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ATURALISTS’ PIELD CLUB. 


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en 


'.G. Smith, de 


TRANSACTIONS 


NATURALISTS FIELD CLUB. 


(ESTABLISHED MDCCCLL.) 
iS GeO. 


“ Hore on—Hope EVER.” 


HEREFORD : 


PRINTED AT THE “‘TIMES” OFFICE, MAYLORD STREET. 
MDCCCLEX. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
eD1Ge— 


THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE YEAR, 1869. 


———_——_ 


OrFiceRS, MEMBERS, AND. RULES. 


Tue RETIRING ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT .....-0eccceceeeeseerseeeeeess pages i.-xvi. 


THE WALL HILLS AND LEDBURY MEETING ..... otf ere pages 1-26 
4 The Geology of the District, by the Rev. W. S. Symonds, F. GS , 6. 
Se : —The Entrenchment of Wall Hills, by Edwin Lees, Esq., F.L.S. 
9.——Mistletoe-oak and Asarabacca at Deerfold Forest, by Dr. 
Bull, 15—(See also p. 164 ef seq.)—On the Distribution of 
Animals, by the President, 18. 


a THE PONTRILAS MEETING.......:0ccecsesessersrecentessessen sree pages 27-50 
q be Ewyas Harold, its Name and Castle, by Dr. Bull, 28.—The Geology 
: of the District, by Dr. M‘Cullough, 34.—New Fossils, and King- 
a? fisher’s Nest, 38.—Onthe Species of Scolytus, by Dr. T. Algernon 
Chapman, 43.—An Oak Tree Struck by Lightning, by the Rev. 
A. Gray, 49. 
THE LupLOw AND DownToN CASTLE MEETING .....ceecereeneeeereees pages 51-84 


Brindgewood Forge, by Dr. Bull, 54.—Richard Payne Knight and 
Thomas Andrew Knight, 57.—The Passage Beds at Tin Mills, 
60—anda Sketch of Geological Time by Robert Lightbody, Esq., 
F.G.S., 65—Saponaria vacearia, 70.—Rare Birds in Hereford- 
shire, by Arthur Armitage, Esq., and the Rev. Clement Ley, 71. 
Ditto, by W. Lloyd, 78 (see also p. 158,)—On Bats, by James 
Rankin, Esq., 81. ; 


ME MEETING AT USK ....cecceesecrecsscrecsscrssssennsssnenseecennnenssse sree! pages 85-105 
Spheroidal Structure in Silurian Rocks, by the Rev. J. D. La 
Touche, 88.—Meteorology, by Balfour Stewart Li.D., F-B.S., 
&e., 94.—On the Chrysides Parasitic on Odynerus Spinipes, by 
Elmes Y. Steele, Esq., 99. 


Tue FoRAY AMONGST THE FUNGUSES, FROM HEREFORD .....-.0-+ pages 106-136 
Election of Officers for 1870, 106.—Haywood Forést and its Funguses, 
407.—Richardson’s forces of Electrical Discharge, by Mr. With, 
114.—Illustrations of Edible Funguses of Herefordshire, by 
Dr, Bull, 117.—Discussion on Fairy Rings, 128, 


(TABLE OF CONTENTS, CONTINUED. ) 


MPEH CA NNUAD, QMBRTING cuccsn5.dercceh vo0 odes cpieoctelaseessissassnescie gateways pages 137-232 

Cortinarius russus, 139.—Meteorological Observations and Tables, 
by E. J. Isbell, Esq., 140.—The Hereford Mappa Mundi, 152.— 
List of Bredwardine Birds, by the Rev. R. Blight, 158.—Life 
History of Abdera bifasciata, by Dr. T. Algernon Chapman, 161. 
The Ancient Forest of Deerfold, by Dr. Bull, 164. — The 
Lollards in Herefordshire, 168.—Clavis Agaricinorum, by Wor- 
thington G. Smith, Esq., F.L.8., 193,—And a complete list of 
British Agarics, 222. 


FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE CLUB FOR 1869. 


LisT OF OFFICERS AND FIELD Days APPOINTED FOR 1870. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 
COP EMITS FOLASUS I cnc sce teh et od ese den’ sia'ese ae dhecpapntices Frontispiece. 
The Haywood Forest Oak (photograph) .............:0cc.-ceeneeseees To face page xvi. 
The Mistletoe-Oak of Deerfold Forest (lithograph)............... m4 15 
The Tibberton Oak (photograph) ..............0.sseccsssenesseesevennns Ns 26 
Sketch in colours of Saponaria Vaccwrid......cc.ccccseecsesecer serves as 70 
Do. do. Hyd repandum,....cccecccsceceeseeeeeveeees df 121 
Do. do. FUstulind REPAUCH. ..2scsavenasiveceiaccavecavers or 123 
Do. do, Agaricus orcella and Ag. prunulus ......... ‘8 125 
Lithographs of Deerfold Chapel Farm-house (interior and 
exterior), and Ground-plan...............eceeeeeeeeee ees Between pages 182 and 183 
Tabular View of Fungus genera ... .........cccccecccececneeeeceeeaens To face page 194 
Five Tinted Illustrations do., in series ..............0000005 Between pages 200 and 201 


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‘, oF 


OFFICERS FOR THE YEAR 


1869. 


President: 


James Rankin, Esq., M.A., Bryngwyn, Hereford. 


‘Vice-Presidents: 
Joun H. Arxwricut, Esq., Hampton Court. 
Artuur Armitace, Esq., Dadnor Court, Ross. 
The Rev. James Davies, M.A., Moor Court, Kington.. 
Dr. M’Cuttoven, Larchfield, Abergavenny. 


Honorary Secretary: 
The Rey. Sir Gro. H. Cornewatt, Bart,, Moccas, Hereford.. 


Central Committee: 
Dr. Butt, Hereford. 


T. Curtey, Esq., F.G.S., Hereford. 
Joun Lioyp, Esq., Huntington Court, Hereford. 


Assistant Secretary and Treasurer: 


Mr, Artuur THompson, St. Nicholas Street, Hereford. 


LIST OF HONORARY MEMBERS, 


Sir William Jardine, Bart., F.R.S., &c., &c., Jardine Hall, Dumfriesshire. 
Sir Charles Lyell, Bart., M.A., F.R.S., &c., London. 

Sir Roderick I. Murchison, Bart., F.R.S., &c., 16, Belgrave Square, London, 
George Bentham, Esq., President of the Linnean Society, &c., London. 
G. Phillips Bevan, Esq., F.G.S., 4, Suffolk Square, Cheltenham. 

Rev. P. B. Brodie, M.A., F.G.S., Rowington Vicarage, Warwick: 

Flavell Edmunds, Esq., Hereford. 

W. Henry Fitton, Esq., M.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., &c. 

Dr. H. B. Geinitz, Professor of Geology, &c., Dresden. 

Edwin Lees, Esq., F.L.S., F.G.8., &c., &c:, Worcester. 

R. M. Lingwood, Esq., F.G.S., &c., Cowley House, Exeter, 

Professor W. Melville, Queen’s College, Galway, Ireland 

Professor John Phillips, F.R.S., F.G.S., Oxford, 

Rev. W. H. Purchas, Falkner Street, Gloucester. 

Rev. Professor A. Sedgwick, B.D., F.R.S., &c., University, Cambridge. 


Worthington G. Smith, Esq., F.L.S8., 12, North Grove West, Mildmay Park, 
London. 


Sir W. V. Guise, Bart., F.G.S., &c., Elmore Court, Gloucester, President of the 
Cotteswold Naturalists’ Field Club. 


W. H. Paine, Esq., Stroud, Honorary Secretary of the Cotteswold Naturalists’ 
Field Club. 


Rev. W. S. Symonds, F.G.S., Pendock Rectory, Tewkesbury, President of the 
Malvern Naturalists’ Field Club. 


Rev. R. P. Hill, Broomesberrow, Ledbury, Hon. Secretary. 
The President of the Warwickshire Naturalists’ Field Clnb. 


The President and Hon. Secretary of the Oswestry and Welshpool Naturalists’ 
Field Club. 


The President, Curator, and Hon. Secretary of the Dudley and Midland 
Geological and Scientific Society and Field Club. 


The President and Hon. Secretary of the Severn Valley Field Club. 

The President and Hon. Secretary of the Caradoc Field Club, Shropshire. 
The President and Hon. Secretary of the Worcestershire Naturalist Club. 
Mr, With, Hereford, 


ORDINARY 
1869. 


MEMBERS, 


Adams, Mr. Thomas, 
Adams, W. Esq. 

Allen, B. Haigh, Esq. 
Andrews, Mr. John 
Arkwright, John H., Esq. 
Armitage, Arthur, Esq. 
Aston, William, Esq. 
Banks, R. W., Esq. 
Beavan, Rey. T. M. 
Blashill, Thomas, Esq. 
Bodenham, C. De la Barre, Esq. 
Bowen, J. Mortimer, Esq. 
Bowen, William, Esq. 
Broughton, F., Esq. 

Bull, H. G., Esq., M.D. 
Cam, Thomas, Esq. 

Capel, Rev. Bury. 
Capper, Rev. D. P. 
Capper, R. Harcourt, Esq. 
Clarke, Rev. Samuel. 
Clive, Rev. Archer, M.A. 
Clive, George, Esq. 
Cocking, George, Esq. 
Collins, John Stratford, Esq. 
Colvin, Colonel, C.B. 
Cooke, W. H. Esq., Q.C. 


Cornewall, Rev. Sir G. H., Bart. 


Crouch, Rev. J. F., B.D. 
Curley, T., Esq., C.E., F.G.S8. 
Davis, Isaac, Esq., C.E. 
Davies, James, Esq. 

Davies, Rev. James, M.A. 
Dixon, Rev. Robert, M.A. 
Downing, Mr. J. B. 

Du Buisson, Rev. E., M.A. 
Dumbleton, H., Esq. 

Eld, Rev. F. J., M.A. 
Evans, E. M., Esq. 

Feilden, Lieutenant-Colonel. 
Fowle, Rev. W.C., M.A. 
Fowler, J. T. Owen, Esq. 
Garrold, T. W., Esq. 
George, Rev. D. J., B.A. 
Gray, Rev. Arthur, M.A. 
Greenhow, R. Esq. 
Hanbury, Rev. J. Capel, M.A. 
Harrison, D. R., Esq. 
Hereford, Richard, Esq. 
Hereford, Captain. 
Hereford, Rev. R., M.A. 
Herbert, J. M., Esq. 


Hernaman, Rev. J. W. D., M.A. 


Hill, Rev. H. T., M.A. 
Hoskyns, C. Wren, Esq., M.P. 
Hutchinson, Arthur, Esq. 
Hutchinson, E. 8., Esq. 
Husbands, E. T., Esq. 

Isbell, E. J., Esq. 

Jenkins, H. J., Esq. 

Jones, Rev. A. G., B.A. 


Jones Machen, Rev. J. Edward. 
Jones Thomas, Rev. Wm., M.A. 
Jukes, Rev. J. H., M.A. 
Kempson, F. R., Esq. 

Key, Rev. H. Cooper, M.A., F.R.A.S. 
Lambe, John, Esq. 

Lee, John, Edward, Esq., F.G.8., &c. 
Lightbody, R., Esq., F.G.S. 
Llanwarne, Thomas, Esq. 
Lloyd, Mr. James W. 

Lloyd, John, Esq. 

Martin, C. G., Esq. 
M‘Cullough, D. M., Esq., M.D. 
Merewether, Rev. F., B.C.L. 
Merriman, J. Jones, Esq. 
Morris, J. G., Esq. 

Newton, M., Esq. 

Owen, Evan, Esq. 

Owen, Rev. E. J. 

Palin, Rev. Edward. 

Pateshall, Evan, Esq. 

Phillipps, Rev. Thomas, M.A. 
Phillips, Mr. William. 

Phillott, Rev. H. W., M.A. 
Pitt, Mr. John H. 

Poole, Rev. William, M.A. 
Purchas, Alfred, Esq. 

Rankin, James, Esq, 

Raven, Rev. John. 

Reavely, Rev. F. Fenwick, 8.C.L. 
Robinson, Rev. C. J., M.A. 
Rosher, Lilburn, Esq. 

Salwey, Alfred, Esq. 

Salwey, Humphrey, Esq. 
Scudamore, Colonel. 

Shellard, O., Esq. 

Smith, Rev. Charles (dec). 
Smith, J. E., Esq. 

Smith, Rev. J. Gregory, M.A. 
Smith, R. Vassar, Esq. 
Southall, Mr. H. 

Stanhope, Rev. B. L. 8., M.A. 
Stanhope, Rev. William P. 8., M.A. 
Steele, Elmes Y., Esq. 
Stillingfleet, Rev. H. J. W., M.A. 
Styles, R. H. P., Esq. 
Thirlwall, Rev. T. J. 
Thompson, Mr, Arthur. 

Turner, Thomas, Esq. 

Tweed, Rev. H. W., M.A. 
Vaughan, James, Esq. 

Warner, W. H., Esq. 

Weare, Rev. T. W., M.A. 

West, Rev. Thomas, M.A. 
Westropp, Rev. OC. J., B.A. 
Williams, Captain. 

Williams, Thomas Edward, Esq. 
Wood, J. H. Esq. 

Woodhouse, Rev. Thomas, M.A. 
Wynne, N. 8., Esq. 


NEW MEMBERS ELECTED DURING THE YEAR 


enham, Frederick, Esq. 
mer, John, Esq. 
Carless, Joseph, Esq., jun. 
apman, T. Algernon, Esq., M.D. 
rans, Rev. John, M.A. : 
, Mr. H. 8S. 
ins, Rev. John Rees 5 
rence, David, Esq. 
thews, B., Esq. 


¢ 


1869. 


Pechell, Captain. 

Phillipps, Rev. Alfred. 

Price, Mr. William. 

Symonds, Lieutenant-Colonel. 
Taylor, William, Esq., M.D. 
Truscott, Charles, Esq., jun, 

West, W. H., Esq. — 
Williams, Rev. R. H., B.A. 


Beery Es 


OF THE 


WOOLHOPE NATURALISTS FIELD CLUB. 


I.—That a Society be formed under the name of the 
“ Woo.norr Narurauists’ Fisnp Cuus,’’ for the practical study, in 
all its branches, of the Natural History of Herefordshire and the 
districts immediately adjacent. 


I1.—That the Club consist of Ordinary Members, with such 
Honorary Members as may be admitted from time to time; from 
whom a President, four Vice-Presidents, a Central Committee, 
Treasurer, and Honorary Secretary be appointed at an Autumn 
Meeting for the following year, though they shall not take office 
until after the Annual Meeting to be held at Hereford in the 
early part of each year. The President and Vice-Presidents to 
change annually. 


If1.—The Central Committee shall consist of three members, 
resident in the city or in its immediate vicinity, with the President 
Vice-Presidents, and Honorary Secretary ew-officio. It shall be 
empowered to appoint an Assistant Secretary ; and its duties’ shall 
be to make all the necessary arrangements for the meetings of the 
year, and take the management of the Club during the intervals of 
the meetings. 

TV.—That the members of the Club shall hold not less than 
three Field Meetings during the year, inthe most interesting localities 
for investigating the natural history of the district. That the days 


“~~... 
at 


a a ae 
? . \ 


and places of such regular meetings be selected at the Annual 
Meeting, and that ten clear days’ notice of each be communicated, 
to the Members by a circular from the Secretary; but that the 
Central Committee be empowered, upon urgent occasions, to alter 
the days of such regular Field Meetings, and also to fix special or 
extra Field Meetings during the year. 


V.—That an Entrance Fee of Ten Shillings shall be paid by 
all Members on election, and that the Annual Subscription be Ten 
Shillings, payable on the Ist of January in each year, to the. 
Treasurer, or Assistant Secretary. Each Member may. have the 
privilege of introducing a friend on any of the field days of the 
Club. 

V1.—That the Reports of the several meetings, and all the 
papers read to the Club during the year, be forwarded to the. 
Hereford Times newspaper for publication as ordinary news, and 
that the type be re-set in octavo at the expense of the Club, to form 
(with such additions as may be deemed advisable) the Transactions 


_of the Club. 


VIL.—That the cost of any lithographic or other illustrations 
be defrayed by the author of the paper for which they may be 
required, unless the subject has been taken up at the request of the 
Club, and in that case the cost of such illustration to be paid for 
from the Club funds, must be specially sanctioned at one of the 
general meetings. 

VIUL.—That the President of the year arrange for an address. 
to be given in the field at each meeting, and for papers to be read, 
after dinner; and that he be requested to favour the Club with an 
address at the Annual Meeting, on the proceedings of the year, 
together with such observations as he may deem conducive to the 
welfare of the Club and the promotion of its objects. 

IX.—That all candidates for Membership shall be proposed 
and seconded by existing Members, either verbally or in writing, at 
any meeting of the Club, and shall be eligible to be ballotted for at 
the next meeting, provided there be Five Members present; one 
black ball in Taree to exclude. 


X.—That Members finding rare or interesting specimens, or 
observing any remarkable phenomenon relating to any branch of 
Natural History, shall immediately forward a statement thereof to 
the Hon. Secretary, or to any member of the Central Committee. 

XI.—That the Club undertake the formation and publication 
of correct lists of the various natural productions of the County of 
Hereford, with such observations as their respective authors may 
deem necessary. 

XII.—That Members whose subscriptions shall remain for 
three years in arrear after demand, be held to have withdrawn, 
and their names shall accordingly be omitted from the list of 
Members at the ensuing Annual Meeting. 

XTI.—That the Assistant Secretary do send out circulars ten 
days at least before the Annual Meeting, to all Members who have 
not paid their subscription, and drawing the particular attention of 
all those that may be affected by the operation of Rule XII, to 
that Rule. 


XIV.—That these Rules be printed annually with the Trans. 
actions, for general distribution to the Members. 


SMMC OR, 


- 
7 
¥. 
yi 
a 
4 


ADDRESS OF THE RETIRING PRESIDENT, 


(JAMES RANKIN, ESQ, M.A.) 


READ AT THE ANNUAL MEETING, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1870. 


man OF THE WooLHOPE CLUB—The time has now arrived for fulfilling 
the last of the many pleasant duties which have devolved upon me during 
my year of Presidency, and I gladly embrace this opportunity to say a few 
words on some subjects of special interest to this Society, and also to make 
a few remarks on some topics which have taken up the attention of science in 
general during the last year. 


In the first place it becomes my duty briefly to review the work done by 
our own Society during the season of 1869. Few, I think, will consider that 
the Woolhope Society has retrograded, either in prestige or in real work done 
during the past year ; and I am certain of this, that no one who had the oppor- 
tunity of joining the excursions of the Club, will look back on those days except 
as days of enjoyment and of profit. 


The Field days of 1869, in one important element for their success, were 
singularly fortunate; the weather—that glorious uncertainty in our climate— 
was most propitious, and, with the exception of a little haze on the visit to 
Pontrilas, which rather interfered with the full beauty of the landscape, nothing 
was left to be desired. 

Thanks to our talented Editor, the physical and social aspects of our field 


days will appear so fully, so accurately, and so interestingly reported in our 
forthcoming volume of Transactions, that I feel it quite unnecessary to enter on 


ii. 


that subject, and will, therefore, pass on at once to review the varied scientific 
work which has come under our notice during the year 1869. 


Taking the various departments of science in order, I will first notice 
that seience which, perhaps, is of the most general interest to members of this 
Society, namely, 


GroLocy.—On this subject our Society has been favoured with several 
important and interesting papers and field addresses. At our first meeting the 
Rey. Mr. Symonds, President of the Malvern Club, in his field address, ably 
pointed out the ancient date and conformation of the Malvern Hills, and how 
the rocks which form the basis of that range of hills are probably coeval with 
the Laurentian rocks of Canada, which may be looked upon as the lowest known 
sedimentary rocks. As yet,the Malvern Hill rocks have failed to afford any 
traces of organic remains, but investigation by the members of the Malvern Club 
may, perhaps, bring to light some Eozoon, something similar to what has been 
found in Canada. 


It is also interesting to know that even at that early date the working of 
volcanic action must have been something like what is at the present day in 
some of the intermittent volcanoes. 


Mr. Symonds’ remarks upon the formation and subsequent denudation of 
the old red sandstones of Herefordshire, point to studies of the greatest interest, 
and I am convinced that no greater aid to the science of geology can possibly 
be afforded to members of this Society than by the careful investigation of the 
phenomena connected with the physical conditions of the formation of ancient 
strata; and I doubt not but that such researches will go to the further establish- 
ment of the great physical probability, that the workings of Nature in primeval 
days were similar to what they are at the present day. 


At our second meeting at Pontrilas we were much indebted to Dr. 
M’Cullough for his interesting remarks on Cornstones, and I doubt not, 
systematic geologists will not be slow to avail themselves of his clear and well 
defined divisions of concretionary and conglomerate cornstones ; and I am sure 
the Club will feel greatly obliged to Dr. M’Cullough if he will continue his 
investigations both on the chemical and palceontological composition of the 
cornstones. 


The Society has also to thank the Doctor for bringing to light some new 
and interesting fossils. 


On the Ladies’ day, at Downton Castle, Mr. Lightbody gave us his ex- 
cellent paper on Geological Time, and in it has given a very perfect epitome of 
the sequence of the earth’s strata, and when we consider the time which even 
the most recent formations, such for instance as the delta of the Nile, have taken 
to become what they are now, our minds ave lost in utter bewilderment at the 
length of time this earth must have been rolling on, unceasing changes going 
forward the while upon its surface. As Mr. Lightbody justly observes, geology 


oe 


# 


ee oe 


ill. 


deals with time as astronomy deals with space, and to both sciences are we 
greatly indebted for the ideas of grandeur and magnitude which they give us of 
creation, the one indicating space so immense as to require hundreds of thousands 
of years for even that most swift of travellers, Light, to go from one body to 
another, and the other telling us of the lapse of time sufficient even for such 
distant bodies to become visible to each other, both proving to any reasonable 
and reasoning mind that this earth is but a part of a magnificent design. 


To Mr. Lightbody too this Society is much indebted for his papers on the 
Passage Beds between the Silurian and Old Red Systems, and I trust seme active 
member will take his suggestion and carefully work the subject up. 


At our Usk meeting, beyond the finding some good though somewhat 
mutilated specimens of the Homolanotus, the characteristic Trilobite of the 
Silurian Rocks at Usk, the chief geological work of the day was Mr. La Touche’s 
able paper on Spheroidal Structure in Silurian Rocks. This structure is not, 
I believe, by any means confined to Silurian rocks but occurs frequently in rocks 
of other formations. The explanation given by Mr. La Touche of the cause of 
this peculiar structure seems to be of a chemical nature, namely, the centrali- 
zation and concentric rearrangement of the lime particles of a rock mass, this 
motion being induced by some internal molecular attraction. This explanation 
seems probable as regards nodules or small masses of rock, but I should be 
inclined to refer any large spheroidal structure, especially where, as Mr. La 
Touche remarks, ‘“‘there is no apparent difference whatever between the character 
of the nodule and the surrounding rock,” to physical and mechanical causes, 
for it is well known that any rock exposed to the action either of aqueous or 
aérial forces becomes rounded in form, the resisting corners having been taken 
off. Now, if these rounded shaped rocks or stones be again brought into an 
area of deposition, it seems probable that on one side at least the deposit would 
partake of the spheroidal form of what might be called its foundation. The 
ripple marks of a tidal beach might possibly in some instances be the starting 
point. 

Passing onnow to the subject of Borany, we find that this subject has, as 
usual, engaged the attention of several of our most active members, and we have 
had some important notices of new and rare plants. 


Dr. Bull has brought to light another Mistletoe Oak, in Deerfold Forest ; 
and there also, a plant new to Herefordshire, the Asarum Europeum, was found. 
Indeed, these discoveries have led Botanists to look forward with great eagerness 
to our expected excursion to that newly-discovered region. 


- Another new plant has been added this year by Mr. Martin to the Flora 
of Herefordshire, namely, the Saponaria vaccaria (Cow-wort). A capital illus- 
tration of this plant will be given in our volume. It has been found in England 
before in cultivated positions, but has not as yet been admitted into the British 
Flora, nor has it been figured before as a British plant. 


iv. 


It is with much satisfaction that I have to congratulate the Club on the 
prospect of the completion of the Flora of the County, by Mr. Purchas. This 
talented botanist has now kindly consented to prepare for the Club the second 
part of the Flora of Herefordshire, and the committee appointed for its publi- 
cation at our last rheeting have made arrangements which, I trust, will enable 
the Flora to appear in the volume of 1870. 


With regard to Fungology we have once more to thank our indefatigable 
Editor for his labours in this branch. Also many other gentlemen, among the 
foremost of whom I would mention Edwin Lees, Esq., F.L.S., Vice-president of 
the Worcester and Malvern Field Clubs, and Worthington G. Smith, Esq., 
F.L.S., of London, Although the summer of 1869 was singularly unfavourable 
to the production of funguses, yet before our October foray came off plentiful 
showers had brought an abundant harvest of them. At our meeting all who saw 
it must have been gratified by the splendid exhibition of funguses which was 
held in this room. The remarkable species found last year are so fully named 
and described in our volume that it is needless for me to go over their names, 
especially as those names are somewhat crack-jaw. 


The most important phase perhaps of these researches, at least to the mars 
of mankind, is their economic value. If, as I think most probable, fungus- 
eating becomes general, and this society leads the van in pointing out and 
describing accurately the many good and nutritous kinds which grow about us 
it will have done a great work. 


Edible Funguses, by their chemical constituents, are known to be highly 
nutritious, and in a great degree supply the elements of animal food; but 
hitherto the ignorance of those forms which were wholesome has deterred most 
people from making any use of them beyond the common mushroom. Without 
this practical knowledge it is undeniable that serious mistakes may be made, 
and therefore the great aim for our Fungologists should be to lay down some 
easily comprehended rules for the diagnosis of wholesome species. No better 
method perhaps than carefully drawn and coloured plates, such as appear in 
our Transactions can be devised for giving popular instruction on the subject. 
Those in our present volume bear the inviting names of the Beef Steak, the 
Sweetbread, and the Plum Mushroom. 


The most valuable addition to the resources of the student of Fungology, 
however, is the new Key to the large class of British Agarics, Clavis Agari- 
cinorum, by Worthington Smith, Esq., F.L.S. This key divides this very 
numerous tribe of Funguses into different sections according to the colour of the 
spores, as they may be white, salmon-coloured, brown, purple, or black, and 
by giving an illustrative page, to each colour, upon which the leading typical 
form of Funguses are given, the student is guided in the most ready and satis- 
factory manner to the discovery of the right genus of any particular fungus 
he may have in hand. Mr. Smith has done the Club very great honour, in 


4 
ry 
’ 


Peat * 


Vv. 


giving this valuable addition to science to the public for the first time, in the 
pages of our Transactions. 


I am happy also to be able to state that although we have had no com- 
municution from our Tree Commissioner this year, yet our volume is to be 
graced by photographs of some of the noble trees of the county. 


Before I leave this subject I must briefly notice the interesting discussion 
which took place on Mr. Edwin Lees’ theory of the cause of Fairy Rings. 
Although the learned gentleman failed to convince his audience of the truth of 
his Mole theory, and if I remember aright the views of most of the other 
speakers were against him, yet, we must thank him for bringing forward 380 
interesting a discussion, and I trust before another year this subject may be 
investigated by several of our members, and some definite conclusion arrived at 
on the matter. 


I feel sure that you will all join with me in assuring Mr. Lees that the 
Woolhope Society heartily congratulates him on the well-earned honour which 
the Worcester and Malvern Clubs have paid him, and in the hope that he may 
long live to wear his laurels, to add to the stores of our knowledge in his favourite 
science, and to enjoy, moreover, the unselfish pleasure which it always gives 
him to encourage the study of Natural History in all its branches. 


Passing on to ZooLoGyY, we have on this subject several good papers which 
have been given to the society, and being the branch of natural science in which 
I feel most interest, I sincerely hope that future years may see it absorb and 
receive that amount of attention which it deserves. 


Among the Vertebrates, Mr. Armitage and Mr. Clement Ley have favoured 
us with an excellent and very comprehensive account of the Rare Birds of 
Herefordshire. 


There seems to be great scope for the ornithologist in this county, and 
some day I hope when we have got our Museum established, we may be able to 
show a perfect collection of the Birds of Herefordshire. The curious instinct 
of the cuckoo was remarked upon in the above mentioned paper, and I think 
that there can be little doubt of the truth of the supposition that the cuckoo 
deposits her eggs in the nest by means of her mouth. This idea is confirmed by 
the small size of the egg in proportion to the bird’s own size, and also by the 
fact that the cuckoo’s egg is often found in a position too small to allow of the 
bird having introduced its whole body. In Morris’s British Birds, I find the 
notice of a cuckoo shot, which is said to have been carrying its egg in it bill. 


It has also been suggested that it may possibly insert its egg by means of 
its foot ; the only thing, as far as I know, to uphold this latter idea is the shape 
of the foot, which has two toes turned forward and two backward, resembling 
in this particular scansorial birds ; this kind of foot doubtless would be com- 
petent to carry an egg, but the principal weight of evidence, I think, inclines 


vi. 
towards the mouth theory. It is quite within the range of instinct possibility to 


believe that the colour of the eggs, varying in some degree, the cuckoo selects a 
nest with eggs in it, of a hue somewhat resembling her own, 


The interest and instructiveness of this paper were greatly enhanced by 
the beautiful drawings by the pencil of Mrs. Armitage, which were shown at 
the time of its being read. 


Mr. James Lloyd, of Kington, and the Rey. Robert Blight have also 
given to the ciub very useful and complete lists of Herefordshire birds. 


I believe the only other paper relative to vertebrates read before the 
society last year was my own on British Cheiroptera, and the only remark I 
shall trouble you with reference to it is (to say) that the published account is only 
an abstract, and therefore I hope will only be regarded as such. 


The most important zoological work, however, last year was undoubtedly 
done by the entomological labours of Dr. Chapman and Mr. Steele. The inves- 
tigations of these gentlemen upon the economy of the mason wasps and their 
parasitic allies, the Chrysidide, have unquestionably added valuable knowledge 
to this department of zoology ; and when we consider the boundless field for 
careful research and observation which entomology affords, I think the club must 
deem itself fortunate to have such workers among its members, and I, for one, 
live in hopes of a rich harvest of entomological lore being yet in store for us from 
these gentlemen, I would venture to ask them to direct especial attention to 
some of those insects which at present are such a scourge to the farmer, such 
as the turnip beetle, the wireworm, the blight, rust, and others. If they could 
suggest any remedy against the attack of these animals their names would be 
handed down to posterity as great, not only to men of science, but blessed by 
the whole body of agriculturists. 


MeETEOROLOGY, &c.—In Meteorology we have to thank Dr. Stewart for 
his able and interesting communication, and his suggestions might with great 
benefit to science be adopted by some of the members of this society. At all 
events let us hope that the learned doctor himself will by his efforts some day 
throw some light on those most interesting and most important but most obscure 
phenomena connected with the science of meteorology. 


To medical men some of the points raised in Dr. Stewart’s paper must 
possess the highest interest; but I fear that the problem of the ‘“‘ Effect of 
Climate upon Health,” beyond the more obvious and apparent results which 
are now tolerably well known, is one so dependant on such a multitude, not only 
of climatal and meteorological influences, but also on so many physiological 
peculiarities, that there is little hope of its ever being completely and satis- 
factorily solved. However, careful and numerous observations may go a long 
way towards settling some of the, at present, many doubtful points. 


To Mr. Isbell we are again indebted for those very careful and elaborate 
statements with respect to the temperature, rainfall, &c., &c., of the year 1869, 


vii. 


which render his reports so valuable to “our records, and indeed to science in 
general, The year 1869 is chiefly remarkable for a very dry and fine summer, 
and, as far as I am aware, not a single thunderstorm during the months of June, 
July, and August. 

In connection with this subject I may notice Mr. With’s able lecture and 
experiments upon lightning delivered at our last meeting. Not being an 
electrician I will not venture to make any remarks of my own upon his paper 
which was a very clear and lucid one, and in which all the points introduced 
were fully explained and shown by experiment. From his remarks and from 
Dr. Richardson’s experiments, it seems that the electric discharges vary not only 
in degree of force, but also in kind, as that form of discharge called No. 1 by 
Dr. Richardson seems to burn but not to kill, whereas No. 4, which is always 
fatal, does not burn or in any way contort the body. The thunder cloud and the 
lightning flash afford a very good instance of the manner in which natural laws 
are employed to work out the Creator’s grandest and most majesic displays of 
power. I feel sure the Woolhope society will agree with me in congratulating 
itself upon Mr. With’s having become an honorary member, and I hope he may 
on future occasions give us more information on this most interesting subject. 


The subject of ARcH@OLOGY has, I think, this year received unusual 
though not unmerited, attention, and with the varied and conspicuous talent of 
many members of this Society it is a subject well worthy of their research. 
Wall Hills, the first rendezvous fo the season, one of the numerous so called 
camps of this county, was made the subject of an interesting discussion between 
Mr. Lees and Mr. Edmunds, two well known antiquaries, but for myself, and 
perhaps there may be some other non-archeological gentlemen who sympathize 
with me, it would have been more satisfactory had the two learned antiquaries 
agreed a little more in their views, at at present those who, like msely, do not 
feel competent to decide the point for themselves are left ina deplorable state 
of doubt and uncertainly as to the real origin of the Wall Hills, and yet are 
not permitted to enjoy the bliss of utter ignorance. The volume which Mr. 
Flavell Edmunds has this year given to the public will, I feel sure, not only 
be a public benefit but reflect honour upon this Society. To Dr. Bull we are 
indebted for bringing to light some interesting historical details concerning 
Ewyas Harold Castle and also for introducing the various ideas as to the 
derivation of its name proposed by Mr. Fowle and Mr. Edmunds. This name, 
like so many other of ancient date, seems to be shrouded im mystery, but let 
us hope that Mr. Edmunds has hit upon the real derivation in connecting it 
with yew trees which are so plentiful in the district. 

The very interesting record of the researches into the history of the 
Bringewood Forge and Furnate which were laid before the Society on their visit 
to the site of the Forge near Downton Castle demands our thanks. To this 
paper I would venture especially to direct attention, as on account of the length 
of the walk round by the Forge none of the ladies and but few of the gentlemen 
who were out on that day had the opportunity of hearing it read. 


viii. 
But the paper which shows the deepest historical research is undoubtedly 
that upon the history of Deerfold Forest by Dr. Bull, but as that paper is of 
so great an interest, and is sure to command the attention it deserves, it would 


be superfluous for me to do more than draw your attention to it, and leave it 
to speak for itself, as it does most eloquently. 


I must now pass on to notice the elegant and instructive volume which 
has lately been produced by the pen of the Rev. C. J. Robinson, of Norton 
Canon. This book supplies a want which must often have been felt by those 
whose minds were eager for information on historical subjects, and all must be 
grateful for such a book as the ‘‘Castles of Herefordshire,” giving as it does 
ample information in a concise and pleasantly written style, and saving the 
student in antiquity much laborious research. Let us hope that the reverend 
gentleman will still further extend his investigations, and that some day we 
may have a volume entitled perhaps the “ Castles of Siluria.” 


Having now briefly passed in review some of the principal work done by 
this Society during the past year, let me, in a few words, make one or two 
remarks on what we should aim at for the future. 


Some have expressed their fears to me that if we went on at our present 
pace we should soon have worked up all the available natural history material 
of the neighbourhood ; such fears, I must say, do not appear to have any founda- 
tion in fact or in Nature, for I feel persuaded that those who have gone deepest 
into the secrets of Nature amongst us, will be those who perceive the clearest 
how much there is still left for them to learn. I would now venture to propose 
that some of the various subjects embraced by our Society should be dealt with 
in a more systematic manner than heretofore, and that certain competent 
naturalists among us be asked to get up certain subjects and give the Society, 
from time to time, papers on these subjects. 


This has been already done with respect to Botany, the Trees of Hereford- 
shire, and also with Fungology, and to some extent also with Geology. 


The Fauna of the county, however, has received but little attention, 
and I must confess that it appears to me that a series of papers, being the 
result of careful research in the various branches of the animal kingdom, from 
the Mammal down to the Protozoon, would be a subject worthy of the atten- 
tion of some of our zoological members ; and as we are now able to commence 
the publication of our Flora, I see no reason why we should not publish our 
Fauna. After such papers as Dr. Chapman, Mr. Armitage, Mr. Ley, My. Blight, 
and Mr. Lloyd have given to this Society, there can be no doubt, I think, of the 
possibility of having the Fauna of the county worked up systematically, and 
there are many branches in Zoology, as, for instance, the fresh-water Crustacea, 
the terrestrial Mollusca, and many others which have received but little atten- 
tion, to say nothing of the many others which have, no doubt, received some 
notice, but could very well do with a great deal more. 


- 


ix. 

In Geology we have in our volume for 1867 a very complete account of the 
Geology of the Woolhope district by the Rev. Mr. Dixon, and in the volume for 
1866 there is a brief though comprehensive summary of the Geology of the whole 
district by the Rey. W. Symonds. Now such a general outline as that I have 
referred to, which is found in our volume of 1866 is most useful and may be 
regarded as the framework or skeleton, and Mr. Dixon’s paper is an excellent 
example of the filling up of that framework for a certain locality or a limited 
area, and whatI should like to see would be the rest of the frame filled in a 
similar manner to that done by Mr. Dixon with the Woolhope district ; especi- 
ally noticing the pbysical conditions under which the various strata were 
formed. Although, no doubt, we have at various times had papers on the 
Geology of different districts, as for instance, Mr. Beavan’s on the Pontypool 
district, Mr. Salter’s on the Usk, and Mr. Symonds on the Malvern and other 
districts ; yet there are still many localites which would afford interesting 
papers if carefully worked up. 


‘Especially would I venture to apply my remarks on systematic work to 
Paleontology. Within the legitimate area of our operations there are several 
productive regions for fossils, and yet, as far as Iknow, we have no systematic 
collection whatever, and I have little doubt that, although nearly every member 
of this society knows very well what are the formations of the district, their 
proper sequence, their physical, and even their chief mineralogical characters, 
yet very few could tell the characteristic fossils of the different formations, and 
fewer still could name the fossils when they saw them. This I attribute chiefly 
to the want of a good collection systematically arranged ; and this brings me 
to speak of a matter which I deem of considerable importance to this society, 
namely, the establishing a Museum. The Woolhope Society has now reached 
such a position and has amongst its members so many industrious and talented 
workers, that it seems to me unfair that there should be no repository for 
their collections of natural objects. In an address like the present it would 
be out of place to enter into any discussions as to theways and means of 
establishing or supporting such a scheme, but it seems to me not out of place to 
consider the scientific advantages which would accrue from it. 


First then, I think, a museum is desirable as a repository for the collec- 
tions of the members of the Society in order to give a zest and a zeal in 
collecting natural objects; now, many, I feel sure, are deterred from active 
search from the feeling that, when they have found anything, they don’t know 
where to put it or what to do with it, and it will surely be allowed that were 
there more zealous searchers we should be more likely to bring to light more of 
the interesting treasures of the rocks, and perhaps even it might be permitted 
to some members of this Society to make discoveries of some missing links, 
and so throw light on the great question of the chain of Creation. 


Secondly, I think a museum very desirable for the purposes of instruction ;. 
this, perhaps, would be its greatest benefit. I feel quite confident that a good 


x. 


collection of the natural objects of the neighbourhood, both of extant and 
extinct life, properly named and arranged, would be felt to be a very great boon 
to many members who wish to know something about such things, but have 
not the time or perhaps the knowledge to go into the matter by themselves, 


I see no reason also why such a museum should not be open to the public 
inspection, and perchance such a privilege might awaken the love of the study 
of creation in minds before totally ignorant of it, and this would surely be a 
result which would be most pleasing to every member of this Society, for I con- 
sider one chief use of a society of this kind is a diffusion of the love of the study 
of nature, and, I think, a good museum would be a very powerful auxiliary in 
such a good work. 


Thirdly, I would urge the establishment of a museum for the sake of 
having a suitable room for meetings and for our library, which, I trust some 
day, will be larger than it is at present. 


This Society has a name, I trust, of some reputation, why should we not 
have a local habitation as well? And then, if in connection with this Society, 
we are able to introduce evening scientific soirees’ and lectures, and I see no 
difficulty in this, what a comfort and convenience a good room would be, 
Therefore, for the three good, and as I think sufficient reasons : first, of impart- 
ing more zeal to those already conversant with the various departments of 
science ; secondly, of imparting instruction to those who are not so, and, per- 
haps,stirring up some love for natural science, and lastly, of giving the Society 
a better position, and of enabling it, if so disposed, to widen its sphere of 
usefulness. I certainly think that we should endeavour to carry out this 
scheme. I have said that this is not the place to enter into any discussion 
respecting the ways and means for establishing such a scheme, or to combat 
the difficulties and objections which are sure to be raised against it, and I intend 
to keep my word, but I cannot refrain in concluding my notice of this subject, 
saying, that whatever these difficulties or objections may be, and I doubt not 
they will be many and will be serious, yet, if this Society is in earnest, they will 
findthe truth of the old proverb, that ‘‘ Where there is a willthere is a way.” 


Mr. Curley’s discoveries of Bos longifrons and Cervus Elephas, in the 
valley of the Lugg, point, I think, to a most interesting and important branch 
of geological research, which I would recommend to the notice of our geological 
members. As far as I know, recent and pleistocene geology has not received 
much attention in this county, and to my mind there is no more attractive 
branch of the science of geology, as it is so closely linked with Ethnology. 


Passing on now from subjects of comparatively local interest, I will 
briefly remark on some topics of general scientific importance. 


Deep SEA DrepGincs.—There have been of late few more interesting 
and important scientific investigations than those carried on by Dr. Carpenter 
and his colleagues, Professor Wyville Thompson, and Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys, in 


xi. 


Deep Sea Dredgings, and this address would not be complete without some 


mention of them; but Dr. M‘Cullough’s paper on the-subject has given the 
results of the enterprise so concisely and so clearly that I shall trouble you with 
very few remarks on the subject. 


