Road, another known as " The grey mare and her colts " is at Gorwell, Blackdown, and a third, "The Two Gates " is on the disused Roman portion of the road from Dorchester to Bridport. The " Helstone," above Portesham, has been restored as a dolmen, but seems to have been originally a round barrow. Other megalithic remains in the county are " The Broad Stone," a fallen menhir or pillar, near Winterbourne Abbas, " The Harpstone," near Steeple, and another menhir near Kingston Russell, the two latter being still upright. Then there are small stone circles, the best known, perhaps, being " The Nine Stones," near Winterbourne Abbas, and there are similar remains at Osmington Hill, on Tenant Hill, Kingston Russell, at Rempstone, and near Longbredy Gate. The county is abundantly supplied with " pit dwellings," and when the Ordnance Survey indicates a " British Village," this generally means a Neolithic settlement, especially if it is not situated within an entrenchment. It is, however, quite possible that some of the Hill-top camps, of which \ve shall speak directly, were begun by Neolithic man, the ramparts being afterwards much strengthened by his successors. We are safe in calling these camps " British" and " pre-Roman," and undoubtedly the great diggers belong to the Bronze Age ; more than this is mere conjecture. Finally, we may say of Neolithic man that he belonged to the Mongoloid Division of the Human Family, and is probably now represented by the Lapps of Northern Europe. 36 EARLY MAN IN DORSET. THE BRONZE AGE. The Bronze Age begins about 2,000 B.C. and lasts till about 600 B.C. The introduction of metals for tools is an epoch-making event, and it soon led to enoimous further improvements. The earliest tools were made of almost pure copper, but tha art of alloying with tin led to the production of an extremely hard bronze, capable of receiving a very fine cutting edge, and the arts ot casting and forging were developed to a high pitch of perfection. These arts were practised by a new race of men. Their skulls show that they were round headed. They were a taller, stronger, more warlike race. Probably we can identify them at first with the Iberians or Basques or Picts, and certainly we can identify them later with the Celtic tribes of the Aryan Family. They swept away the Neolithic Mongoloids with a ruthlessness even greater than that which they themselves experienced at the hands of later invaders. For more than 2,000 years they inhabit the land, and are the people we know as Ancient Britons. The tribes inhabiting Dorset \voiv called the Durotriges, a word meaning " The Dwellers by the Water." They buried their dead in Round Barrows, of which there are many hundreds in the county, more particularly in the Ridgeway district, and it is convenient to remember that long heads generally go with long barrows and round heads with round barrows. Moreover, they often, though not always, burned their dead before burial. Clearly, they believed in some kind of immortality of the soul rather than in a continued underground existence of the body, as suggested by the cells in the Long Barrows. They buried a man's best property with him, and so our finds in Round Barrows are extremely rich. Our local museums, especially at Dorchester and Farnham, contain magnificent collections of such objects. Pottery is abundant and better made than the Neolithic. But it is burnt in an open fire, not in a kiln, is not properly glazed, and is made without the aid of the potter's wheel. By far the most EARLY MAN IN DORSET. 37 imposing remains of the Bronze Age are the Hill-top Camps. In the county we have them at Abbotsbury, Badbury Rings, Banbury Hill, Buckland Newton, Buzbury Rings, Cattistock Castle, Cerne Abbas, Coneys Castle, Cranbourne Chase (twelve, in Mr. Sumner's list, which, however, includes some separately mentioned here), The Dungeon, (Middlemarsh), Dudsbury, Eggardon Hill, Flowers Barrow, Gallows Hill, Handley Hill, Hambledon Hill, Hod Hill, Lambert's Castle, Maiden Castle, Minterne Magna, Morden Heath, Nettlecombe Tout, Ower Heath, Pillesdon Pen, Pimperne Down, Poundbury, Poorstock, Rawisbury, Ring's Hill, South Lodge Camp, Spettisbury Rings, Shipton Beacon, Woodbury Hill, Weatherbury, and Woolsbarrow. Here is a fine list, every one of them worth a visit. These places were essentially " Camps of Refuge." They tell a tale of ruthless warfare, when it was necessary for men and women to encounter any hardship, such as lack of water and exposure to the bitterest weather, in order to save their cattle and their own lives. Most of these Camps contain a number of circular depressions indicating Pit dwellings. Some of those on Eggardon Hill were explored by Dr. Colley March and myself. We obtained leave to dig a trench right across several of them, and everywhere found the same general plan. There was originally a round hole fourteen feet in diameter at the top and four feet and a half deep, and beneath the floor was a quantity of rubble which served for drainage and prevented the hole becoming a pond. A full account of our explorations is given in Proceedings, Vol. xxii., p. 28. Few objects of interest were found, and nothing to show that the Camp was used for prolonged residence. The Art of the Bronze Age was a development of that of the Neolithic, and consists in geometrical patterns which may be traced back to the patterns originally made by twisted thongs, basket-making, weaving, building with boughs or trunks of trees, and so on. This subject is a very large one, and I must leave it here. 38 EARLY MAN IN DORSET. THE IRON