The most general and important results of the investigation seem to be— 
1st, the establishment of the fact that there exist under currents of water in 
the ocean of very various temperatures, some being as low as 32° fah., and that 
therefore a uniform deep water temperature of 39° fah. is not, as formerly 
supposed, the condition of all deep water. This consideration leads us on to 
suspect a corresponding modification of the fauna, and this may be called the 
second great result, that submarine faunas are much more widely distributed, 
and at the same time often very rigidly restricted to definite areas by these 
currents than has been hitherto supposed. Asan example of what is meant we 
may suppose a cold Arctic submarine current to flow southwards as far as the 
Straits of Gibraltar—and there is considerable probability of there being such a 
current—this would enable the fauna living in deep water to extend through a 
very considerable range of latitude, and in after ages rocks might be found in 
sub-tropical climes having shells of an Arctic type, and this would of course 
suggest to geologists some great differences in the distribution of heat and cold 
from what obtains at present, which might be altogether erroneous, and easily 
comprehended by the knowledge of submarine currents, . 


On the other hand a warm current like the Gulf Stream might flow 
northwards and enable tropical and temperate forms to exist in Arctic regions. 
If these two currents flowed side by side, as they might easily do, and the rocks 
were at a future period raised above water, geologists would find in the same 
latitude, but in different longitudes, quite a distinct fauna. These considera- 
tions of the possible distribution of submarine fauna will no doubt have a very 
important result on geology. 


Another important fact brought to light by Dr. Carpenter’s dredging, is 
that highly organised beings are now known to live at very great depths ; and, 
what is more, forms supposed to have been long extinct have been found still 
living at the bottom of the sea. 


These considerations plainly show that any deductions as to the age of 
geological formations from their organic remains must be of a most uncertain 
character. 


Another very interesting discovery is that the doze or semi-animal sub- 
stance found at the bottom of the sea covers immense areas, and appears to 
be the pabulum of the Rhizopods and Sponges which are imbedded in it. 


Several eminent naturalists have pointed out the similarity of this deposit 
to the chalk, and it seems very probable that this lowly organised material, which 
Huxley has named Bathybius, has some power of deriving its nourishment 
from the sea water, and then forming a pabulum for higher organisms, There 


xu. 
seems also every reason to believe that this Bathybius has been existing in all 
ages and forming chalk, so that the cretaceous is really one great continuous 
formation. 

Another of the latest, and at the same time most interesting, scientific 
discoveries is that made by Professor Tyndall, of the composition of the ordinary. 
dust floating in our atmosphere. This he conclusively shews to be in great 
part of organic particles, which can be burnt and so destroyed. His experimenst 
go to prove that we are habitually lodging this organic dust in our lungs, as 
the final part of our expirations are invariably free from all dust; but he also 
points to a remedy in the shape of a cotton wool respirator, which he finds an 
efficient filter for the air, and capable of stopping all dust particles from entering 
the mouth, This kind of respirator will doubtless come into use in hospitals 
and other tainted atmospheres. The Professor believes these discoveries tend 
to strengthen the theory of germ origin of disease. 


As this society numbers amongst its members several eminent members 
of the medical profession, it is possible that a notice of the newly-used substance 
called CHLORAL may not be uninteresting, This substance is an artificial 
organic compound, and consists of C2 Ch3 O.H., carbon, chlorine, oxygen, and 
hydrogen. It was, Sir J. Simpson tells us, discovered by Baron Liebig in 1832 ; 
but has only recently been brought into use by Dr. Liebreich, of Berlin. Sir J. 
Simpson says that he uses it asa hypnotic and ancdyne, and finds it a sure 
producer of sleep, and free, in nearly all cases, from any after ill-effects, such 
as opium leaves, and he gives it as his opinion that Dr. Liebreich, in introducing 
chloral, has proposed a remedy which will yet prove of immense value in the 
practice of medicine and surgery. Herr O. Liebreich has also found that chloral 
can be used with good results as a counteractive to strychnine. 


Another interesting chemical discovery is that by Graebe and Liebermann, 
in the artificial production of Alizarine, the colouring matter of Madder, from 
Anthracen. This discovery is especially interesting, having been led up to by 
purely theoretical considerations. It is thought likely, also, to be of some 
practical importance, as it will allow a great extent of land now employed for 
growing Madder to be used for grain. 


ASTRONOMY.—In Astronomical Science some most interesting discoveries 
have been made during the last eighteen months. 


The two total eclipses which have occurred during that period, the one 
seen in India and the other in America, have given astronomers excellent oppor- 
tunities of observing the red flames which had been before noticed to exist 
round the sun. The spectroscope has now decided that these flames consist of 
hydrogen gas intensely heated. 

It is also interesting to know that these hydrogen flames seem to be 
intimately connected with the solar spots; also the lines on their spectra are 
sometimes slightly displaced from their usual position in the spectrum of 
hydrogen. 


xiii. 
These variations and relations are now being made the subject of careful 
observations, and Dr. Tait remarks that in this one direction alone a field has 


been opened up for inquiries which, even with our present appliances for obser- 
yation, may well occupy the world for a generation to come. 


Professor Tait has made also some most interesting observations upon 
Nebulz and Comets ; on the former of these bodies, he says that they have now 
been proved to shine as glowing gas merely, and therefore in all probability they 
are not much more distant than some of the nearest stars, and they may be, the 
professor adds, “‘ Vast systems of small cosmical masses in the act of grouping 
themselves by mutual gravitation, impact, and friction into a new star, the 
incandescent gas being due to the impact and the friction.” In them we may be 
actually watching the formation of a Solar System. These ideas seem to lend 
countenance to La Placés Nebular Hypothesis. 


With reference to comets, the professor says that there is good reason for 
thinking that they are only showers of stones; and in proof of this theory he 
remarks that a shower of stones would behave very much like a comet in its 
revolution round the sun ; and also that the orbits of the August and November 
meteors have been found identical with those two well-known comets. 


The heads of the comets give spectra, like those of Nebule, of incan- 
descent gases, but their tails appear to shine by reflected solar light only. If 
these views be true the meteoric displays would receive a full explanation, as 
the earth would be in fact passing through the tail of a comet. 


Before leaving this subject it will, I know, give this Society gratification 

. to know that Dr. Balfour Stewart, who so kindly gave us a suggestive paper 

on Meteorology, last year obtained the Rumford medal, one of the highest 

scientific honours. It was awarded to him for the discovery of the law “ that 

the absorption of a particle of light or heat is proportional to its radiation, 
which law holds for every variety of light or heat.” ; 


Dr. Stewart has also been making investigations on the solar spots of his 
enquiries leave no doubt that the sun is a variable star, and that the spots 
depend on the position of the planets. 


‘ 

$ But perhaps there are no more interesting speculations of modern science 
i 

a than the views of some of our first naturalists concerning the origin of life and 
the correlation of vital with other forces. 

% Mr. Darwin’s theory of the origin of species by natural selection is so well 
a known that it is quite unnecessary for me to dwell upon it, and in his most 


& interesting work upon Plants and Animals under Domestication he gives valuable 
information on many subjects, and also brings forward the interesting theory 
of Pangenesis. Referring physiological enquirers to the above work, I will pass 
on to notice the theory of the origin of species brought forward by Professor 
Owen in the concluding remarks of his great work on the Comparative Anatomy 
and Physiology of Vertebrates. 


Xiv. 


This theory he terms the ‘“‘ DreRIvaTIVE HYPOTHESIS.” 

The professor agrees with Mr. Darwin, Lamarck, and others, in repu- 
diating the idea of any special creative miracle on the advent of a new species, 
and supposes that new species are derived from old by the ordinary process 
of generation, but that the new species is born, with some more or less marked 
distinction, from its parent, amounting in some cases to what we should term 
a monstrous birth. 

These differentiated beings he regards as varieties which, for some good 
cause and to supply some necessity in the cosmical economy, are pre-ordained by 
the Creator, and brought forth by the working of natural laws at appointed 
seasons, and as a rule are produced in regular sequence, and not having an 
excessive amount of difference from the parent species. 


As a good example of his successively derived species he gives the case of 
the horse, which was probably derived from the Hipparion, that again from the 
Paleothere, and so on. 


At first sight the views of Professor Owen might be thought very similar 
to those of Mr. Darwin ; but on carefully examining the two theories, it will be 
seen that although both these naturalists regard existing forms as lineal 
descendants of pre-existing and extinct forms, yet they regard the manner and 
cause of their being so in very different lights. On one point, however, they 
agree, that is, to do away with miraculous intervention and attribute new species 
to the working of natural laws. 


This tendency to refer all cosmical phenomena to natural laws is 
certainly one of the most marked features of our time; and I would venture to 
remark that, although it places the Divine origin of things in one sense further 
away from us, yet it in no wise lessens the constant miracle of Divine superin- 
tendence, and in many ways tends to increase our admiration of creative skill 
by seeing what mighty results have been evolved from such small beginnings by 
the almost unobserved workings of natural laws, that is, laws ordained by the 
Creator. 

But beyond the one great similarity to which I have alluded to there are 
many essential points of difference between Professor Owen’s theory of deriva- 
tion and Mr, Darwin’s theory of natural selection, and perhaps one of the 
greatest is that derivation holds that species change in a pre-ordained manner, 
and by virtue of inherent tendencies thereto. Natural selection holds that 
altered circumstances make the new species by a long course of slight changes. 


The author of the Derivation Hypothesis admits that when once the 
change has been made by the birth of an organism different from its parent, 
surrounding circumstances may affect the new species, and somewhat modify it, 
bat that they are not the first cause of change, and he believes that the new 
species are brought into the world at a time when conditions of life are suitable 
for them. Professor Owen believes also that habits are the results of modified 
structure, and not like Lamarck, that structure is modified by habit. 


» 


Xv. 


The author of Derivation holds that the “‘ struggle for existence” explains 
in a great measure the extinction of species, but does not, as Mr. Darwin, 
apply it also to the creation of species. 


The Derivation theory does not require such a multitude of intermediate 
forms as the natural selection theory, and therefore, as far as geology shows at 
present, is more supported by facts. The Derivation theory also better explains 
how it is that among the lower forms of life, such as Foraminifera, and Polyps 
generally, such a variety of structure is found under the same circumstances, 
for derivation holds that mere beauty and variety are among the aims of the 
Creator. 


Derivation and natural selection differ also in the hypothetical origin of 
organic beings; the latter holds that created organisms have descended from 
a few, or perhaps from one primarily created being, and since then direct creative 
action has been dormant. The former holds that daily and hourly the Creator is 
calling into life multitudes of beings by the conversion of physical and chemical 
into vital modes of force. 


This last expression of opinion leads me to touch briefly in conclusion, on 
a subject of profound interest, but one shrouded in mystery, and which will 
never, probably, in this world, be cleared up; I mean the Origin of Life or 
Vital Force. 


The subject of the correlation of forces has made such progress of late and 
has obtained such sway over men’s minds, that it is not surprising to find that 
vital force or life is sought to be correlated to other physical and chemical 
forces. The physiologist argues that the vital phenomena displayed by man 
and those displayed by the protozoa are more different, both in kind and 
degree, than the differences which are observable between the protozoa and the 
magnetised steel; and it is argued that as we say a magnetic bar becomes 
unmagnetised, or in other words, loses magnetic force, and sarcode or protogenal 
jelly becomes unvitalised, that is, loses vital force and becomes what we term 
dead, so we may say magnetism is to the steel what vitality is to the sarcode, 
both being affections of matter, but neither of them matter itself, and it is 
concluded that as inorganic matter is endowed with this affection of magnetism, 
80 organic matter is endowed with the affection of vitality, and that this vitality 
of life is only an analogous force, and in some manner correlated to other 
physical and chemical forces. 


Professor Owen’s belief is that daily and hourly vital or living organisms 
are called into being by the conversion of chemical and physical modes of force 
into vital modes, and that then, through pre-ordained series, these organisms are 
led up to the higher animals. These views of life almost necessarily lead one on, 
in ascending the scale of animal life, to see how far mental and spiritual attri- 
butes are regarded as affections of matter. In studying the views of certain 
physiologists on these subjects, it is quite evident that they regard the soul, 


XVi. 


spirit, and mind, as. almost synonymous terms, and merely as affections (contrac- 
tility and so forth) of the nervous matter of the brain. 


This view, it will be perceived, at once does away with the idea of a 
spiritual part in man apart from the body, and irrevocably chains the soul to 
the course of human life, and that when the body ceases to exist so must also 
the soul. This view is most materialistic, for the soul, being only the sum of 
the vital phenomena of the brain, must of necessity act in a manner similar to 
matter, that is, be governed by physical law. How thought and the perception 
of thought can be originated and recognised, and how by an effort of the will 
past thoughts can be recalled, are phenomena which seem certainly beyond 
the power of protoplasmic contractions ; and surely it does not appear more 
wonderful that a Spiritual Creator should have thought proper to create spirits 
any more than bodies, for we may believe— 


““ That even while the world came forth 
In all the beauty of its birth, 
In His deep thought He did behold 
Another world of nobler mould.” 


Natural philosophers now tell us that Cosmos does not for ever go on in 
cycles, but tends towards an end, however remote, and our knowledge of 
terrestrial organisms certainly tends by analogy to point that way ; and there- 
fore we may confidently hope that as matter has been led from the Hozéon up 
to highly-organised Man—and for our argument it matters not whether we 
accept the natural selection, the derivative, or the miraculous theories of creation 
—so mind will in another state be capable of almost infinite advancement, 
and that though now we see things as through ‘“‘a glass darkly,” we shall here- 
after in the reign of mind ‘‘ know as we are known,” and perceive that the 
wonders and glories of creation are unexhausted and inexhaustible. 


THE REMARKABLE TREES 
OF 


HEREFORDSHIRE. 


THE HAYWOOD FOREST OAK. 
(Quercus robur.) 


MARCH, 1870. 


This tree is the finest of the group of old Oaks standing by the homestead 
of the Haywood Farm. They are the only remaining trees of the Royal 
Forest of Haywood of olden times. It is now about 60 feet in height, and 
at 5 feet from the ground, where the card of the Club is placed (itself 1 foot 
by 6 inches in size), it measures 20 feet 7 inches in circumference. 


(Ladmore and Son, Photographers to the Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club.) 


The TWoolhope Haturalists’ Sield Glud. 


MEETING AT THE WALL HILLS FOR LEDBURY. 


THURSDAY May 201TH, 1869. 


“Up ! let us to the fields away, 
And breathe the fresh and balmy air ; 
The bird is building in the tree, 
The flower has opened to the bee, 
And health, and love, and peace are there.” 
Mary Howitt. 

Thus thought, or certainly thus acted, the members of the Woolhope Club 
on Thursday last, when they held their first field meeting for the year. The 
season is so forward that it seemed late to begin these pleasant excursions, but 
though the foliage has well nigh all the fulness of Summer, it still has all the 
brightness, and freshness, and charm of the Spring. They met for the trans- 
action of the office business of the Club, at the Barr’s Court station, where the 
President for the year, James Rankin, Esq., M.A., of Bryngwyn, punctually 
took his seat ; and we may as well state at once that his ‘‘ following” for the 
day was thus composed :—Arthur Armitage, Esq., one of the Vice-presidents ; 
Sir George H. Cornewall, Bart., the Hon. Sec.; J. E. Lee, Esq. (Caerleon), 
F, J. Mitchell, Esq. (Llanfrechfa Grainge), R. Lightbody, Esq., F.G.S. (Ludlow), 
Elmes Y. Steele, Esq., and Dr. Chapman (Abergavenny), Dr. Bull, Evan 
Pateshall, Esq., Rev. H. C. Key, Rev. W. P. Stanhope (Holm Lacey), J ohn Lloyd, 
Esq., Rev. Thos. Phillipps (Dewsall), T. Curley, Esq.,F.G.S., D. R. Harrison, 
Esq., Rev. E. Du Buisson (Breinton), John Lambe, Esq., Rev. J. T. Parsons 
(Dewchurch), Edward Armitage, Esq., Rev. C. Smith (Tarrington), J. H. 
Mapleton, Esq., Rev. David Price (Little Marcle), Dr. J. H. Wood (Tarrington), 
Rey. J. Holloway (Clehonger), G. C. Martin, Esq., Reginald Symonds, Esq., Mr. 
Lloyd (Kington), Mr. Pitt (Freetown), Mr. Downing (Holm Lacey), Mr. Andrews 
(Bosbury), and Mr. Arthur Thompson. 

The Central Committee reported that with a view of taking a more 
accurate account of the rainfall of. the valley of the Wye two new certified rain- 
gauges had been ordered ; one was stationed on the Irvon valley under the care 


2 


of Mr. S. B. Kelland, at the school, Llanwyrtwyd; and the other on the 
valley of the Ithon, with Capt. Penry Lloyd, of Hoewy Hall, Llandrindod. 
These gentlemen had kindly undertaken to make careful observations for the 
Club ; and with those of Lewis Lloyd, Esq., of Rhydoldog, Rhayader, which 
had been also kindly promised, the reports would be much more satisfactory 
than has been the case hitherto from observations made only at Hereford. These 
proceedings were approved, eight new members were then elected to the Club, 
viz., Dr. Taylor, of Cardiff ; the Rev. John Evans, Ailston Hill; the Rev. R. H. 
Williams, Byford; Dr. Chapman, Abergavenny ; W. H. West, Esq., Gliffaes, 
Crickhowell; F. Bodenham, Esq., Joseph Carless, Esq. (Town Clerk), and Mr. 
John Bulmer, of Hereford; and four others were proposed for election at a 
future meeting. 

A suggestion was made by the President for the alteration of one of the 
Rules, which will be brought forward on a future occasion, for by this time 
the minute of departure was at hand and they all soon found themselves seated 
in the train for the Ashperton Station. Here the work of the day was to 
begin, and a body of gentlemen of some thirty naturalist-power, under the 
guidance of Dr. J. H. Wood, of Tarrington, struck aeross the fields for Eastwood. 
A sharp-eyed lover of ferns, Mr. Lloyd, of Kington, quickly detected the little 
Adder’s-tongue fern, Ophioglossum vulgatum, and it was afterwards frequently 
found during the day’s walk. Passing through Eastwood—a wood of young 
oaks with profitable ash nurses in attendance—as well as its wet and dirty 
ground permitted, the far corner close to the high road was soon reached. 

The Montrose Oak lives here. It has been named by Lady Emily Foley in 
honour of the Duke of Montrose, and is a young freely growing specimen of 
Quercus sessiliflora. It measures 11 ft. 7 in. in circumference at five feet from 
the ground, and has a diametric spread of foliage of, E. and W., 22 yards, and 
N. and S., 26 yards. I+ carries its timber well up into its head, and has a trunk 
of some 45 feet, which is rather more than half the height of the tree. It 
promises to become a fine tree, but it sadly wants just now the attention of a 
careful woodward. Several dead boughs should be at once taken off, for the 
size of them is such as may otherwise do a serious injury to the tree itself, This 
tree has only increased two inches in circumference during the last five years, 
and the question as to its age elicited various opinions, Sir George Cornewall 
attempted to throw light upon it shortly afterwards in the most practical way. 
An oak had been felled in a field near it, which showed clearly its rings of 
growth. It measured 7 ft. 5in, at five feet high, and with the allowance of 
the timberman’s measure of six inches more for the bark, 7 ft. llin. It was 
found to have exactly 81 rings of annular growth, and, judging from their 
relative thickness, be it added, this tree certainly bore out well the opinion 
of Mr. South, in his ‘‘Essay on the Age and Growth of Trees,” that an oak of 
sixty years standing will, in twenty-four years more, double the contents of 
its timber. From this observation, and some other facts mentioned, it was 
thought that the Montrose oak could not be more than 110 or 120 years old. 


3 


The Eastwood Oak, the noted old tree which stands on the high road from 
Hereford to Ledbury, some 80 or 100 yards distant from the Montrose Oak, 
was next visited with much interest. These lines of the poet Cowper were 
specially applicable to the condition of this fine old tree :— 


“The spring 

Finds thee not less alive to her sweet force 
Than yonder upstarts of the neighbouring wood 
So much thy juniors, who their birth received 
Half a millenium since the date of thine.” 


This tree is very picturesque in growth, and though at 5ft. from the ground 
it only measures 20ft, 1lin. it increases in size very much before the boughs are 
given off, and has a very large circumference at the surface of the ground. It 
is a pollard tree of the intermediate variety, and long past its prime. It is 
hollow in trunk and in some of its branches. Some gipsy children set it on fire 
about 15 years ago, when the fire engines from Ledbury were fetched to put it 
out. Its hollow wounds have, however, been carefully boarded up, and three 
of its large branches are supported by iron frames and chains, placed there some 
years since by Lady Emily Foley. The tree, however, is still very luxuriant, 
and spreads its branches to a diameter N. and S. of 21} yards and E, and W. 
of 18 yards, and will yet doubtless continue to be a landmark for many 
generations of men, 


The route now lay across some pleasant meadows sprinkled copiously 
with many varieties of orchis, Orchis morio in deep purple, in pale rose, and in 
white,—Orchis mascula the meadow orchis, and Orchis maculata the spotted 
orchis, G. C. Martin gota fine specimen of the frog orchis, Habenaria viridis 
and the butterfly orchis, H. bifolia ; and some spikes of the twayblade, Listera 
ovata, were afterwards seen shooting up for blossom. 4 . 


Suddenly a cry of enthusiasm is heard, for D. R. Harrison, Esq., has 
come upon a fairy ring. It formed nearly the half segment of a circle 40 feet 
in diameter, and was abundantly supplied with the true St. George’s mushroom, 
Agaricus gambosus. Most of them were getting old, but still there were plenty 
of young ones, which were quickly gathered for the dinner table, In the same 
field Elmes Y. Steele, Esq., called attention to another fairy ring of unusual 
size and completeness, marked out chiefly by a rank growth of grass. It had 
a diameter of 75 feet, and here and there in the circle a matured specimen of 
the Puff-ball, Lycoperdon calatum, seemed to indicate its particular fungus 
occupant. Whilst these were being examined a shower came on, which soon 
became a sharp hailstorm, that drove all the naturalists to the shelter of a 
splendid hawthorn hedge, almost overpoweringly beautiful from the scent of 
its splendid sprays of blossom. It lasted for some minutes. Let us take the 
pause to name the other funguses found in the day’s walk, A small ring or 
two of the Fairy Ring fungus, Marasmius oreades, which were also called upon 
to supply their contingent to the dinner table; the edible A. arvensis; and 
the Agaricus Dryophilus ; Coprinys striatus; and the Agaricus fascicularis more 
abundantly than any, were all that was noticed, 


4 


The storm over, the way was taken direct for Mains Wood, a very 
interesting and promising locality, with an abundance of whortleberry, Vac- 
cinium myrtilus, Calluna vulgaris, and the hard fern, Blechnum boreale. There 
were many nests of the large wood ant, Formica fusca, observed, and owing to 
the philosophical observation of one gentlemen, that if you disturbed them they 
gave out the smell of formic acid ; they were stirred up pretty considerably, as 
one after another made the experiment to his satisfaction, But the underwood 
was wet, and the ground was wet, and so it came to pass that a rapid passage 
was made through it to Putley Common. Here a small party of archeologists 
made a detour to see Putley Church and its quaint old cross. The main body 
led by Dr. Wood took the prescribed route for the Putley quarry, passing 
close by a copse with a mistletoe-hazel—a rare occurrence and of high mystical 
virtue. 

The quarry was of the ordinary sandstone, being quarried for the repair 
of Little Marcle Church, and offered nothing so much worthy of interest as the 
two men who were there with horses and cart to carry the stones away. Each 
had lost an arm, the one the right arm and the other the left. If the two 
arms left between them wanted somewhat in instantaneous unanimity of direc- 
tion, they certainly stretched further than an ordinary pair, and acted together 
with a precision and effect which showed they were well accustomed to do so. 
Leaving the quarry of the one-armed, a direct route was taken for Pixley 
Church, and here the members of Malvern Club were observed coming along 
the lane for the same point. A hearty greeting took place, for the appointed 
trysting spot was a full hour distant both in time and in space. 

Pixley Church with its curious roodloft, ‘‘ like an inverted canoe,” as one 
gentleman observed, was then visited, and the party soon set out for the Wall 
Hills. The weather had now become bright and cheerful, and as the members 
in pleasant converse form the straggling line to the camp, we will give the 
names of the gentlemen representing the Malvern Club. They were the Rey. 
W. S. Symonds, F.G.S., president of the club ; Edwin Lees, Esq., F.L.S., vice- 
president ; the Rev. A. J. Douglass, Mathon, honorary secretary; Captain 
Serocold ; the Rey. J. H. Thompson ; Colonel Scott, The Eades; E. J. Stone, 
Esq., Chambers-court ; Major Roberts; E. B. Fitton, Esq., Worcester; the 
Rev. W. R. Villiers, Torquay; Dr. J. Griffith Griffiths, hon. sec, to the 
Worcester Field Club; the Rev. J. T. Eld, Worcester; the Rev. W. Calvert, 
Kentish Town; J. Edgell, Esq., Tewkesbury; the Rev. H. Steward; the Rev. 
R. Robeson, Forthampton; J. Greaves, Hsq., Malvern; G. H. Piper, Esq., 
Malvern; W. H. Pritchard, Esq. ; Captain Roberts, R.A.; Mr. Gassion, for 
merly a member of the Newcastle Club, Malvern ; and Mr. Morris, of Malvern. 

In an orchard near Pixley the Narcissus biflorus was observed, and on 
Wall Hills the Ivis fetidissima, the Rhamnus catharticus, and some fine young 
specimens of Equisetwm Telmateja were gathered. The walk from the brow of 
the first hill along a dingle leading to the camp was especially pleasant, and 
the beauty of the fresh foliage in the sunshine and shade most agreeable. The 


5 


sides of the dingle itself were ornamented with some splendid specimens of 
oak, not of any very great size, but so finely grown as timber trees in height 
and straightness of stem that they attracted universal admiration, As old 
Chaucer has said, it was 

“ A plesaunt grove— | P 


In which were Okis grete, streight as a line, 
Undir the which the grass so freshe of hew 
Was newly sprong, = . F 
Every tree well fro his fellow grew 
With braunches brode, ladin with levis new, 
That sprongin out agen, the sonné shene, 
Some very rede, and some a glad light grene.” 


The Floure and the Leafe. 

An active member, Dr. Chapman, who had waved his net through the day 
with much zeal and perseverance, has very kindly provided this report of his 
success, 

The cold wind, with the hailstorm of the morning, were not very favourable 
to the appearance of much insect life. The few bees that were seen were for the 
most part at rest on leaves and flowers, several species of our spring Lepidoptera 
were on the wing. Argynnis Euphrosyne was seen sunning itself in several dingles 
by the way, and Hipparchia Megura was also observed. The local Leucophosia 
Sinapsis (the Wood White Butterfly), one of whose head-quarters appears to 
be in the Ledbury district, was flying in some numbers in several coppices near 
the Asperton station, where Adela viridella and Micropteryx calthella basking in 
the flowers of Ranunculus were also noticed. A specimen of Heliodes Arbuti, one 
of the earliest of the season, was met with by the wayside, and several members 


were favoured by a view of Macroglossa stellarum (the Humming Bird Moth) on 
the wing. This insect has been rather scarce for several years since its plentiful 
appearance in 1866, there is some reason to believe that it will not be rare 
this season, as its larvee were observed last autumn in several parts of the coun- 
try. That a fair share of sunshine was accorded us may be gathered from 
the fact that the President picked up a specimen of the beautiful Cicindela 
campestris (the Green Tiger-beetle) which, however common, rarely shows itself 
except in the bright sunshine. JZ, ylesinus Fraxini was noted, burrowing in ash 
logs, at many parts of the route, and Scolytus intricatas in several oak branches on 
the Wall Hill. In some branches of fruit trees, near the Wall Hill farm, Scolytus 
rugulosus was found plentifully, this species, hitherto accounted a rarity, is pro- 
bably abundant wherever the apple is extensively cultivated, and notably there- 
fore in Herefordshire. 

A pleasant outwork of the camp overlooking the railway viaduct, the 
Ledbury Hills, with the Malvern Hills above them, was chosen as the lecture 
ground—and after waiting some little time for the truant archeological mem- 
bers the following able address without notes was given :— 


THE GEOLOGY OF THE DISTRICT. 
By THE Rev. W. 8S. SYMONDS, F.G.S., President of the Malvern Club. 


He need scarcely remind the geologists present that the range of the 
Malvern Hills before them represented the oldest rock history of the world on 
which we live, so far as is known. They were formerly considered to be purely 
volcanic, but the researches of Sir Roderick Murchison, of Mr, Strickland, and 
of Dr. Holl, had proved that they consisted in great part of sedimentary rocks, 
interspersed with very frequent trap or volcanic dykes. When the railway cutting 
was made through the hills there was often considerable difficulty in making out 
the exact character of the rocks, which were embedded lavas, and which were 
real sedimentary rocks. These ancient Gneiss rocks were the oldest sedimentary 
rocks known, more ancient than the Cambrian system of Sedgwick, and they are 
now fully reeognised as the equivalents to the Laurentian Gneiss rocks of 
Amercia, 


The time at which these ancient beds must have been deposited is so 
immensely remote as to be beyond calculation. What the distant star was to 
the astronomer in regard to space, such were these old rocks to the geologist 
with reference to time. They offered no traces of land or of life, There were no 
pebbles or conglomerates to tell of currents or land, nor had even a shell been 
found in them, In America, however, one of these deep ocean deposits had been 
found to contain foraminiferous shells, which are allied to some which are now 
found in the Pacific ocean, These are the earliest records of life to be found. 
These old Laurentian gneiss rocks were succeeded by the Cambrians, and here 
animal remains became more abundant,—zoophites and worm tubes, and an 
occasional trilobite. Above the Cambrian came the Lower Silurian rocks, plentiful 
in the records of the lower animals, which lived in those ancient seas ; many species 
of beautifully preserved Z'rilobites, allied to the lobsters of our own age, and still 
more closely to the King crab existing in the present seas. 


One point of the Malvern Hills was peculiarly interesting. It was impossible 
for any geologist to stand in that valley just over the ridge of the hill, the Valley 
of the White-leaved Oak, without feeling convinced that he is standing near the 
site of-an ancient volcano. And the more he studies the rocks around him the 
more sure he will become of the fact ; for he finds beds of pumice and scoriz, 
interbedded with sedimentary rocks of shale, and recognises the proofs that it was 
an island volcano with a deep surrounding sea—a volcano that showed the inter- 
mittant action of the volcanos of the present day—that vomited forth its streams 


. 


- 
‘ 


of lava and threw up its scorie at periods of time so distant from each other 
that sedimentary accumulations in the surrounding ocean had become deposited 
between them. 


Then came the Upper Silurian Rocks, ahounding in the remains of marine 
animals ; indeed, in some of their limestones it was scarcely possible to break off a 
portion without finding some shell or fossil denoting the existence of life. All 
these beds presented evidence of having been formed beneath the sea; and if he 
was asked to point out the first traces of land, the first plant that bloomed upon 
the shore, or the first animal that lived on the land, he must admit that there 
was no such evidence in rocks beneath the ‘Wenlock limestone. In the Upper 
Ludlow Bonebed some small bodies had been feund, which had been carefully 
examined by the most celebrated botanists, and pronounced to be the humble 
seeds of a humble plant, the seed of a club moss, or Lycopodium, closely allied 
to the common sphagnum, or club moss of our hills, These seeds gave the first real 
proof of dry land. The first evidence of fishes appeared in the Upper Ludlow 
Rocks, which Mr. Lightbody, of Ludlow, had done so much to elucidate ; and 
the Pteraspis found by Mr.. Lee, of Caerleon, in the Lower Ludlow rocks, pre- 
sented the very first evidence of fish life as yet found. It wasa great gratifica- 
tion to him to see both Mr. Lee and Mr. Lightbody out in the field that day 
day (applause). 


Above the Upper Silurian Rocks came the Old Red Sandstone, upon which 
we were now standing, The transition was gradual, and without any signs of 
earthquake, action, or convulsion. Here is evidence of existing fishes of a very 
peculiar kind, and sometimes in great abundance, not like our modern fishes, but 
fishes with external plates ; cartiliginous fishes, with armour, of which one repre- 
sentative in our day is the pike with bony scales which is found in the great lakes 
of NorthAmerica. All the fishes of the Old Red Sandstone had this character, 
and belonged to the Ganoid class. Now it was curious to observe that all the 
Ganoid fishes known at the present time, and there are upwards of 100 varieties, 
all more or less fresh water fishes, which would seem toimply that these Old Red 
Sandstone beds were the deposit of lakes. Marine shells mixed with the remains 
of fresh water fishes, as in Devonshire, might, of course, be explained by the 
connection of the lakes with a neighbouring sea. Hugh Miller had very graphi- 
cally described the fishes of the Old Red beds in Scotland, and now it was most 
interesting to know that undoubted remains of a Pteraspis had been found in 
the Old Red Sandstone of Devonshire. Of the Denudation of the Old Red 
Sandstone in Herefordshire, much might be said if time permitted. The remains 
of the rocks which are the summit of the_Old Red Sandstone could still be seen 
in situ on the Black Mountains—but from the surface of Herefordshire these beds 
had been swept off by the currents of preglacial and glacial seas. Denudation 
offered a wide field of study to geologists. Whilst the rocks of softer structure 
were swept away, the harder ones were left and gave beauty of outline to the 
sylvan scene, The charming undulations of Herefordshire are chiefly due to the 


8 


presence of cornstone protecting the Old Red Sandstone from denudation and 
thus leaving our fine rounded hills, The elevation on which they now stood was 
due to the hard cornstone which protected it, and which is quarried at the back 
of the hill. The lecturer finished his very eloquent and interesting address by 
calling on the members of the Clubs to study well the Geological landmarks about 
them, and trace from them as they always might, the wonderful effects that had 
been produced by the action of marine currents acting upon the old sea beds as 
they rose to the surface, and by the various forces of subaerial agencies, rain, 
rivers, frost, snow, and land ice which in preglacial, glacial, and postglacial times 
combined to form the existing contour of the land now inhabited by beings 
capable of reasoning on the marvels of its structure. 


The lecturer was much applauded. 


EDWIN LEES, Esq., F.L,S., then gave the following—- 


REMARKS UPON THE ENTRENCHMENT OF THE 
WALL HILLS, NEAR LEDBURY. 


By EDWIN LEES, F.LS., F.G.S., &o. 


From the sublimities of geological research and the depositions of ages 
past, almost too remote for imagination to contemplate, it seems a revulsion 
from the grand to the insignificant to turn to the petty relics left by savage 
tribes upon the ground they once occupied. Milton has stated that any account 
of the turmoils and contentions of barbarous tribes in remote times was little 
better than would be a history of the quarrelling of kites and crows,or the 
snarling of the wild beasts of the forest. But if the indistinct markings left 
in the sand of a former seashore by marine-worms, or the ripple-marks in 
stony strata of tides that have ceased to flow, though once mighty in their 
actions, are seized upon by geologists in proof of palzozoic life, where all is now 
dead and petrified, so the Archzologist is entitled to look with interest on 
those notches in the soil which mark the treads of human feet in times when 
the pen of history had not commenced its chronicles. Even conjecture is almost 
at fault when adverting to 


“ Antient times so long forgot, 
Of feuds whose memory is not ; 
To manners long since changed and gone, 
And chiefs who under the grey stone 
So long have slept, that fickle fame 
Has blotted from her scroll their name.” 


The geologist looks upon the materials of the hills before they rose 
into their present shape, and the antiquary marks the hills with equal curiosity, 
as he sees there traces of the first labours of man in community, whether the 
trenches on the uplands were formed for protection from wild animals, who 
then held the supremacy ot the country, or whether tribes hostile to each other 
defended the ground against pillage and outrage. 

In every country abandoned mounds and trenches meet the eye and awake 
the curiosity of the investigator. The term Camp or Castrametation, has gene- 
rally been applied to the fosses and terraces marked upon hill sides, though, in 

all cases, these defences were not strictly formed as military positions for 

armed soldiery. Perhaps the majority were made for military purposes, as, 

in ancient times, no army felt itself secure without a defensive ditch, however 

short their intended occupation; while many of these systems of fosse and 

vallum encompassing heights were occupied as permanent fortresses. Where 
B 


10 


there are several entrenchments succeeding each other, it is clear that the 
defences were of the nature of a military fortress, especially where a prastorium 
or citadel appears, and where the inner trenches might still be maintained, if 
the outer ones were taken. The single fosse might imply a less permanent occu- 


pation, or it might surround the habitations of a town, which usually had a 
ditch and a rampart behind it. 


If man commenced a savage life in isolated families, we may believe that 
rude stone implements for domestic purposes are of earlier date than fortifica- 
tions, which indicate the existence of associated tribes. I do not, therefore, 
claim for these Wall Hill trenches any extraordinary remote antiquity, nor do 
I connect them with military tactics or strategic positions. The name WALL 
HILLs, too, may be some guide to our deductions, as at all events bringing down 


the occupation of the place to Saxon times, however long the spot may have been 
inhabited previously, 


It required a considerable time for the Saxon invaders to obtain per- 
manent occupation of what we now call England, and the counties bordering 
on Wales were not easily subdued, the tide of conquest rolling on and receding 
from time to time. Borlase and other writers on British affairs have distinctly 
stated that the Welsh were not entirely driven from the country between 
the rivers Severn and Wye which includes a great part of Herefordshire, 
until the reign of King Athelstan, between the years 924 and 939. It is neces- 
sary to bear this in mind, as proving that the native population had their 
dwellings in the country and their particular haunts up to the tenth century. 
These towns and villages would be known to the Saxon invaders, and they 
would designate them in the same way as the residence of men inimical to them, 
In the absence of relics of tools, weapons, or coins, the archeologist in some 
instances is reduced to conjecture as to the nature of the earthworks before him, 
and the people who occupied them. But it is remarkable that the Roman 
soldiery were so well supplied with coin, that in every camp they occupied they 
have left money behind them as if carelessly scattered about, a fact that Mr 
Wright observes is difficult to explain. But this was not so in the British posts 
where coin was a scarce article, and even weapons, too valuable to be abandoned, 
unless in death. 

I therefore believe this to have been a British post, and the site rather 
of a town than of an exact military position; for every town of permanent 
occupation would have a surrounding trench. Julius Cesar tell us in his Com- 
mentaries, that ‘“‘the Britons call by the name of town a place in the fast- 
nesses of the woods surrounded by a mound and trench, and calculated to 
afford them a retreat and protection from hostile invasion.” A place like this, 
rather secluded than strong, seems well enough to agree with Czesar’s statement, 


But without absolutely insisting that we have here the site of British or 
Silurian town of ante-Roman age, I am inclined to believe that the name of 
Watt Hits given to it points out that it was occupied by the natives of 


Se 


- 


11 


the country up to the time of the latest Saxon invasion, and until the Saxons 
obtained permanent possession of Herefordshire, 

Borlase, the Cornish antiquary, says that ‘“‘when the Saxons had driven 
the Britons before them into the extremities of the country, they called one 
place of their retreat WEALAS or WALES, either from their being strangers to 
them, or from their supposed descent from and resemblance to the Gauls. The 
other place to which the Britons retired they called ConN-WEALAS. The origin 
of the name Wales is here evident, for the Saxons did not call the natives they 
dispossessed Britons as the Romans did, but gave them the appellation of Waal, 
which, whether a corruption of Gaul or not, meant with them strangers. These 
Waal or Wall Hills then were so called not from the walls upon them, but from 
the people who there had their habitations. This appears highly probable when 
we find these Waal Hills chiefly if not entirely on the Welsh conjines, where, of 
course, the natives would linger longest. Besides the Wall Hills before us, 
there is a Wall Hills near Thornbury, Wall Hill near Orleton, Herefordshire, 
Wall Hill at Suckley, Wall Hill at Alfrick, and another at Eastham—these 
last in West Worcestershire—and there is also Walls-field at Cradley, Wall-batch 
in Grimley, and Wall-ford near Goodrich, Coxwall Knoll in Radnorshire may 
supply another, and more might be enumerated. 

It is but candid in me to say that my friend Mr. Flavell Edmunds, a mem- 
ber of this Club, with whom I have often had a friendly fight, and whose researches 
in archzology and etymological derivations entitle his opinions to great respect, 
differs with me as to this particular Walls Hill entrenchment, and to my idea 
as to Wall Hills in general. He considers this fortification to be one that was 
occupied and defended in post-Roman times by the Welsh against the Saxons ; 
while the word wall he thinks was used by the Britons to indicate Roman 
works, and was derived from the Latin vallum. The word gwavl, he says, was 
used by the Britons to denote Roman works, and the great wall of Severus 
was called by them Gwawl Severus. He also adduces Walls-End aud other 
places that no doubt had reference to actual walls, The war of words need 
not much trouble us, and mere sounds are often very uncertain, My friend 
invites me to run my head against a wall literally ; but I decline to do so, and 
with the utmost courtesy give him the wall! The enquiry is not what the 
Britons called the Roman works, which might be gaul as Camden says, or gwawt 
according to Mr. Edmunds, but what term was applied by the Saxons to the 
Romano-Britons, and their positions. Borlase, Wright, and all who have 
studied the subject, admit that the terms Welsh and Wales are derivations of 
a Teutonic appellation that meant foreigners—not of the Saxon race. If then 
the people and the country of their refuge were Wealas, or Waalas (the latter 
latinized, as Borlase says, into Guallia), surely the last refuge of the demoralized 
natives on their wooded hills, where perhaps by sufferance they long remained 
even after the fertile vallies were settled and cultivated, might very properly 
be referred to as the Wael or Wall Hills,—eminences surrounded by woods and 
thickets, where the last relics of a degraded population clung to a miserable 


12 


life as long as they could pick up a subsistence, or till their stern oppressors in 
their greed for land finally seized upon the last unappropriated acres that 
remained to the disinherited sons of the soil, This no doubt is the reason that 
the name given by the Britons themselves to the place is lost, as the Saxons, 
after occupying the country, would be as indifferent to the native appellation 
as we should be to a spot where a camp of gipsies had taken up their abode, and 
would only call it Waal, or Welsh hill. 


Mr. Allies, author of the ‘‘ Antiquities and Folk-Lore of Worcestershire,” 
has mentioned what he calls “the camp at Wall Hills, which contains an area of 
near thirty acres, and is supposed to have been originally British, and subse- 
quently occupied as a Roman station.” I know of no valid ground for the 
latter assertion, and it is opposed to the supposition of Mr. Edmunds that it was 
a camp of late construction, used as a defence against the Anglian invaders, 
perhaps as late as Athelstan’s time. But I would ask, after the great fortress of 
the Herefordshire Beacon was taken, what defence is it likely the Wall Hills 
could make? It must surrender to an advancing army as a matter of course ; 
but as a mere collection of huts, and not a military post, it may have been 
tolerated by the Saxons for some time after the conquest of the country. 


MR. EDMUNDS’S REPLY. 


Being unable to attend the society’s meeting at Ledbury, and therefore 
prevented from answering vivd voce the friendly challenge of my esteemed 
brother antiquary, of which he had considerately forewarned me, I am obliged 
to make my rejoinder with the pen. 

To my friend’s general remarks I have nothing to except. It is, as I 
think, perfectly correct to say that the phrase Wall Hills “brings down the 
occupation of the place to Saxon times,” although it seems to me that it is 
possible to fix somewhat more closely the period when that occupation com- 
menced. I think, too, that this more precise knowledge of the time is to be 
found by pursuing a line of investigation which my friend has treated as Juno 


did Samos : 
Post habita coluisse Samo. 


I would solemnly warn my friend that the Jewsa maestas in all such cases exacts 
its own revenge. If some doughty Romano-Briton, borne down by the hard 
fortune of war nine centuries ago, should rise upon my friend’s slumbers angrily 
demanding why his toils in warfare and his more or less glorious death in 
defending the Wall Hills are denied even empty fame—altogether passed over 
by the cruel antiquary who, like the fierce Athelstan, has made a wild raid 
upon us men of the Marches, now as then the most peaceful people under the 
sun when let alone, he knows to what cause to attribute the awful vision. 
He knows, too, why I, as.a humble champion of our beautiful Siluria, now 
do not scruple to run tilt at the doughty Paladin of Wigornia. 


13 


In plainer words, I suspect my friend’s etymology has gone astray, and 
has carried off his topography on its back. My objections to his theory are 
munifold—negative as well as positive. 

First, I think that he has quite overlooked the evidence of Roman ideas 
in the construction of Wall Hills camp. That castrametation, although simpler 
in form than Risbury and Capler, not to mention the elaborate entrenchment 
on the Herefordshire Beacon, is yet manifestly constructed on a Roman plan, 
of which the right angle is the basis, and is of definite proportions, the length 
being to the breadth as 3 tol. The pool at the N.E. end for water, and the 
fact that the site is so chosen as to allow its defenders to communicate by signal 
with the Herefordshire Beacon on the one hand and with the Roman station at 
Circutio on the other, are also manifest indications that it belonged to a time 
when the Beacon heights were defended although the Roman station was still 
standing. That there ever was a British town here is wholly unproved. 
Wherever it is certain that British towns existed, we find their names still pre- 
served more or less purely. Here there is none, and the inference is that there 
never was any such town, although it may nevertheless have been, as my friend 
thinks, “‘ occupied” as a camp “up to the time of the latter Saxon invasion.” 

Secondly, if we leave topography for etymology we are led to the same 
result, The name, Wall Hills, is compounded of two words, only the latter 
of which is undoubtedly Saxon, and as that is the generic term, and one of 
frequent occurrence, nothing can be drawn from its use except that the 
Saxons became at some time possessed of the hills, upon which they found 
“walls,” The inquiry must turn upon the specific word in the name, which 
is wall, I think it will be found that this word always points out a site on 
or near to a Roman work, whether a fortification or the road which that forti- 
fication is meant to command. Wall’s End (Northumberland), is the end of 
the wall of Severus. Wal-ford (Hereford), Bower Walls (near Bristol), Wall 
Hills (near Thornbury), and those which my friend cites, at Suckley, Cradley, 
Alfrick, Eastham, Orleton, &c., are all situated near Roman camps or roads. 
If the word were Saxon, we ought to find it most commonly in the Saxon 
districts, and not, as my friend himself remarks, most frequently in the very 
strongly British district of Herefordshire, and the frontier Angle and Wiccii 
land of West Worcestershire. Yet I know of no single example in Wessex to 
set against the many in the marches, 

3. I derive the word wall through the Britons from vallum. It should 
be remembered that the Romans came first in contact with the Belge of S.E. 
England, whose posterity (the cockneys) still sound the vas w. This may not 
have been a blunder in Roman times. I find the Romans, when adapting into 
their tongue British words commencing with gw—which according to rule in 
some cases drops its initial—representing the wbyav. Thus Gwrtheyrn and 
Gwrthefyr appear in Latin as Vortigern and Vortimer. 

The proper Saxon word is dic, or (as now spelt) dike, which is still used 
in Yorkshire and in lowland Scotland to mean a stone wall. 


14 


4, My case is greatly strengthened by the fact that the Britons actually 
used their word gwawl, meaning first a trench and afterwards a wall, to desig- 
nate Roman fortifications. ‘‘ Gwawl Severus” was their name for the wall of 
Severus, the Eastern end of which is still known as Wall’s-End, An ancient 
British poet (cited by Richards) speaks of it as 

Rhag gwerin gythrawl, gwawl fain. 
Conspicuous against the people (i.e. the Picts), a stone wall. 


5, Cornwall is no doubt from Corn wealas, i.e., the strangers’ promontory 
or horn-shaped land ; but the Latin Gwallia is a corrupt spelling ; it should be 
Gwalia, the middle a being long, with only one J. The word is, indeed, alto- 
gether doubtful Latin, of monkish manufacture, a mere Latinising of the Saxon 
word Waela or Weala, which originally meant the British inhabitants of 
Wessex, but was afterwards extended to the Britons of the mountains, and 
finally was applied to the mountain land itself. 


To sum up, I look upon the Wall Hills as one of the chain of late British 
fortifications, constructed near the Roman road from Magna eastward, as a 
defence against the Anglian invaders, or perhaps even as late as Athelstan’s 
time. Not only has the camp no British name, but there is not a single British- 
named place within some miles, Hill and dale alike all round it are thoroughly 
Saxon in name. All which facts are intelligible only on the theory that this was 
a camp of late construction, captured probably almost as soon as made, as my 
friend has shown to be in brief the history of the Herefordshire Beacon camp 


Ce 


Then followed a short paper on 


‘ 
4D SOT, fs, Fe Pde 
P are, Bro 
ee), 
FF OS AAA < 
iu {7 ee ta 
é 
ie 


THE MISTLETOE-OAK OF DEERFOLD FOREST. 
Quercus Sessiliflora—Viscum album, fem: 


This very interesting tree grows in the hedgerow of a field called “ Tho 
Harps,” at Haven, in the ancient forest of Deerfold, on the property of the 
Messrs. Fortey. It was discovered about 8 months since, but the Mistletoe 
must have been growing upon it for some years. At five feet from the ground 
the girth of the Oak is 5ft. 8in. The Mistletoe grows in one large wide- 
spreading branch, with a diameter of 3ft. 6in., though it springs out from the 
Oak by only a single stem, nearly 4in. in circumference. This tree makes the 
eighth example of an Oak bearing Mistletoe. 


(This Sketch is drawn from an excellent Photograph taken by 
Henry Moore, Esq., of Leominster.) 


REMARKABLE PLANTS IN DEERFOLD FOREST. 
By Dr. BULL, 


Dr. Butz then said that he had recently had the pleasure of visiting 
a very out of the way part of Herefordshire, the ancient Forest of Deerfold, 
and he had the satisfaction to call their attention to some remarkable plants 
he observed there. He would first mention 


THE MISTLETOE-OAK, OF DEERFOLD FOREST. 


This very interesting tree grows in the hedgerow of a field called ‘‘The 
Harps” at Haven, Aymestry, in the ancient Forest of Deerfold, on the pro- 
perty of the Messrs. Fortey. It was discovered about three months since, 
but the mistletoe must have been growing upon the oak for some years, The 
oak is of the variety sessiliflora and may be some 50 or 60 years old. At 5 feet 
from the ground it measures 5 feet 8 inches in girth. The mistletoe, viscum 
album, fem, grows high up in the oak on the main stem of the tree after it has 
bifurcated. It forms a large wide spreading bunch with a diameter of 3 feet 
6 inches, and springs out from the oak in a single stem nearly 4 inches in 
circumference, 


The mistletoe is also growing on a thorn in the hedge immediately below 
the bunch in the oak and has probably sprung from a seed dropped by the 
birds from above. The great rarity of the growth of mistletoe on the 
oak is proved by the fact that there are but eight examples, which have been 
well authenticated, as existing at the present time. They are as follows :— 


THE LIST OF EXISTING MISTLETOE-OAKS, 


Eastnor Park, Herefordshire, 

: Tedstone Delamere, Herefordshire, 
The Forest of Deerfold, Herefordshire, 
Frampton-on-Severn, Gloucestershire, 
Sudbury Park, Chepstow, Monmouthshire, 
Burningfold farm, Dunsfold, Surrey, 
Hackwood Park, Basingstoke, Hampshire, 
And on an oak near Plymouth. 


Full particulars have already been given in the Transactions of the Club of all 


16 


these mistletoe-oaks. He would therefore pass on at once to call their attention 
to another rare plant of the Forest of Deerfold, and that was 


THE ASARUM EUROPGUM.—Linn. 
THE ASARABACOA, 


One of the Natural Order Avistolochie. It was not only new to Herefordshire, 
but was only to be found in four other places in England and in one in Scotland. 
It grew upon a hedgebank, amongst the old roots of thorns and brambles, in the 
Forest of Deerfold and in the parish of Wigmore, for thirty or forty yards. 
It was ina thoroughly wild state, and far removed from any cottage or other 
habitation, nor, he was assured, was the plant to be found growing in any of 
the gardens of the neighbourhood. 

The Asarabacca was a plant with considerable medical properties, and 
until quite recently held its place in the Pharmacopeias. It is emetic and 
purgative, and used as Ipecacuanha would be used. The plant had, as they 
might know, but a couple of leaves, somewhat resembling the human ear in 
shape and size. Now, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the absurd 
belief in the doctrine of ‘‘signatures” prevailed—that is, the belief that all 
natural productions indicated by some external mark the diseases in which 
they are efficacious; and thus the Asarabacca was used in all affections of the 
ear—as the scarlet poppy was for erysipelas, the yellow juiced celadine for 
jaundice, the mottled lungwort for diseases of the lungs, the knotted figwort 
for scrofulous swellings, &c., &c. Its latest medical use, however, was as a 
snuff with marjorum and lavender, and of which it formed an active ingredient. 
The great renown of this plant for its medical virtues from the earliest times 
has always led to the suspicion of its having been introduced into the few 
localities in which it is known, and from the fact of there having been a chantry 
in the Forest of Deerfold, in the fourteenth century, it is possible that 
‘William the Hermit,” as_the recluse was called who lived here, introduced it 
into the Forest. 

THE JUNIPERUS COMMUNIS. 


Common juniper also grows very freely on the eastern side of the Forest, 
and this was not a common plant in Herefordshire. 

Dr. Bull added that so few people knew there ever was a Forest of Deer- 
fold in this county, that he hoped at a future meeting to be able to tell them 
something about it (applause). 


The descent from the Camp was now made in the direction of Ledbury, 
through the elm-studded meadows of the Leadon to the Feathers Hotel. Dinner 
was made very welcome by the long walk, and it was well provided. ‘‘ Were the 
funguses eaten” does any stranger ask. They were, every one of them. Forty. 
seven guests at the table out of fifty-two partook of them with much satisfaction, 


ee 


17 


a per centage of honest inquiry quite cheering to observe. It shows how rapidly 
prejudice is giving way in the clubs at any rate. Was the St. George’s mush- 
room, Agaricus gambosus, the best? or the Fairy-ring mushroom, the Marasmius 
oreades ? or the Agaricus arvensis, the horse mushroom? Some thought one, and 
some the other, and so opinions will ever vary, for each has its own peculiar 
flavour, and different kinds of fungus will vary as much as different kinds of 
other vegetables or fruits. 

Immediately after dinner, and the few complimentary observations deemed 
necessary to the occasion, an excellent paper was read by Captain Serocold, of 
the Malvern Club, on ‘*‘ THE CoMPARATIVE FLORA OF NORTHERN EvROPE AND 
NoRTHERN AMERICA INCLUDING ICELAND,” which will be published at full length 
in the Transactions of the Malvern Club. 

This was followed by one of much thought, read by Mr. Rankin, the 
President of the Woolhope Club. 


18 


ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS, 


By JAMES RANKIN, Esq., M.A., PRESIDENT. 


The subject of this paper, though one of very great and general interest, has 
been selected chiefly with a view to elucidate and try how that great question 
of the Origin of Species may be affected by the facts learnt from a study of 
the Distribution of the living and also of the extinct species of animals. 

It will hardly be necessary to state that in a short paper like the present 
it will be impossible to do more than give a resumé of some of the leading facts in 
the distribution of animals, and I therefore have considered that the subject will 
be best treated by endeavouring to answer two or three great questions bearing, 
as will be perceived, on the subject of the Origin of Species. 

The first question I propose to consider is, ‘‘ Whetker the facts of the 
Distribution of animals lead us to believe in the creation of species or groups 
of animals in centres and subsequent migration therefrom ; or do they lead us to 
believe in sporadic creations, that is, in the same species being created in 
various parts of the world?” 

The first thing which will strike any one studying the facts of Distribution 
is, I think, that the Fauna of each country is more or less peculiar ; and more 
than this, that the more separated are the countries by natural barriers the more 
different are their animal productions. 

We also find that wide areas if unbroken by any serious obstacle to migration 
have many species in common, whereas islands and isolated regions on the main 
land have a very limited and also usually a very peculiar fauna. To establish the 
above propositions I need only point to the tropical regions of South America, 
Africa, and Australia—countries most widely separated by the most impassable 
of all barriers to land animals, namely, the sea. On these three areas there is 
not one species of mammal in common, not one species of bird in common. 
Amongst reptiles also the difference is remarkable : thus the cayman is peculiar 
to the new world, the crocodile to Africa, and the gavial to India and Australia ; 
the boa belongs to America and the python to India, the rattlesnake to America 
and the cerastis to Africa, and the cobra di capello to Asia. Amongst fishes, 
molluscs, and other classes, we find the same rule of limited Distribution hold 
good, though perhaps in a less degree. Again, looking at islands, we find several 
remarkable instances of peculiarity of fauna. 

Thus the island of Madagascar alone presents us with the genus lemur, and 
has, I believe, no species of mammal but the centetes, which is not peculiar to it, 


19 


In the same way the Galapagos isles, Australia, and the islands of the Eastern 
Archipelago have, more or less, faunas peculiar to each. It should be noticed 
with reference to island faunas that the species inhabiting them are nearly always 
allied to those which inhabit the nearest mainland. 

Glancing now at other portions of the world which are to a great extent 
continuous ; we find no very noticeable breaks in specific forms, nor any sudden 
appearances of numerous new species, but that gradually one by one the species 
give way to other species. This is especially striking while travelling north or 
south, but is also observable, though in a much less degree, going east or west. 
This is, of course, easily comprehended, as we know that latitude hasa far 
greater effect upon climate than longitude. 

It is also remarkable that as we approach the poles, we find that the same 
species have frequently a very wide lateral range. This, of course, is more 
observable in the case of the north pole than the south pole; but aquatic 
animals such as seals and penguins are found to prove the rule in the south. 

It should be carefully observed in studying the facts of distribution that the 
same conditions of life, that is the same climate, same kind of food, &c., do not 
at all ensure the presence of the same species of animals. 

Thus the climate and conditions of life of the tropical regions of America 
and Africa are very similar, but the natural productions are wholly dissimilar. 
Also the same may be said of Africa and Madagascar ; and perhaps the most 
striking case of all isthat of the islands of the Malayan Archipelago. The researches 
of Mr. A. Wallace have brought to light the interesting character of the faunas of 
these isles, and the great peculiarity of their distribution. 

He found the greatest contrast between the faunas of some of the islands 
though only separated by a narrow strait. Thus between the islands of Bali and 
Lomboc the strait is only 15 miles wide, and yet these two islands have hardly a 
mammal or bird in common. In Bali are found woodpeckers, fruit thrushes, 
and other birds belonging to Asia ; in Lomboc none of these are known, but in 
their place cockatoos, honey-suckers, and brush turkies, which are all unknown 
west of Lomboc, and are characteristic features of the Australian Fauna. In the 
same way a striking difference is observable between the faunas of Borneo and 
the Celebes, which are divided by the Macassar Straits. In the former are found 
the large apes and monkeys of many kinds, wild cats, deer, otters, and squirrels ; 
in the latter the cuscus, wild pigs, and deer, which latter Mr. Wallace says have 
been probably introduced. 

These facts strike one as most incomprehensible until it is known that the 
’ seas which separate the Malayan Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and Bali, are 
comparatively shallow seas, rarely exceeding 40 fathoms in depth, whereas the 
straits between Bali and Lomboc are very deep, as are also the Macassar Straits 
between Borneo and Celebes. 

As all this region is highly volcanic with the exception of Borneo and New 
Guinea, it is highly probable that at some period or other the islands of Sumatra, 
Java, and Bali, were severed from the main land, bearing with them of course 


20 


some of their original fauna, which would be of Asiatic character; and on the 
other hand the eastern islands, beginning with Lomboc and the Celebes, have 
probably had some connexion with New Guinea or Australia, though in all 
probability their relationship to each other is immensely more remote than that 
between the isles of Sumatra, Java, and Malay. 


These facts, viz., the dissimilarity of the faunas of widely-separated countries, 
though perhaps of the same climate and conditions, the peculiarity of island 
faunas, and yet their evident relationship to the nearest mainland, or at any 
rate to the mainland with which they were originally connected ; and the fact 
that those most isolated in space or time, have the most differentiated or peculiar 
faunas,—These facts, I say, seem to me to point clearly to centres of creation, 
with subsequent migration and concomitant modification. 


Itis, of course, impossible to say where the original centres of creation were, 
and how many of them there may have been. The theory of Mr. Darwin would 
limit the number almost toa single pair. Without going as far as that, I cannot 
help thinking that thenumber of centres was less numerous by far than the existing 
number of species ; possibly they might bear some relation to the great families, 
such as the Felide, the Equide, and the Cervide ; but this is an idea which at 
present I am not able to elucidate. 

The great difficulties to be overcome in accepting the view of a limited 
number of centres of creation are the difficulty of migration, and the difficulty of 
modification to the extent necessary. 

With regard to the latter of these difficulties, I think the example of the 
domestic animals, the varieties of which are almost certainly known to have 
proceeded from a single speciesis sufficient to prove that an immense amount of 
variation is capable of being produced in some animals, at least, by altered 
circumstances and careful selection, at any rate as far as regards such characters 
as size, colour, prolificacy, and many others more or less of a superficial nature, 


Granting this, which can hardly be denied, that in most animals there is a 
certain amount of inherent variation which can be brought out by altered 
conditions of life, there is no insuperable difficulty in believing that the species 
of some natural family may have all proceeded from some common progenitor ; 
further than that it is not prudent, I think, to go. 

The other difficulty that of migration will be a legitimate topic to say a few 
words upon in this paper. d 

If we concede what I for one am inclined to do, that the centres of creative 
action were less numerous than the existing species now on the face of the earth, 
it will be necessary to show how migration to all the inhabited parts of the 
world may have been effected. 

With regard to the diffusion of the lowest classes of life, namely, those sub- 
kingdoms Ccelenterata or Polyps, and Protozoa which contains the Sponges and 
Infusorial Animalcules and the Foraminifera, it easy to understand how their 
diffusion may have been effected. 


ir 


cmt 


21 


In these low grades of animal life, the spores are nearly always at some 
period of their life free ciliated bodies swimming about in the water, and carried 
to and fro by currents. At that period of their development, when they assume 
a fixed habit of life—as is the case with many of the corals and Meduse—they 
attach themselves to the most convenient body they may happen to come into 
contact with, generally speaking a rock under water, and there they flourish, and 
soon become afresh colony. Of course it is necessary for the climatal conditions 
to be such as are favourable to the animal before it can live in its new situation, 

Although the means of distribution of these lower animals are so perfect, yet, 
nevertheless, the same general rule of peculiarity of distribution applies to them 
as well as to the higher forms of life, though in a far less degree. Thus we find 
that a natural barrier, such as an isthmus between two seas has the same effect 
on the distribution of aquatic animals, as a strait has on land animals; as an 
example of this, none better, I believe, can be found than that of the Isthmus of 
Suez, separating the Mediterranean Sea from the Red Sea. 

Although the conditions of life on both sides of this isthmus are much the 
same, yet, according to Ehrenberg, out of 120 species of Anthozoa (corals, &c.), 
there are only two species common to both seas. 

It should be remarked also that in these low classes, as in the higher, those 
forms which have the greatest powers of locomotion, and also those forms which, 
from their inhabiting the depths of the ocean, can get a very uniform temperature 
everywhere, are the most widely diffused. In support of the first of these state- 
ments I may adduce the case of the Sertularide, and of the Hydride, and of the 
class Infusoria, all of which include animals of very perfect means of locomotion 
and of almost universal distribution. In support of the second statement no 
better example can be found than the Foraminifera, These animals, which are 
little else besides living jelly, inhabiting however very beautifully formed shells, 
live at the bottom of the sea, where the temperature is very much the same all 
over the world, and hence they are not much affected by the obstacle of climate, 
and accordingly they are found nearly everywhere ; one genus especially, namely, 
Globigerina, being almost cosmopolitan. To the geologist they are a singularly 
interesting group, as their calcareous shells go to form great mountain ranges called 
Nummulitic Formations, 

These rocks are found of many thousand feet of thickness in the Alps and 
the Carpathians, in Algeria and Morocco, also in Egpyt, and as far as the frontiers 
of China, showing that these animals had as extensive a range in geological 
periods as at present. These Nummulitic- formations are usually referred to the 
Middle-Eocene. 

There is good reason for thinking that a deposit of Foraminifera isgoing on at 


‘at present in the North Atlantic. 


Passing on now to consider the means of distribution of the mollusca (i.e., 
shellfish, &c.), we find that here also a somewhat similar device exists as among 
the two lower sub-kingdoms ; for-very frequently the young fry or larve are fur- 
nished with cilia with which they can row themselves about. 


22 


More commonly than not the eggs of the mollusca are laid in clusters on 
bits of stick, or on seaweed, and, in the case of fresh water species, on the 
leaves of aquatic plants. These often get carried by currents and floods to great 
distances, where the eggs are hatched, and thus new regions may be peopled, 
Many of the mollusca are free swimmers all their lives, such as the Cephalopoda 
and Pteropoda, and nothing but the temperature of the water exists to prevent 
their universal diffusion. 

Another class of molluscs, many of which float about free in the sea, some- 
times in colonies and sometimes as single individuals, is the Ascidizida. 


In many other ways, no doubt, can the diffusion of molluscs be accounted 
for ; and, in the case of fresh-water species, wading birds perform no small part. 
The eggs get attached to the feathers or the feet of the bird, and are carried by 
it often long distances. Some of the species of the helix or snail have a very wide 
range, and most probably were diffused by the agency of birds. 


In this sub-kingdom we can observe, as before, that natural barriers separate 
faunas ; for instance, the molluscs on the east and west sides of the Isthmus of 
Panama are said to be quite distinct. Again, a different kind of sea bottom is a 
barrier to some species ; thus the mytilus or mussel requires rocks, the solen or 
razor-shell requires sand. 

These few cases out of many must suffice to show that, although the means ot 
diffusion of molluscs are very ample, yet they also follow the general law of 
peculiarity of distribution, though generally speaking the species of this sub- 
kingdom have a wide range. 

On account of these differences in distribution, zoologists have been able to 
define several provinces distinguished by their different molluscs. 


We must now take a rapid glance at the means of the distribution of the 
sub-kingdom Annulosa, This sub-kingdom comprises the classes of crustaceans— 
spiders, insects, myriapods, worms, intestinal worms or parasites, and echinoderms 
or star-fish, 

In this sub-kingdom we have examples of both terrestrial and aquatic animals, 
Amongst the former are the spiders, insects, and earth-worms ; and amongst the 
latter the crustaceans, most ringed worms, the star-fishes, &c. 

In the aquatic classes the young larve are, with hardly an exception, free and 
able to roam about the water at pleasure, and in the vast majority of instances 
the adult forms have the power of locomotion. 

These animals are found nearly all over the world, though many species, or 
perhaps varieties, are very local,and, as we saw with regard to some shell-fish, 
they also require peculiar conditions of life, such as depth of water, amount of salt 
in the water, kind of sea-bottom, and above all degree of temperature. 

Amongst the terrestria] animals of this sub-kingdom are found some curious 
and interesting cases of distribution. 

Although in the insect class the locomotive powers of the adult form are very 
well developed as a rule, yet these animals are not very wide rangers, and species 


23 


are generally somewhat local, carrying out the rule which we have already seen to 
obtain in the other classes of animal life. 

With regard to the diffusion of insects, no doubt migration plays a very 
considerable part ; for although the majority of insects are not migratory, yet 
when their numbers increase to any great extent, from some cause or other, they 
are known to migrate in enormous numbers. 

This has been known to occur with some butterflies (Vanessa Cardui), and 
with many kinds of Orthoptera. Involuntary migration caused by strong winds 
has frequently beep known to occur, and insects have been met with far out at 
sea carried by the wind. 

Floods of rivers also carrying away plants with insects on them are another 
means of dispersal. Few animals are so dependent on temperature as insects, and 
accordingly it is found that a lofty range of snow-clad mountains is a more effect- 
ive barrier against diffusion than a wide expanse of water ; asa proof of this, 
entomologists inform us that the species of insects on the West and East sides 
of the Andes in South America are mostly distinct. Another effective means of 
diffusal is by the eggs of insects being carried off in the wool, hair, or feathers 
of the vertebrate animals, and also in their stomachs, for they are often able to 
resist the digestive action of the gastric juice. 

Such being the ample means of dispersal afforded to the insect class, itis only 
surprising that their distribution should not be more general, but these instances 
seem to me to strengthen the belief in centres of creation, and radiation therefrom 
by natural means. 

A most curious instance of an insect confined to a narrow locality is the tsetse 
fly of South Africa, 

With this brief notice of the invertebrate classes I must pass on to the 
vertebrate, which for our present purpose are more important because better 
known. 

In the Vertebrate Classes, namely, the mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes, 
the locomotive powers of the adult are in most cases so perfect that migration can 
be easily effected, so long as no insuperable barrier occurs to prevent further 
progress, The barriers which chiefly obstruct the paths of Terrestrial Vertebrates 
are the sea, rivers, high mountains, and generally differences of climate ; and with 
the aquatic are the land and the temperature of the water. 


I have already indicated that the distribution of Vertebrate Species is 
generally very local, and that the more remote are two countries, the more 
different are their respective faunas, and that although the conditions of life are 
often almost the same, yet the faunas of remote areas differ from one another ; 
also that continuous or unbroken areas have a community of species. These 
facts seem to point to a natural dispersal or migration from a common centre 
or centres, and therefore it behoves those who wish to establish the above con« 
clusions to be able to point out the means of the general and usual migration 
of animals, and to give some sort of explanation of the apparent exceptions to the. 
rules before stated. 


24 


If the view that each existing species was a separate centre, be adopted the 
difficulties of explanation are not so great, for hardly a case occurs in the animal 
kingdom of the same species (so called) being common to two distant and widely 
separated countries, without admitting of some easy explanation; but if the view 
that creative centres were less numerous than the so called species, which view 
seems to me most probable, be taken, then the difficulties are much more formid” 
able, for it becomes necessary to show how migration may have been effected from 
fewer points or centres, i 

Thus we see that not only species (so called), but also in those parts of the 
world where free communication is difficult, or next to impossible for land animals, 
families or genera are for the most part distinct. This fact, tomy comprehension, 
strongly supports the theory of creative centres. 

But it will be said how can the presence of animals ot the same family, in these 
distant lands, be explained on the theory of centres of creation? This, no doubt, 
is the greatest difficulty to the belief, and to this subject I propose to devote a 
few words in concluding this paper, already too long. 

Now some natural families are found to be represented in nearly every 
quarter of the globe, although the species in different parts may be extinct ; thus 
for example, the family, or Linnean Genus, Felis has its representatives both in 
South America and in South Africa, though the species are different, as also the 
Genus Ursus, Cervus Lutra (otter), Canis (dog), Vespertilio (bat), and some others. 

In reviewing the number of natural families which are common to both 
hemispheres, it should be especially remarked that the Arctic circle possesses 
several common families in both Asia and America, and indeed many species, 
for Canis Lagopus, Ursus Maritimus, and Cervus Tarandus, are found throughout 
the Polar circle, not to mention Marine Mammalia. 

Taking a survey of the temperate regions of both hemispheres, we find a few 
Species common to both (e. g., Mustela, Martes, Mustela, Erminea, Castor Tiber), 
and many families or genera common, as the Genus, Bos, Felis, Ursus, Canis, 
Cervus, Lepus, and others. Amongst these genera, however, the species seem to 
beall distinct in the two hemispheres. Passing on now to the Tropical regions of 
the New and Old Worlds, there is not found a single common species of mammal, 
and but few common families. 

Thus the New and Old World apes are generically distinct ; most of the bats 
are so also, The ant eaters, the sloths, and the armadillos are peculiar to South 
America ; also the Genus Auchenia, containing the Llamas and Alpacas. 

Again, looking at the Old World, we find peculiar the genera Sus, Equus, 
Camelus, Rhinocerus, Manis, Viverra, Erinaceus, Talpa, and the Apes, nearly all 
the Antilopes, and many others; and to Australia the Marsupials, with one 
exception. 

In looking at a map of the world three is hardly anywhere in Europe, Asia, 
and Africa where active mammals could not penetrate, and if once ata place and 
the climate and conditions of life were suitable to them they might multiply and 
flourish ; thus, were the birthplace of a species in either of these three Continents, 


25 


it would not be at all surprising to find them in the others, for there is no broad 
ocean to stop their migration, and climate would be the chief obstacle. As a 
matter of fact, however, species are much more local than this. When we look 
at the Continent of America, however, the case is very different, for the broad 
Atlantic and Pacific oceans separate it on either side fron the Old World. These 
oceans, are, of course, quite impassable by terrestrial animals, and at first sight 
& would appear as if by no possibility could any interchange of species take place 
between the Old and New Worlds. 

It is found, however, as a matter of fact, that about twelve genera of 
mammals have species in both hemispheres, among the chief of which are, Felis, 
Canis, Lutra, Mustela, Gulo, Ursus, Cervus, Lepus, Mus, Sciurus, Vespertilio, and 
Bos. Of this genera nearly all are found in North America, except the feline 
animals, and are animals such as bear, otter, elk, and dog, which can support great 
cold, thérefore, it is not improbable that these animals, at some remote period, 
found their way from the Old to the New World, or vice versa, by the chain of 
the Aleutian Isles, or, perhaps, by some more northerly passage about the poles. 


With regard to the tropical forms belonging to the genus felis, namely, the 
Jaguar, Panther, and Ocelot, the explanation given above of the means of transit 
from the Old to New World will be objected to, because it will be said that these 
animals could not support the cold of the journey round by the Aleutian isles. 
Without granting the truth of this#bjection, which can be contradicted, I think, 
by the fact that these animals can exist through an English winter, and also by 
the fact that tigers have been met with far north in Siberia, yet it must be owned 
that there is some weight in it, and that had this been the course taken by feline 
animals it would be a matter of great surprise. There is, I think, another way 
of accounting for their distribution, which gets rid of the difficulty of climate and 
calls in to its aid the facts given us by geologists. 


These are, that prior te the cold or glacial period which overspread the 

temperate zone, there seems to be some good reason for thinking that the climate 
of the earth was considerably warmer than at present. This is borne out by the 
evidence of the remains of animals which now only inhabit tropical regions being 
found in the northern latitudes. 
- This fact, if true, would of itself account for tropical animals finding their way 
so far north as Kamtschatka and Behring straits; but geologists tell us not only 
of changes of climate, but of changes of land and sea, and it is not at all beyond 
the bounds of geological possibility to believe that the Atlantic and Pacific oceans 
were at one time, even since the recent fauna came into existence, more thickly 
studded with islands so as to form a bridge between the Old and New Worlds, 
and to allow some of the tropical forms to pass across, 


The subsequent Glacial period, of which there can be no doubt, quite explains 
how some of the northern and temperate forms have become common to the two 
hemispheres, being borne by icebergs, or the northern seas being bridged over by 


ice so as to form acontinuous tract. These considerations of the dissimilarity of 
D 


26 


most of the animal productions of distant lands, taken together with a knowledge 
of the ample means provided for the dispersal of living creatures, which explains 
apparent exceptions to the rule, seem to me to testify to the unity of creative 
centres, and to the intention that created beings should be fruitful, and multiply, 
and replenish the earth. (Applause.) 


The lecture was no sooner over than ‘‘To the train, oh Woolhopians !” was 
called out, and this pleasant meeting was suddenly terminated. 


‘of rastey hers 
ony been couaede 
eet in height, por 
At b a feet ‘o Fis 
foot, hy @ inches) it yoru 
pran h-fortwing & oe mgr 
Nit te has lots sl, and decay ‘ 


per atl te Beevers 
: eu}, te! 


‘ee = * 


we 


pe canes 


setlietes ye 


erg “sec 
Fae oe 


et of we Ax “he : 
wie Chub i) pt 
) L rhe 
“ bee ore itm tim: 
; r the heart 0 


Lie pos tograp 


eran | 


t Pik ld Chak.) 


THE REMARKABLE TREES 


OF 


HEREFORDSHIRE. 


THE TIBBERTON OAK. 


(Quercus sessiliflora. ) 
APRIL, 1868. 


For many a year this tree has been the envy of timber dealers, and large 
sums of money have been offered for it. From its great height and size it 
has long been considered the finest Oak in the county. It is rather over 
100 feet in height. and the diametric measure of its spread of branches is 
98 feet. At 5 feet from the ground, where the card of the Club is placed 


"(1 foot by 6 inches), it measures 23 feet 9 inches in circumference. The 


branch forming a second stem, has spoilt this magnificent tree before its time. 
Water has lodged, and decay set, in at the junction, reaching the heart of 
the tree, until in a severe storm imthesspring of 1869 (since this photograph 
was taken), the branch gave way, an the tree was split. 


( Ladmore and Son, Photographers to the Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club.) 


—r 


The Woolhope Aaturalists’ Field Glub. 


MEETING AT PONTRILAS, 


FRIDAY. JUNE 257TH, 1869. 


The trysting spot for the second Field Meeting of the year was the Station 
at Pontrilas, and there, on Friday morning, a goodly company assembled for the 
day’s investigations. The spreading Bell-flower (Campanula patula), which has 
a habitat on the high road just by, was not out to welcome them. The route was 
taken across some pleasant meadows for the high common of Ewyas Harold. 
The success of the day was very quickly established on high poetical authority, for 
Bishop Mant has said— 


«« Well boots it the thick mantled leas 
To traverse: if boon Nature grant 
To crop the insect seeming plant 
The vegetable Bee: or nigh of kin 
The long-horned Butterfly.” 


For on the brow of the hill the Bee orchis, Ophrys apifera, was found in great 
perfection and in great number, and throughout the day’s walk an abundance 
of the sweet scented Butterfly orchis, in both its varieties, Habenaria bifolia, and 
H. chlorantha, was gathered. The Yellow-wort, Chlora perfoliata, and its bright 
sister, the pink Centaury, Erythrea centaurium, were also growing abundantly 
in the limestone gravel of the brow of the hill, and on the common itself the pretty 
creeping §f. John’s-wort, Hypericum humifusum, was in flower, and those who 
looked closely might observe plants of the autumnal Gentian, Gentiana Amarella, 
not yet in flower, and could not fail to see the common cudweed, Filago 
Germanica, shooting up everywhere. 

The day, like so many we have lately had, was oyer-cast and hazy; and 
whether this may be due, as has been said, to the fact that just now the sun 
presents an unusual number of spots on its surface or not, it certainly was not 
favourable for the full enjoyment of the fine rich prospect this common affords on 


28 


every side of it. Itmattered not so much to-day, however, for naturalists can 
always find objects of interest immediately around them. Here were numerous 
quarries to attract attention. By the side of one of them the Club assembled 
at the sound of the horn for the transaction of business. An alteration of the 
Rules, to the effect that the Officers of the Club should be elected at an Autumn 
meeting of the preceding year, instead of at the annual meeting in Spring, of which 
due notice had been given, was unanimously carried, The following gentlemen 
were elected members, viz.:—Col. Symonds, of Pengethly, Bernard Matthews, 
Esq., of Ludlow, and Mr. W. Price, of the Vern; and some other gentlemen 
were proposed for election at a future meeting. 


Dr. But. thought it might be interesting to the members who came from a 
distance if he took that opportunity of drawing their attention to 


EWYAS HAROLD, ITS NAME, ITS CASTLE, AND ITS PRIORY. 


The district was not only beautiful as they could see, but it presented much 
that was interesting to the historian and to the antiquary. One of our members 
present, the Rev. W. C. Fowle, has done more than any one else to create this 
interest by the very able paper he had read at the meeting of the Cambrian 
Archeological Association at Hereford two yearssince. Mr, Fowle had begun with 
the name itself, and had endeavoured to unravel the mystery which hung over 
itsorigin. ‘‘Ewyas” or ‘‘Ewis” as it was more anciently spelt, and as it is to 
this day commonly pronounced, has long heen a puzzle to antiquaries. Mr. 
Fowle could not satisfy himself upon it, and passing by the British ‘‘ Glas,” 
as well he might, seemed to think that it might possibly be derived from the 
Saxon ‘‘ Ha” water. Another member of our Club, Mr. Flavell Edmunds, who 
has for many years past devoted much study to the origin and derivation of names 
in this district, has arrived ata very different conclusion, and one much more 
interesting in the view of natural science. Mr. Edmunds’ solution of the difficulty 
is entirely original, and he has kindly commissioned me to lay it before you to-day. 
He derives the name ‘‘Ewyas” from the British ‘‘ Yw-ys” pronounced ‘‘ Hwis,” 
the yew place. The whole district, he thinks, was formerly called the ‘‘ Ystrad 
Yw” the district of the Yew trees. The Ystrad-yw was probably that part of the 
district about Crickhowell ; the Yw-ys seems to have been the eastern part, which 
included the Llanthony valley and the country eastward of the Black Mountain to 
Ewyas Harold. The Hundred of Ewyas Lacy, which is the only other example 
here of the occurrance of the name “‘Ewyas,” stretches from Rowlestone to 
Cusop, embracing this side of Herefordshire and part of the Black Mountains, 
Ewyas Harold, though clearly a part of Hwis in former times, is now in the 
Webtree Hundred. Giraldus Cambrensis speaks of the Abbey of Llanthony as 
situated ‘‘in the deep vale of Ewyas,” and an old writer of the 12th century, 
Caradocus of Llancarfan, speaks also of Crickhowell as situated in the ‘‘ Ystrad 
Yw,” all facts tending to show how extensive the district of Ewis was in days long 


{ 


29 


gone by. This derivation is certainly well borne out by the abundance of yew 
trees growing at this time throughout the whole district—that is, yew trees apart 
from churchyards—and it was their free and general growth in the woods and on 
the hill sides here and in some parts of Monmouthshire that gave the Rev. Mr. 
Woodhouse an argument in favour of the yew tree as being truly indigenous to 
Britain, in the paper he read before the Club in 1866. The only other combination 
in which ‘“Ewyas” occurs is ‘‘Teffont-Ewyas” (spelt here Evias) in Wiltshire, and 
this Mr. Edmunds thinks may be explained by the fact thatthe Norman Lords often 
carried with them the names of their chief property appended to their Saxon 
names, anda knight ‘‘de Ewyas” may have removed to Teffont, in Wiltshire. 
In this instance a lady may possibly have taken the name there, for it is curious 
that Ewyas Harold has so distinct a connection with Wiltshire that the name 
there may possibly be thus explained. The male descent of the Lords of Ewyas 
ended with the third lord, whose heiress, Sibille or Sybilla Ewyas married Robert 
de Tregoz, of Lydiard-Tregoz, in Wiltshire. 

The difficulty with the other half of the name lies in an opposite direction ; 
there are too many sources of derivation. Harold is clearly from the Lord of the 
Castle, but there are several Harolds in the field. He was the natural son of 
‘‘Kynge Harold” according to Leland, of Fitz-Osborne Earl of Hereford, 
according to Dugdale, of Ralph Earl of Hereford, according to Gough, and lastly 
Mr. Freeman, the talented author of ‘‘ the History of the Norman Conquest,” makes 
him to have been the son of Drogo Fitz-Pontz, mentioned in the Domesday Survey 
as owning considerable property in the Hundred of Vifei (Wolphey), in this 
county. Whoever he was, he was a natural son, as is proved by the frequent use 
in old documents of the word ‘‘ Map-Harold,” from ‘“ Mab,” a natural son, the 
British equivalent of the Norman “Fitz.” The fact of illegitimacy was always 
clearly marked from most ancient times, but its stigma has been greatly changed. 
William the Conqueror himself was but the son of Arletta, the tanner’s 
daughter, who captivated his father, Duke Robert of Normandy, when washing 
her pretty feet in the stream of Falaise, and he hesitated not occasionally to sign 
himself “‘ Guliemus bastardus,” nor is there any proof even of the existence of 
the bend sinister in Heraldry until the fifteenth century. The stigma of Illegi- 
timacy would not therefore stand in the way of any man of mark in those times, 
but none of those last named Harolds seem to have been men of mark or to have 
done anything worthy of giving their name to the lordship,—and it seems more 
probable therefore to believe with Leland—whose minute description is of great 
value—that this Harold was the natural son of “‘ Kynge Harold, and of this Harold 
part of Ewis was named Ewis Harold » (Itin, vol. viii. p. 84). The son of King 
Harold, and it may be (to throw a little poetry on the dry facts of history) of the 
fair Edith, Edeva pulchra, of the old Saxon writings, the swan-necked and 
beautiful Edith descended from Royal Norse blood, his second cousin, and there- 
fore ‘‘ower sibbe,” as the Saxons say, that is ‘‘too near akin ” for the church to 
permit of marriage. ‘‘ The fame is,” says Leland, ‘‘that the castle of Map-Herald 
was builded of Harold afore he was Kynge ; and when he overcame the Walsche 


30 


men,” which was two years before he came to the throne. Certain it seems that 
at the time of the Conguest there was already a castle there, and which at the 
time of the Doomsday Survey (1080-6) was in possession of Alured de Marleborough 
who had refortified it. Mr. Flavell Edmunds has given the following passages 
from the Survey which refer to Ewias, with the appended translations and notes :— 


The references to Ewias in Domesday Book are two, each of which is full and 
suggestive. The first of these is Section x., and is curious as giving the ancient 
name of one of the Hundreds, which has long been disused, viz., ‘“‘ Cutestorn.” 
This would seem to have been partly, if not wholly, identical with the modern 
hundred of Webtree, itself an early Saxon name, meaning the trees or woodland 
of Wiba, some Anglian thegn who has left his name also to the place on which he 
resided, at ‘‘ Wibelege,” now Weobley. The tenth in the list of Herefordshire 
landowners whose possessions are given in Domesday Book is Roger de Laci, who 
seems to have been son of the founder of the branch of that great and powerful 
family which was settled in Herefordshire. The list of his possessions in Cutestorn 
hundred is headed with the following description of Ewias :— 


EXTRACT. 
In Cvtestorn hd. 