AGE. The introduction of Iron into Britain probably took place about 600 B.C. and the use of the potter's wheel came in about the same time. Mr. E. Torday, who has lately published an interesting account of the negro tribes living on the tributaries of the Congo and entirely unaffected by European influence, found among them smiths well acquainted with the arts of smelting and forging iron. These arts have certainly been practised there for many centuries, and it is conceivable that we owe to the African negro the discovery how to make tools of iron. The conquest of Britain by the Romans was contemplated by Julius Caesar, who landed on this island in 55 and 54 B.C., the serious invasion began under Claudius in 43 A.D., and the occupation of the country was completed by Agricola in 84 A.D. The Hill-top Camps would, of course, be attacked and captured by the Romans, and it is possible that the strongest of them, Maiden Castle, which appears unfinished on one side, really was unfinished when it was taken by the invader. After capturing these forts the Romans would take care that they never again became the strongholds of an enemy, and in the great fortress on Hod Hill they made a small inner Camp in one corner for their own garrison. But this was quite exceptional. These Camps of Refuge were not needed after the establishment of the Pax Romana. Roman roads run near them, sometimes quite close to them, but without running into them, as the roads run into Silchester and wherever we have a town with a name compounded of " castrum." The Romans placed their camps on fairly level ground, where there was convenient access to water and good pasture. These grew into our modern towns, and the Romano-British settlements will be found, as in London, buried many feet below the present surface. There is, however, a district, largely in Dorset, which was inhabited during the Iron Age far more densely than it is now. This is Cranbourne Chase, the earthworks of which EARLY MAN IN DORSET. 39 have lately been splendidly illustrated by Mr. Heyvvood Sumner. In Shaftesbury we have a Hill-top town which has lasted as such from Ancient British days till now, and there are three villages, Ashmore, Whitsbury, and Woodyates, which have a similar continuity of history. With these exceptions, the Saxon conquerors of a later date abandoned the British sites, whose remains, save for weathering and agricultural operations, remain fairly intact. They show that the wide and windswept downs of the Chase were a sort of Metropolitan area for Southern Britain, the surface being free from the swamp and tangled forest wrhich made much of the country uninhabitable. The great explorer of the Romano -British villages is, of course, the late General Pitt-Rivers, whose monumental works must be studied by all who care for the subject. ROMAN ROADS belong to this period, and Dorset possesses an extremely fine example in the Ackling Dyke. This name is a corruption of Icknield, the name of the via which ran from Norfolk to Sarum, and continued south to near Badbury Rings, where it divides ; the eastern branch reaches the sea at Hamworthy, the western goes by Bere Regis to Dorchester and thence by Bridport to Exeter. The remains of the Ackling Dyke where it crosses Cranborne Chase are most instructive. Mr. Sumner gives us the following layers of which it is built up. We find, beginning from the top (1) surface mould, 5 inches ; (2) gravel with rounded pebbles, 6 inches ; (3) rammed chalk rubble, 6 inches ; (4) Tertiary gravel, 10 inches ; (5) rammed chalk, 6 inches ; (6) a single layer of nodular flints lying on the old surface line, the total height from which to the top of the road was three feet. Thus the road is built up in a way which suggests that the thing most dreaded, even on these now dry downs, wras swramp. The width must have been considerably greater than it is now, or it could not have been used as a road, at any rate not for wheeled vehicles. The important Roman station, Vindogladia, was on it, probably close by the village of Woodyates. 40 EARLY MAN IN DORSET. Many other dykes whose remains we can now trace may have been thrown up merely as a protection against the wind ; and the desire to secure such shelter will account for the universal tendency to dig which has left such enduring traces all over the Chase. " Grims Ditch " is thought to be a tribal boundary, and other dykes and ditches represent cattle enclosures. The Romans were not generous in their treatment of their British subjects ; no British names occur among those holding office or exercising power. Little was done to train them for self-defence. The Roman Legions were finally withdrawn, in 418 A.D. according to Bede, to stem the tide of Teutonic invasion, and soon the Britons were engaged in a desperate struggle with these same invaders. That struggle has left an indelible scar across Cranborne Chase in Bokerly Dyke. This is a great intrenchment which rambles in a most irregular and perplexing manner over the downs, showing the sort of thing the Britons would do when deprived of Roman supervision. No doubt it served its purpose as a defence for a while. We hear of a great battle fought at Mons Badonicus, which is almost certainly Badbury Rings. This held back the Saxon from 520 till 552 A.D. But then the tide of Saxon conquest rolled on, and with this I must close my sketch of " Early Man in Dorset." By W. RALPH G. BOND. (Read IQth Feb., 1915.) |T may come as a surprise to some members of the Field Club to learn that all of them have probably at some time or another performed