Terra Rogerii De Laci. 

X. In Castellaria (a) de Ewias ded. Wills (6) com. Walterio de Laci. iii. 
carucatas (c) tre. wastas. 

Rogerius de Laci fili. ei. tent. eas. Wills. Osbn. de eo. 

In dnio. hnt. ii, car. iii. Walenses reddies. ii. sectar (d) mellis, hnt. i, car, ibi 

hnt. iii. servos. ii, bord (¢) h. tra. val xx. sol, 

Isd. Rogs. ht. una, tra. Ewias dicta in fine Ewias h. tra. n. ptnt. ad 
Castellaria, neq. ad Hvnd. De hac tra. ht. Rogs. xv. sectar, mellis. xv. pore. 
qdo, hoes. sunt. ibi. placita sup. eos. (f) 


TRANSLATION. 

In Cutestorn hundred. The lands of Roger de Laci. 

In the castlery of Ewias Earl William gave to Walter de Laci four carucates 
of waste land. 

Roger de Laci, son of him, holds these (lands). ‘William Osborne (holds) from 

In dominion they have two carucates. Four Welshmen rendering two sectars 
of honey have one carucate there. They have three slaves. Two bordars have 
lands value 20s, 

The same Roger has one land called Ewias, on the boundary of Ewias. This 
land does not pertain to the castlery nor to the hundred, Out of that land Roger 
has fifteen sectars of honey. Fifteen swine, when men are there, are required 
from them. 


NOTES, 


(a) Castellaria—tI have coined the word castlery, as best expressing the tract 
of land immediately appertaining to a castle, 


—- 


ea Se 


il oe a 


31 


(b) This Earl William was probably the Earl of Hereford who was killed by 
falling from the tower of St. Peter’s church. (See Duncumb’s History.) 
fc) A carucate was as much land asa team of oxen could plough in a year. 
(dj The exact amount of a sectar of honey I have been unable to ascertain, 
and shall be glad to be informed. 
(e) The bordar was a man who held a small plot of land on the condition of 
doing work at stated times on the farm of the lord or of his tenant 
(f) When the swine-herds were occupying the woodlands of their lord bene- 
ficially they paid 15 swine as rent. 


The only other reference to Ewias in Domesday Book is Section XIX. In 

this case the name of the hundred is not prefixed :— 
EXTRACT, 

Terra Alvredi (a) de Merleberge. 

XIX. Alvred. de Merleberge tent. Castellu. Ewias de W. rege. 

Ipse Rex eni. (5) concessit ei tras. quas Wills. comes ei dederat. qui hoc 
castellu. refirmauerat. hoe est v. carucatas tre ibide. ad mannum (c) alias. v. 
carucatas, Terra q.q. Radulfi de bernai ccessit. ei rex que ad castellu. ptnebat. 

Thi ht, in dnio, ii. car. ix. Walenses cu. vi. car. reddies, vii. sectar mellis, xii, 
bord. opantes. una die ebdomad. 

Quing. milites ei Ricard. Gillebi. Wills, Wills. Harnold. hnt. v. car. in dnio, 
xii. bord. iii, piscarias, xx, uacs. p. (d.) 

Duo alii Wills. Radulf. tent. tra. ii. car. 

Turstan tent. tra. reddie, xix. den, Warneri. tra. de v. sol. hi. hnt. v. bord. 

Hoc castellu. Ewias val. x, lib. 

TRANSLATION, 

The land of Alured of Marlborough. 

Alured of Marlborough holds the castle of Ewias from King William. 

The King himself truly conceded to him the lands which Earl William had 
given to him (Alured), who this castle rebuilt (or strengthened): That is, five 
carucates of land in the same. As to the remaining five carucates of land of 
Radulf de Bernai, which had pertained to the castle, the King yielded them also 
to him (Alured). 

There he has in dominion two carucates ; nine Welshmen of him holding six 
carucates, returning seven sectars of honey ; twelve bordars working one day in 
each week. There are four bovarii (cattle-keepers). One man renders sixpence. 

Five soldiers (belonging) to him, viz., Richard, Gillebi, William, William, and 
Harnold, have five carucates in dominion ; twelve bordars, three fisheries, and 
twenty cows pertaining. 

Two others, William and Radulf, hold lands, two carucates. 

Turstan holds lands rendering 19d., and of Warner lands of 5s, (value). 
These have five bordars, 

This castle of Ewias is worth £10. 


32 


NOTES. 

(a) There are several Alureds mentioned in Domesday Book, but we know 
nothing of their history, Of the Alured in the text we only know that he was 
not lord of Marlborough, in Wilts, the castle and manor so called being a royal 
demesne—that is an estate kept in the king’s own hands—from the Conquest 
down to the time of Henry VIII. 

(b) Iread “‘eni.,” asa contraction of enim; Plautus has enim me nominat. 

(c) The word is not very clear in the original, but it may be intended for 
mannum, an ambling nag, or palfrey, and the whole sentence would thus imply 
that the king gave the lands referred to in consideration of the gift of a palfrey. 
Such tenures were common in feudal times. 

(d) The two concluding words of this paragraph are not wholly legible, part of 
the first letter of ‘‘uacs” being effaced, and the latter word being doubtful. I take 
it for pertinentes, unusually contracted to fit the space, as it comes at the end of 
the line. F. E. 


Leland described the extent of the Lordship of the Castle in more understand- 
able terms as ‘‘a myle in breadth wher it is narrowest, and most in length two 
myles. It hath good corne and grasse and woode.” (Itin. vol. viii., p. 83.) 

How Alured de Marleborough became possessed of the Castle of Ewyas 
the Survey tells. It was King Harold’s property granted by William, The 
same Alured also received the grant from William of the following 
manors, which it is distinctly stated in the Survey “‘ Herald tenuit,” viz. : Hope, 
Manetune, Brochevrdie, Edtune, Penebrvge, Burgelle, Stratford, and Cvvre. How 
he lost Ewias Harold, history sayeth not. He may possibly have sold or had to 
resign it to the particular Harold who rebuilt the castle at the end of the century. 
Supposing this to have been King Harold’s son restored to his father’s possession, 
the origin of the name would be clear enough. Leland writes (1530) ‘‘ greate 
parte of Map-Herald Castell is yet standynge, and a Chapelle of Seint Nicholas 
init. Ther was sumetyme a Parke by the Castell. The Castell stondythe on a 
mene hill.” Nothing remains of it now but the mound and the fossa. 

From Harold, the history becomes much better known, and can be traced 
down with much greater certainty. Mr. Fowle’s paper gives all these details ; I 
will only add in Leland’s words, “‘ Ther is a village by the Castell caullyd Hwis 
Haralde, in the whiche was a Priorie, or cell of Blake Monks, translatyd from 
Dulesse village, a myle and upper on the broke. Dules village longed to Harold. 
Filius Haraldi foundyd this at Dules: Robertus Tregoz translatyd it from Dules 
to Mapheralt : It was a ceJl to Gloucester.” (Itin. vol. viii. p. 84). This monastry 
is supposed to have been removed to Ewias Harold about the year 1100, and 
remained there until the year 1358, when it was reunited to Gloucester. There 
are no remains of the Priory, and ‘“‘its very site,” says Mr. Fowle, “‘ cannot now 
be identified.” The Cartulary of the Priory, extending through the whole of its 
existence is still extant, and for a sketch of it, and for many other interesting 
particulars relating to Ewyas Harold I must refer you once again to Mr. Fowle’s 


ae 


33 


paper. Letme in conclusion ask Mr. Fowle, or any other gentleman present, if 
they see any objection to Mr. Edmunds’ derivation of the word ‘‘ Ewyas” from 
Yuw-ys. 

The Rev. W. C. Fowl z said that the origin of “‘Ewyas” had completely puzzled 
that excellent antiquary, the Rev. John Webb, to whose kindness he had been 
indebted for the copy of the Cartulary of the Priory, upon which his paper was 
founded. To say that he had failed himself was nothing after this. He was 
quite prepared to give up Za, which had never seemed satisfactory to him, but 
would rather leave Yw-ys to Welsh scholars, He would say, however, that the 
abundance of yew trees in the district at the present time was certainly remarkable. 

J. E. L&x, Esq., said that Ha must certainly be given up. 

JAMES Davies, Esq., said he doubted very much whether Yw-ys could be 
considered the right derivation of Ewyas, and gave references to some early 
writings to show thatthe form of spelling at first adopted was euas. 

Some one asked whether early spelling was much to be depended upon, and 
thought that w, y, u, v, and even i, seemed to be used synonymously at times 
(laughter). 

The origin of Pontrilas wasthen named. The first syllable being derived from 
the Latin pons, a bridge, there being no Welsh word for a bridge, and probably 


‘no bridges until the Romans came and taught the people to build them. The 


numeral tri three, and gids bluish green—the colour of water standing for water 
itself, The bridge of the three streams :—of Dulis, from du black, and glds from 
its darker water; and of Honddu from Afon, a river, and ddu the feminine 
**black”—the dark river. 

Wit11aM Apams, Esq., the president of the Cardiff Naturalists Society, said 
that he thought the Jas in Pontrilas would be derived rather from lais—the bridge ~ 
of the three murmuring voices ; and Dulas in the same way with the numeral di 
for the origin of the first syllable, ‘‘the two murmuring voices”; and Mr. Rhys 
Jones agreed with him. 

The President, afraid apparently of entering too far on the troubled waters 
of Gallic derivations, called upon Dr. M’Cullough to give a description of the 
quarry beforethem. Dr. M’Cullough then pointed out the peculiarities presented 
by the cornstone of the quarry, and at the next quarry on the top of the common 
—the quarry in which he had found last year that unique fossil, the Pterygotus 


- tawrinus (Salter), He gave an address 


ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE DISTRICT. 
By Dr. M‘CuLitovan. 


Gentlemen,—We are now placed not far from the centre of that great mass 
of the Old Red Sandstone which forms the principal part of the counties of 
Hereford, Monmouth, and Brecon, and from the point where we now stand on 
Ewyas Harold Common we can see nothing except that formation. The higher 
portions, though not quite the highest, are seen in the Black Mountain on the 
west and the Skyrrid on the south, while to the south-east and east, we see the 
lower ranges of the Graig, Garway, and Saddlebow. In the few remarks I am 
about to make I shall confine myself to the geology of the district we visit to-day. 
We are placed on one of aseries of hills which run somewhat parallel to the Black 
Mountain. You observe that the sides of the hillare steep; the cause of this is 
evidently the power of resisting denudation of that great bed of Cornstone which, 
as you have just seen, is close to the surface, and produces the flatness of the 
plateau over which we have just passed. We shall presently see that Ewyas 
Harold Castle stood on a similar plateau at the end of the King-street hill. 

Now with regard to defining the position of the beds which we see exposed 
here, I may remark that in this formation, as displayed in this district, we are 
placed under great difficulties, both from the paucity of organic remains and the 
similarity of the rocks, compared, for instance, with the Silurian. The divisions 
of the Old Red Sandstone are consequently very vague. Usually it is divided 
into an upper or Conglomerate, a middle or Brownstone series, and a lower or 
Cornstone series, and to these is sometimes added a fourth division, the Ledbury 
shales, These, however, with the exception perhaps of the last. are general and 
indefinite divisions, and it appears to me that a great step would be gained if we 
could establish one or more zones, and break up this great mass into more definite 
divisions. Iam not now ina position to propose such divisions, but merely to make 
some suggestions which future observations may show to be practicable or not. 
The Cornstones are usually spoken of collectively and indefinitely, without any 
distinction as to essential differences, Last year I pointed out that there were 
two great classes of Cornstone, which I called the Concretionary and the Conglo- 
merate, the former quite unfossiliferous as far as Ihad observed, the latter often 
containing fossils. Further observation has strengthened my belief as to the 
essential difference of those deposits. If we lookat the geological map, we see 
no series of the blue lines indicating Cornstone along the sides of the Black 


35 


Mountain, and another and more abundant series along the hills on one of which 
we now stand, the latter evidently occupying a zone lower than the former, The 
former are the irregular conglomerate-looking calcareous strata which often 
contain remains of our Old Red fish ; the latter indicate that great bed of 
limestone which you have seen to-day, and in which I have as yet failed to find 
any trace of organic remains. This is no mere local deposit, but a bed which, 
where it has escaped denudation, may be traced for miles in the hills on either 
side of the Golden Valley. Whether it may ever have been continuous with 
the similar beds found elsewhere, as for instance that which we saw last year 
around Dinmore Hill and near Leominster, is a point which I could at present 
only venture to suggest. Now, if further observation shows that this is nota 
mere “‘irregular course of mottled red and green earthy limestone called Corn- 
stone,” as described by Murchison, but a definite geological formation extending 
over a wide area, it would prove a most valuable landmark or zone. 


From repeated observations which I have made with the aneroid barometer, 
T have calculated that the point where we now stand is about 270 feet above the 
Pontrilas railway station, or in round numbers about 500 feet above the sea level. 
The point, however, to which I wish especially to direct your attention is, that 
we are 135 feet above the bed of Cornstone, which we passed just now on our way 

: up the hill, yet here we find Pterygotus, the fossil known as Parka decipiens, so 
commonly associated with it, and believed to be the egg packet of that crustacean, 
and the round bodies called Pachytheca spherica, and believed to be the seeds of 
Lycopodiaceous plants. Now all these, where they come up into the Old Red 
Sandstones at all, are only known to exist in its lowest portions, and they thus 

afford proof of the very low position of this bed of Cornstone. The other organic 
remains found here are portions of fish spines and a plant bed, but in the present 
state of our knowledge these do not afford much assistance in determining our 
position. The most important of the other quarries which we shall visit to-day 
is that at Rowlestone, where that unique fossil, the Stylonurus Symondsii, 
figured in the last volume of our transactions, was found. Ihave not yet satisfied 
myself as to the exact position of that quarry, butI believe it to be higher than 
this at which we now stand, but as I have found there Cephalaspis and Parka 
decipiens, it isprobably not very much higher, and I have no doubt whatever that 
it is much lower than the upper series of Cornstone, which, as I have pointed out 
to you on the map, is seen along the sides of the Black Mountains. 

Above the upper series of Cornstone the Old Red Sandstone is remarkably 
barren in organic remains, the only thing I have found being some plant markings, 
until we come to the very top of the system, which occasionally yields fish remains. 
Tn all the quarries which we shall visit to-day you will observe that the sandstones 
are much less red than in the middle portions of the formation, most of them 
being gray, greenish, or yellowish. 

Those who consult the geological map will observe that the Cornstone is not 

laid down on this hill, or atany of the numerous points where it is worked near 


36 


Ewyas Harold, these quarries not having been opened, I suppose, at the time of 
the survey. 

Last year, in describing what I called the concretionary Cornstones, I spoke 
of them as formed entirely of nodules or concretions, not being then aware of the 
appearances presented in the quarries we have just inspected, where at the 
bottom of the bed there is a solid deposit of pure limestone about four feet thick, 
above which the limestone is found for a depth of six feet in the nodular form, the 
nodules gradually becoming smaller towards the top. In a quarry which I shall 
point out to you presently close to Hwyas Harold Castle, the bed of Cornstone 
about eight feet in thickness, contains two solid strata separated by a layer of 
nodules, These transitions and alternations seem to indicate a variation in the 
supply of lime, the solid strata being apparently formed when the water from 
which the lime was deposited was nearly free from other minerals, the nodules 
resulting from such a mixture with earthy matter as to prevent the lime forming a 
solid stratum. 

Those of you who know anything of the nature of chemical analysis will 
readily understand that a complete analysis of a mineral substance, can only be 
performed by those who give special attention to such pursuits, and who have a 
laboratory at their command. It may be of use, however, to describe a simple 
mode of ascertaining the amount of earthy impurities present in such limestones 
as we have seen to-day. I take a known weight of the specimen to be examined, 
say 100 grains, and dissolve it in hydrochloric acid ; then filter through a paper 
filter of known weight, wash the filter until it is free from acid, then dry the filter 
and weigh it. The increase of weight of the filter gives approximately the 
amount of earthy impurity in the limestone, this impurity consisting chiefly of 
silica and alumina, or sand and clay, the deficiency on soluble portion being 
carbonate of lime, with perhaps a little carbonate of magnesia, In a specimen 
from the solid bottom bed which I have examined, the insoluble residue amounted 
to 3°3 per cent., and in a portion of one of the nodules to 6°3 per cent. ; the 
soluble portion, chiefly carbonate of lime, being in the former case 96°7, and in 
the latter 93°7 per cent, 


The discoveries made on the present occasion were confined to a specimen 
or two of the egg-packets which have been termed Parka decipiens, and plentiful 
tracings of a dark substance in the stones which seemed very like carbonaceous 
matter, but in which Dr. M‘Cullough had not yet been able to detect any organic 
structure with the microscope. 

‘““St, Martin’s well” was next visited—a picturesque well of excellent 
water, and a high renown for its virtues in restoring weak eyesight ; and then 
under the guidance of the Rev. W. R. Lawrence the descent to the village was 
made, Here the church was kindly thrown open, and its restoration fully 
appreciated by those whochanced to visit it with the Archzologists two years since, 


37 


There.is an interesting effigy in the chancel under a carved canopy. It 
is supposed to represent the Lady Clarice Delawarre, the eldest daughter of John 
de Tregoz, through whom the castle and domain of Ewyas Harold passed to the 
family of Delawarre. It is supposed—indeed it was ascertained on moving the 
stone some years since by Mr. Fowle—to be a case of heart burial ; the lady dying 
away sent her heart for interment here. She seems to hold itin her hands on the 
effigy. 

The site of the castle was next inspected. It was admirably chosen, and 
in the days of bows and arrows would be a strong place. The large artificial 
mound on which the keep was built tempts to assault in these days. ..... by 
pic-nic parties, for the views are peculiarly rich and beautiful. 


Time was now getting on, and after some consideration by the leaders it 
was decided to leave the King-street quarry and make at once for that which has 
proved so much more interesting in its results, the Sandstone quarry at Rowle- 
stone, in which the Stylonurus Symondsii was found. The walk there, of 
nearly two miles, was beautiful throughout, and an hour was passed pleasantly 
there in the search for organic remains ; they are not plentiful in this quarry, 
but such as have been found possess remarkable interest and differfrom anything 
found elsewhere. The rumour ran that Dr. M‘Cullough had one to produce, 
which bore this character, and this served to stimulate a little the zeal of the 

. geologists present ; but few fragments however had rewarded the search on this 
occasion when the horn sounded the retreat. 

Another pleasant walk through the fields in friendly converse, varied 
here and there by some botanical ‘‘find”—now of thej Woad-waxen, or Dyer’s 
Green weed, Genista tinctoria, which was very plentiful—now of the Sweet-scented 
Orchis, G@ymnadenia conopsea—and again of a very beautiful clover exquisitely rose- 
tinted, which it was thought might be new but which turned out on examination 
to be merely a variety of the common Trifolium pratense, made delicate and 
graceful by the boggy undrained land on which it grew. 

Mr. Lawrence, of Pontypool directed attention to a number of grass-covered 
heaps freely scattered over a pasture-field passed through. They might have been 
heaps of earth neglected to have been scattered, but they were not so. He had 
often observed them in neglected pastures of the Old Red Sandstone formation, 
and he believed them to be the joint work first of the moles, and secondly of the 
ants upon the molehills. When both tenants ceased their occupation, time and 
the changes of season soon converted their habitations into simple mounds of 
earth. 

Right glad were all parties to reach the Scudamore Arms and refresh 
themselves after the fatigues of the day. Ample provision had been made, and 
well filled was the room. Here is alist of the company :—James Rankin, Esq., 
M.A., the President; Arthur Armitage, Esq., Dadnor, and Dr. McCullough, 
Vice-presidents ; Wm. Adams, Esq., F.G.S., President of the Cardiff Naturalists’ 

= Society and R. Rhys Jones, Esq., the Honorary Secretary ; the Rev. H. C. Key ; 
Richard Hereford, Esq., Sufton, and the Rev. Robert Hereford ; J. E. Lee, Esq., 


38 


Caerleon ; Canon Hawkins, Llandaff; Dr. Bull; the Rev. R. H. Williams, 
Byford Col. Cunningham ; the Rev. H. T. Hill, of Felton, and Mr. Walter 
Hill; the Rev. W. C. Fowle, Brinsop ; the Rev. B. S. Dawson, Yazor; E. J. 
Stone, Esq., Chambers Court, Worcestershire; the Rev. Thomas Phillipps, 
Dewsall, and Mr. Jacob Phillipps; the Rev. E. Du Buisson; T. Curley, Esq., 
F.G.S.; the Rev. D. J. George, Trelough ; Colonel Symonds, Pengethly; the 
Rey. C. J. Westropp; the Rev. Thos. West, Fownhope, and C. H. Gardiner, 
Esq. ; the Rev. J. Jones Machen ; the Rev. Arthur Gray, Orcop ; James Davies, 
Esq., Hereford; the Rev. A. G. Jones, Yarkhill; D. R. Harrison, Esq., Holmer 
Hall, and Joseph Seymour, Esq. ; E. B. Fitton, Esq., of the Malvern Club ; Dr, 
J. H. Wood, Tarrington; Wm. Aston, Esq., and J. T. Owen Fowler, Esq., 
Hereford; the Rey. W. R. Lawrence, Ewyas Harold; the Rev. Bernard 
Marshall, Blakemere ; David Lawrence, Esq., Pontypool ; J. Carless, Esq., Town 
Clerk, Hereford ; the Rey. Alfred Phillipps, Abbey Dore ; E. J. Husbands, Esq., 
and Mr, E. Tibbetts Husbands, Pontrilas; the Rev. J. P. Bellingham ; Mr. 
James W. Lloyd and Mr. Brothwood, Kington ; Masters Ernest, Alexis, and 
Henry Power Bull; and Mr. Arthur Thompson. 


When dinner was over, the President called upon Dr. M‘Cullough to 
exhibit some fossils to the meeting from the quarries they had visited. 


NEW FOSSILS. 


Dr. M‘Cullough first showed a large specimen of the Pterygotus taurinus 
(Salter), which had been found in the upper quarry on the common, This was 
the only specimen that had been found. It had not yet been fully described, but 
he trusted that it would be shortly. 

He then exhibited a crustacean of still higher interest, which he had obtained 
a few days before from the Rowlestone quarry. So far as could be judged, it was 
quite different from any fossil before found. The upper surface was sulcated, 
and thickly studded with tubercles, and at the sides the swimming feet 
were well seen in section. The carapace was very distinct. An exact and scien- 
tific description will doubtless be shortly given. When this is done, and the 
creature has received its name, it will be introduced again to the notice of the 
Club. 


THE NEST OF A KING-FISHER (Alcedo ispida) 


Was then sent round for examination. It consisted of a quantity of small fish- 
bones rejected from the gullet of the bird. Dr. M’Cullough had found the nest 
in a bank on the Monnow having frequently observed the old birds in the neigh- 
bourhood. A cow had unfortunately put her foot on the earth above the nest, 
crushed it in, and killed the four young birds it contained. The hole in the bank 
in which it was built was some six feet above the ordinary water-level of the river. 
It was made in the perpendicular bank, a foot below the surface of the soil, was 
about two feet in length, and sloped obliquely upwards to within about two inches 
of the grass; here a wider space, some six inches in diameter, was hollowed out, 


39 


in which the nest was placed, if a loose mass of small bones could be so called. 
The entrance-hole was carefully examined. It was oval, 2? inches from above, 
and 23 inches from side to side, and was made so directly inwards that not a mark 
was to be seen in the soil around it. Many authorities speak of the Kingfisher 
forming its nest in the hole of the mole or water-rat, but this could not have 
been the case here, for the face of the bank receded below the hole, and no rat 
could have reached the entrance. There could be no doubt that it was made by 
the bird itself, and it certainly bore a strong resemblance to the hole made by the 
woodpecker in a tree, 


The Rev. R. H. WitxrAms thought Kingfishers never made nests, and that 
the bones they threw up were scattered about the hole, that is that they were 
ejected accidentally as it were, and without any design of their forming a nest. 
The holes he knew always sloped upwards. 


Dr. Buwt said that though the bones were loose or only slightly adherent 
together, no one could see them in the place scooped out to receive them without 
the conviction that they were there designedly. They did not form any true nest, 
and he was certainly reminded on examining it of MacGillivray’s observation that 
it was easy to tell whether there was a Kingfishers’ nest in a given hole by the 
stink which proceeded fromit. He would like to ask members present one or two 
questions about this beautiful bird, whether first their observation led them to 
believe that it was becoming more scarce than formerly. He had recently been 
told to his great satisfaction by a gentleman living on the banks of the Wye that 
he thought that they had certainly increased in numbers during the last few 
years. He would also like to know whether there were any traces in this 
district of the poetry which of old attached itself to this bird. The presenceof a 
Kingfisher was formerly thought a safeguard against thunder and ensured the 
peaceof families. The possession of its feathers gave courage to those who wore 
them, and ensured affection. To this day it is said the Tartars and some Eastern 
people carry a‘skin about them as an amulet against every ill. The dead bird 

. was thought, too, to have some magnetic power, and when held up by a string 
| from the beak that its breast would invariably turn to the north. 


The Rev. D. J. Grorcs said that he could speak very decidedly with refer- 
ence to the Monnow ; that they had certainly very much decreased in numbers 
since his boyish days. He was not aware that any superstitious belief existed 
with regard to them. 


: 

: The Rev. ARTHUR GRAY was afraid that the ladies’ hats were partly the cause 
% of their lessened numbers, and if its feathers had such powers he did not much 

wonder at it (laughter). 
a R. Ruys JonsEs, Esq., honorary secretary to the Cardiff Naturalists’ Associa- 
‘ tion, said that he thought that the kingfishers sometimes changed the localities 
they frequented ; within his own knowledge the birds had become much more 
5 common, and the nests more numerous upon the Rhymney river within the last 
six years, more especially on that part of the stream flowing through Col, Tynte’s 


40 


estate of Cefnmabley. Upon the river Taff, during the same period, the bird 
had become more rare, The bones which form the nest of this bird are not so far 
macerated as those found near the nests of hawks and owls, but are, nevertheless, 
much mingled and dissolved. The kingfisher in Glamorganshire is still frequently 
hung up by the beak to serve as a weather prophet, 

ARTHUR ARMITAGE, Esq., thought the kingfishers would follow a supply of the 
food they lived on. Near his house he had cleaned out a pool and stocked it with 
perch, It was along distance from the river, and there had been no fish in it 
for years—but the kingfisher, to his surprise, soon found it out—for one morning 
his daughter brought one which had been choked by the fish it had eaten, 


41 


FUNGUSES. 


The day’s walk had been singularly unproductive so far as Funguses are 
éoncerned, although it had been over promising ground. This was probably 
owing to the cold nights from the easterly winds that have lately prevailed. 
But one single specimen was found, and that was a young Polyporus sulfureus 
on a gatepost, made probably of yew tree, which is the tree this fungus more 
especially affects, Some interesting specimens had, however been forwarded for 
exhibition. Mr. Hereford, of Sufton, had sent a 

LycoperDon GiGaNnTEuM, the Giant Puff-ball, 

nearly two pounds in weight, which was sent round the room that the members 
might observe its smooth white surface—like kid leather—and so be able to 
recognise a very common and very excellent edible fungus, It often grows to a 
much larger size than the one shown, but if this one had been recently gathered, 
it would have been cooked and very gladly welcomed at their table to-day. 
Simply cut in slices half an inch thick, with yolk of egg over the surface, and 
fried with fine herbs, it makes delicious omelettes—such omelettes as are to 
be met with and enjoyed every day on the Continent, but which our English 
cooks do not sufficiently appreciate. Perhaps it is the cost of eggs that causes 
their rarity here, but then the slices of puff-balls supply their place, and hence 
it is that this fungus has been called “‘ the vegetable egg.” Should the re- 
quirements of the table, however, demand a sweetmeat instead of an ordinary 
omelette, the vegetable egg is equal to the occasion. Let it be fried simply with 
the yolk of egg, and a little white sugar be sprinkled over it, and an excellent 
dish is at once produced. ——_——_——_ 


Another fungus of a very singular and fanciful appearance was then 
shown. It had been sent by Arthur Armitage, Esq., Vice-President, and 
grew at Oubberly, near Ross. It was as rare as it was peculiar and interesting. 
It was one of the stellate puff-balls, the 

GEASTER QUADRIFIDUS. Pers,—The Arched Puff-ball. 
(Geaster Fornicatus—F*r.) 

In its young state it is a small puff-ball, with a short stem enclosed in 
a double membrane (or peridium), like a ball, As it grows, these wrappers are 
opened with a cross split, and the inner one becomes arched up, raising up 
with it the small puff-ball. It then presents itself as a small globe, sup- 
ported on four arched rays, which rest by their points on the four points of the 
outer wrapper, which forms an inverted arch, and is usually below the surface 
of the soil in which it grows. These characteristics distinguish it from every 
other form of stellate puff-ball, and when once it has been seen it can never 
afterwards be mistaken. 

Mepicaco Macunata. Sibth.—Spotted Medick. 


Specimens of this British plant were next shown, It is not uncommon as 
an occasional weed in the middle and south of England, but it has recently been 
F 


42 


introduced into the neighbourhood of Hereford rather extensively, and in a very 
peculiar way. The scrapings from the sheep skins imported from South America 
have lately been sold as manure from the skin yards. The heaps of this refuse, 
when mixed with lime and other materials for dressing the land and left to ripen, 
have been found to be covered with what was called ‘‘a new kind of clover with 
a yellow blossom”—or, where the manure has been used, it has sprung up in the 
fields and grown most luxuriantly. 

Tn the summer of 1867 a gentleman near Hereford manured for swedes with 
this skin-yard refuse. The swedes were eaten off, and barley and clover sown 
in the spring of 1868. The hot dry summer of last year made the clover miss, 
and in the autumn, after harrowing, the scarlet trifolium (Z’rifolium incarnatum) 
was sown over it, This spring the ground has been well covered, but the trifolium 
only formed one-fourth of the crop; the other three-fourths was formed by this 
‘foreign clover,” and in some places it was growing so luxuriantly as to be esti- 
mated at nearly two tons to the acre, In this instance it answered very well, but 
where the manure has been used in hop-yards and with some other crops, the 
Medick has been most troublesome. In South America it is one of the most 
common weeds, and an examination of the seed vessel explains readily enough 
how it becomes attached to the wool of sheep, and when once attached how 
difficult it is to get rid of it. The seed vessel is arranged in a spiral manner, so 
as to form a small compact ball, the size of a large pea, and it is fringed with long 
bristles pointing alternately different ways. Its leaflets are inversely heartshaped, 
and from the black spot in the centre of each, the plant takes its distinctive name. 


Some fine cells of a solitary Mason bee, 
Osm1A Bicornis (Réaumer ), 

were next sent round the table for inspection, Each one consisted of sand and 
earth in massesor pellets, agglutinised together when moist, so as to form an oval 
cell, perfectly smooth internally but with a rough external surface. 

“Ts there not art through all the works of Nature?” 
They were taken from beneath the tiles of an outhouse at Haven, in the Forest 
of Deerfold. The cells were empty, that is, they merely contained the remains 
of the cocoon, of a gum-like silk, spun by the larva, This particular kind of 
Mason bee is a scarce one. ————— 

TrIcHIUS Fascratus. Linn.—The Bee Beetle. 

Dr. M’CutLouGH exhibited several specimens of this interesting beetle taken 
from rotten alder stumps on the banks of the Monnow. It was formerly a great 
rarity, and its habitat was ‘‘ South Wales,” but it has become common in collec- 
tions since the favourite station for it at Rannoch, in Perthshire, was discovered. 
It exists there in abundance. 

R. Rays Jongs, Esq., of Cardiff, said he had found the larve four years 
since on decayed alder and willow stumps on the banks of the Ely and Taff, near 
Cardiff, and had afterwards obtained the perfect insect in the same locality. 


i 


sf ee 


43 


ON THE SPECIES OF SCOLYTUS, A GENUS OF BARK 
BEETLES, FOUND IN THIS DISTRICT. 


By T. ALGERNON OHAPMAN, M.D, ABERGAVENNY, 


The genus Scolytus belongs to the family Hylesinide, which has also, 
from that circumstance, been called Scolytide, the best English equivalent 
of which is Bark-beetles. The typical species, Scolytus Destructor, was called 
Hylesinus Scolytus by Fabricius, and its specific name was applied to the 


_whole genus by Olivier, who substituted that of Destructor. The several 


species have a strong resemblance to each other. They have a quaint, stilted 
appearance from the bending down of their heads, and the truncation of their 
elytra and terminal segments; and they run in a rapid, jerky manner. They 
all have a rounded, shining, black, somewhat punctated thorax, with indications 
of reddish marking in some specimens. The reddish elytra form a more or less 
square, flat surface, and are longitudinally striated, the peculiarities of the 
strize forming the characters which are most readily seized for the discrimination 
of the several species. 


There are six British species, one of which, Scolytus Ratzburgit, Jans., 
has been taken, on only one occasion, in Perthshire. I have failed to find it in 
this district, It is a Birch feeder, and I have little doubt is to be met with 
wherever that tree is plentiful, but I don’t know of any such place near Aberga- 
venny. I have met with the five other species, and of these I show you both 
living and mounted specimens, 


Scolytus Destructor Ol. is the largest of these, and the most common one. 
Its habitat is the bark of elm. The size of the timber it affects makes it difficult 
to exhibit good specimens. It may be found at this season (June) making its 
galleries of oviposition in any elm trees felled during last winter, and usually in 
such numbers as to ensure the destruction of the bark. I do not recollect to 
have seen it in timber smaller than Sin, in diameter. The female makes her way 
along the bottom of some crack in the bark, often by widening it for some dis- 
tance, before commencing to burrow, so that the real opening of the gallery is 
some distance from where the little heap of out-turned frass lies which marks its 
orifice. The male is present for only a brief interval, viz., after the burrow is 
well commenced, but before any eggs are laid. The burrow is usually about 
three inches long (very rarely five), almost always close to the wood, and slightly 


44 


on encroaching it. Its construction occupies about three weeks. The eggs are 
laid along either side close to the bark, the cavities in which they lie being 
somewhat irregular, not nicely fitting the egg as with Hylesinus, The eggs 
ina burrow number about 100, but I have met with more than 160 in one. 
They are covered by a rather thick continuous layer of frass which also lines 
the floor of the burrow, and extends partially on to the roof. The young 
larve starting at right angles to the parent gallery, which is parallel with the 
axis of the tree, form a very regular ‘typograph,’ at least in those somewhat 
rare instances in which contiguous broods do not interfere with each other. 
Most of the larve are full-fed in August, and I dare say that, in favourable 
seasons, there are sometimes two broods in a year. A certain proportion assume 
the pupa state at the end of the larval burrows, become perfect and emerge 
during the latter part of August, but what becomes of the beetles that thus 
emerge I do not know. I find no trace either of their ovipositing during 
the autumn, or of their hybernating, for though Scolytus Destructor begins 
its burrows earlier than the other Scolyti, it is several weeks later than the 
Hylesini and other bark-beetles that pass the winter in the perfect state. The 
greater number of the larve when full fed burrow about half an inch into the 
wood, where they form a little longitudinal chamber, the entrance of which is 
tightly filled with frass, and in this they pass the winter in the larva state, 
completing their transformations in this cavity in the spring, and emerging 
about the end of May. In trees with tolerably thick bark, they sometimes 
form these hibernacula in the latter. 

The object, though not the cause, of this difference in instinct between 
the beetles emerging in autumn and those remaining as larve until the spring 
is obvious. The bark, especially when riddled by Scolytus, soon becomes loose 
from the action of the weather during the winter, and when it falls off birds 
and numerous other enemies quickly remove all exposed larve, but those 
buried in the wood are quite safe; the little circles of frass marking their 
openings, when the wood has lost the slight staining it receives from the 
decomposing bark, are hardly visible; the little patches of white wood frass in 
the removed bark are, however, very conspicuous. 

Scolytus Destructor has a reputation, undoubtedly founded on fact, for 
attacking and destroying living elm trees. I do not remember having seen a 
felled elm trunk that it had not attacked, frequently whilst it was still trying 
to throw out shoots, yet I have never seen a trace of it in healthy growing 
trees. One point that is to be observed is that all, or nearly all, recorded 
instances, and they are by no means few, of its attacking living trees, have 
occurred near towns, and (in England) especially near London, 

From this circumstance, it appears extremely probable that the trees in 
question, though apparently thriving, were really more or less sickly. The trees 
have also been observed in some instances to have been injured in the first place 
by the beetles boring into the bark for food, these being probably the autumnal 
specimens in search of hibernacula, just as I have observed the species of 


Ee 


45 


° 

Hylesinus do. Aylesinus Fraxini and Hylesinus crenatas readily burrow into 
sound trees to hibernate, but as a rule, leave them in spring for timber more 
suitable for oviposition ; but it has been noted, especially in some pine feeding 
species, that, when a quantity of felled timber has been left near some isolated 
trees, so that a large number of beetles enter the latter for hibernation, they 
are very apt to destroy these in the spring by ovipositing in them. So that 
in these cases, we might paradoxically say that the beetle itself was the disease 
that induced its own attack. Were healthy growing trees at all suited to 
Scolytus Destructor, it isso abundant and so prolific, that in a few years there 
would not be an elm tree left in the country, yet in this district I have 
searched in vain for one so attacked. 


Healthy living trees are supposed to resent and repel the attacks of the 
Hylesinidze by pouring out sap into their burrows, and in the case of Scolytus 
Pruni I have observed burrows of less than an inch long, some of them with a 
few eggs already laid, which had been abandoned uncompleted by the beetles, 
and which contained a fluid which must have been sap, as no rain had fallen 
to account for it, these burrows had been formed in bark that was still nearly 
healthy, though beside some dying bark which had doubtless attracted the 
beetles. 

Scolytus multistriatus (Marsh) also lives in elm, and of the remaining 
species is perhaps the most nearly allied to Scolytus Destructor, from which it 
differs by being much smaller in size; the striz of its elytra are very close and 
consist of uniform rows of puncta, while in Destructor the rows are not so 
close together, jand the alternate rows of puncta are very slightly marked, the 
others being proportionately deep.  Scolytus multistriatus also posesses a blunt 
spine or tubercle on the centre of the second abdminal segment beneath and 
directed backwards. It is usually to be found in the same logs as Destructor, 
and also in smaller ones down to four inches in diameter. It is much more 
scarce than Scolytus Destructor, one burrow of Scolytus multistriatus being found 
for fifty of Scolytus Destructor. The burrows, similar to those of Scolytus 
Destructor, start from the bottom of a crevice in the bark. They take a longer 
diagonal course On entering the bark before assuming the typical longitudinal 
direction, and though usually do not always lie close to the wood. Though 
much smaller in diameter than those of Scolytus Destructor, they are nearly as 
long, and I have seen one four inches in length. The number of eggs laid in a 


_ burrow is about a hundred, They are deposited behind a continuous layer 


of frass, which does not encroach on either the floor or roof. The period of 
oviposition is about a week later than that of Scolytus Destructor. I have several 
times found a male and a female beetle in the burrow when it was less than 
half an inch long, and before any eggs had beer laid, but never after that period. 
The larve form their hibernacula in the thickness of the bark, hardly ever in 
the wood. Scolytus multistriatus is a much less hardy insect than Scolytus 
Destructor, and of all the species of Scolytus I had in captivity last winter multi- 
striatus is the only species of which I failed to rear even a single specimen, 


. 


46 


Moreover, I have observed that in a state of nature but a comparatively small 
proportion arrive at maturity, which to some extent accounts for its rarity, I 
have never observed any indications of autumnal specimens. 

Scolytus Pruni, Ratz. is the scarcest of the species I have observed. Supers 
ficially it much resembles Scolytus Destructor, but is rather smaller and much 
more shining, especially as to its elytra which are sometimes nearly black. The 
thorax is less strongly punctated, and the elytral puncta are disposed in uni- 
formly faint striz, I have met with this beetle in apple and pear, and have 
found its abandoned burrows in apricot. It is said to affect various fruit 
trees. The apple trees in which I have found it had been slowly dying, 
successive strips of the bark from top to bottom of the tree had died year after 
year, and it was in the last strip that Prwni had burrowed, and completed the 
death of the tree. I have met with traces of its having more sparingly attacked 
the previous strips. A specimen I show you is a portion from one of these trees. 
Unlike the other species of. the genus, which make nearly uniformly cylindrical 
burrows (there is often a trace of a diverticulum near the entrance of Destructor’s 
burrow), the first part of the burrow of Scolytus Pruni is a nearly square 
chamber, as if two burrows had for so far been placed side by side. I have 
found£the male beetle in this cavity in burrows little more than begun, and in 
others nearly two inches long, and have no doubt that it is formed by the male 
beetle, who eats the removed material as food ; in none of the other species have 
I found the male residing in the burrow for more than a very brief period. The 
remainder of the burrow is from two to four inches long, and slightly encroaches 
on the wood. The eggs are covered by a layer of fine frass, which usually 
forms merely a series of detached patches filling up the egg cavities to the level 
of the wall of the gallery. The larve almost invariably bury themselves in the 
wood for hibernation, and the beetles do not emerge till spring. They are the 
last of the genus to appear, and are only now (June 25) coming out, whilst 
Destructor has been out for several weeks, This species is by no means hardy, 
for a large proportion of the broods die, but it is not so delicate as S. multistri- 
atus, 

Scolytus rugulosus, Ratz. is the smallest of the genus, Its elytral striz 
are so marked, and run into each other so freely, that the elytra might rather be 
called shagreened than punctated. Like Prwni, it feeds on fruit trees, and espe- 
cially on apple. Though hitherto accounted rather rare, it must always be 
commoner than Scolytus Pruni, because it is a much hardier species, and whilst 
Scolytus Pruni prefers large trunks, and does not enter wood smaller than 
three inches in diameter Scolytus rugulosus burrows in all, even in branches 
which are mere twigs, and so finds abundant pabulum, where Scolytus Pruni 
would starve. I have never detected rugulosus in the living tree, and do not 
believe that either it or Scolytus Pruni is injurious to orchards. It comes out 
about a week before Pruni, but later than the other species of the genus. It 
is coming out abundantly at present (June 25), whereas Pruni is only beginning 
to emerge, and the other species are now fully engaged in ovipositing. Thisinsect 


EE 


—— 


~~ 


47 


is notable amongst the Hylesinide for not hiding the entrance of the gallery of 
oviposition. In a stick invested by it, the openings may be readily seen, whereas 
usually they are well hidden in some crevice of the bark, as for example, as is the 
case with Scolytus Destructor and Scolytus multistriatus, in neither of which can 
the opening be detected, except during its formation, and then by the frass lying 
at its entrance. This results partly perhaps from the bark of the sticks it 
inhabits being usually smooth. The gallery is longitudinal and rather more than 
an inch in length, and is lined all round with white frass from the wood, on 
which the burrow slightly encroaches, and not with frass from the bark as in 
the other species, making the gallery when opened very conspicuous against the 
dark coloured bark beside it. The eggs are laid on either side behind this 
frass ; their number seldom reaches eighty. When not crowded together the 
larve make a tolerably regular ‘‘typograph” and burrow into the wood to 
hibernate, sometimes to a depth of nearly half an inch. When the bark is thick 
they sometimes, like Destructor, hibernate in its thickness. 

Scolytus intricatus, Ratz. is, after Destructor, the most common species, 
and cannot be considered scarce. It is not so closely allied to the other species 
as they are to each other. Its outlines are more rounded, and it has less of the 
quaint truncated form they have. The elytra are closely striated, nearly as 
intricately as in rugulosus, so that in both these insects they have none of the 
lustre of the three other species. It feeds on oak, and differs from the other 
species in habit by making a transverse instead of a longitudinal gallery of ovi- 
position, which in comparison with the size of the beetle is also much shorter 
than theirs, being often only about an inch in length. The eggs are laid along 
the sides and covered by a layer of frass, which is continuous over the roof of 
the burrow. The eggs are fewer than in the other species, seldom exceeding 
sixty and averaging much less, The larval burrows often lie perfectly parallel 
with the fibres of the wood, for nearly their whole length of about six inches. 
The larva does not follow the usual instinct of the genus of burrowing into the 
wood to hibernate, but is satisfied with making a tolerably deep depression, so 
it is exposed on removing the bark, and I observed last winter that the birds 
did not wait for the weather to remove the bark, but picked it off themselves 
to secure the dainty morsels within. The only oak wood in which I have 
observed it, has been in branches broken off by the wind, and not in all these. 
I have never seen it in felled timber or in the growing tree. It is probable that 
to suit intricatus the wood must have been cut (or blown down) for some par- 
ticular time, and as the beetle oviposits in the middle of June, only that wood 
is attacked, which was separated from the tree at a later period than that at 
which oak is usually felled. 

An aberration of instinct of this species in confinement is worthy of 
notice. I placed a number of beetles with some oak sticks, and several of them 
formed galleries of oviposition, but one of them formed the gallery longitu- 
dinally as the other species of the genus do, which it never does naturally, 
and another assumed a habit of still more widely separate species of the 


48 


Hylesinide, by making its burrow in the solid wood, the eggs and frass were 
disposed as in the normal burrow, excepting that several eggs were placed 
beneath the frass of the roof. In no case did I observe both beetles in a burrow, 
and from what I saw I have no doubt that pairing occurs after the burrow is 
commenced but without the male entering it. 

In all the species the female beetle dies in the burrow after oviposition is 
completed. : 

All the species have a fashion of placing their foreheads against other 
individuals and giving a thrust by pushing forwards the jaws. They employ this 
process to remove another beetle from a station they desire to occupy ; it appears 
also to be an expression of anger, and sometimes two beetles have an encounter 
in this way. They use the same movement in recommending themselves to the 
other sex. 


Destructor, intricatus, and Pruni are able to squeak audibly by a rapid‘ 


movement of the abdomen against the elytra. Jntricatus makes the loudest 
sound, The specimens in the tubes may be provoked by a gentle tap of the tube 
to emit this squeak, which may be heard by placing the mouth of the tube to the 
ear. 

The Scolyti are much infested by parasites, especially by Hymenoptera of 
the family Chalcidide. I have put in the box a few specimens of these that I 
have bred this spring. Scolytus Pruni and intricatus lose a large proportion of 
their broods by their attacks, but Scolytus rugulosus was of all the species 
bred the most copiously attacked. On removing a piece of bark from a stick con- 
taining them, numerous larve of the parasites were visible, which had devoured 
the larvze of the beetles, before they had entered their hibernacula in the wood, 
all those that had escaped the parasites having’ done so, The parasites repre- 
sented at least half the broods ; I bred from them half a dozen species of Chalci- 
did, Cheiropachus Quadrum being much the most numerous. The greater 
liability of Scolytus rugulosus to attacks from parasites has probably a close con- 
nection with the fact I have already mentioned, that the entrance of its galleries 
of oviposition are very obvious. 


(This paper was admirably illustrated by the insects themselves alive and at 
work on the bark, and by the prepared insects with their parasites arranged in a 
case.) 


PORES as a) 


The next communication was a paper on 


a 
7 


49 


AN OAK TREE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. 
By THE Rev. ARTHUR GRAY. 


Two days ago I went to see an oak on Whitfield lawn, which had been 
struck by lightning during a recent thunderstorm. It was a remarkable sight. 
The upper part of the tree was shivered into splinters, large branches broken off 
and thrown to the ground; the tree, in fact, had become a perfect wreck. 
Only the lower part of the trunk was standing, and this was completely stripped 
of the bark. I observed pieces of bark thrown to a considerable distance ; 

-and I also remarked longitudinal fissures in the standing portion of the trunk. 

There was no appearance that I could discern of anything like com- 
bustion. The whole gave the notion of a violent explosive force acting from 
the centre of the oak, forcing open the cracks in the surface wood, and blowing 
off the bark in fragments, this being but slightly attached to the tree, and hence 
offering feeble resistance. 

The object of this paper is to offer my ideas as to the proximate cause 
of these effects. I am not aware whether there is any novelty in them, 
as similar notions may have occurred to others. It is usual to say that the 
effects in question are caused by the electric fluid. But this is obviously a 
vague expression, conveying no very definite idea. Without entering into 
any discussion as to the nature of electricity, what is the immediate cause of 
these phenomena? I assume, what is generally allowed. that the tree acts 
as a conductor of electricity from the thunder-cloud to the earth, If the 
tree were a good conductor, like a metallic wire or lightning rod, no particular 
effect would be produced: the electricity would pass harmlessly to the ground. 
But though it is capable of conducting, a tree is not a good conductor. Per- 
fectly dry wood, entirely free from moisture, would hardly conduct all: but 
living wood, being full of sap, is able to conduct after an imperfect manner. The 
current of electricity then does not pass down the tree freely as it would down a 
metallic rod, but is retarded; and the denser the nature of the wood, such as 
an oak, the more it is retarded. Now, electricity is well known to be con- 
vertible into heat under such circumstances. I conceive, then, that a portion 
of the electricity, in its passage down the tree, being converted by the retar- 
dation into heat of an intense character generates steam, or superheated water- 
vapour from the moisture of the sap. The powerfully-expansive agency of 
this is familiar to us all, May it not be considered as sufficient to explain the 
destructive effects which I have described—the splintering of the thinner portion 
of the tree—the deep fissures in the more resisting trunk and the forcible 
projection of the bark. 

The subject is an interesting one, and I should be glad if these remarks 
should elicit discussion upon it, . 


G 


50 


A considerable discussion did arise upon it of a general nature, in which 
many gentlemen took part. Numerous instances of lightning-struck trees were 
mentioned, and the liability of certain kinds of trees to be struck in preference 
to others was also brought forward. The most practical observation was perhaps 
the one named by Mr. Hereford, that the trees in certain districts were much 
more liable to be struck than those of other districts, and as an example he said 
that thegtrees in the neighbourhood of the Moor, near Hereford, had almost all 
been struck at one time or other, the poplar and elm trees in particular. 
The district lies low, and until recently presented a considerable space of~ 
undrained land about it. 

Speaker after speaker called in question the opinion offered in the 
paper as to the mode in which the effects were produced on the Whitfield 
tree, and the general feeling of the meeting was well expressed by the Presi- 
dent, who said that the wonderful powers of the electricity was shewn equally 
whether the objects struck were organic or inorganic, whether it might be a 
tree, or a church steeple, and therefore the ingenious explanation offered by 
Mr. Gray, failing any positive proof as it did, that steam had actually been 
generated, could not be considered either as satisfactory in itself, or as necessary 
to explain the results produced. 


Dr. Bull distributed roots of the Asarabacea (Asarum Europeum) from 
Deerfold Forest to all who wished for them. 

The Rev. R. H. Williams then exhibited some plants which he had brought 
from Somergetshire, which were all more or less interesting. The Plantago 
Coronopus, Bucks-horn Plantain, common by the sea-side ;.the Tris fectidissima, 
Stinking Iris, a very local plant, but not uncommon in the South-West counties. 
It grows freely at Breinton camp, near Hereford. The Smyrnium Olustrum, 
or Alexanders, which is generally found in the neighbourhood of Roman encamp- 
ments, and is supposed to have been introduced asa pot herb by the common 
soldiers ; the Lathyrus Nissolia, the crimson grass-leaved vetchling ; the Vicia 
gracilis, the slender many seeded tare, a very rare plant; and Anthyllis vulne- 
raria, Ladies’ fingers, or Lamb-toe. 


** The yellow Lamb-toe I have often got, 
Sweet creeping o’er the banks in sunny time.” 


This plant forms an excellent pasture for sheep, who are very fond of it, and 
has been strongly recommended for cultivation. It is well worthy of it. 

There were some other plants, but time was up, and the short walk to 
the station ended a very enjoyable day’s excursion, ‘ 


51 


The Woolhope Haturalists’ Hield Glub. 


MEETING AT LUDLOW AND DOWNTON CASTLE, 


TuEsDAY, JuLy 20TH, 1869. 


“Tl teach thee miracles! Walk on this heath 
And say to the neglected flower, ‘ Look up 
And be thou beautiful!’ If thou hast faith 
It will obey thy words.” Barrington. 


The ‘Ladies’ day” of a Naturalists Field Club is generally attractive 
*—special ground is chosen, and special pains are taken to make the arrange- 
_ments complete, That doubtful element, the weather, is always an uncer- 
tainty to the last, but on the present occasion it was as little so as it could be. At 
the railway station if was at once seen that the meeting would bea full one, and 
some little delay was occasioned by the necessity for extra carriages. It was 
not however until they had alighted on the platform at Ludlow that it was 
really evident how many ladies had honoured the club with their company. 


Here is the goodly company whoassembled : James Rankin, Esq., Bryngwyn, 
the President, and Mrs. Rankin ; Arthur Armitage, Esq., Vice-President ; Col. 
Broadley Harrison and Miss Harrison, Kynestone Court ; the Rev. J. T. Parsons 
and Miss Parsons, Dewchurch ; Robert Lightbody, Esq., F.G.S., Ludlow ; the 
‘H. Cooper Key: Colonel ‘Colvin, Mrs. Colvin, the Rev. J. W. Colvin. Miss 
Colvin, Miss Josephine Colvin, and Miss Helen Oolvin, Leintwardine; Miss 
E. C. Baker, Leintwardine ; Miss Riicker and Miss M. Riicker, Wandsworth; Dr. 
Algernon Chapman, Abergavenny ; the Rev. Thomas Phillipps, Mrs. Phillipps, 
Miss Agusta Phillipps, Miss Penelope Phillipps, and Mr. Jacob Phillipps, Dewsall ; 
E. G. Stone, Esq., Chambers Court, Tewkesbury, and Mrs, Stone; Capt. Roberts 
and Miss Roberts; Mrs. Davidson and Miss Symonds, Pendock Rectory ; the Rev. 
Jobn Evans, Penn Grove, Mrs. and Miss Evans, and Miss Wayne, Aberdare; W. 
H. West, Esq. ; Lieutenant-Colonel Symonds, Mrs. Symonds, and Miss Coates, 
Pengethly ; the Rev. H. J. Stillingfleet, Mrs. Stillingfleet, and Miss Amphlett, 

. Hampton Bishop; the Rev. W. H. Purchas and the Rev. J. W. Alington, 
Gloucester ; Alfred Purchas, Esq., Ross; T. Curley, Esq., F.G.S, ; the Rev. 


52 


E. Du Buisson, Mrs. and Miss Du Buisson, and Miss Edith Du Buisson, Breinton ; 
J. F. Symonds, Esq., and Mrs. Symonds, Broomyhill ; Miss Symonds and 
Mr, Reginald Symonds ; Miss Gibson, Clifton ; Mrs. Strode, Hagley ; the Rev. 
F. T. Havergal; the Rev. Robert Dixon, Nottingham; Dr. Bull and Master 
Henry Power Bull; the Rev. A. G. Jones, The Castle, Yarkhill, and Mrs. 
Hedger ; the Rev. J. F. Eld, Worcester; W. Odell, Esq., Miss Odell, and Miss 
Eyre, Coventry; the Rev. E. J. Owen, Tretire; Mrs. Pechell, Springfield, 
Ross; T. M. Fisher, Esq,, and Mrs. Fisher, Trebandy ; the Rev. H. T. Hill, 
Felton; Marcellus Newton, Esq., Misses Emily, Anina, and Laura Newton, 
Sugwas Court ; Colonel Cunningham, Grosmont ; Mrs. Cunningham, Miss Cun- 
ningham, Miss Octavia Cunningham and Miss Garratt, Hereford; Charles 
Fortey, Esq., Haven, Deerfold Forest; the Rev. T. M. Beavan, Much Birch ; 
Mr. Meredith and Miss Meredith, Clifton; D. R. Harrison, Esq., and Mrs. 
Harrison, Holmer-hall; Thos. Turner, Esq., Mrs. Lingen, and Miss Blanche 
Lingen, Hereford; Dr. A. R. Smith and Mrs, Smith, Hereford; J. Greaves, 
Esq., and E, B, Bitton, Esq., Malvern; W. E. Hyde, Esq., Mrs. and Miss Hyde, 
Miss F, E. Sale, and Miss 8. H. Sale, Leominster ; Mrs. Geo. Hanbury, Hereford ; 
Humphrey Salwey, Esq., Mrs. Salwey, Miss Salwey, Mr. Theo. J. Salwey, 
and Miss Wilson, the Cliffe, Ludlow; the Mac Gillycuddy, Miss Mac 
Gillycuddy, Miss Anne Mac Gillycuddy, Mrs. O’Connor, and Mr. 
O’Connor, Ludlow; Miss Hattfield, Whitaven; Miss Lewis, Ludlow; T. 
S. H. Jackman, Esq., and Mrs. Jackman, Leintwardine ; the Rev. J. Causer, 
Burrington ; Chas. Hodgson, Esq., and Mrs, Hodgson, Bromfield; Miss 
Hodgson, Staunton Lacey ; Geo. Cocking, Esq., Ludlow; O. Shellard, Esq., and 
Mrs. Shellard, Hereford; Mr. John Pitt, Freetown; Miss Palmer, Miss Giles, 
and Miss Garnet ; Mr. Hall, Garford ; Frank Owen, Esq., and Mr. Edward Owen, 
Swainshill; Mr. James W. Lloyd, and Mrs. Lloyd, Kington; Mr, Arthur Thomp- 
son, Miss C, Thompson, Miss Bedford, and Miss 8. A. Bedford, Hereford. 

Mr. Cocking, of Ludlow, was waiting at the station to receive them. 
He had most kindly taken the trouble to make the necessary arrangements, 
and came himself to give every explanation required. Carriage tickets were 
there, and minute directions were given of what was to be done and seen, 
albeit a little in the fashion it seemed of the old Highgate oath, the pre- 
cise arrangements were to be followed unless they preferred to follow their 
own, with the little conditions that the carriages would start at a definite 
time, and the trains would wait for no one. 

“The towne of Ludlow,” says old Leland in his Itinerary, ‘‘is sett 
upon a hill, soe that those coming to it may every way ascend. It is well 
walled, and by estimation a myle in circumference, There be in the wall 
5 Gates, Broad Gate, that leadeth to Broad-street, the largest part of the 
towne, Old Gate is alsoe towards Teme as Broad Gate is but not so near, 
Gaolford Gate, Corve Gate, Mill Gate. The Castle hemmeth in a part of the 
towne, and standeth on a strong rocke, well ditched betwixt Corve Gate and 
Mill Gate,” 


SEE a ee eee 


53 


Up the hill into the town, in gay and scattered columns, they proceeded, the 
majority going at once to the magnificent ruins of the Castle, and visiting the 
very beautiful church afterwards, where they had the advantage of listening 
to the fine tones of the organ, The President and leading members of the club 
—accompanied, too, by some of their lady visitors—went to the excellent 
Museum to transact there the ordinary official business of the meeting. The 
following gentlemen were elected members of the club :—viz., David Lawrence, 
Esq., Pontypool; the Rev. J. Rees Jenkins, Cwmbran, Newport; Charles 
Truscott, Esq., Trevarrick, St. Austells, Cornwall; and the Rev. Alfred 
Phillipps, of the Rectory, Abbeydore. Some new members were also proposed, 
and other matters settled. 

Time passed too quickly on. It admitted only of a hurried look at the 
many interesting objects the Museum contains, when the way was taken to the 
Feathers Hotel, the first general rendezvous. The carriages were taken from 
here, and drove off in succession as the places in them were filled up, for 
an agreeable ride of six miles through Bromfield to Downton. For the most part 
they set down their occupants at the end of the short lane leading to Forge 
Bridge. The scenery here is exceedingly picturesque, and comes upon you with 
pleasant surprise. 

: “‘The best approach to every beauteous scene 
Is where it’s least expected or foreseen ; 


Where nought occurs t’ anticipate surprise, 
Or bring the landscape piecemeal to the eyes.” 


Richard Payne Knight, 


To those who were the first to arrive, for time admitted not of unavoidable 
delay, the following paper was given :— 


54 


SOME ACCOUNT OF BRINGEWOOD FORGE AND 
FURNACE. 


By Dr. BULL. 


“‘ Next add the sylvan shades and silent | groves 
(Haunt of the Druids) whence the earth is fed 
With copious fuel. 


Why should Chalybes or Bilboa boast 
Their harden’d iron, when our mines produce 
As perfect martial ore ?’—Puinips CIDER. 


Book I. on the Oaks of Herefordshire. 


There seems to be no record of the first establishment of Bringewood 
Forge. It is known to have been in existence in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
and certainly it may have been much earlier, inasmuch as the iron ore of the Clee 
Hill had been known and worked for centuries, and doubless the fine slopes of 
Bringewood Chase had been covered with timber from*time immemorial. 

The information about the Forge, now laid before you, has beenfobtained 
from private sources and some little research. It may, perhaps, be best arranged 
under its several dates. 

1584.—In this year a lease of Brindgewood forge™and farm was granted 
by Lord Craven to Francis Walker. It must, therefore have been in existence 
for some time before. 

1604.—Sir Robert Harley was made Forester of Brindgwood alias Bornig- 
wood Forest and custodian of Prestwood Chase, and its general management 
remained in the hands of the Harley family for many years. 

1623,—The rent paid by Francis Walker to Lord Craven was'now £66. 13s, 4d. 
per annum for the forge, and £170. 19s. for the land. 

1663.—Sir Edward Harley, K.B.,‘and,Samuel Baldwin, of,the Inner Temple, 
Esq., agreed with William, Lord Craven, for a lease for 21 years of the forge and 
furnace of Bringwood, and of the several lands theretofore let to Francis Walker, 
and they afterwards relinquished the agreement in favour of the said Francis 
Walker, to whom a lease was granted, and who afterwards assigned the term to 
his son Richard Walker. 

1684,—Another lease was granted by Lord Craven to Jacob Walker, and 
probably for the same period of twenty-one’ years. 

1690.—William Earl of Craven granted a new lease (sixteen years of the 
old one being unexpired) of all that ironwork, consisting of a forge and furnace, 
and other things thereunto belonging, to Jacob Walker, of Wooton, and all houses 
anciently engaged with the ironworks before the inclosing of the Forest and Chase 


ee 


Ee 


; 


5d 


of Brindgewood, and also the liberty to get ironstone and limestone in the chase 
of Bringewood, else Prestwood and Rushton hath anciently been used. Lease for 
21 years, at the rent of £60. From some cause or other this lease came to an end 
in eight years. 

The ironstone alluded to in this lease most probably means the spherical 
balls of ironstone found in the Shale at Burrington, the size of cannon-balls. Mr. 
Richard Knight at a later period smelted them, but it did not answer, the amount 
of metal obtained was found to be too small to pay the expenses. 


1698.—In this year Richard Knight took a lease of the property from Lord 
Craven for twenty-one years, and from this period the iron from the forge and 
furnace of Bringewood rose rapidly in repute. Richard Knight was a man of great 
energy and practical ability. He had been connected for many years with the 
works at Coalbrooke Dale, Morton Corbet, and some others, and thoroughly under- 
stood the manufacture of iron. He must, too, have possessed considerable skill 
as an engineer, since he is said to have first suggested the air chimney for ven- 
tilating the works at Coalbrooke Dale. With experience well matured, for he was 
forty years old when he took Bringewood Forge, he saw at a glance the great 
advantage of such an abundant supply of fuel in such close vicinity of the ore, 
and threw all his energy into the works. He at once introduced all the most 
recent improvements, the rolling and splitting mill of Brindley, the blowing 
cylinder, and iron helves. So little known then were these improvements, that 
tradition gives him the credit of inventing them, and it is quite possible that he 
may have adopted them with some special modifications of his own. 


1723.—In this year Mr. Richard Knight bought from Lord Craven the Manor 
of Leintwardine, the Chase of Bringewood, and the Forest of Mochtree, a property 
consisting of several thousands of acres, 

Tn an old pamphlet showing the quantity of iroa produced ty all the Forges 
in England about 1714, Brindgewood is said to have formerly produced 350 tons 
yearly, but at that time only 300 tons. 

A private paper gives the charges of bringing charcoles to Brindgewood Forges 
and Furnaces from X-mas 1714 till Lady-day 1719: Doz. sacks weighed 4,517, 
and cost £7,504. 14s. 4d. ; and another memorandum presents an inventory of 
stock taken at Brindgewood Forges, 1733— 


£ 8s. di 
Stock of iron in Pig ver 3 Bi oe = AS a -. 86419 6 
Bariron .. a «o He E AA .. 145219 6 
Charcole .. oe es > “t oe ki as os 192 «9 9 
Tron stone .. aa ve, aoe 9) 9 
Old stock, including hammer, beams, timber, de... as -. 216 7 10 
Old iron at £14 per ton. a oe ME sae ee LG 
Pd. wood cording and cutting. ae a Ah rE oe 210" 9)''4 
Do. onmining .. F aa hs vf om a. .. 354 1 0 
Tron carriers 5] a ate a F a 3 5d ee eG 
Colliers and carriers... = we a HS Js -. 18710 2 
Debts Ze A ee 4 ae ee ia os .. 881613 0 


‘ £8,253 5 10 
This inventory appears to have been made when Mr. Knight let the Bring- 
wood Forge to his two sons Edward and Ralph. Edward at this time had also 


56 


the Forge of Wolverley, and he lent his elder brother a large sum of money for 
the purchase of Croft. 

1742.—Mr. Richard Knight purchased from Jenks ‘‘all that mountain or 
waste ground known by the name of the Clee Hill, heretofore the property of 
Somerset Fox, with right of digging for minerals,” and he lets it in 1744 to his son 
Edward Knight, of Cokesley, for £12 perannum. Mr. Richard Knight has also 
considerable property in Forges and Furnaces at Charlecote, Whittington, Wolver- 
ley, Mitten, and Stourport, and several of these were managed by one or other of 
his sons. 

1745.—Mr., Richard Knight died. He was an eccentric man, as industrious 
as he was able and energetic. A characteristic anecdote is told of his first com- 
petition for a Government contract. It was customary then for the Government 
agent to meet the ironmasters at Bristol to let by tender the several contracts for 
iron, and it had also become the custom for the masters to meet together the night 
before and arrange amongst themselves for a division of the contracts. Mr. Knight 
knew all this and resolved to compete himself, but he knew also that he should 
have no chance at the private meeting. Two days before the appointed time, 
dressed in his ordinary Forge-superintending attire, and mounted on a favourite 
old mare, chosen rather for safety and endurance than for good looks, he set off 
for Bristol. On the pommel of the saddle was fastened an old nail-bag with 
various pattern nails outside, and behind him was the small valise of the period, 
which in this instance had seen much service. At the hour fixed Mr. Knight 
appeared, his tender was accepted, but when his sureties were demanded, he 
said, ‘There was no one he could ask to be surety, but perhaps the deposit of the 
money would do as well.” ‘‘Certainly,” said the agent, and from the old nail-bag 
Mr. Knight at once counted out the guineas on the table. 

Mr. Richard Knight at one time lived in the village of Downton, at a house 
now the house of one of the farms. A silver punch-bowl which belonged to him 
is preserved at the Castle. It will hold more than a gallon and has a very jovial 
look with it. 

1783 is the next date found of information relating to Bringewood Forge 
and Furnace, It was now let by Mr. Richard Payne Knight to William Downing, 
of Pembridge, and Richard Giles, of Hope, on a lease for 31 years, at £110 a year. 
The descendants of Richard Giles held the Forge for many years until within a 
short time of its being finally abandoned in the year 1814 or 1815. One of the 
occupiers of this family (Mr. Benjamin Giles) met with a melancholly end. He 
was returning from a yeomanry parade ; when on the bridge now before you his 
horse suddenly shied and fell over into the river. Mr. Giles was drowned, and 
what added very much to the horror of the accident was the fact that before the 
body could be recovered it had been carried down by the mill-race and much 
mutilated by the great wheel of his own mill. 

The real cause of the closing of the works was the discovery by Sir John 
Winter more than 150 years before (1656) of the means of making coke from coal 
and the improvements afterwards made in its application to the smelting of coal, 


2 


7 oT hee 


57 


and in particular the supplying air to the furnace previously heated, ‘‘ hot blast” 
as distinguished from “cold blast” furnaces. 

Bringewood Forge and Furnace was one of the very last Forges in which 
iron was smelted by wood charcoal, and this fact itself is a great tribute to the 
character of the iron it produced, It had a very high repute, and was supposed to 
be equal to the best Swedish iron, 

It is still within the memory of man that bands of mules, or pack horses, 
in single file, carried iron ore down the steep slopes of Bringewood Chase, in 
the direct route from the Clee Hill to the Forge by the river; or that the jingle 
of their tinkling bells was pleasantly heard in the distance as when laden 
with charcoal from the remote parts of the forest they made their way 
through the trees. There are still those who can remember the busy 
scene at the Forge with all its life and activity ; and who can recall vividly the 
picturesque effects produced the column of sparks rising high above the woods, 
brightly reflected from the river below, with the deep shade of the trees around 
it, as seen from a distance on a winter’s evening. 

To a later period still the ruins of the Forge remained; but these are 
now gone, The Tin Mill has disappeared also, and though abundant proofs of 
their existence remain for those who search for them ; to a superficial observer 
they will all be overlooked in the beauty of the scenery around him, and then 
the name of the bridge before you, ‘“‘The Forge Bridge”, alone remains to 
carry its memory to future ages, 


Such is all the information now procurable of Bringewood Forge and 
Furnace, but justice would not be done to our Club if a passing tribute were 
not paid on this occasion to those gifted grandsons of the great ironmaster, 


RICHARD PAYNE KNIGHT 
AND 
THOMAS ANDREW KNIGHT, 


sons of the Rev. Thomas Knight, who lived at Wormisley Grainge. Their early 
years were passed in the seclusion of its beautiful scenery, and they imbibed 
that love of nature, which would have made them fully appreciate the objects 
of a Naturalists Field Club. They were both self-educated men—life students— 
and both became distinguished for their great ability and high mental culture. 


RICHARD PAYNE KNIGHT succeeded to the Downton Estate on the death 
of his father in 1764. Shortly after succeeding to the property he took up the 
study of Greek, entered into the subject with great enthusiasm, and soon 
published works on Greek Literature. He travelled into Italy and made a very 
valuable collection of antiquities and works of art, Greek bronzes, and coins, 
&c. He was member of Parliament for Leominster from 1780 to 1784, and 
was then returned for Ludlow and represented that town for 22 years. But 

H 


58 


it is as a lover of Nature that this notice is given of him. He took up the subject 
of Landscape Gardening with his usual energy and originality of thought. With 
his friend, Sir Uvedale Price (then Uvedale Price, Esq.), of Foxley, he attacked 
the prevailing taste of the day—represented by Repton, the pupil and successor 
to “Capability” Brown, He published a poem in three books ‘‘The Landscape,” ~ 
dedicated to Sir Uvedale Price, and another work called ‘‘ An Analytical Enquiry 
into the Principles of Taste,” in which he vigorously attacked the artificialism 
then in fashion, and enters fully on the best means of producing and varying 
picturesque effects, Had the lively efforts of ‘Our Own Commissioner” 
been produced in those days, they would have had to run the risk of a 
fierce attack in ‘‘A Didactic Poem in three books,” for Mr. Knight was of the com- 
bative order of men and delighted in the effort to hold his own views. 


Richard Payne Knight built Downton Castle, which was completed in 
1778. He died in 1824, bequeathing his works of art to the British Museum, 
when they were valued, it is said, at £50,000, He carried his originality one 
point too far, for he made his own will and worded it so ambiguously as to give 
rise to a lawsuit, which lasted for several years, 


THOMAS ANDREW KnIcuT succeeded to the Downton Estates on his brother’s 
death, though he had lived at the Castle for many years before. He was a great 
lover of nature, a clever, original thinker, and followed out with great per- 
severance the subject of experimental physiology nd-.horticulture. He was at 
Baliol College, Oxford, and intimate there with Dr. Baillie the celebrated 
physician of the last century. 

The friend of Sir Joseph Banks, and Sir Humphry Davy, and the Presi- 
dent of the Royal Horticultural Society for the last 27 years of his life, he 
had ample opportunity of promoting horticultural science, and he never failed 
to do so to the utmost, Ingenious in his own experiments, he was quick to appre- 
ciate and recognise those of others, and thus he obtained a well-deserved 
popularity. The want of an early scientific education was a serious drawback in 
the path of practical physiology which he laid down for himself, and caused him to 
waste much of his energy in experiments which were necessarily futile. Notwith- 
standing this great difficulty, his great natural talents, his extraordinary memory 
and his untiring perseverance, could not fail to obtain considerable success, He 
was the first man to prove by actual experiment the impossibility of propaga- 
ting in perpetuity by grafting any particular kind of apple. He was the first 
man also, or amongst the very first, to practice the artificial hybrydizing of 
plants, which has since been carried to such successful results, Perhaps no 
amateur ever grew a greater number of seedlings of all kinds of fruits and trees 
under his own immediate supervision for the pure love of science and for the 
benefit of mankind. Some well-known examples of his success in this way 
may be mentioned. The Wormisley Elm, which Lindley thought worthy of 
being a separate species, rather than a variety; and his Weeping Elm is the 


59 


source of many of the finest examples of this graceful tree now in existence. He 
introduced many varieties of fruit, as the Elton Pine, and Downton Scarlet 
Strawberries, the Elton Cherry, the Downton Pippin Apple, and the Wormisley 
Grainge Pippin (one of the very best cooking apples of the present day), and 
many others. 

Mr, Thomas Andrew Knight published a work on ‘The Culture of the 
Apple and Pear,” ‘which went through several editions. Several of his papers 
are published in the Transactions of the Royal Society, and he received the 
gold Copley medal. Had Thomas Andrew Knight been alive in these days 
it may safely be said that the Woolhope Club would have had his most cordial 
support (applause). 


POSTSCRIPT. 


One other circumstance must yet be mentioned, for it is one that has 
thrown a gloom over this lovely valley, that will only disappear with the genera- 
tion that witnessed it—the melancholy death of Mr. Andrew Knight’s only son. 
On the 28th of November, 1827, all was gaiety at Downton. A large party of 
visitors had assembled at the Castle, and at Ludlow that evening a grand ball 
was to take place, at which the younger Mr. Knight was to be the president. He 
was pheasant shooting with some of the party in the dingles of Bringewood 
chase when a single shot glancing from a tree struck him in the eye. The 
terrille nature of the accident was not at first apparent. ‘‘ You’ve spoilt my 
dancing,” was his first remark, and for the two short hours that consciousness 
remained to him he did his utmost to alleviate the distress of the friend from 
whose gun the fatal shot had fled. The next day he was dead. Who shall 
picture the deep sorrow of his family, or represent the painful shock that 
pervaded all classes of society. Even now, after a period of 42 years, the writer 
of this notice has been called upon in a way he cannot refuse to express it once 
more. ; 
Mr. Knight’s sudden death was indeed a great loss. He fully inherited 
the family talents, and combined in a remarkable manner the literary ability of 
his uncle, with his father’s love of Natural Science ; and he possessed moreover 
very strikingly that tender regard for the feelings of others. which also distin- 
guished his father, and which made him so beloved by all about him. He died 
at the age of 32. His death caused the lawsuit, which had begun before, to be 
carried on more actively, until, by the decision of Lord Langdale in the Rolls 
Court, which was confirmed by the House of Lords, the estates descended to a 
sister’s son, Mr. Andrew Rouse Boughton Knight, the present possessor, 


The geologists then crossed the Forge Bridge, whose curious turrets were, 
appropriately enough, connected by a thick iron bar running along the top—‘‘a 
proof of the abundance of iron,” one gentleman thought, but Mr. Cocking 


60 


mentioned a greater proof still, which is the existence of iron slabs, cast at 
the Forge, in the place of tombstones, which are to be found in the neighbouring 
churchyards, ¥ 

A quarry of Downton Sandstone was first inspected. The lower strata 
afford excellent building stone, but the thick upper one is useless, and immense 
blocks of it lay scattered about in picturesque confusion. A pretty walk of half 
a mile brought them to the site of the Tin Mill. Nothing remains of it now but 
certain artificial walls and ground works. The object was not to see them but to 
examine a very interesting geological formation admirably explained in these 


NOTES ON PASSAGE BEDS, AT TIN MILLS, DOWNTON. 
By Rozsert LicHTBopy, Esq., F.G.S. 


The section we see before us here, is a very fair illustration of the Passage 
Beds between the Silurian, and Old Red formations ; but, as there are no doubt 
passage beds between most of the other formations, wherever the deposit was 
continuous, it becomes needfulfto select some distinctive name to indicate this 
particular series. Mr. Salter calls them Ledbury Shales, from the section at the 
mouth of the railway tunnel at Ledbury, where the sequence of them, from 
the Ludlow rocks to the Old Red, is better exhibited, probably, than elsewhere. 
I should, however, have preferred to call them Tin Mill Shales, as they do not 
show at Ledbury their usual lithological character of olive shales, but are 
generally red or yellow. They contain, however, there, similar grey grit beds to 
those found here, and in other places, but thicker, and the same prevalent 
fossils, such as Cephalaspis, Auchenaspis, Pterygotus, Eurypterus, Lingula, 
and Beyrichia, but I have found here, a peculiar, and very solen shaped Orthonota, 
which I believe is at present unique. Also, I have found a small Modiolopsis 
here, and between Onibury and Norton, which I have not seen elsewhere. 


I am not aware that we find anywhere, but at Ledbury, the full sequence of 
these beds,—probably from the softness of the beds immediately succeeding the 
Downton sandstone admitting of their being easily washed away, and forming 
hollows, covered by a thick soil,—but in some places owing to the occurrence of 
faults. At any rate, we have not yet traced the connection between the Downton 
sandstone in the quarries we saw on our way from the bridge and these beds, 
Nor yet is it visible in the road from Onibury to Norton, about half a mile from 
Onibury, where there is a tolerable section through these beds. Nor is it seen at 
the]place of its original discovery at the south-east mouth of the tunnel at the 
Ludlow Railway Station, where it appears to be cut off by a fault bringing in the 
Old Red?marl on"its horizon, 

Another place in this neighbourhood where these beds are found, though 
rather differing lithologically, is on the right bank of the Teme, between the flour 
mill at Ludford, and a point opposite what was once a paper mill, and there they 
are likewise observed at the same point as here. 


61 


The only other place where we have found them, is in the bed of the Led- 
wyche brook, near Caynham Camp, where they are seen at each side of the great 
fault that throws up the Silurian ridge of Tinker’s Hill and Caynham Camp. On 
the N. side of the fault they are seen at the footbridge leading to Caynham Camp, 
and on the §. side, at the weir below Poughn-hill bridge. 

It would be well if those members of the club, who live near the mapped 
junction of the Ludlow beds, with the Old Red, would try and work out the con- 
nection in those places, and perhaps something more might be made out. 

Our great guide, Sir R. Murchison, has, I think, fallen into a mistake in 
reference to these beds, classing them with his tilestones, as Upper Ludlow ; but 
when he first saw them with me at the railway section some years since, in com- 
pany with Messrs. Ramsay and Avelin, he would not at all admit of my suggestion 
that they were Silurian. His present error arises, I believe, from a misnomer by 
one of our members. Many years ago, we were in the habit of considering the 
Downton Sandstone (being arenaceous) as the link between the Silurian and the 
Old Red, and called it Transition Beds. Our friend Mr. R. Banks, as we well 
know collected a very fine series of fossils, most of them new, from the Downton 
Sandstone of Bradnor Hill. These he generously presented to the Jermyn Street 
Museum, but as these Passage Beds had been found about that time, and had ac- 
quired some celebrity under that name, Mr. Banks seems to have thought that as 
Transition and Passage mean the same thing, the beds respectively so called must 
be the same ; indeed he always has considered the Downton Sandstone as not be- 
longing fairly to the Silurian, and he sent his specimens labelled Passage Beds, 
Sir Roderick Murchison, finding, on examination at the Museum, the very same 
fossils in both Downton Sandstone and Passage Beds, not uanaturally classed them 
together in the Silurian formation. This, I think, ought not to be done, but the 
Passage Beds should take their place where Sir Roderick Murchison and Mr. Wm. 
Symonds first placed them, viz., 200 or 300 feet up in the bottom of the Old Red. 


Time was sadly wanted here to work at these beds, but it was ‘“‘the Ladies 
Day,” and there was nothing for it but to get quickly back to Forge Bridge, 
Here they fell in with many groups of pretty naturalists, and all wended their 
way along the south bank of the beautiful river which ran murmuring along 
beneath. Sometimes they stopped to pluck a fern, or stooping at a rill side would 
gather : 

“« That blue and bright-eyed flow’ret of the brook 
Hope’s gentle gem, the fair Forget-me-not,” 
A charming walk of nearly a mile ; much too pretty to be thought long, brought 
them to Downton Bridge, immediately below the Castle, and passing through a 
wicket gate, the gorge of the Teme wasentered. Here Mr, Richard Payne Knight 
studied to conceal the care with which he laid out the walks so as to ensure their 
greatest picturesque effects. 

The sun by this time had come out in full brilliancy, the river was in per- 

fection, and whether the walks had been visited or not before, none could fail to 


62 


be pleased with the loveliness of the scenery ; its richness, its wildness, the rugged 
banks, and the rushing river, the beautiful combination of rock and foliage, of 
light and shadow, as seen, now from the gloom of a rocky cavern, and again from 
an open glade. Well might a lover of the picturesque grow more and more 
enchanted with the views. Well might Mr. Richard Payne Knight dwell on them 
with enthusiasm. 
‘Let me, retir’d from business, toil and strife, 

Close amidst books and solitude, my life ; 

Beneath yon high-brow’d rocks in thicket rove, 

Or, meditating, wander through the grove ; 

Or from the cavern view the mountide beam 

Dance on the rippling of the lucid stream, 

While the wild woodbine dangles o’er my head, 

And yarious flowers around their fragrance spread ; 

Or, where, ’midst scatter’d trees, the op’ning glade 

Admits the well mixt tints of light and shade.” 

“‘There is nothing to be done in bees here,” said an entomologist present, who 
had perseveringly waved his net throughout the day, so I am afraid in the matter 
of “fragrant flowers” the poet kas taken a little license in the description. For 
ferns and mosses the place is renowned : they abound here. Few visitors seemed 
to be aware of the moss cavern below the grotto, where the liverwort, Marchantia 
polymorpha, spreads its broad leaves over the damp rocks, amidst mosses of many 
kinds. The majority of the ladies chose fern-hunting. The delicate oak fern, 
Polypodium dryopteris, abounds here, and many were the roots carried off. The 
Cistopteris frayilis, the brittle fern, in its ordinary form, and in the variety dentata, 
was found pretty freely. The pretty and graceful shield ferns, Polystichwm acu- 
leatum, in its variety lobatwm, and Polystichum angulare, were eagerly welcomed 
by the fair botanists, and others were plentiful enough; and so, too, was the 
Maidenhair Spleenwort, Asplenium Trichomanes. One lady had set her heart on 
a lady fern, Athyrium Filia-femina, and as a fine specimen was given to her, she 
evidently thought with Calder Camphell— 


** But not by burn, in wood, or dale, 
Grows anything so fair 
As the plumy crest of the emerald pale, 
That waves in the wind, or soughs in the gale, 
Of the Lady fern when the sunbeams turn 
To gold her delicate hair.” 


Many other more ordinary ferns were there—the Asplenium Adiantunt 
nigrum, and A. Ruta muraria, the Blechnum boreale, the Polypodiwn vulgare, the 
handsome Hart’s Tongue, Scolopendriwm vulgare, the sweet-scented mountain fern, 
Lastraa Orcopteris, the Z, dilatata, the ever-abounding Lastraa Filix-mas, and the 
common brake, Pieris aquilina. And about them all there was the great pleasure 
and advantage that take freely as you might, the permission to take may still 
generously be yielded, for a single season will amply fill again the vacancies. 


Some of the votaries of science looked for grasses, the word melick grass, 
Melica uniflora, the Aira ewspitosa, and the Festuca sylvatica made very elegant 
bunches, and the Rev. W. H. Purchas was very charmed with the discovery of the 
spreading millet-grass, Miliwm effusum, which he thought new to the county, and 
therefore a prize of the day, albeit it is not a very uncommon grass, 


63 


The nettle-leaved Bell Flower, Campanula Trachelium, was abundant, and 
some ladies thought it could scarcely be wild ; the shining Crane’s bilt, Geranium 
lucidum, several of the St. John’s worts, Hypericum dubium, H. Pulchrum, and 
H. Androsemum—the @nanthe crocata, and several other more ordinary plants, 
were also observed. 


Thus pleasantly loitering, the green at the Hay Mill, at the far end of the 
Walks, was reached in due time according to programme, at half-past two o’clock, 
but as each party got there, it was only to learn that the cart with the hampers 
had not arrived, Happy they who carried with them their provender! It had 
been heard of, however, ‘inquiring the way,” as some one merrily observed. So 
sending off messengers in search of it, the President ordered the signal of con- 
centration, the whistle, to be sounded, that the business of the day might begin, 
and thus occupy the minds of the visitors. 


The Rev. W. H. Purchas then exhibited some fine specimens of the pretty 
wild pink that was seen to be growing so freely on the walls of Ludlow Castle in 
the morning, It was the Dianthus plumarius, and many there were greatly 
pleased to get a specimen. He also distributed specimens of the Milium effusum 
already mentioned. He then produced from his herbarium some rare and inte- 
resting plants which he had brought with him from Gloucester, the Lepidium 
draba, Melilotus arvensis, Nasturtium amphibium, several varieties of Sedum Fos- 
terianum, one from Borrer’s own garden, the Sedum rupestre, the Bristo] stone- 
crop, from St, Vincent’s Rocks, Clifton, and its greatly magnified self from 
Cheddar, 


—— 


Dr, Algernon Chapman then took the eager attention of all present by the 
exhibition of some magnificent American moths. They had been sent as pup» 
from New York, and had emerged as moths at Abergavenny. 


CERATOCAMPA REGALIS, 


: The curiously spiny or horned larva of this moth feeds on Hickory 
and Walnut leaves, It is an object of fear to the negroes of the Southern 
States of America, and has been called the Hickory Horned Devil. The 
moth is nearly six inches in expanse of wing; it rests with its wings in penthouse 
fashion, and is a very beautiful object. The body is clothed with long fur, marbled 
red and yellow ; the wings have a deep neutral tint as a ground colour, which 
displays to advantage the patches of rich yellow on the wings and the red markings 
along the nervures, 
R CERATOCAMPA IMPERIALIS, 


Called the Emperor, must be distinguished from our English Emperor 
Moth, to which it is not at all allied. It feeds on Sassafras, &c. It is 
rather smaller than Regalis, of a rich yellow, dotted with black, and with 
two red fasci#, expanded into blotches in the male, It rests with its wings 
extended. ; 


64 


-. nale C. Imperialis and a female C. Regalis were exhibited alive, though 
they had unfortunately somewhat injured themselves by having been kept alive 
for several days, and brought in a tin box, They are not silk producers, but 
bury themselves in the earth to undergo their transformations. 


BOMBYX ANGULIFERA, 


Some specimens of this moth were also shown which were bred from 
cocoons sent from New York. This insect is rare in the States. It belongs to 
the family of silk-producing moths, but is not likely to be useful for that 
purpose, 

BOMBYX YAMA MAT, 

Mr. J. W. Lloyd, of Kington, next exhibited some larve of the oak 
feeding silkworms, first the Bombyx Yama Mai, the Japanese silkworm, a fine 
fat fellow in his last skin, and some cocoons of the same insect; and secondly, 
some caterpillars in their fourth and fifth skins of the Bombyx Pernyi, a Chinese 
oak feeding silkworm, 


Mr. Lloyd also showed a white mole, Zalpa Europwa, from Titley. It was 
stuffed and had been captured with another white one in 1866, and it is remarkable 
that four other white moles were trapped on the same farm about two months 
since. The man who caught them says there are other white ones there, so"that 
it would appear to be a regular variety in colour. 


FUNGUSES. 


Dr. Chapman brought with him a small specimen of the rare fungus Lentinus 
lepideus, which had been found by Dr. M’Cullough growing from the timbers 
supporting a railway bridge near Abergavenny,—and the President brought a 
Polyporus syuamosus. Not a fungus was seen in the day’s walk, nor is it likely 
there will be any until the prevailing dry weather is at an end. 


A very able address was then given, entitled 


———— 


A SKETCH OF GEOLOGICAL TIME, 
By ROBERT LIGHTBODY, Esq., F.G.S. 


Ladies and Gentlemen,—I am directed by our President to address you on 
some interesting geological subject suitable to the character of the scenery, in the 
midst of which we are to-day, and I much regret that he has not selected some one 
much better able to do justice to it than I am. However, I must do the best I 
ean, trusting to your favoucable consideration, and I propose to select the subject 
of Geological Time, as one which may be made obvious to those who examine the 
various strata of which the earth is composed, 

I hardly know how, or where to commence so vast a subject,—the more so 
as the ladies in general are not supposed to take much interest in the pursuit of 
Geology, though I see around me some zealous exceptions, who are not afraid of 
carrying a hammer,—and using it too, Ladies and Gentlemen,—The science of 
Geology is second only to that of Astronomy in the vastness of its extent, 
dealing with immeasurable time, both past and future. To human appreciation 
this seems to differ little from eternity, for the finite senses of man cannot conceive 
the infinite either of time or space, and are lost for want of something to rest on. 
Do not be shocked, I beg of you, when I tell you that though this earth we stand 
on no doubt had a beginning, yet it is quite impossible to arrive at the slightest 
idea when the Almighty Creator first formed it; but as far as we can read its 
records in the various strata under our feet, it must have been millions of ages 
ago. Not only so, but constant destroying and constant reparation appear to 
be still going in endless succession, making it equally impossible to estimate 
its future duration as its beginning. I hardly know at which end of the long series 
of formations to begin in order to give you some slight idea of the amount of time 
necessarily required by them ; but perhaps the most intelligible way will be to 
take the last first and work backwards. 

You must bear in mind that, setting aside the Volcanic and Plutonic rocks, 
all others, with very trivial exceptions, have evidently been formed under water, 
either salt or fresh, as is proved by the remains of fish and shell fish, and other 
inhabitants of water, abundantly found in them. ‘These are consequently called 
sedimentary formations, and must have been deposited in the same manner that 
we see still going on at the bottom of seas, lakes, rivers, &c., and we know how 
slowly these are formed from year to year. Examine a piece of the rock about 
you, and count the number of different layers in an inch, and multiply this 
by the thickness of the beds, and thus estimate the time occupied in their deposit, 


| _ and whether you calculate by years, or floods, or even by tides, you will find that 


they required years beyond calculation, 


66 


All these deposits require and result from the destruction of other and 
older deposits, by the action of atmospheric agents, such as rain, frost, running 
water, and ice or glaciers. Now the ground we stand upon, nourishing grass 
and trees, requires a long time for its accumulation by almost imperceptible 


degrees, through the decay of lichens, mosses, and such scanty vegetation on the © 


surface of rocks, sands, and clays left by the waters. By slow degrees the 
barren surface is covered by a bed of some inches of dark brown soil, or loam as 
we call it, which is capable of cultivation, But below this soil we come to the 
sedimentary deposit of the district, whatever that may be. The most recent forms 
of this are seen in deltas at the mouths of great rivers, such as the Nile, or the 
Mississippi, and on the margin of such coasts as have been raised above the sea in 
comparatively recent times, 

I ought to have mentioned that though the sedimentary strata have all been 
originally horizontal, or nearly so, yet by a beneficent disposition of Providence 
the action of earthquakes and volcanoes, or other causes which are not yet 
sufficiently understood, has elevated portions of them, and tilted them more 
or less upon their edges, thus exposing them to the action of weather and water, 
which have removed vast thicknesses of them, and thus enabled us to obtain coal, 
which is so essential to us, but which was originally covered by too vast a thick- 
ness of other beds, to be attainable by man. Indeed he could never have known 
of its existence, without this elevation. 

These recent sedimentary beds contain in many places the remains of man, 
together with those of existing animals, but yet are of very great thickness in some 


places, such as the Nile, and must have required vast time to accumulate, since 


we must refer them back to the age of the earliest Egyptians at least. In other 
cases we find deposits of this age in the form of drift or gravels, as in the valley of 
the Somme at Amiens, where it forms a terrace, elevated 300 feet above the present 
level of the river; and in the deposit of glacial drift on the top of Mount Tryfaen, 
in Carnarvonshire, at the height of 1,400 feet above the sea. Many of these old 
gravels and river deposits contain the remains of quadrupeds which are now 
extinct, such as the great Irish Elk, the Mammoth, &c. Indeed I have myself a 
molar tooth of the Mammoth, which was found in the gravel at Wooferton 
Railway cutting. You must admit that the date of the existence of these animals 
must have been long ages past, yet these formations are called recent, or post- 
tertiary, and the shells contained in them are all of existing species. 

Below these recent beds come a long series of formations, deposited in 
many places successively upon one another, which are denominated Tertiary, and 
which are divided into three great classes—the Pliocene, or most recent,—the 
Miocene, or less recent,—and the Eocene, or dawn of existing life. In the Plio- 
cene, we find from 10 to 40 per cent. of shells of extinct species ; in the Miocene 
the proportion of extinct shells varies from 60 to 80 per cent. ; in the Eocene 
almost all the shells are unknown at the present time in our seas, and the 
remains of plants found indicate a tropical climate. "What an immense length of 
time must have elapsed since that state of things existed! And yet this is but 


a 


=o 


67 


the skin as it were of the globe. We have not yet got to the flesh, yet these beds 
have an aggregate thickness of several thousand feet, and are each of them sub- 
divided into a number of minor divisions, each containing a different set of fossils. 


But now we come to the next great division or Secondary rocks, in which 
no traces of existing forms of life are found. This division contains the great 
Chalk formation, which many of you may have seen in the South and East of 
England, and which is of very great thickness in this country, and still thicker 
abroad, since many beds are found there which were either not deposited here, or 
were afterwards denuded. Below this comes the Oolite formation, which you see 
well developed round Bath and Cheltenham, and which is also of very great 
thickness, Below this is the Lias, and below that again the Trias, or New Red 
Sandstone, which is found of very great thickness in Shropshire and Cheshire. 


We now come to the Primary Strata, which I may call the Rock masses 
‘par excellence,” as they are many of them very hard, and all but the first are of 
very great thickness. They are divided into seven great formations, the most 
recent of which is the Permian, which was formerly classed with the Trias, but 
was afterwards found to contain a distinct set of fossils. York Cathedral and the 
Houses of Parliament are built of this, Then comes the great coal or carboniferous 
series, on which the wealth of England depends. We know this formation, to a 
very small extent, in our own neighbourhood on the Clee Hills; but in some parts 
of the world it attains a thickness of many thousand feet. It contains in its lower 
beds the Mountain Limestone, which forms the romantic hills of Derbyshire, the 
cliffs of the Orm’s Head, and also the quarries at Oreton, near Cleobury Mortimer. 


Below this, again, we arrive at the Devonian or Old Red Sandstone, which 
we see at Whitbach and Hayton’s Bent, and forming the base of the Clee Hills, 
but which is much more largely developed in South Wales, where it forms the fans 
of Brecon and Carmarthen, the Skyrrid, and the Black Mountain. The higher 
beds of this series are found largely in the North-West of Scotland, though, I 
believe, they have never been found in England, and they abound in a great 
variety of fish, quite different from those found in our lower beds in this neigh- 
bourhood. Indeed, this, together with the coal series seem to have been the great 
fish formations, as their remains, though scantily found in the top of the next 
lower formation, occur in shoals in some parts of those. 

We next come to the rocks among which we now stand—the vast Silurian 
Formation,—more than 20,000 feet thick, which at one time was fancied to be 
destitute, or nearly so, of fossil remains, but was elevated to its proper dignity by 
Sir Roderick Murchison, who has the credit of having worked it out, and rendered 
it intelligible to anyone who studies it under his guidance. The Upper Silurian 
is the most recent series of this formation, and is subdivided into Upper Ludlow, 
having at its top the Downton Sandstone (named from this locality); the Lower 
Ludlow, containing at its top, in some places, the Aymestry Limestone, which we 
see here above Bow Bridge ; and the Wenlock Limestone and Shales, which are 


seen a little higher up, about Burrington. 


68 


Below these lie the Middle Silurian, or May Hill and Llandovery beds, 
though some geologists believe that the Upper Llandovery, or May Hill Sandstone, 
as seen at Norbury and May Hill, might more fairly be classed with the Upper 
Silurian, and the Lower Llandovery with the Lower Silurian. 

Then comes the tremendously thick series of beds called Lower Silurian ; 
the first subdivision of which, named Caradoe, from Caer Caradoc, near Stretton, 
is estimated to be 12,000 feet thick, is well seen in the valley of the Onny, above 
Strefford Bridge. It contains many very beautiful fossils, particularly the 
Triuncleus concentricus, with its perforated fringe to the head. We must now go 
again out of our own district to find the next lower formation,—the Llandilo, 
Upper and Lower, which is of very great thickness (chiefly from the quantity of 
voleanic ashes and lava which is interbedded with it), and is well shewn in the 
Stiperstone district, and also at Builth and Llandrindod. 

Below these come the Upper and Lower Cambrian strata including the 
Tremadoc slates and Lingula flags (both which, however, Sir R. Murchison classes 
with his Lower Silurian), and lastly the Longmynd series, which alone is supposed 
to be 6,000 feet thick, This last deposit, in Carnarvonshire, produces the cele- 
brated Bangor slates—the best in the world—though at the Longmynd it is fit for 
nothing but road metal, 

Last of all known sedimentary rocks we find in Canada, and on the north- 
west coast of Scotland, a series of beds, estimated to be 30,000 feet thick, denomi- 
nated Laurentian, from the river St. Lawrence ; but these beds have only yielded 
as yet, one fossil remain—the Hozoon Canadense, though in the Longmynd beds, 
which were formerly considered to be destitute of any signs of life, and therefore 
termed azoic, the researches of my friend, Mr. Hicks, at St. David’s, have 
recently brought to light the remains of several species of Trilobites, some of them 
of large size. 

Now let us take notice that each of these formations contains a different 
series of fossils, but few being found in two consecutive beds,—and not only so, 
but each of these formations has been subdivided into several subordinate divi- 
sions, each of which contains fossils peculiar to itself. Then, remembering the 
thousands of years that have elapsed since man first appeared on earth without 
any material change in animal life, as is proved to a great extent by the paintings 
and sculptures of the early Egyptians and Assyrians depicting our existing 
animals. Reflect what an inconceivable time must have passed away ere these 
various destructions and renewals of forms of life could have been brought about. 
Perhaps it may aid you in conceiving the duration of time thus occupied to refer 
to the accounts given by Sir Chas. Lyell and Dr. Dawson, of the section of the 
coal-bearing strata of the carboniferous formation seen in the lofty cliffs called the 
South Joggins, on the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. The cliffy are from 150 to 
200 feet in height, and the beds dip at an angle of 24°, enabling you as you walk 
along the shore to examine every bed, as you would the books on a library shelf. 
Tn a thickness of 2,500 feet, measured at right angles to the stratification, Sir 0. 
Lyell counted 19 seams of coal, varying in thickness from two inches to four feet, 


69 


Yen of these seams had erect trees of sigillaria standing up out of them as they 
grew, and remained preserved in the sandstone, to the height of six or eight feet 
‘above the coal, but one trunk was 25 feet high and 4 feet in diameter. Sir Wm. 
Logan afterwards, making a more detailed survey of this line of cliffs, found erect 
trees at 17 different levels, extending through a vertical thickness of 4,515 feet 
and he estimated the total thickness there of the carboniferous formation, with 
and without coal, at no less than 14,570 feet. Dr. Dawson and Sir C. Lyell after- 
wards examined a portion of these strata 1,400 feet thick, where the coal seams 
are most frequent, and found evidence of root-bearing soils at 68 different levels. 
Remember that each of these root-bearing soils must (after vegetation and trees 
had grown long on it) have been submerged, and beds of sand or mud have been 

» deposited upon it, destroying the life of its vegetation, but preserving evidence of 
its former existence for our information. After one or more beds had been thus 
deposited upon it, the surface had again got above the water, which enabled 
another crop of vegetation to grow, this again being submerged, after trees from 
four to five feet thick had grown upon it, and thus successively throughout the 
whole series. 

Looking, then, at the fossil evidence I have brought before you, about which 
there can be no mistake, and at the immense thickness and numbers of the beds, 
am I not justified in telling you that inconceivable ages must have elapsed since 
life made its first appearance on the earth, or beneath its waters? And does it not 
also justify my parallel of Geology with Astronomy, which shews us by means of 
the stars, immeasurable distances, as the telescope opens out to our view remoter 
and remoter orbs? And who shall tell us that this study of the infinite works of 
our Creator, and the wonderful adaptation of all His handywork to the wants of 
His creatures, does not tend to make us revere His power and bless His goodness? 
No revelation can more unmistakeably make known tous our Almighty and bene- 
ficent Father than that which His own finger has written in His works, The text 
remains there perpetually for our use, and though it may be temporarily mis- 
understood, it can never be permanently perverted by any mis-transcription or 

_ mis-translation. 


The paper was much applauded, though the patience of the lecturer must 
surely have been greatly tried, for in the middle of it the missing hampers began 
to arrive, and it was not in the nature of all his hearers to remain patient unto 
the end. 


SAPONARIA VACCABIA 


70 


SAPONARIA VACCARIA—1. 
COW-WORT. 


Gypsophila vaccaria.—SIBTH. AND SM. 
Vaccaria pyramidata.—RCHB. 


_. Stem.—Stiff, erect, smooth, leafy below, ending in dichotamous panicles, 
with a single flower stem from the division—the joints are enlarged. 


Leaves.—Sessile, ovate, and slightly connate below, becoming more lanceo- 
late and acute above, of a pale glaucous green, 


Flowers.—Rose coloured, numerous, on long stems, and loosely panicled. 


Calyz.—Membranaceous, pyramidal and swollen, smooth, with projecting 
angles of a brighter green and five equal teeth. 


Carolla.—Limb oval and slightly five-toothed without scales, half the 
length of the calyx. Stamens, ten. Styles, two. 


Capsule, a round oval one-celled opening with four valves at the top. 
Seeds, round and black—nearly smooth externally. 


The whole plant is smooth and hairless, of a pale glaucous green. It is an 
annual, and grows from 18 to 36 inches in height. 


The Saponaria vaccaria derives its specific name from the fact that cows 
are fond of it, and it is said to increase the quantity of milk they give.—For the 
same reasons the English name ‘‘ Cow-wort” is now given to it.—It is a weed of 
the cornfields, and common throughout Continental Europe, particularly in 
France, Germany, Switzerland, and the Levant. It is said also to be common in 
Central Asia. 


Tt has been several times observed in Britain as a weed of cultivated land, 
introduced as is supposed, with the seeds of clover, vetches, flax, &c.—The 
earliest record of its occurrence is in Cowell’s ‘‘ Floral Guide to East Kent” 
where itis stated to have been found in 1832 by Mr. Francis at a spot east of the 
pier at Herne Bay. It was gathered on a newly repaired towing path near Ware 
mill in 1841, and plentifully about Ware, by Mr. Ansellin 1845. (Flora Hert- 
fordiensis). In July, 1842, Mr. Wilson detected it in a field of flax at Alves, in 
Morayshire, along with Camelina Sativa. (Botanical Chronicle). The Rev. W. M. 
Hind found a single plant in a chalk-pit at Pinner in 1862. Mr. Buxton found it 
in 1863 on a rubbish heap four miles from Southport in Lancashire. In July 
1864 it was found growing in a field of vetches between East Malling and Town 
Malling. (Botanical Chronicle). In 1865 it was found at Mitcham and Wands- 
worth, in Surrey, by Dr. Henry Trimen, F.L.S. Mr. W. Bean found a few 
plants in a cultivated field near Scarborough, Yorkshire (no date). Watson’s 
“* Cybele Britannica ” says it has occurred in Berkshire (no date) : and in Surrey 
it is stated to have been ‘‘plentiful for several years” about Wandsworth and 
Battersea. In Herefordshire it was first noticed by C. G. Martin, Esq., about 
three weeks since, growing in considerable abundance over a field of vetches near 
Widemarsh Common, Hereford. It has also been found this year growing at St. 
Austell, in Cornwall, by Miss Coode. 


It ‘is now, as you see, in full seed and since it ripens its seed so readily 
there seems good reason to believe that it may become perfectly naturalised in 
England. 

It is not included in the London Catalogue of Plants, nor is it even alluded 
to in the beautiful Edition of Sowerby’s ‘‘ English Botany,” by Mr. Boswell Syme, 
now nearly completed, 


_ The illustration opposite is very kindly presented to the Club by Mr. 


| SAPONARIA . 
BARC A VAOGABIA | 
Pa ae BEA, Tion, cow. WORT. 


Ny fhe 
nay ¢ a 5 z : R Bi : 
A eet £3 ia ie 

io Tee , amr 


hs. 


| 70 


. 7 . oa 3 ‘ 
1 ih cow aronn. Aes Se ~~ 
at Sa Oy AnD Su, os a 
_ Pabetrie po ollie “Roun, ee, 


> ie 
eae re See Te 
Piles abi, ceictieat, Hii in: alk iovuts yo i 


. sent Ciettor denne aaa once 


Gacete,--Tig own) and «tigey Die totbed without wets, Salt 
length of the calyx., Marck, ton. Styles, two, a 
Capone, a rounit aval one-celted opening with four valves wt the Seg -% 


ee ee a ee led 


oe 


ee 


RTT Salle As gy sac in oe! 
toes, and gre fons 18 o 30 incor in haga ereen shi ya 


La 
— 


eS I Sai 


mitre fromt the fret 
eet ee 
or ge yer 


x 53 sk hedirgdverat stalubbeaneaet Britain as a weed of ¢ 
enpposed, wi 
its occurrence is 

found in 1832 b 

om a-n0W) 
by 


about Wi 
Wilson 


1 Rtab. 2.0vry; stamsn, pistilj. 3Saction G DVOMY- Z 
Apsnamarvense Suction of Caliyp KOUHG- 5 Derpe~ \" AK 


SAPONARIA VACOARIA. Linn. COW-WORT. 


71 


THE OCCURRENCE OF RARE BIRDS IN HEREFORD- 
SHIRE AND THEIR NIDIFICATION IN THE 
COUNTY. 


By ARTHUR ARMITAGE, Esq., Vice-President, 
AND THE REY. CLEMENT LEY. 


In attempting to give some account of the occurrence and nidification of 
the more uncommon birds in Herefordshire, it will be desirable to follow asa 
guide, in the matter of arrangement, the usual order of ornithological classifica- 
tion, not as the most technical (for technicalities will be as far as possible avoided ad 
in the following paper), but as affording the most obvious and convenient course. 
It is intended to give a short account of the visits of the rarer species, so far as 
they have come under personal observation, and of some particulars relative to 
the nests and eggs of birds, which it is hoped may be found interesting. 


Commencing then with our birds of prey: Besides a few stragglers of the 
rarer falcons, such as the Peregrine (Falco peregrinus), a specimen of which was 
taken last year in the neighbourhood of Ross, Herefordshire can boast of some 
rather uncommon regular yjsitors and residents. The Hobby (Falco subbuteo ), 
though nowhere numerous, may frequently be seen in the summer months in that 
neighbourhood, and probably in other of the more wooded portions of the 
county, and a summer never passes without our occasionally seeing a pair of 
these beautiful falcons, soaring with their narrow bow-like wings and rapid 
flight over our larger woods. The eggs have been taken in the woods on Acon- 
bury Hill. 

The little Merlin (Falco esalon) is still to be found, or was a year or two 
since, on the Black Mountain, and the eggs exhibited, we took ourselves from a 
nest in the heather on the Fwddog Mountain 10 years ago, in the month of May. 


The Kite (Falco milvus) is almost a bird of the past in our county, though 
once or twice we have noticed it, and the Common Buzzard (Falco buteo) is 
becoming yearly more uncommon, 

It may be mentioned that only last.week, in the parish of Sellack, we had 
a fine view of a pair of these birds, which continued to circle round for a quarter 
of an hour nearly over the same spot. 

In the woods that{border the Wye valley between Ross and Monmouth, they 
may still be seen, but are rapidly disappearing under the ruthless persecution of 
the gamekeeper, 


72 


In a few years the sight of one of the larger birds of prey, which used to 
be such an ornament to our landscapes, will be as unexpected a pleasure as the ~ 
discovery of a Dodo ora Megatherium. However, they are not all quite gone 
yet; a few years since a male Honey Buzzard (Falco apivorus ) was killed 
in the neighbourhood of Ross, and within a few days of the occurrence a female 
was shot from her nest in Newent wood, not improbably the mate of the former 
victim. The nest contained three eggs, two of which, together with the parent 
bird, are in the possession of Mr. Skyrme, of Ross, and the other is here 
exhibited side by side with that of the Common Buzzard (Falco buteo). 

The Hen Harrier (Falco cyaneus) is occasionally seen on the wooded banks 
of the Wye; one was shot sometime since in the parish gf Bridstow in this 
county. 

The Tawny Owl (Strix stridula) is still abundant throughout the county, 
and the Barn Owl (‘Strix flammea) is pretty numerous. We may mention that 
we once found a Starling’s nest and twice the nest of the Blue Tit in the same 
hollow tree with, and in close proximity to, the young family of the tawny owl, an 
awful situation one would imagine for the little Tit to have selected, where he 
aould daily look down on the headless carcases of a number of small birds, includ- 
ing very probably some of his own species, storing the Owl’s larder, but Tommy is 
probably not given to moonlight expeditions, and the big owl can make nothing of 
the small chink in which his pert little neighbour resides. 

Besides our common Redbacked Shrikes (Lanius collurio), the Great Gray 
Butcher Bird (Lanius excubitor) pays us now and then a passing call, and we 
have ourselves met with a small flock of these birds in winter time on the Black 
Mountain, 

A few words on the Merulide. The Dipper or Water Ousel (Cinclus 
aquaticus) is plentiful enough in the western and northern portions of Hereford- 
shire, and the Ring Ousel (Zurdus Torquatus) tolerably abundant on the Mon- 
mouthshire and Shropshire Hills and in the parish of Ewias Harold in Hereford- 
shire. We have found their nests as frequently on the ground, amongst the 
heather, as on a rock or in a bush—all the other birds of this family seem to take 
it into their heads occasionally to desert their usual bush-loving habits and to 
build upon the ground. Last year we found a Missel Thrush’s ( Turdus viscivorus) 
nest, on which the female was sitting, placed on the ground on the top of a bare 
mass of stone, and presenting an almost ludicrous appearance. We have several 
times found the nest of the blackbird ( Turdus merula) built on the level ground 
in the middle of a wood, and remember to have found the nest of the Redwing 
(Turdus iliacus), in Norway, in the midst of high grass in the shade of a birch 
tree. But why should not birds be whimsical sometimes in their architectural 
fancies as well as ourselves? 

The Stonechat (Sylvia rubicola), which is not nearly so numerous as the 
Whinchat (Sylvia rubetra) in Herefordshire, builds a nest that is very difficult to 
find ; like some others of the same family, they frequently return to the same spot 

. for nestling purposes, and we have found the Stonechat’s nest for several years 


73 


following in the same clump of furze. Still more difficult to find is the nest of 
the Wheatear (Sylvia enanthe ), which we have discovered on the Black Mountain, 
hidden beneath a flat stone upon the ground amongst the heather. (The eggs of 
the Stonechat, Whinchat, and Wheatear, with drawings of the birds themselves, 
are exhibited). 

One of our rather uncommon species is the Grasshopper Warbler (Sylvia 
locustella ), which is, however, much more numerous in some seasons than others. 
Last year they were plentiful, and this year they appear to be very scarce. With 
regard to the nests of this species, we have often sought for them to no purpose in 
the localities in which they are commonly said to be found, but have been suc_ 
cessful in meeting ygth them in the middle of clover and grass fields in the month 
of June. They are commonly placed on the ground, but the nest exhibited is 
interesting, as having been, flimsy structure as it appears, built around the stalks 
of clover, with its base some inches above the surface of the earth, just as the 
common Reed Warbler (Sylvia arundinacea) suspends its nest on the stalks of the 
bull-rush. The latter species mentioned, the Reed Warbler, we have only seen in 
the northern and western portions of our county, but they are especially numerous 
at Llangorse Pool. Nothing can be more diverse in appearance than the nests of 
this species, varying in material from coarse grass to the soft white down of the 
willow catkin, of which one of the nests taken at Llangorse was entirely composed. 
Some nests which we took in the garden of Magdalen College, Oxford, were placed 
in shrubs, one at the height of 15 feet above the ground, and in these situations 
they were comparatively shallow ; but when built in the usual position around 
the pliant and waving stems of the reeds, they are made of great depth, to pre- 
vent the eggs from rolling out under the agitation of the wind. 

The Sedge Warbler (Sylvia salicaria) is plentiful in Herefordshire. 

The Lesser White-throat (Sylvia curruca), though not nearly so abundant 
as the Greater White-throat (Sylvia cinerea), is a common bird throughout our 
county ; its comparative shyness (for though often heard it is not frequently seen) 
may have occasioned its repute for rarity, which is certainly undeserved, as few 
days pass in spring when its well-known rattling song may not be heard. 

Some ornithologist may probably be able to give us more information than 


"we possess relative to the Fire-crested Wren (Regulus ignicapillus), of which four 


years ago a pair were seen at Sellack ; it is difficult on such occasions to refrain 
from the use of the gun, for a pair of these beautiful little birds, side by side with 
the Golden-crested Wren (Regulus crissatus), would be an interesting cabinet 
ornament, but unless the principle of sparing our rarer birds is rigidly adhered to 
they must all be soon annihilated. 

Among the birds which are less uncommon than is usually supposed, the 
Cirl Bunting (Emberiza cirlus) should be enumerated. This species is native in 
Herefordshire, and not merely an occasional visitor in the winter months. In two 
successive springs we noticed a male bird perched on the same identical tree in the 
parish of King’s Caple, near Ross, and by his anxiety and often repeated call note 


it was plain that his mate was not far distant upon her nest ; the spot was 
. K 


74 


thoroughly rummaged to no purpose, and the only inference was that the nest 
probably occupied a situation similar to that of the Corn Bunting (2Zmberiza 
miliaria) in one of the neighbouring wheat fields. 

The Lesser Redpole (Fringilla linaria) is an uncommon bird in Hereford- 
shire, remarkably so considering its pretty general distribution throughout the 
Midland counties ; its nest, which we took this year, but not in Herefordshire, is 
exhibited, and is one of the smallest of the nests of British birds; unlike that of 
the common species it is built in low trees, or in the uppermost branches of a high 
hedge, much in the situation usually chosen by the Chaffinch, (The drawing 
exhibited was taken from a specimen shot in the early spring of 1853, being one of 
a small party of seven or eight seen feeding upon the youngshoots of larch trees 
in a plantation at Moraston, near Ross). 

The Mountain Finch (Fringilla montium), of which a drawing is also 
exhibited, was observed in a thicket called the Flann Rough, in the parish of 
Peterstow, where a small flock of them associated with the Chaffinches and other 
small birds for some time in the month of March, 1855. 

While the rarer species of birds are generally speaking rapidly on the 
decrease in this country, one or two kinds appear to be becoming from some 
unexplained cause more numerous than in former years. Among these may be 
included the common Crossbill (Zoxia curvirostra). Of late years this very inte- 
resting species has frequently visited our gardens and fir plantations. Since July 
of last year flocks of these birds have repeatedly made their appearance in the 
neighbourhood of Ross, and last June was the only one out of twelve successive 
months in which we have failed to see them in the garden at Sellack vicarage in 
small companies of from two to seven together ; they rarely remained above a few 
hours at a time and were usually a mysterious odd number—three, five, or seven 
—exhibiting no sign of pairing, nor can we from personal observation throw any 
light on their nidification. Most curious birds they are, and very interesting it 
has been to watch their parrot-like motions as they clamber from bough to bough 
of the spruce fir trees, frequently breaking off a spray with the cone attached to 
it, which they grasp in their claws while they extract the seeds, producing a loud 
snapping noise with their powerful bills ; among those which visited us last 
summer were several young males of the year, whose brilliant rosy plumage 
formed a striking contrast to the almost sooty hues of their companions. 

The eggs of the common Green Woodpecker ( Picus viridis) we have found 
subject to some remarkable varieties of size and form: two of these with a speci- 
men of the common type are exhibited, with those of the Greater and Lesser 
Spotted Woodpecker and Wryneck, to which they approximate in dimensions. 
One of our most handsome species is the Great Spotted Woodpecker (Picus major) 
which is, however, a comparatively rare bird in Herefordshire. We have noticed 
both this and the Lesser Spotted variety in larger numbers in the immediate 
neighbourhood of Hereford than elsewhere. Our Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 
(Picus minor) exhibits a curious trait of instinct in the selection of the spot for 
its excavations, In choosing a decayed branch in which to perforste the cavity 


75 


for its eggs (for this species has not a bill powerful enough to pierce the green and 
growing wood). the little Woodpecker always selects the remains of a bough which 
has been cut off, or had its top broken by the wind, and proceeds to bore its hole 
a foot or so below the broken part; it is thus almost secure from the branch 
breaking off at the part excavated, which would be very likely to happen in a gale 
of wind if the hole were at a distance from the extremity of the branch: we have 
alway found the nests in this situation. 

The Wryneck ( Yunzx torquilla) will lay many eggs. From the nest, out of 
which the two eggs exhibited were taken, a neighbour extracted 40 in all, by 
taking a fresh egg each successive day. 

And now for a few words about the ways of the Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), a 
hackneyed subject in ornithology, but one which we presume to say has not been 
completely exhausted. The female Cuckoo has the reputation of being a bad 
mother, and we shall not attempt to advocate the principle she adopts of putting 
out her children to nurse ; but there are few characters about whom nothing 
favourable can be said, and next to supporting them herself is the duty of finding 
an efficient nurse, who will not be likely to make mistakes about their diet. Now 
all the Cuckoos of our acquaintance have shown the greatest powers of discrimi- 
‘nation in the performance of this latter obligation. Of a large series of eggs which 
we have taken none had been deposited in the nests-of the conical billed birds, 
whose diet is of a harder nature such as grain and seeds of various kinds and 
only partially of insects ; we have only found the eggs of the Cuckoo in the nests 
of those birds which, like itself, are insect eaters. And here arise two questions 
which have been repeatedly asked, and too frequently met only with ridicule for 
answers. Does the cuckoo ever transport her egg in her throat or beak in order to 
deposit it in a suitable nest? We might suppose that she invariably lays it in the 
nest like any other bird, but it has long been known that her congener, the didric 
or gilded cuckoo of Caffraria, conveys her egg in her beak, or rather throat, to 
the nest selected ; and if we may be allowed to express an opinion on the subject, 
we should say that undoubtedly our British visitor does the same. We have 
ourselves on four or five different occasions found the egg of the cuckoo in nests 
which were placed in the cavities of trees or banks, the apertures of which were 
indisputably too small to allow the cuckoo to do more than insert its head and 
neck. The question might, perhaps, be settled by shooting several female 
cuckoos in May in the early morning, which is the period of the day in which they 
Usually deposit their eggs, and then proceeding to examine their throats. 

The other question we have heard stated in rather a ludicrous form, in which 
it can of course receive only a negative answer—‘‘ Can the cuckoo lay an egg of 
whatever tint or colouring it chooses?” Some observers have noticed that the 
eggs of the cuckoo which are found in the nests of the titlark are of a hue 
approximating to those of that species of bird, while those found in the nest of the 
hedge-sparrow are more green, and those in that of the pied wagtail are grey in 
colouring, and that there is, in fact, a peculiar resemblance between the egg of the 
cuckoo and those of the nest in which it has been deposited. The statement 


76 


appears a priori to be highly improbable, but the progress of research sometimes 
converts unbelief into credence, and we shall hope to have some light thrown on 
the subject by ornithologists! Our own observations on the whole are in favour 
of the accuracy of the statement. Perhaps, if it be found te have a foundation in 
fact, it may receive an explanation in some degree from the theory already sug- 
gested, that the cuckoo transports her egg from place to place in her throat until 
she finds the most suitable repository, in colour as in other respects, and we shall 
not be compelled to‘have recourse to the extraordinary idea that the sight of the 
eggs contained in the nest selected affects the colouring of her own egg before itis 
laid, after the mysterious analogy of Jacob’s Cattle. 


The Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida), we need not say, is still plentiful enough 
upon the banks of the Wye and its tributary streams, and a great ornament to 
them. Long may its rather shy habits and arrow-like flight serve to protect it 
from the clumsy sportsman, We must admit, however, that we have not personally 
contributed to its increase, having destroyed a large number of its retreats, partly 
in order to settle the old question, whether the Kingfisher actually constructs a 
nest of fish bones, or whether the bones with which the eggs are found sur- 
rounded are merely an accidental accumulation of the indigestible portions of 
food, which, like the Owl, the Kingfisher disgorges. The fish bones were arranged 
in a similar manner in all the holes examined, and in a particularly neat and 
careful manner in those cases where the parent birds had only commenced laying 
thus in some holes examined only in the present season, in which only two or three 
eggs had been deposited, the circle of fish bones was found complete, though in 
nests examined later there was certainly a greater accumulation. 


In connection with our notice of the Kingfisher we may mention a 
curious incident that occurred illustrative of the intelligent instinct by which 
birds are led to discover and obtain their food under circumstances unlooked 
for by ourselves. It happened that in the dry summer of 1866 we had a pond 
cleaned out, which for many years had contained no fish in consequence of 
the water being poisoned by the drainage of a farm-yard. The buildings 
having been removed the water again became pure, and in the autumn of 
that year the pond was stocked with a number of small perch. In November 
of the same year a Kingfisher having discovered its food, ventured within 
100 yards of the house, and was picked up dead upon the margin of the 
pond with a perch in its throat, as represented in the drawing exhibited. The 
fish had stuck up his back fin in the act of being gorged, and had thus revenged 
itself upon its enemy by choking him. ‘ 


The Fern Owl, or Nightjar (Caprimulgus Europeus), appears to be much 
more numerous in the northern than in the southern portions of this county, 
and may be constantly both seen and heard among the low wooded copses in the 
neighbourhood of Aymestry and Shobdon. The habit of this bird, when in 
repose, of squatting longitudinally upon the rough bark of trees, of a similar 
colouring to itself, frequently secures it from the observation of a passer-bye 


77 

of which the bird seems conscious, as it will frequently remain on its resting 
place until within a few feet of the hand that may be directed towards it. 

Passing over the Columbide and others, we now find ourselves among the 
marsh and water birds, the former of which have become more and more scarce 
in consequence of their food being taken from them by means of the universal 
application of drainage in cultivation. One of their last strongholds upon the 
Berrington estate, near Leominster, is now about to be taken from them, a drainage 
contract, it is announced, having been entered into. 

-  Wemustnot trespass further upon your time and attention than merely to 
enumerate the names and produce drawings of several rare specimens which the 
hard winter of 1854-5 tempted to make an exploration of the Wye in the hopes 
of refreshing themselves on their passage from a northern to a more southern 
shore of our sea-girt isle : such as the wild swan, both Hooper's (Cygnus musicus ) 
and Bewick’s (Cygnus minor), the Pochard Duck (Anas ferina), the Tufted Duck 
(Anas fuligula), the Red-throated Diver (Colymbus Septentriénalis ), & Norwegian 
bird, the Cormorant (Carbo cormoranus), the Goosander (Mergus merganser ), 
male and female, and some others, but we believe the most remarkable specimen 
of all to be found in this inland county, is that of the Manx Shearwater 
(Procellaria puffinus), which: was captured in a turnip-field in the parish of 
Peterstow, near Ross, by a party of sportsmen in the first week of September, 
1867. There had been storms of rain, thunder, and wind a few days before, and 
the bird was exhausted when taken: but those who are familiar with the charm- 
ing descriptions given by Yarrell in his account of the British birds, may well be 
surprised at finding this specimen here, when he says that this member of the 
Petrel family rarely alights upon terra firma save to deposit and sit upon its eggs 
on the rocks and caves of our south-west coasts. 


‘We cannot close the recital of this paper without acknowledging the 
fact that although the names of two persons are announced as the authors of 
it, the greater part is due to the pen of one, the Rev. Clement Ley, curate 
of King’s Caple, near Ross, who, but for this explanation, might well have 
said, ‘‘ Hos ego versiculos feci tulit, alter honorem;” as also he may still exclaim, 
*¢ Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves!” 


It was admirably illustrated by very beautiful drawings in water colours 
by Mrs. Armitage, and at the same time the eggs of several of the species were 
shown by Mr. Ley. 


NOTES ON THE OCCURRENCES OF RARE BIRDS 
IN HEREFORDSHIRE AND RADNORSHIRE. 


By MR. JAMES W. LLOYD, Krneron. 


Peregrine Falcon (Fulco peregrinus).—A young bird of this species was 
shot, about the end of the year 1866, in a wood near Leominster. The wood- 
man who killed it believed it had been bred in the wood as there were two 
others in company with it. This bird was exhibited in the window of Mr. 
Saxby, of Leominster, in December, 1866. 

Hobby (Falco subbuteo).—I have two specimens of this rare and beauti- 
ful little falcon, shot a few years back in Brampton Brian park in this county. 
I believe they are both females. 

Kite (Falco milvus).—This rare bird still breeds on Radnor Forest. 
Two young birds were obtained in 1868, one is now kept in the gardens of 
Eywood, perfectly tame. 

Kites were formerly pretty common on the forest, numbers being trapped 
at the Rabbit Warren, Water-break-its-neck. The warren has been recently 
destroyed and the birds are consequently less common. 

The kite has nested in Brampton Brian Park, in this conn: The 
park-keeper found a nest, and after patient watching managed to kill the male 
bird ; the female I believe found a new mate and returned to share the same 
fate. One or more of these birds are preserved in the Ludlow Museum. 

Buzzard (Falco buteo).—Buzzards were also frequently trapped at the 
Warren on Radnor Forest, and doubtless breed there. 

I bave a fine specimen killed at Brampton Brian. 

One was killed at Eywood about two years ago, and his body adorned (?) 
the gamekeeper’s scaffold there for some time. 

Short-eared Owl (Stryx brachyotus).—A specimen of this aS was shot 
close to the town of Kington some few years back. 

Great Gray Shrike (Lanius excubitor).—In March, 1865, I saw a fine 
bird of this species which had been 'shot in Radnorshire, near the town of 
Builth. ; 

Dipper, or Water Ouzel (Cynclus aquaticus).—This pretty bird is 
common on the streams near Kington, and a favourite nesting place with it is 
upon the ledges of the iron girders of the railway bridges. It is also frequent on 
the Luggin the centre of the county at Hampton Court, as noticed on the visit 
of the Club there last year. 

Ring Ouzel (Turdus torquatus).—This bird occurs on Radnor Forest 
where it probably breeds, but this I have not been able to prove. 


79 


Brambling (Fiingilla montefringilla).—A large flock of these pretty 
‘birds occurred in the winter of 1866, near Eywood. Numbers were taken in 
nets at night in the shrubberies there. I kept a pair ina cage for some time, 
but from some cause the male bird lost nearly all the feathers off the head 
and back. 

Their note is harsh and disagreeable, and their appetite insatiable. 

Tree Sparrow (Fringilla montana) —Numbers of these birds breed in the 
holes of pollard willows on the banks of the Arrow. - 

Hawfinch (Fringilla coccothraustes).—The Hawfinch is occasionally seen 
in this part of the county in winter. 

One specimen came into my possession about five years ago. 

Siskin (Fringilla spinus).—Flocks of Siskins associate with lesser Red- 
poles, or ‘Izzard Linnets” as they are called in this district, on the alder 
bushes, near Kington, in winter. 

Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra).—These birds are apparently more abun- 
dant lately. Eight or nine adults, principally males, were unfortunately shot 
near Kington in May last. 

T have not yet been successful in finding a nest, but as specimens have 
been seen and obtained in May, July, August, October, and during Winter 
it is pretty conclusive that they are residents in this part. 

I have brought four specimens, not very good ones, to show, one an adult 
female, shot in July last year, three others a male, female, and young one, 
shot in August, 1866. 

A nest containing three eggs, which resemble those of the greenfinch, 
was found last year in the beginning of June about four miles from Bedford 
(see ‘*Science Gossip” for December, 1868). 

These birds are early breeders in Norway and Sweden, nesting generally 
in March, eggs being rarely found so late as April. 

The fact of these birds being in flocks in May and the instance of a nest 
with eggs in June show them to be late breeders with us which is curious. 

Raven (Corvus corax).—A pair of Ravens have bred for many years on 
Stanner Rocks, near Kington, but I have been unable as yet to obtain their eggs, 
from the difficulty of reaching the nest. 

In August last year I saw three or four young ravens near the rabbit 
warren on Wapley, near Titley. 

Some years ago one of the old birds at Stanner was shot in the breeding 
season, the other left the rocks and returned in a few hours with a new mate. 

This pair always leave Stanner in the early part of the autumn, accom- 
panied by their young brood, returning in about three weeks alone. 

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Picus majo),—A° few specimens of this 
Woodpecker have come under my notice, chiefly from Radnorshire. 

On the 16th of June last two young birds fully fledged were taken from 
a nest at Knill, in this county, and brought tome. I fed them for three days 
upon yolk of egg and lean beef, when they commenced to feed themselves, and 


80 


to the present time they are doing well, flying about a small room, the floor of 
which being old is already shewing the effects of the strong beaks of these 
birds for they are tapping almost constantly, the noise being heard at some 
distance, 

Mr. Bartlett, of the Regent’s Park Zoological Gardens, informs me that 
he has frequently reared the Great Spotted Woodpecker, and kept them for 
a short time, but they have always died sooner or later, generally in fits, 

[ Postscript.—One of my birds died early in August ; the other I set at 
liberty in the grounds at Moorcourt. ] 

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Picus minor ).—This pretty little bird occurs ~ 
in the neighbourhood of Kington, but I have only seen one myself, which was 
shot in June last year. 

Rock Dove (Columbia livia).—Breeds at Stanner Rocks. 

Bittern (Ardea stellaris).—A specimen of this bird was killed some few 
years back at Stanton-on-Wye, and is, I believe, in the possession of Sir H. 
Cotterel, Bart. 

Little Bittern (Ardea minuta).—One of these rare birds was shot at 
Shobdon Court in the spring of 1838. (See Morris’s British Birds), 

Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus).—This bird occurs occasionally on the 
streams near Kington in the winter, two or three specimens having come under 
my notice. 

Egyptian Goose (Anser Ggyptianus).—A specimen of this handsome bird 
was shot by Mr. C. P. Evans, at the Hengoed, Huntington, near Kington, about 
a year ago. 

Pochard (Anas ferina).—Killed on the river Arrow, near Staunton, 
by Captain De Winton a few winters back. 

Tufted Duck (Anas fuligula).—Two specimens of this duck were killed in 
Radnorshire about four years ago and were preserved by a bird-stuffer in Kington, 

Cormorant (Carbo cormoranus).—One specimen killed at Eywood some 
eight or ten years ago. 

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo).—One specimen killed on the Wye, near 
Hay, about 1864 or 1865. 

The Lessor Tern, or Sea Swallow (Sterna minuta).—A specimen was shot 
in the parish of Marden, by Hugh Jenner, Esq., when partridge shooting, the 
first week in September, 1869, 

Kittiwake (ZLerus tridactylus).—Specimens of this gull occasionally occur 


this district in winter. One was picked up dead in a field in the parish of 
Eardisley in 1866. Two were shot in March last at Sarnesfield. 

Storm Petrel (Zernus Pelagica).—One of these birds was shot near 
Shobdon Court in September, 1867. It was seen by a party of gentlemen, 
hen partridge shooting, flying at a great height and was thought to be a 


The President then read the following interesting paper :— 


81 


ABSTRACT OF A PAPER ON BATS. 


By JAMES RANKIN, Esa., M.A., PRESIDENT. 


I. The Order of Bats, on account of their nocturnal habits and peculiar 
aerial node of progression, is perhaps less known than many orders which are in 
reality less common. I therefore propose to make a few brief remarks upon 
these very interesting animals, ° 

On looking at any Bat, the first thing which strikes one is the curiously- 
extended arm and fingers and the membrane supported by them, forming what 
is called the wing. On examining this structure closely, we find that this 
membrane is double, being in fact an extension of the cuticle of the upper and 
under sides of the body. 

The fore-arm is much lengthened, and the radius does not rotate upon 
the ulna, thereby gaining strength for the stroke of the wing. The thumb or 
pollex is always short and clawed, the four fingers immensely elongated. 

The hind limbs are of proportionate length to the size of the body, and 
the toes are always free from the membrane and clawed ; the membrane extends 
between the hind legs, and in those species which have a tail the membrane 
usually extends as far as the end of that member. 

The hind limbs of Bats perform the functions of the fore limbs of most 
other animals which use their hands or paws for grasping, and in relation to 
this change of functions we find in Bats a very curious change in the plan of 
rotation of the hind limbs ; these members are in fact turned round so far as to 
appear to be set on the body backwards, that is to say the knee joint acts back- 
wards like the elbow, and the feet are turned with the soles upwards and the 
big toe outside, which arraagements are the reverse of what is found in other 
animals, , 

It should be noticed, however, that the muscles, bones, &c., are those of 
the hind limbs, and not those of the fore limbs, showing that although their 
functions are altered, yet their homological relations are preserved. 

Looking now at the body of a Bat, we find it more like a mouse or shrew 
than any otheranimal. Bats vary considerably in size, but the common English 
Bat is about 2} inches long. The head is long and the ears are large, and in one 
kind of Bat (the long-eared Vespertilio Auritus) the ears are half as long as 
the body. 

The brain is smooth, and the cerebral lobes do not cover the cerebellum, 
In this respect Bats agree with the Insectivora and Rodentia, 


82 


The teeth of Bats are sharp-pointed and numerous, and usually there is a 
gap between the incisors or cutting-teeth of the upper jaw; this peculiarity is 
shared with the Lemurs, and also with some of the Insectivora, as for instance 
the hedgehog. ; 

In the muscular system the chief peculiarity is the great enlargement 
of the pectoral muscles ; this of course is in relation to the function of flight. 

Bats have the ordinary five senses, and are not blind as is sometimes sup- 
posed ; the eyes are, however, very small and much obscured by hair. The sense 
which seems to be most developed in Bats is that of touch ; and it is reasonably 
supposed that the whole of the extended membrane conduces to the perfection 
of that sense. 

Having now briefly run over the most marked structural features of Bats, 
we may pass on to consider for a few moments their true position in the animal 
kingdom. 

Amongst old writers Bats were frequently classed among birds, for the 
simple reason that they, bats and birds, could fly ; the most cursory inspection 
of a bat and a bird would show however their dissimilarity. Thus, a bird’s wing 
is formed of feathers growing out of the skin of the arm and fingers; the hand, 
again, of birds is reduced to two fingers which are joined together; bats have 
teeth ; these, and a thousand other differences, would at once show that bats and 
birds were widely separated from each other, 

In the Reptile Class, there does, or rather there used to, exist a creature 
which must have presented some external resemblance to the Bats of the present 
day—I mean the Pterodactyle. This animal, whose remains are found in the 
Oolite Strata, had a membrane something similar to that of Bats, but an essential 
difference in the construction of their wing from that of Bats consists in that 
only the fifth digit of the hand is elongated, the other four being free and 
clawed. Also the number of bones in the fingers increases from the thumb 
outward to the fifth digit; this is a character never found in Bats or any 
other Mammals. 

Without going further into the details of structure we have seen enough 
to prove that although there may be considerable functional anology between 
Bats, Birds, and Pterodactyles, yet there is no real homology of structure. 

There is no doubt, therefore, that Bats are true Mammals; but what rank 
they may take among other Mammals is rather a difficult question to decide. 

All naturalists are, now-a-days, agreed in classing Bats as a distinct order 
by themselves, under the name of Cheiroptera (wing-handed), but some place 
this order next to the Quadrumana or Monkeys on account of the resemblance 
which exists between Bats and Lemurs, especially in the teeth; whilst others 
arrange the Bats in a division with the Rodents (Rabbits, Mice, &c.) and the 
Insectivora (Shrew, Mole, Hedgehog) on account of the similarity of their brains, 
and teeth, and other internal parts of their structure. This latter arrangement 
seems almost the best, and Bats seem most naturally placed next to the Insecti- 
vora, heing in fact Insectivora themselves, 


a ee, ee 


83 


There are other animals which partake in some degree of the power of 
flight amongst some of the orders of mammalia; thus the Pteromys or flying 
Squirrel is a Rodent having an expansion of the skin between its fore and hind 
legs which serves as a sort of wing, and enables them to take immense bounds 
from tree to tree. Among the Marsupial animals another example of this kind 
is found in the Petaurista. 

These animals however both clearly belong to different orders, and their 
approach to the conformation of Bats is only an external resemblance in order 
to allow them better to pursue their habits of life. 


Of Bats, there are two kinds—frugivorous (fruit-eating) and insectivorous 
(insect-eating). The former of these kinds are the largest Bats, but none live 
in England ; British Bats being all insect-eaters. 


The number of species of British Bats is very variously given by different 
naturalists, and there is little doubt the same species has often received 
different names. 

Of British Bats, there are two kinds— those that have a leaf-like 
appendage to their nose, and thuse that have none. Of the first kind, only 
one genus is known, which is called the Horse-shoe Bat. This Bat has a 
peculiar foliaceous membrane above its nostrils, which is thought to bear some 
resemblance to a horse-shoe. This Bat is about the size of the common Bat, 
but of rather darker colour. 

Of those Bats without a nose appendage, there are about six tolerably 
well-known sorts. These are all species of the Genus Vespertilio, and are 
named as under :— 


1. Pipistrelle, or Common Bat... Vespertilie Pipistrella. 
2. Noctule, or Great Bat ......... * Noctula. . 
3. Long-eared Bat .................. = Auritus. 

4. Serotine Bat ............ Boise +3 Serotinus. 
5. Mouse-coloured Bat ..... ie Murinus. 
6. Barbastelle .......... 0.2... “- Barbastella, 


Of these No. 1, the Pipistrelle, is the most common, and may be seen 
any evening flitting about ; it is about two inches long, and its expanded wings 
measure about eight inches. Its colour is reddish brown. 


The Long Eared Bat is also pretty common, and is at once recognised by 
the great length of its ears, which are half as long as its body. 


The largest British species is the Noctule, which measures three inches 
in length, and the expansion of its wings is 14 or 15 inches. 


I will conclude this abstract bya few very brief remarks on the habits, 
&c., of Bats. 

The food of Bats consists of nocturnal insects, moths, &c., and Bats seem 
to play the same part in the animal economy at night as swallows do in the 
day ; Bats will also eat meat. 

Bats live in roofs of old buildings and holes in trees and other out-of- 
the-way corners, and only emerge after dark. There are great peculiarities in 


84 


the mode of flight of these animals; the Noctule for instance flying very higli, 
and the Pipistrelle flitting about like a moth. 

The ery or voice of Bats is peculiarly shrill and acute ; so much so that 
some people’s ears are not able to take in the sound at all, and it somewhat 
resembles the scraping of two keys one on the other. 

The distribution of the genus Vespertilio is almost universal; and it 
is to be observed that Bats are found in insular positions where there are 
no other native mammals, showing that their powers of locomotion, being 
superior to most other small mammals, have enabled them to migrate to 
greater distances and to more inaccessible positions than other mammals, 
and thus giving strong confirmation to the theory of centres of creation and 
subsequent migration therefrom by natural means (applause). 


The PRESIDENT then proposed a vote of thanks to A. R. Boughton Knight, 
Esq., for so kindly throwing open his grounds for the club, which was most 
cordially agreed to. 


It was now time to return to the carriages, which had been directed to be 
in attendance near the Castle. The majority of the visitors took the north bank 
of the river, and after a pleasant walk, now up a sharp and slippery ascent, and 
now by a steep precipice, with ever varying views of the narrow valley below 
and the beautiful slopes of Bringewood Chase beyond, the Castle itself came 
in sight. 

The Castle was built by Richard Payne Knight (1774-8) after his own ideas. 
He describes it himself, five-and-twenty years afterwards, as 


«4 house ornamented with what are called Gothic towers and embattlements without, 
and with Grecian ceilings, columns, and entablatures within ; and though his example has 
not been much followed, he has every reason to congratulate himself upon the success 
of the experiment, he having at once the advantage of a picturesque and of an elegant and 
convenient dwelling.” —Analytical Inquiry into the Principles of Taste. 


In short, it is a Castle for ornament, but built to live in. It stands admirably, 
some 100 feet or more above the river, with a south front, and with an admirable 
prospect, 

The carriages were rejoined here, and quickly conveyed the visitors to the 
station for the return train, some making for Bromfield to save time, and some, 
loth to depart from such lovely scenery, stopping still longer at Downton, with 
the late train in view. 

The hamper cart was again behind time in its perversity, and so it remained 
for after trains to set matters right. No greater misadventures befel the visitors, 
and the day has passed into history with a happy remembrance. 


7 


—e{Ge— 


The Woolhope Haturalisis’ Field Club. 


MEETING “APCs Ee; 


Fripay, SEPT. 3rD, 1869, 


“* A castle there in Uske doth vet remaine, 

A seate where kings and princes have been borne ; 
It stands full on a goodly pleasant plaine ; 

The walls whereof, and towers are all to torne.” 


Churchyard’s Worthines of Wales. 


Dismantled and ruinous though they be, the walls of the old castle are 
still the glory of Usk. From them and about them the town is seen at a glance, 
the rich and fertile valley it occupies, and the hills on all sides undulated and 
well wooded. Usk and its neighbourhood never looked more neat, and clean, 
and pretty, than it did on that lovely day of sunshine and cloud which was 
spent there by the Woolhope Club. Not for the beauty of its scenery, however, 
nor yet for the romantic history of the castle that still happily commands it, nor 
yet again for the excellent salmon fishing its river affords, was the visit made, 
Usk has great attractions of a geological kind, its rocks abound in fossils, and 
in one particular layer of shale here—and in one other place only in the wide 
world, so far as is known—the Homalonotus Johannis is to be found. This inte- 
resting fossil is not very easily to be got, for the rock in which it is preserved is 

vonly to be met with in the bed of the river itself, and cannot be reached unless 
the water is very low, nor even then without wading for it. Twice before has 
the club held a meeting here, but each time in vain ; a wet day and a full river 
have securely guarded the approach to the Homalonotus bed, and the Naturalists 
had to fall back on other objects of interest. On this occasion, however, things 
looked more promising. The river has never been known to be so low for 40 
years, the weather was beautiful, and he who first made known the discovery of 
the fossil, and after whom it was named by Mr. Salter—John Edward Lee, Esq., 
of Caerleon—was in attendance to direct the search of his brother members of 
the Club. 

The attendance was as numerous as could be expected, former disappoint- 

ments and the commencement of partridge shooting being duly considered, 


86 


Here is the list: James Rankin, Esq., president; Dr. M‘Cullough, and the 
Rev. James Davies, of Moorcourt, vice-presidents; J. E. Lee, Esq., Caerleon ; 
R. Lightbody, Esq., Ludlow; the Rev. J. D. La Touche, of the Caradoc Club ; 
Elmes Y. Steele, Esq., and Mr. Steele; John Lloyd, Esq. ; Dr. Bull; J. J. 
Merriman, Esq., Kensington; Thomas Cam, Esq.; the Rev. R. H. Williams, 
Byford; the Rev. W. P. Stanhope, Holm Lacy; John Lambe, Esq.; O. G. 
Martin, Esq.; Wm. Aston, Esq.; the Rev. J. E. Jones Machen; the Rev. 
Bernard Marshall, Blakemere; the Rev. Geo. Metcalfe ; Edgar Williams, Esq., 
London; David Lawrence. Esq., Pontypool; the Rev. J. H. Jukes; the Rev. 
W. Taprell Allen, St. Briavels; the Rev. J. G. Ash, Beachley; Mr. Andrews, 
Bosbury ; and Mr, Arthur Thompson. 

The road for Garcoed was taken at once from the station, and in pleasant 
converse it was quickly reached. Guarcoed is a steep bank composed of Wenlock 
Shale and covered with wood. Mr. Lee lead the way by a shady walk to the 
locality where the now well known Homalonotus Johannis is found. A labourer, 
named Crotty, who had repeatedly been similarly employed, had for an hour or 
two previously been busy collecting from the river bed masses of the rock ready 
to be closely examined by the members. Hammers and chisels were at once at 
work, and even a saw might be noticed as a very useful tool in the reduction of 
some of the larger slabs. 

It was nearly an hour before a trace of the Homalonofus could be 
found, but at length the first specimen fell to the careful hammer of R. 
Lightbody, Esq. Mr. Lee soon came upon another portion, and in the course of 
the next hour the steady perseverance of a young naturalist, Mr. Elmes Steele, 
who remained there still at work when all the others had left, was rewarded by 
the discovery of some excellent specimens, the best that were found during 
the day. 

The Homalonotus was first discovered by a labourer at Usk a few years 
since, who mentioned it to Mr. W. H. Nicholl, then residing at that town, and 
he brought it before the notice of Mr. Lee and other geologists. The specimen 
drawn in the last volume of our Transactions by the late lamented Mr. Salter, 
and now in the collection of Dr. Holl, is the finest which has yet been found. 

This locality also produces a large Mytilus, one or two species of Pterinea, 
Phacops caudatus and P. longicaudatus, an Illenus, and several Brachiopoda. 

After an hour’s work, many of the party advanced along the bank a few 
hundred yards and commenced an active search for the beautiful Ischadites, 
which are found chiefly in this locality. Success, however, did not reward the 
members, as no specimen was found ; in fact Mr. Lee, who acted as guide, stated 
that he had been there probably nearly thirty times, but that only once had he 
succeeded in obtaining Jschadites. A few yards further west there is a bed filled 
with Atrypa tumida. Some of the specimens are full of limestone, but in many 
eases the interior is hollow, being only partially filled with crystals of spar which 
cover not only the inside of the shell but also the spiral appendages well known 
to belong to these bracheopoda. If the fracture is fortunate, the dark spiral, or 


ea 


87 


rather the section of it, is beautifully seen ; and Mr. Lee stated that if micro- 
scopically examined in a very thin section, there is every appearance of this 
spiral having been itself a tube. Corals are rather abundant here, and one of 
the members was fortunate enough to find the head of a small Zlenus, which is 
by no means common. 

A further advance westward brought the party to the foot of a small cliff, 
above which is the camp of the Gaercoed. The beds of Wenlock shale in the 
cliff here seem all but horizontal, while a bed of limestone or harder shale, of no 
great thickness apparently, and which lies in the bed of the river, has been 
pushed up in a singular manner, as if by a heavy weight above, and forms seg- 
ments of two if not three circles, the stones all pointing outwards and upwards 
at alow angle, apparently from some point in the centre. This is the place 
where Jituites are usually found, but here again the members were unsuccessful, 
as no specimen was procured, and they had to content themselves with collecting 
the smaller brachiopoda, which are rather abundant just beyond this cliff ; 
amongst them is a very pretty Spirifer. ; 

By the river side the rocks were broader and the reach very beautiful and 
picturesque. The President summoned the members around him, and after 
electing Mr. Hall, of Garford, and Capt. Pechell, of Springfield, Ross, as new 
members of the Club, he called upon the Rev. J. D. La Touche to read the 
following paper. 


83 


SPHERODIAL STRUCTURE IN SILURIAN ROCKS. 
By THE Rev. J. D. LA TOUCHE. 


It will hardly be necessary to remind those who have studied the Silurian 
strata that spheroidal masses are met with in them of almost every size, some- 
times deeply imbedded in the stone, at others, an entire mass of rock is arranged 
with reference to a spherical contour. Sometimes the imbedded nodule is a hard 
calcareous kernel ; at others, especially where it is of great size, it differs but 
little from the surrounding rock. 

It may he desirable to specify these varieties of structure more accurately. 

The Wenlock shale affords a very marked example of it. In this forma- 
tion, either a multitude of smaller nodules are found irregularly dispersed 
throughout, or, as at Wenlock Edge and elsewhere, long lines of them are 
arranged with the regularity of bricks in a wall. 

These nodules are more or less calcareous. They give the impression of 
an original uniform deposit of limestone having been broken up or rather 
rearranged in that form. That fossils have determined their position may be 
doubted from their great regularity and because it is rare to find any trace of 
organic remains in them, 

We must not omit to observe here, those remarkable accretions of lime- 
stone found at Wenlock Edge, Dudley, and elsewhere, locally called ball-stones, 
which are so extensively used for the iron works of the neighbourhood. They 
vary in size from a few feet to some hundreds of yards, and are, for the most 
part, of irregular shape. Sometimes, in process of formation, they have evidently 
caused a disturbance or dislocation of the adjacent rock. In all instances that 
I have had occasion to examine them, this has been the case. They generally 
extend too far below the exposed surface to enable the underlying strata to be 
seen, but the overlying rock is invariably arched and pushed up out of its 
natural position by them, and where it can be examined, the subjacent rock 
is found to be so also. In many cases the rock on each side of them is seen to 
enter the mass of ball-stone and its stratification to be, as it were, lost in it. 

In the above instances the nodule consists of a different kind of stone to 
its matrix, having, for the most part, a high per centage of lime. In the 
examples which follow, such is not so strikingly the case, although there is no 
marked line of demarcation between the two kinds of structure. 

I have before me a piece of lower Caradoc sandstone, a few inches square. 
The central part consists of a bluish grey micaceous and somewhat argillaceous 
sandstone, of an oblong rounded shape, and around it are three rings of alter- 
nately yellow and blue coloured sandstone; apparently the yellow bands are 


89 


somewhat more sandy and micaceous than the blue ones, The discolouration 
corresponds generally with the surface’ of the fragment, but is more spherical 
towards the centre, and upon again splitting open one of the two pieces into 
which the whole was divided, a nodule, corresponding in shape with the weather 
stain, was exposed to view. 

Secondly, there are instances in which there is no apparent difference 
whatever between the character of the nodule and the surrounding rock, and 
yet its spheroidal structure is not less distinctly marked. 

At the southern extremity of the Longmynd range, in the construction 
of the railway from Craven Arms to Bishop’s Castle, a considerable cutting ex- 
posed a most interesting section of the lower purple Wenlock beds. Some four 
or five years have elapsed since then and the strata are to be seen at the present 
time ina state of semi-decay. Before long they will have assumed the mono- 
tonous slope of the usual railway embankment. In the meantime the pro- 
jecting masses of shale present a very interesting object of study as regards their 
structure, It may be observed that before entirely falling to pieces these blocks 
of stone almost invariably become spheroidal. In some cases the original sharp 
edges and angles of the rock are yet preserved, in others some portions have been 
removed, while in others a perfect spheroid has been exposed to view ; the origin 
of which may however be traced in other as yet undecayed blocks stretched out 
as it were in fine lines on the surface of the stone. 

In every direction may be seen in this railway cutting the indication of a 
nodular structure embedded in large {cubical masses of rock, sometimes of the 
diameter of two or more feet, sometimes of as many inches. Like the statue 
which the sculptor imagines to be imprisoned in the shapeless marble, and which 
he hastens with skilful chisel to reveal, these spheroidal masses exist in the 
primeval rock awaiting the inevitable hand of time to bring them to light. 

Now the question remains to be considered what is the cause of this 
structure? It does not, as far as I am aware, exist where slaty cleavage is 
very marked, but where the general character of the rocks is rhomboidal, there 
it seems to abound. In many of the instances last referred to, the joints of the 
stone are continued through the spheroids unaffected by their curved structure ; 
in some cases this curved structure assumes the form of concentric layers, like 
the coats of an onion, and yet the general stratification of the external rock is 
continued through them when not interrupted by the lines of curvature. This 
is seen in a very beautiful example on the Whitcliffe, near Ludlow. Here it 
would seem that the position of the three more prominent spherical masses was 
determined by the occurrence of the somewhat parallel faults which run 
obliquely from the top of the right-hand side of the section to the bottom of 
the left. 

Has this peculiar structure been the result of an accumulation of 
calcareous matter at particular spots when the whole stratum was deposited, 
or is it the result of subsequent action ? 

The occurrence occasionally of a hard calcareous kernel in the centre of a 

M 


90 


spheroid, might lead to the inference that the diffusion of its lime has in some 
way determined a fresh arrangement of the particles of the whole, but such 
centres are frequently altogether absent and the larger nodules often show 
no appearance of having ever contained any exceptional quality of organic 
remains. 

Especially observable is the fact that the shape of nodules is found 
frequently to depend on some external features of the masses of stone in which 
they occur, such as faults or joints. In a word, the weather staining seems to 
foreshadow the nodule. Besides, there is some reason to think that the coloura- 
tion accompanying weather staining is sometimes accompanied by a physical as 
well asa chemical difference, such as that between sand and clay, between cal- 
careous and argillaceous stone. 

Do not these facts point to an external origin of this spheroidal structure, 
and suggest the probability that the infiltration of moisture from all points of 
the surface of a block of stone may, together with some accompanying chemical 
or molecular action, drive inwards the more soluble constituents of the mass, 
and thus arrange the whole in concentric layers, and produce in many cases a 
central nodule ? 

Do they not suggest that where some crystallizable substance, such as 
carbonate of lime, is diffused through a mass of stone it may be gradually con- 
centrated at one spot, either by the action of some external agent, like water 
soaking through the pores, or by some internal molecular attraction ? Another 
link may thus be obtained in the proof of that constant energy which is ever 
working in the apparently unalterable crust of our earth, re-arranging its con- 
stituents and even in some cases accumulating the metals in certain veins and 
nodules. 


(The paper was well illustrated by a series of clever sketches.) 


Mr. Lawrence, of Pontypool, and one or two other gentlemen present, 
had observed instances of spheroidal structure in rocks, and the question was 
asked as to whether the common nodules of ironstone were due to the same 
action ? 

Mr. La Touche thought they might ke so, and after some further explana- 
tion, he said that he had sent a copy of his paper to the Rev. Professor Haughton, 
of the Dublin University, who had kindly returned the following answer :— 


“‘T am familiar with similar ellipsoidal structures in our Irish coal shales in Queen’s 
County, but they do not seem to be so well developed as those shown in your drawings. 
I believe that all rocks when formed and subjected to varying pressure from the surround- 
ing mass have developed within them a latent ellipsoidal structure ; this is shown by the 
distortion of fossils and other considerations. I published a paper in the Philosophical 
Magazine some years ago on this subject (1856 or 1857), and showed how the ages of the 
ellipsoid might be caleulated from the shape of the distorted fossils. The weathering of 
the rock developes the latent structure, in a manner like that of the structure developed 
by weathering at the angles of the basaltic columns. I shall have pleasure (with your 
permission) in laying your sketches and letter before the Geological Society of Ireland in 
November next.” 


91 


Leaving the geologists at the search for fossils, a strong detachment, under 
the guidance of John Lloyd, Esq., set off to visit the Craeg-y-gaercyd Encamp- 
ment and the Trostre Weir. Proceeding up the river to the high beetling rock, 
which forms the natural defence of the encampment on this side, they took a 
short steep pathway through the wood to the citadel above. Here, amidst a 
tangled mass of coppice wood, brambles, broom, and heath, the outlines of the 
camp could still be seen. Mr. Lloyd with the aid of a sketch pointed out the 
line of the entrenchments, In many places they are 30 feet deep, and near the 
north-west corner are several tumuli, some of which are from 15 to 20 feet in 
height. The whole camp forms an irregular triangle, of which the river is the 
base. This shape does not in the least indicate a Roman character, and some 
think that it may have been an entrenchment thrown up during some of the 
repeated attacks on the castle of Usk in Owen Glendower’s time. Probably, 
however, it was a British fortress made long anterior to those times, There are 
apparently three entrances to the camp, one on the south-east in the direction of 
the town of Usk, another smaller one leading to the river, and a third on the 
western side. 

The height of the lower part of the camp is 70 feet above the river, 
of which full 50 feet is a rocky precipice. Its Welsh name, “‘Craeg-y-gaercyd,” 
the rocky height of the wooded camp, aptly describes its situation and present 
condition. From its strong defences, natural and artificial, and as a post of 
observation on the opposite camp of Camp-wood, and possibly on the castle of 
Usk, this fortress would often find tenants in the olden time. Monks, we 
know, always built their abbeys near famous salmon rivers, and with the Usk 
close at hand supplying 


** Sammons all the yeere 
* So fresh, so sweete, so red, so crimp withal, 
“« That man might say, loe ! sammons here at call,” 


possibly some British prince might have made this camp his fishing box! 

We must say little, however, about fishing until we get to Trostre Weir, 
and it is somewhat doubtful if we ever get there. The tangled brake on the 
camp, thanks to a friendly path, was passable, but here we are in an apparently 
interminable withy bed, and occasional glimpses of each other are only caught at 
intervals, when the waving plumes of the lithe osiers nod to the summer’s breeze. 

Having fought their way through, a short walk brings the party to the 
Weir, and of this it may be said that it was once a most formidable barrier on 
the river. Those who live on the banks of the Wye, ariver now unimpeded in all 
its lower course by a single weir, have forgotten all their ancestors did to free it 
from these obstructions, About the year 1700 the great sweep was made, 


~when the County of Hereford gave £30,000 for the purpose, and in 1814 the 


Duke of Kent’s Weir at New Weir, the last remaining on the Wye, was taken 
down. On the Usk, however, no friendly Navigation Acts existed to effect 
such good deeds, and up to the year 1846 this Weir at Trostre, with its fishing 
boxes, monopolised the salmon produce of the river, Previously to that year 


‘the capture of a clean salmon in the upper waters of the Usk during the fishing 


92 


season was an event almost entirely unknown; while in the lower waters the 
number of fish had become very small in consequence of the limited extent of 
spawning ground, In the summer of that year the late Mr. Stretton observed, 
to his great surprise, a number of fresh-run salmon leaping in his pool at Dany- 
park, and a net being jprocured, about 2cwt. of salmon in excellent condition 
were brought to shore in the presence of a large number of spectators. On 
inquiry the mystery was explained. A recent flood had created a breach in 
Trostre Weir, and the fish had thenafreerunup. The landed proprietors on 
the Usk saw the value that would accrue to their properties from the salmon 
fisheries, and at once took steps to obtain the control of the Weir. They 
succeeded in this and became the lessees with power to take away the fishing 
boxes, and in lieu thereof to place open passes or runs in the weir. From that 
day to this the fisheries have gradually improved, and the result has been 
that the Usk may now claim to stand among the first salmon rivers in the 
Southern part of Great Britain. 

A further step has been taken by the landowners this spring. Their 
tenure of the weir was precarious, and at the same time a considerable outlay 
was needed on the repairs of the mill and weir. Under these circumstances 
the Board of Conservators resolved to purchase all the rights attached to the 
weir, and to pull it down. This has been accomplished at a cost of over £700, 
raised chiefly by subscription, and at this time the waters of the Usk flow through 
a breach in the weir full 30 feet wide. 

The history of the Usk as a salmon river is written in that of this weir, 
and when we now find throughout England many rivers, even finer than the Usk, 
utterly destroyed by such weirs, the example of this river may serve to show 
the wisdom of giving a free passage to salmon through all weirs, and ultimately 
perhaps bring about the same beneficial result in those barren rivers. 


The Weir runs diagonally across the river, and is about 250 yards long, and 
3 feet 9 inches high. It is made of pitching-stones, stakes, and wattling, and 
has a sloping apron of about 20 feet wide. There has long been a great contro- 
versy about the best forms of fish-passes, and those in this weir being thoroughly 
successful, have attracted much attention. The large pass has now disappeared, 
having expanded into the breach, but from previous measurement we are able to 
give its size :— 


ft: am. 
Repthesrcvvcvtrrs 3 6 At upper entrance, 
Length ..... eA tame] 


The height of the Weir being 3 fect 9 inches, this pass represents little more 
than a transverse opening or cut. The salmon’s ascent was not, however, made 
a bit too easy, as the water rushed through the pass with tremendous force. 


And what shall be said of the river Uskitself, with its beautiful reaches, and 
its well-wooded banks. To some who saw it then for the first time, it was inex- 
pressibly beautiful. Low as its waters were said to be, rapidly as its stream was 
flowing, the great surprise was that its pools were so wide, so frequent, and 


93 


so deep. The Wye and the Severn are sedate in comparison; they move 
more silently and at leisure. The Usk water, so bright and so clear, seems pure as 
erystal, and runs rippling, murmuring, dancing along with a peculiar grace and 
cheerfulness, Waga and Sabrina have charms of their own; but Isca is a siren, 
entrancing all who stay to listen to her voice, tempting them almost to envy 
the salmon for whose good pleasure she would seem specially to provide. That 
any dwellers upon the banks of the Usk can be other than devoted fishermen 
seems almost a marvel; but mankind is perverse; the inhabitants of peaceful 
villages fill the ranks of the army; inland dwellers take a violent fancy for the 
sea; and the quiet happiness of the country is readily yielded for the strife 
and turmoil and trouble of a city existence. Human life would be dull indeed 
and monotonous, if all were amenable to the same impressions ; and so, beauti- 
ful siren! there are many who can resist your charms, and doubtless some 
who would greatly prefer the practical usefulness of a dull and dirty dead level 
canal. 

The next important move was to cross the river, but this at first seemed by 
no means aneasy one. The ferry boat was onthe other side, and the united 
exertions of some dozen pair of stout lungs failed to call forth the ferryman, or 
to induce one or two rustics on the opposite bank to render any assistance. One 
gentleman at last waded across and deserved the ovation he got for rescuing 
his friends from their dilemma, The zig-zag path to the keeper’s house was soon 
ascended, and by a pleasant walk through the meadows the prettiest of all the 
towns on the banks of the Usk was soon reached. Some gentlemen found time 
to pay a hurried visit to the castle ruins, whilst the rest prepared themselves to 
enjoy the good things provided by the attentive hostess of the Three Salmons 
Hotel. 


After dinner the following admirable paper was read :— 
> 


94. 


ON METEOROLOGY: ITS PRESENT PROGRESS AND 
FUTURE PROSPECTS 


. 


By BALFOUR STEWART, L.L.D., F.R.S., Director of the Kew Observatory. 


Meteorology, or the Phenomena of the Earth’s Atmosphere, may be 
studied from two points of view, which are in reality quite distinct from one 
another. 

We may in the first place desire to investigate those atmospherical con- 
ditions which render certain places on the earth’s surface suitable for a certain 
class of organised beings. Thus for instance, we may have a cold climate or 
a hot one, a dry climate or a moist one, a climate that varies very little from 
day to night—from summer to winter, or one that varies in these respects a 
- great deal, 

Now some of these climates may be suitable for a certain class of persons, 
but not for others ; and some of them may be favourable towards the growth 
of a certain class of plants, while other varieties may not thrive therein. Indeed, 
it is universally acknowledged that animals and plants are influenced to a very 
large extent by considerations of climate. 

Nevertheless, I am not aware that physiologists have ever set themselves 
seriously and systematically to investigate the precise relations which [subsist 
between climate and health, As an example of this we may take the element 
of moisture. It has been the custom to express the state of the air with regard 
to this element by means of the proportion subsisting between the amount of 
vapour which the air at any moment contains, and that amount which it is capable 
of containing while it remains at its present temperature. Thus, if air at 60° 
Fahrenheit contained half as much vapour as it was capable of holding at this 
temperature, we should represent the relative saturation by 3; if it only con- 
tained one-third of the whole amount we should call the saturation 4; while if 
it contained all the vapour it was capable of holding at that temperature we 
should represent the saturation by unity, which thus denotes complete saturation. 

But has complete saturation at all temperatures the same effect upon 
organized beings? thus, for instance, when the temperature is very high will 
not its effect be greater than when there is only a moderate heat? We may 
ask the question, but no answer has yet been furnished, nor as far as I 
know has any joint action been taken by meteorologists and physiologists with 
the view of investigating this important question. 

But important as a knowledge of the effect of climate upon health un- 
doubtedly is it does not yet constitute the main problem of meteorology. To 

* 


95 


know the physical conditions of the earth’s surface, including the elements of 
motion of those portions which are moveable is surely a study of very great 
interest and importance, and while the former branch may be considered an 
application of physiology, this latter branch belongs more properly to physical 
research, : 

We have thus two great branches connected with our subject, namely :— 

(1) The effect of climate upon organized beings. 

(2) The physics of the earth’s surface, and more particularly of the earth’s 
atmosphere, 

And the complete and frequent meteorological observations now made in 
many places may tend. to throw a good deal of light on both of the above 
questions, but the system of reduction necessary to give an answer to the one 
question is not the same as that calculated to answer the other. 

The two points of view are perfectly distinct, and it is a great misfortune 
that in meteorological reductions this distinction has not been properly recog- 
nised. This confusion of two separate objects in the minds of meteorologists 
has in my opinion undoubtedly hindered the progress of knowledge, for what 
as a matter of fact do we really know of the effect of climate upon organized 
beings, and how little de we know of the motions of the earth’s atmosphere. 

Dismissing, therefore the physiological effect of climate as one regarding 
which we are all profoundly ignorant, and which at the same time belongs 
more to the physiologist than to the physicist, permit me to make a few re- 
marks on the present state and prospects of Meteorology, regarded as that science 
which investigates the physical condition of the earth’s surface, These remarks 
will naturally divide themselves into three heads, namely :—1l, The progress 
already made in the construction of instruments, 2. The progress in the 
accumulation of facts of importance, 3. Suggestions and remarks regarding the 
future. . 

THE PROGRESS ALREADY MADE IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF INSTRUMENTS. 

Meteorological instruments are now in.a very forward state. In the first 
place the velocity of the wind’s motion, as well as the direction in which it 
moves, may be continuously recorded by means of an instrument called the 
Anemograph, Mr. Crossley and others have made an electrical arrangement 
by which that part of the instrument which receives the wind may be placed 
at a distance from that which records the results. Thus, for instance, the one 
part may be placed on the {summit of ,a’ mountain and the other in an ob- 
server's study. 

The temperature, the pressure, and the vaporous condition of the atmosphere 
may all berecorded continuously by photography, and Sir Charles Wheatstone has 
inyented an ingenious electrical arrangement by which the temperature or the 
pressure may be recorded at a distance. 

Thus we may read off in our chamber, at any moment, the temperature 
_ or the barometer pressure at the top of a mountain, or, if we choose so to arrange 
; it, we can have the values of these elements as they are at sea. 


96 


The electric state of the atmosphere can likewise be photographically 
recorded, 

It thus appears that we do not want for instruments and those of great 
accuracy, but if we proceed to investigate the facts that have become known 
to us by means of instruments we shall find that these are neither very many nor 
very important, 


PROGRESS MADE IN THE ACCUMULATION OF FACTS OF IMPORTANCE, 


One of the most important steps made in this direction has been the theory 
of the Trades and Anti-trades in which we see how, through the influence of 
the sun upon the equatorial regions, we have an upward current tending 
from the equator to the poles, called the Anti-trades, and a lower current, 
tending from the poles to the equator, called the Trades. 

The theory of the Monsoon, or the prevailing winds inthe Indian ocean, 
may here be considered. While the system of Trades and Anti-trades is due to 
the equatorial regions, as a whole being hotter than the polar, the Indian 
Monsoon is due to the fact that during summer the continent of Asia is much 
hotter than the Indian ocean. The tendency of land to become hotter than 
water during the day, and colder during the night, gives rise also on a smaller 
scale of time to the phenomena known as the land and sea breezes. "With regard 
to disturbances of the atmosphere or storms, we know that these are caused by 
inequalities between the pressure of the air at different places, and this 
inequality of pressure is in its turn caused by the effects of heat or of cold 
upon the atmospheric pressure, to which we may add the change of pressure 
produced by sudden condensation of vapour. Of course, the tendency is for a 
rush of air to take place from an area of high to one of low pressure, but Dr. 
Buys Ballot has shown that this is generally materially modified by other 
considerations ; so that, in fact, in our part of the world at least, if we suppose 
a district of low pressure to lie to our left, and one of high pressure to our right, 
and stand facing the two districts, then the wind will blow from our back. 

This law holds not only in cyclones but in storms of different kinds. 

An important observation was made by the late Admiral Fitzroy that 
European storms generally travel from the west, and this observation has heen 
made much use of by the Meteorological department in London who receive 
telegraphic intelligence from the south and west of Ireland of atmospherical 
disturbance the moment they show themselves there. A warning is then sent to 
those ports to which it is imagined the storm may extend in its progress east- 
ward. So desirable is it to have early intelligence of a storm that the suggestion 
has been made to have a floating station two hundred miles out in the Atlantic! 

Meteorologists throughout Europe are now much engaged with the study 
of storms, and Mr, Meldrum, of the Mauritius observatory, has investigated 
with much success the storms of the Indian ocean. 

Before leaving the subject of wind, I may mention maps of the pre- 
vailing winds in different seasons in different parts of the ocean as a desidera- 


97 


tum to mariners which has of late years been partly supplied through the labours 
of Maury and others who have analyzed and discussed the logs of many vessels 
in order to obtain this information. a 

With regard to the subject of temperature charts of various kinds have 
been constructed exhibiting the distribution of this element on the surface of 

the earth, 

I have only time, under this head, to mention the theory of dew and 
the relation of heat to vapour as subjects that have been advantageously studied 
and conclude by saying that notwithstanding the varied items of infermation 
which we have obtained, we are in great ignorance as to the atmospherical con- 
ditions which precede and give rise to storms and of those which precede and 
give rise to long continued tracts of peculiar weather. 


SUGGESTIONS AND REMARKS REGARDING THE FUTURE. 


At the present moment a great deal of attention is given to Meteorology, 
and there is reason to suppose that the interest in this science will increase as the 
immediate practical importance of the results obtained becomes more and more 
recognised. But yet it is doubtful if the labour bestowed will ever assume 
that character and extent necessary to bring such a complicated set of 
phenomena within the domain of accurate knowledge, for the great deficiencies 
of meteorological observations have hitherto been their desultory character and 
their limited extent. 

: Each man has done what seemed right in his own eyes, without any regard 
to what his neighbour was doing, or indeed, without any knowledge of the 
efforts of others. Then with regard to the discussion of observations, I do not 
think that meteorologists have set about this with a sufficiently definite object 
in view. The physiological element of the science, or that which relates to the 
connection between climate and health, has become mixed up in their minds 
with the physical, or that which relates to the motion of the atmosphere, and the 
result has been that in neither direction have their efforts been crowned with any 
considerable success, 

As a notable example of this I may instance the case of a Cyclone, for at 
this present moment meteorologists are in doubt whether the air in motion in 
this phenomena moves round and round the centre or whether it moves spirally 
inwards, advancing from the circumference to the centre. Now this can surely 
be remedied by adopting a system of reduction framed for the express purpose of 
obtaining a knowledge of the motions of our atmosphere. 

Let us suppose, for instance, that at each meteorological station we set up 
as it were two imaginary apertures one foot square each, one facing northand south, 
and the other facing east and west. Let us guage hour by hour the mass of 
dry air and the mass of vapour which passes each of these apertures, and 
we have at once the best elements which we can hope to obtain for ascertain- 
ing the motives of our atmosphere; to instance which I need only refer to the 
case of the cyclone already mentioned. Suppose, for instance, that we have a 

N 


98 


sufficient number of stations in the passing of a circle, and suppose also that 
a cyclone is passing at any moment. It is evident that by a system of guaging 
such as has been mentioned we can tell whether the imports of air within the 
area of the circle are greater or less than the exports out of it, and can easily 
settle the question of an in-draught. So in like manner we can settle the ques- 
tion as to whether there is an upward current in the heart of a cyclone; for if, 
on the whole, there is a carriage of air from the circumference to the centre, 
and if at the same time the barometer at the centre continues to fall, it is 
quite clear that air is carried away by an upward channel, for this would other- 
wise add to the atmospheric pressure. 

Perhaps we may hope by degrees to obtain greater co-operation in observ- 
ing, and also improve our system of reduction, but it is more doubtful if 
meteorological observations will ever be sufficiently general to meet the necessi- 
ties of science. Let us take the ocean, for instance, and we find a very complete 
meteorological knowledge of certain tracts of highways, along which our traffic 
passes, but large districts remain comparatively or wholly unexplored. And 
unless a scientific spirit can be infused into the British navy sufiiciently in- 
tense to induce captains to cruise about in desolate ocean tracts for the pur- 
pose of adding to our store of knowledge, there is little hope of our ever 
obtaining a complete ocean meteorology. 

A knowledge of what passes in the upper strata of the atmosphere is 
yet more hopeless. We cannot, I think, expect that any great or per- 
manent advantage to meteorology will accrue from occasional observations 
in balloons, and there is at present no ground for supposing that the air will 
ever be successfully navigated, 

On these accounts it would appear unlikely that we shall ever attain 
an extremely complete knowledge of the motions of our atmosphere, and even 
if we could it is very unlikely that we should ever be able to reason from 
the present to the future to the same extent as we do in Astronomy. WNever- 
theless a great many useful and important laws may be found out, and all 
of these will be of immediate practical benefit as well as of scientific interest. 

There is therefore sufficient encouragement to persevere, and as there 
is some ground for supposing that the meteorological disturbances which take 
place in the sun are connected with phenomena in the earth’s atmosphere, 
we begin to realise an indefinite widening of the field of research. 


This excellent paper was very attentively listened to, and warmly ap- 
plauded. It gave rise to an interesting discussion, in whict» the President, 
Dr. M‘Cullough, J. E. Lee, Esq., R. Lightbody, Esq., the Rev. J. D, La 
Touche, and John Lloyd, Esq., took part. 


Elmes Y. Steele, Esq., then read the following paper :— 


99 


ON THE CHRYSIDES PARASITIC ON ODYNERUS 
SPINIPES. 


By ELMES Y. STEELE, Ese: 


GENTLEMEN,—I have been set down in our programme to read this paper 
as a sequel to the account given of ‘‘MasoN WaSPS AND THEIR PARASITIC 
BEES” in our Transactions of last year. The press of other occupations having 
deprived me, at the proper time in the present season, of the opportunity for 
pursuing further the study of these insects, I must depend entirely, for the 
information I desire te give you, upon the observations of our friend Dr. 
Chapman, who has kindly furnished me with the materials for this paper. 
I am thus compelled to resign the pleasant honour of authorship into the hands 
of one far better qualified than I am, as an experienced entomologist, and 
as a most acute, diligent, and careful observer, for the accuracy of whose 
notes, knowing him as I do, I am prepared to vouch, 

Before reading these notes, it will, perhaps, be desirable that I should 
remind you that Odynerus spinipes is one of those mason wasps referred to ; 
that it burrows in sandy soil wherein it constructs a series of cells into 
which it deposits eggs, together with a supply of living food for the forth- 
coming larve. That the Chrysidide are a family of insects, somewhat re- 
sembling bees in outward appearance, though smaller in size and refulgent 
with the brightest colours. That these latter propagate their several species 
with the aid of one of the most curious of the many reiarkable instincts 
that are revealed to us by the study of entomology. You will find specimens 
of these different insects with cocoons set up in the box which I hand round 
for your inspection. Now I shall read from Dr. Chapman’s notes :— 

Though the Chrysidide have long been known to be parasitic, any de- 
tails of their economy that could be relied on for accuracy have been wanting. 
The species of the genus Chrysis appear, so far as is Known, to be patasitic on 
wasps and bees. Chrysis ignita, the most abundant species of the genus, will 
lay her eggs in the nest of almost any kind of wasp or bee to which she can 
obtain access, and occasionally she visits the burrows of Odynerus spinipes, but 
the two species which are specially attached to this wasp, whilst they have 
not been recorded as accompanying any other insects are Chrysis neglectu 
and Chrysis bidentata. These two aré common wherever Odynerus spinipés 
abounds.  Chrysis fulgida has also been recorded as attached to O. spinipes 
but I have never met with it, and I suspect it to be the proper parasite 


100 


of some other and rarer species of Odynerus, its occurrence with spinipes 
being accidental in the same sense as that of C. ignita may be said to be so. 
When making our researches last summer with a limited supply of materials, 
we were unable to detect the eggs or larve of Chrysides, though we felt satis- 
fied that one or other must be present in a certain proportion of cases, What 
was sought for, we being guided by what was then known of their history, 
was a Chrysis egg beside a feeding larva of spinipes, or the larva of Chrysis 
attached to the latter. This we were unable to find simply because such a state 
of matters at no time exists, yet we found cocoons of Chrysis, and one of these, 
which we now know to be that of ©. neglecta is figured in lest year’s Trans- 
actions of this club, During the winter a number of nests of Odynerus 
spinipes were investigated with the result of finding three different kinds of 
cocoons of Chrysis. These cocoons were in the proportion of one to three 
of those of the wasp, giving the measure of the destruction caused by 
these parasites. Three-fifths of these cocoons were similar to that figured, 
and they produced Chrysis neglecta. Each compact oval cocoon was enveloped 
in loose silk filling up the space space in the cell of spinipes, the only frag- 
ments observable being those of the little green grubs which are stored by 
the wasp after her egg has been laid, Two-fifths gave birth to Chrysis 
bidentate, and these cocoons were of a much more curious structure, each 
being contained in a cocoon of spinipes, clearly showing that the Chrysis larva 
did not destroy the wasp larva until the latter was full fed and had been spun 
up. The cocoon proper occupied the lower half of the cell, its roof being an 
almost mirror-like diaphragm across the centre of the cocoon of spinipes, the 
walls of which above the diaphragm were also covered by a layer of silk spun 
by the larva of Chrysis. The third kind of Chrysis cocoon was a solitary speci- 
men out of more than a hundred, and produced Chrysisignita. This cocoon is 
longer and slighter than that of Chrysis neglecta, and of a darker colour. 


Following up the clue afforded by these cocoons, I have this summer 
succeeded in observing the whole economy of Chrysis bidentata, much of that 
of Chrysis neglecta, and by a lucky accident some of that of Chrysis ignita. 

Chrysis neglecta begins to emerge from the pupa state at the same time 
as Odynerus spinipes, namely, about the middle of May, and by the first week in 
June all of both species of insects have emerged. On examining a bank 
abundantly colonized by Odynerus spinipes at this period the cocoons of the 
previous year are found empty, but Chrisis neglecta will often be found hiding 
away, if the day be dull, in the empty cocoons of spinipes and usually two in 
each cocoon. When the sun is out spinipes is busy constructing her canals 
and granular tubes and Chrysis neglecta actively running and flying about the 
burrows. Chrysis bidentata is not to be seen, and on careful examination it 
will be found that the cocoon of this parasite of the previous year still con- 
tains the perfect Chrysis bidentata, which does not emerge until the last of 
the spinipes brood are coming out, about three weeks later than Chrysis 
weglecta, I have not seen the egg of Chrysis neglecta, and do not know where 


} 
; 


101 


it is laid, but it supplants that of Odynerus spinipes, probably because being 
laid by the side of that of the wasp the larya to which it gives birth destroys 
the Odynerus egg. This is, however, only conjecture, but, what I can vouch 
for, is, that a few days after the mother wasp has closed her cell stored with 
green grubs, it contains a young larva of .C. neglecta busily eating that store, 
whilst no trace remains of O. spinipes larva. Early in July the larve of O. 
spinipes and of C. neglecta are to be found in separate cells full fed and spin- 
ning their cocoons. As the season advances the later-stored cells appear to 
escape the attack of C. neglecta, for in the middle of July, whilst 0. spinipes 
is still busy in storing, there are few or no specimens of C. neglecta to be scen. 
On the other hand, C. bidentata is now abundant, though its oviposition has 
hardly begun. As my observation of C. ignita throws some light on the 
economy of ©. neglecta, I shall here relate some of the facts it has brought to 
light. On July 17th I observed a nest of O. parietum with one cell open, 
containing a nearly complete supply of lepidopterous larve. A Chrysis ignita, 
flying about, settled beside the cell, and, after a brief examination with her 
antennz, wheeled round, and, introducing her abdomen into the cell, rested 
for about twenty seconds, doubtless in the act of oviposition. I now regret 
that I did not then examine the contents of the cell in order to ascertain 
the fate of Odynerus parietum’s egg. Three-quarters of an hour later O. parie- 
tum had closed the cell with the usual earthen pellets. I examined this cell on 
the 19th, two days after, when I found a larvaof C. ignita a quarter of an inch 
long, together with several of the lepidopterous larve stored by the wasp, but 
found no trace of either egg or larva of the latter. On the 23rd, six days 
from the date of oviposition, the chrysis larva had eaten all the store and was 
full-fed. I obtained evidence of its having cast its skin three times whilst under 
observation, and from the analogy of C. bidentata I believe it had done so four 
times altogether. The stored larve had all been devoured, their heads alone 
remaining, just as when eaten by the wasp grub. The larva then spun a cocoon, 
which I knew to be typical of C. ignita. The rapidity with which it had fed up 
was extraordinary, None of my neglecta or bidentata fed up so rapidly, but the 
warm sunny wall on which parietum had built her nest may partly account for 
this, my larve of the other two species having been kept comparatively cool. 
Towards the end of July, spinipes and neglecta are represented only by odd 
specimens which have survived the mass of their brethren, though bidentata is 
still to be found somewhat plentifully. 

Chrysis bidentata when about to deposit her eggs searches for a full- 
grown larva of O. spinipes, either just before or immediately after it has 
spun up. 0. spinipes on the completion of her burrow fills up the mouth 
with clay long before the most accessible cells can contain full-grown larve ; but 
it happens that, in a large proportion of cases, the wasp meets with some acci- 
dent and her burrow remains uncompleted, the latter cell of which is thus only 
protected by the diaphragm of clay which was to serve as a party wall between 
it and the succeeding cell had the wasp lived to complete her work, Such 


102 


slightly-protected cells are those chosen by Chrysis bidentata for her oviposition 
I once found satisfactory evidence of Chrysis bidentata having burrowed through 
half-an-inch of the clay stopping placed by the parent wasp. ‘The parasite 
was in the burrow covered with the dust brought down by her excavation to 
form an entrance, a passage too small for the wasp to enter, but just large enough 
for herself, and in the cell thus reached by her were to be seen her eggs freshly 
deposited. . 

On another occasion, a Chrysis bidentata alighted on aspot I was‘examining, 
and where I had partially exposed some spinipes cocoons, she commenced to care- 
fully investigate them with her antennz and~now and then scratch away some 
earth partly covering them; she did not, however;-deposit any egg. When a 
cocoon contains eggs of bidentata there is often to be found at the upper end of 
it a minute aperture through which the ovipositor of this ¢#rysis has been 
thrust. At other times this aperture is wanting, simply because, as J believe to 
have happened, the larva of spinipes had not completed its cocoon wiien the 
Chrysis came to deposit her eggs within it, One of the most remarkable poiXts 
in this history which I can neither understand nor explain, except it be anothe? 
instance amongst so many of the fecundity of nature which provides for 
miscarriage through accidental injury, is that this Chrysis does not deposit a single 
egg only in the cocoon of odynerus, but actually drops in from six to ten of them. 
These do not appear to be placed in any particular position, but simply fall 
on the enclosed larva, and the excess in number may obviate the destruction 
caused by the latter, especially when its movements are still active before the 
completion of its spinning operations. In the instance above-noted, when I 
found the Chrysis in the burrow of spinipes, the cocoon of the latter contained 
five eggs in good condition. The wasp larva had ceased to spin, but had not yet 
shrunk to those smaller dimensions which it rapidly assumes soon after. In 
various other instances I found two healthy eggs of bidentata, but often only 
one, the shrivelled cases of from four to eight others being found with the 
healthy eggs. I never found any evidence of the hatching of two eggs of bidentata 
in the same cell, which, though it may seem a likely thing, would certainly be 
anawkward circumstance. Chrysis bidentata remains longer than C. ignita in 
the egg-state. Of a number of eggs reared by me most were hatched two days 
after they were collected, but one remained three, and another did not hatch 
until the fifth day ; and from the time of hatching the larvee were eleven days in 
becoming full-fed. They changed their skins four times, at tolerably equal 
intervals during their growth. The eggs of bidentata are 1.5 millimeters in 
length, white, cylindrical, and very slightly arched, those of Spinipes are 
larger, two or three milimeters in length, rather more arched, and of a yellow 
colour. As doubtless the eggs of the two other Chrysides, neglecta and ignita, 
closely resemble those of bidentata, the above description will serve to discri- 
minate between them and those of the wasp should they be observed in the 
nest of an Odynerus. The young larva of bidentata when hatched seizes that 
of Odynerus with its claws and contrives to extract fluid nutriment from it with- 


103 


out apparently making any aperture in the skin until it approaches to mature 
growth itself. I have very carefully examined a spinipes larva that was thus half 
sucked away, I cannot say eaten, and I could find no mark at the spot whence I 
had just removed a Chrysis larva. I have several times squeezed the spinipes 
larva firmly without any fluid exuding except one out of several trials, in which 
I squeezed the larva almost to bursting, when a drop of clear fluid exuded. 
Nor is the Chrysis larva particular as to where it seizes the Odynerus, any point 
that may offer itself to its jaws being attacked. When the devourer is nearly 
full grown and the victim has beccome very flaccid, a process that may be 
called eating takes place, and the spinipes larva almost entirely disappears. 
The manner in which Chrysis neglecta, C. ignita, and spinipes itself eat the 
little green sawfly grubs is precisely similar; that is the larva of each when 
consuming its prey takes one grub after another, at first sucking the juices 
through the skin, and when further advanced in growth returning to devour 
them skins and all, the heads alone, which are horny in texture, being rejected. 

I have already remarked that Chrysis bidentata casts its skin four times. 
It does so at tolerably regular intervals of two days or rather less, I have 
twice seen this process in operation, when the skin splits down the back of the 
anterior segment and the corneous covering of the head splits into two laterak 
halves, which remain attached to the skins when the shedding is completed. 
As compared with the larve of Lepidoptera and of Coleoptera, they feed up 
so rapidly that one marvels how they have time to change their skins so 
often, many a Lepidopteron requiring four or five days for the process of 
once changing its skin, while Chrysis ignita is fed up in six days, during 
which it has found time to change its skin ‘four times. What astonished me 
much was the great similarity between the larva of a Chrysis and that of an 
Odynerus, a similarity that I believe to be a true and not merely a superficial 
one. Throughout its existence the larva of spinipes is yellow, its viscera are 
tolerably visible through the integument, especially portions of a yellow tor- 
tuous duct in the lateral dorsal region from the fifth segment backwards. 
In Chrysis the larva is white, and its interior is more masked by masses of 
white fat. The first spiracles, which properly belong in most larvz to the 
third segment, are in Chrysis bidentata at the anterior margin of that seg- 
ment, but in Odynerus spinipes are actually in the second segment. The 
form of the head and the parts of the mouth are very similar in both. This 
resemblance of the two larvex is closer than that between the larva of spinipes 
and of the common wasp (Vespa vulgaris), and curiously enough, in those 
points in which the larva of Chrysis least resembles that of spinipes—as 
form of jaw, distinctness of viscera as seen through the skin, and colour— 
it more nearly resembles the larva of Vespa vulgaris than that of spinipes. 
Like the larva of spinipes, and other hybernating Hymenoptera, that 
of Chrysis shrivels to a certain extent after it has spun its cocoon, the 
skin becomes loose and thrown into very fine folds, the head is bent down 
on to the front of the body, and the lateral and subdorsal prominences 


104 


which, in the tense skin of the full fed larva can hardly be detected, are 
very distinct—as do the other hymenoptera, the Chrysides before passing from 
the larval to the pupal state spin a cocoon. 

C. neglecta having fed up in the cell built by O. spinipes and upon the 
grubs stored up for the nourishment of the young wasp, which it thus supplants, 
spins its cocoon in this empty cell, and as a perfect insect, emerges from the 
cocoon by cutting off a lid. 

C. bidentata, on the other hand, having spun within the cocoon of 
O. spinipes and shut off by a mirror-like diaphragm the extra space not re- 
quired for its smaller body, first cuts away that diaphragm and then opens a 
circular hole in the wasp cocoox through which to emerge. 


Thus end the notes of Dr. Chapman, and I believe you will concur 
with me in thinking that they exhibit many points of striking interest cal- 
culated to enhance our admiration for Nature’s marvellous works, at the same 
time giving ample proof in the observer of a patience in investigation and a 
zeal in the pursuit of knowledge which are the distinctive marks of the true 
philosopher. He has enabled us to correct some errors fallen into last year 
from lack of means at that time to test the accuracy of our observations. 
®or instance: In the plate which illustrates my paper in the last volume of 
our Transactious the Chrysis cocoon represented is described as that of C. icnita, 
or C. bidentata, whereas actually it is that of C. neglecta. It is not made 
in the cocoon of spinipes, but in the cell, the silk about the cocoon proper 
having been spun by C. neglecta itself. 

Then again we gave a figure of Chrysis ignita which, though the com- 
monest of the Chrysides, is but an occasional parasite on Odynerus spinipes, 
whilst we omitted any representation of the two species which are its specially 
appointed satellites. 


A box of the creatures themselves in every stage of their existence, 
and beautifully mounted, served to illustrate the paper. It was listened to 
with great interest, and a vote of thanks to Dr. Chapman was cordially 
awarded for his valuable contribution to science. 


PLATYSAMIA CECROPIA. 


Dr. Chapman sent a box of nearly full-fed larve of this beautiful North 
American Bombyx. They were very fine fellows, nearly four inches long and 
as thick as a finger. They have a delicate blue green colour, with small yellow 
and blue tubercles, those on the back of the third, fourth, and fifth segments 
being red, and larger than the others. This larva spins a very large cocoon 
of a strong coarse silk more adapted for carding than for winding purposes. 
A few of the cocoons were exhibited, and also a pair, male and female, of 
the moths, with an expanse of wing nearly six inches across and very wide 


105 


proportionally. Their markings resemble somewhat those of the native 
Emperor moth. This insect appears to be perfectly hardy in our climate 
and is easily reared on the leaves of the apple, plum, or hawthorn. 


SATURNIA CARPINI, 


Dr. M‘Cullough brought a cocoon of this—the Emperor Moth—from Dart- 
moor. It is the only native silk producing insect, and occurs frequently on 
all our moors. It spins its cocoon with an open end, or rather with a thin 
membrane closing the smaller end, protected by a prolongation of the chief 
substance of the cocoon left open; this is doubtless aa arrangement for the 
more ready escape of the moth. The cocoon contains a very large quantity 
of gum in proportion to the silk, and is therefore useless as a silk producer. 


BOTANY. 


The chief plants observed during the walk were large masses of the Soap- 
wort, Saponaria officinalis, on both sides of the river ;—the golden heads of 
the Tansy, Tenacetum vulgare ; the Gipsy-wort, Lycopus Europeus ; the Tutsan, 
Hypericum: Androsemum; the Alder Buckthorn, Rhamnus frangula ; the 
Alkanet, Anchusa officinalis; Linaria minor, Nasturtiwm sylvestre, and many 
other more ordinary kinds. 

The Rev. J. E. Jones Machen brought several specimens of the little 
orchideous plant, Spiranthes autumnalis, the Autumnal Lady’s Tresses, for dis- 
tribution, It has been common in many places this year. Mr. Harrison, of 
Holmer, also sent specimens. 

Dr, M’Cullough had brought with him from the coast of Cornwall, a 
sea side plant, not very uncommon, but still always interesting from its 
associations, the Rock Samphire, Crithmum maritimum. Shakespeare has 
immortalized it in King Lear, where Edgar is supposed to be leading Gloucester 


along the White Cliffs of Dover. 


“* Come on, Sir; here’s the place ; stand still. How fearful 
And dizzy ’tis to cast ones eyes so low ! 
The crows and choughs that wing the midway air 
Seem scarce so gross as beetles. Half way down 
Hangs one that gathers Samphire; dreadful trade ; 
Methinks he seems no bigger than his head ; 
The fishermen that walk upon the beach 
Appear like mice.” 


' The green leaves of Samphire makes an excellent aromatic pickle. It 
was much used in ol@ Gerarde’s time (1597), and Culpepper laments that it 
should have gone out of fashion. 

The meeting now broke up, for it was time to set off to the station, and 
thus terminated a very successful, enjoyable day in the Vale of Usk. 


—aD(Co-— 


The THoolhope Aaturalists’ Sield Glud. 


MEETING AT HEREFORD, 


Fripay, Oct. 1st, 1869. 


THE FORAY AMONGST THE FUNGUSES. 


“The turf 
Smells fresh, and rich in odoriferous herbs 
And fungous fruits of earth, regales the sense 
With luxury of unexpected sweets.”—Cowper. 


The last meeting of the Woolhope Club of the season for the special study 
of Funguses took place at Hereford, on Friday, and was very well attended. 
Fungus-hunting and pheasant-shooting interfered somewhat with each other 
but on this occasion it might not be otherwise. 

The last meeting of the Club has now become an important one, for by 
an alteration in the rules, which came this year for the first time into operation, 
the officers for the ensuing year have to be elected, in addition to the usual 
business of the concluding meeting, 

A little after nine o’clock the members began to arrive, bringing with them 
baskets of Funguses to learn their names and characters for their own satisfaction, 
and to exhibit them for general information. Whilst they were being arranged 
upon the tables, the President opened the business of the meeting. The names 
of several gentlemen were proposed as new members; and then the following 
gentlemen were elected unanimously as office hearers for the year 1870 :— 


PRESIDENT : 
The Rev. HENRY COOPER KEY, M.A,, Stretton Rectory, Hereford, 


VICE-PRESIDENTS : 
The Rev. W. C. FOWLE, M.A., Brinsop Rectory, Hereford. 
The Rev. ARTHUR GRAY, M.A., Orcop, Ross, 
JAMES RANKIN, Esq., M.A., Bryngwyn, Hereford. 
ELMES Y. STEELE, Esq., Abergavenny. 


107 


CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT: 2 


Dr. BULU, Hereford. 
T. CURLEY, Esq., C.E., F.G.S., Hereford. 
JOHN LLOYD, Esq., Huntington Court, Hereford. 


HONORARY SECRETARY: 
Sir GEORGE H. CORNEWALL, Bart., Moccas Rectory, Hereford, 


TREASURER AND ASSISTANT SECRETARY : 
Mr. ARTHUR THOMPSON. St. Nicholas-street, Hereford. 


Dr. Bull, as Chairman of the Central Committee, then announced that the 
Rev. W. H. Purchas was prepared to publish at once the Second Part of the 
Flora of Herefordshire. Mr. Purchas was unfortunately prevented from attend- 
ing the meeting, but he had sent the result of his inquiries with reference to 
the best means of publishing it. 


The subject was then discussed at considerable length, and it was eventu- 
ally left in the hands of the Central Committee and Officers of the Club, to 
confer with Mr. Purchas, and with full power to proceed with the publication 
as soon as possible. It was also decided to continue the Illustrations of the 
Edible Funguses, and the series of Photographs of the Remarkable Trees 
ef the county. 

By this time the carriages had arrived, and a little before 11 o’clock the 
members set out for the day’s exploration. The first stoppage was made at 
Merryhill Common, an excellent locality for rare funguses. A large fairy-ring, 
almost complete, and fifteen yards in diameter, was observed. It was formed by 
Agaricus (Tricholoma) subpulverulentus, and greatly to Mr. Lees delight, several 
mole-hills were close toit. The ring had slightly increased in size since last year, 
when it first came under observation. Near a clump of Scotch fir trees, Lactarius 
deliciosus, was gathered, Agaricus disseminatus, in large patches and at every stage 
of growth, and also Gomphidius viscidus, Russula vesca, Ag. arvensis, Ag. humilis, 
Hygrophorus virgineus, and an abundance of Boletus granulatus. A mole run, 
which had been observed when fresh made, and which formed a considerable 
are of a circle, was then inspected. Its position could just be observed by a 
slightly increased freshness of the grass, but it was not occupied by funguses, 


The carriages were then taken for Haywood Forest, which was to be 
the chief hunting ground for the day. Here it was that the rare fungus, 


' Strobilomyces strobtiaceus, had been found last year. The very fact that it 


had been found once again in Britain had created a lively interest amongst 
the leading mycologists, and specimens were ardently coveted. Mr. Edwin Lees, 
who had been the lucky finder thereof before, was present. He had carefully 
marked the spot, and on alighting from his carriage made for it with all the 
alacrity of scientific zeal. The search however was made in vain, It was not 


108 


to be found thete again, Other discoveries however quickly lessened the dis- 
appointment. The curious fungus Coprinus picaceus, the magpie Coprinus 
was growing close’at hand—as rare and interesting as it is venomous and ill 
smelling. Clusters of Ag. fascicularis, its equally poisonous companion Ag. 
sublateritius, and others of Ag. melleus, and the graceful Ag. infundibuliformis, 
attracted the attention of beginners, Boletus luteus was very plentiful, Boletus 
scaber was there, and some very fine specimens of its close red-capped ally Boletus 
versipellis were gathered, Boletus piperatus, and B. laricinus. 


The members scattered themselves throughout the wood, and, by hallooing 
from time to time, kept open the communication with each other in a lively 
manner, A change in the energy and intonation of the call announced ‘‘a find,” 
and this often happened. Dr. Bull came upon a most beautiful group of the Fly 
Agaric, Agaricus muscarius. They were seventeen in number, forming part of a 
ring, and were in great perfection—a sight not to be forgotten. 


“ The pillar stem, the table head, 

As with a silken carpet spread, 

Inlaid with many a brilliant dye 

Of Nature’s high-wrought tapestry.” —Bishop Mant. 
Dr. M‘Cullough lighted on the interesting little Spherobolus stellatus, which 
throws out its sporangium with wonderful power considering the smallness 
of its size. Mr. Worthington Smith found a small white club-shaped fungus, 
growing parasitically on decaying branches of the Brake, Pteris aquilina; an 
especial acquisition. Though very plentiful here, itis a rare species, founded by 
Berkeley under the name of Pistillaria puberula. The Rev. W. Houghton found 
Agaricus (Pholiota) radicosus. The Rev. J. E. Jones Machen, called attention to 
a fine specimen of the bright scarlet Peziza aurantia, and many others were soon 
found, 


‘* Scarlet tufts 
Are glowing in the green like flakes of fire, 
And wanderers in the prairie know them well, 
And call that brilliant plant the painted cup.”—Bryant. 


And many other funguses were observed—Pawillus involutus, Cantharellus 
cibarius, Agaricus lacrymabundus. Ag. capnoides, Ag. granulosus, Ag. fumosus, 
Ag. laccatus, Ag. cruginosus, Marasmius wrens, M. peronatus, Ag. fastibilis, 
Ag. radicosus, Ag. rutilans, Ag. grammopodius, Ag. odorus, Ag. butyraceus, 
Ag. spadiceus, Lactarius torminosus, Lactarius vellereus. Cortinarius callochrous, 
Cantharellus aurantiacus, Xylaria Hypoxylon, Cortinarius purpurascens, C. 
glaucopus, and the edible Cortinarius violaceus, Ay. mucidus, from a decaying 
beech tree. Tremella mesenterica, Tubercularia vulgaris, Spathularia jlavida, &e 


A heavy storm of some twenty minutes duration made the shelter of the 
wood desirable. It was time however to take a more satisfactory refuge in the 
covered carriages that were waiting at the gate hard by. This was quickly done, 
but it was then discovered that two gentlemen were missing, and they gave no 
responsive call to the united shouts that were sent forth. Both were strangers 


oes 


109 


_to the place, and we have the highest poetical authority for the ‘angers they 
incur, who lose themselves here, for 


“ Within the navel of this hideous wood, 
Immured in cypress shades, a sorcerer dwells, 
Of Bacchus and of Circe born, great Comus, 
Deep skilled in all his mother’s witcheries ; 
And here to every thirsty wanderer, 

By sly enticement gives his baneful cup, 

With many murmers mixed, whose pleasing poison 
The visage quite transforms of him that drinks 
And the inglorious likeness of a beast 

Fixes instead—unmoulding reasons mintage 
Chardctered in the face’. 


Haywood Forest is thought by many to have been the scene of the inci- 
dent which so happily gave rise to Milton’s beautiful poem of ‘‘Comus. ” The 
Lady Alice Egerton with her brothers Lord Brackley and Mr. Thomas Egerton, 
in riding from Gloucester to Ludlow to join their father the Earl of Bridgewater, 
then (1634) Lord President of the Marches, residing at Ludlow Castle, lost their 
way in the forest, got separated, and were benighted. It may easily be supposed 
that they took the old British road for Wales as far as Wormelow Tump, wishiug 
perchance to avoid the city of Hereford ; and thus this forest would become 
their direct road. Itis true that Haywood, near Ludlow disputes this claim to 
the site, but the introduction of ‘‘Sabrina” by the poet as— & 


« A gentle nymph not far from hence, 
That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream,” 


shows that it is mere supposition in both cases. Had it been ‘“‘ Vaga” or 
““Tamesis,” the matter would have been more clear,—but precision of locality 
would mar the dignity and grace of the poem. It rises far superior to the in- 
cident ; the wood is the world and purity of mind and thought is the true safe- 
guard against its sins and temptations— 


“* Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt, 
Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled.” 


Happily, it was mid-day instead of midnight—and scouts sent out soon 
fell in with the wanderers, who deep in fungous lore, had been sheltering them- 
», selves from the storm under a single umbrella. Thus it came to pass that, 
clothed in the purity of the Science the Club promotes, all its members made 
their way in safety 


‘Through the perplexéd paths of this drear wood, 
The nodding horror of whose shady brows 
Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger.” 


The next stoppage was made to examine the cluster of grand old oaks by 
the house of the Haywood Farm. They are, perhaps, the only remaining trees 
of the Forest of olden times. The finest tree—‘‘ The Haywood Forest Oak”— 
(Quercus rober) is still a very noble object, 20ft. 7in, in circumference, at 5ft. from 
the ground, and rising to the height of about 50ft., sending out gnarled and 
naked branches from amidst its foliage in the most picturesque way. It was 
decided on the spot to have this tree photographed for the next volume of the 


“‘Club’s Transactions.” Another very fine tree in full luxuriance, measured Lft. , 
4in, in circumference. It was of the variety intermedia. There were four other 
trees more aged still, whose trunks were hollow, and whose boughs had been 


110 


rent off by the storms of countless winters ; a Q. sessilijiora measuring 19ft. ; a 
Q. pedunculata measuring 15ft. 9in., and a Q. sessiliflora 16ft. One fine bole lay 
prostrate—a hollow shell—some 21ft. in circumference in its dry state. 


“Some have left 
A splintered stump, bleach’d to a snowy white ; 
And some memorial none, where once they grew.”—Cowper. 


On the surface of this decaying tree, later in the autumn, a very rare fun- 
gus was found. It was the Hydnum Erinaceus, the Hedgehog fungus—one 
seldom seen but very unmistakeable. It was beautiful in its tints of colour, 
from pale yellow, though orange, toscarlet. It is agreeable in smell and pleasant 
to taste, Trattinnick ana Roques to wit. If it were but more common its 
edible virtues would cause it to be more highly esteemed. 

On some roots left in the ground Mr. Cam found two specimens of Fis- 
tulina hepatica just beginning to grow ; and on another Dr. Bull hit upon a small 
species of the little yellow fungus of some rarity, Calocera cornea, closely allied 
to the Clavarias. 

The carriages were now taken for Mynde Park, and a ride of three miles 
brought the scientific visitors to this ‘‘happy hunting ground.” On entering 
the park an ,excellent well marked, well filled ring of Boleti was observed round 
an oak tree, and the same thing was noticed afterwards again and again, which 
seemed to show clearly enough that the cause of some “‘ fairy rings” at any rate, 
was the “‘drop” from the trees’ branches, 

The Rev. William Houghton gathered here some fine specimens of the 
brown, chesnut-coloured variety of the common field mushroom, Agaricus cam- 
pestris, of excellent flavour, and its ordinary form was abundant enough, as were 
also fine specimens of the Parasol Mushroom, Ag. procerus, Ag. cristatus, Hygro- 
phorus coccineus, and H, niveus. 

Taking the walk round the large piece of water, the place under the trees 
at the far end, where many rings of Agaricus prunulus had been observed to 
grow in former years, was visited, but none were found. Its own sister, or per- 
haps—for there is a doubt upon the point—its own self in variety, Agaricus 
orcella, had been found in the Forest, and was afterwards found more abundantly 
on the Mynde and Bryngwyn slopes. It was always growing in scattered thin 
clusters, and seemed to have an inclination for the neighbourhood of oaks. 

On some old stumps here Panus torulosus was growing well, and some 
beautiful clusters of Agaricus squarrosus, and under the oaks on the hill Russula 
fragilis, R. alutacea, R. heterophylla, and R. furcata. 

On the rising ground of Bryngwyn, Dr. M’Cullough found some scattered 
specimens of a very curious little agaric known as Agaricus incanus. It presents 
a singular aspect with its yellowish-green colour, its striate and often ragged 
margin, and the beautiful deep verdigris tint at the base of the stem. It is re- 
markable for its strong and persistent smell of mice, and some amusement was 
created by the persevering way in which some of the members went on to convince 
themselves time after time of its disagreeable odour, 


i a 


CR oe ee eer 


111] 


Agaricus pascuus was also gathered here, Agaricus appendiculatus, and 
Ag. semilanceolatus, and so too was the Boletus edulis, and many other species 
of agarics previously noticed were passed by, for time was getting short. Bryng- 
Wyn was visited, and the President kindly took the members over the handsome 
mansion now in course of erection on the opposite bank. 


The carriages were rejoined, and a ride pretty and interesting throughout, 
was brought to a satisfactory conclusion by the arrival at the Green Dragen. 


The opportunity was now taken to examine the collection of Funguses 
which had been brought to the meeting. Several ladies honoured the Club by 
bringing Funguses, and coming to see the exhibition themselves. The Edible 
Funguses seemed to attract the greatest interest, and they were placed in the 
céntre of the table. There was a fine specimen of a white Truffle, Melanogaster 
variegatus, found by the Rev. W. Houghton in the Lilleshall Woods, Shropshire. 
A couple of specimens of the Lycoperdon giganteum, or Giant Puff-ball, ‘‘ the 
vegetable egg,” as it has been termed from its light and excellent behaviour 
under culinary treatment; one of them was sent by Captain Hereford from 
Sufton. The Fistulina Hepatica, or vegetable beef steak, was there ; Lactarius 
deliciosus, or orange-milk Agaric, good as its name denotes; Agaricus orcella, or 
vegetable sweetbread ; Hydnum repandum, “‘ good as oysters,” says Dr. Badham ; 
Cantharellus cibarius, the Chanterelle ; Coprinus comatus, the maned agaric ; 
Agaricus rubescens, the brown warty agaric ; Russula alutacea, the buff gilled 
sweet Russula ; Marasmius oreades, the Champignon or Fairy-ring Fungus ; 
Agaricus procerus, the Parasol agaric, and its close allies Ag. excoriatus and Ag. 
rachodes ; an abundance of the ordinary mushroom Agaricus campestris in at least 
three varities ; and a superabundance of the Agaricus arvensis, the large field, 
or Horse whitintstan: for just at that time it was so abundant and so fine that 
everybody brought or sent it. 


Amongst the ordinary funguses exhibited there were some of great bota- 
nical interest. The Lactwrius controversus which was published for the first 
time as a British species in the last volume of the Transactions of the Wool- 
hope Club. It was discovered by Dr. M’Cullough, at Abergavenny, and has 
since been observed to grow very commonly beneath black poplars in many 
Herefordshire localities, Several specimens were shown. Another fungus, 
quite new to the British flora, the true Cantharellus carbonarius of 
Albertini and Schweinitz, was also exhibited. It was found by the Rev. W. 
Houghton on charcoal in the Lilleshall Woods, Shropshire, in company with. 
Agaricus carbonarius, which is itself a recent addition to the flora of the 
country. Mr. Houghton also brought a specimen of Polyporus varius of un- 
usual size, and several specimens of Agaricus giganteus, an enormous agaric 
having the good reputation of being edible. There were huge specimens of 
Polyporus squamosus, P. dryadeus, P. rufescens, P. perennis, P. cesius and 
P. annosus, the latter found by Mr. Griffith Morris amongst larch trees at 
Dinedor Camp. Lenzites betulina, Dedalea quercina, Bulgaria inquinans, Lac- 


112 


tarius quietus L. subdulcis, and L. fuliginosus, Cantharellus aurantiacus, Hypoxy- 
Jon concentricum, Russula rubra and the following Agarics—muscarius, spectabilis, 
rutilans, cristatus, geophyllus, dryophyllus, cervinus, violacea, Phalloides, radicatus, 
Boletus subtomentosus, &e., &e. 


There was also an interesting little Nidularia, or bird’s nest fungus, ~ 
Cyathus striatus, brought by Dr. M‘Cullough, from Abergavenny ; and others too 
numerous to mention. Indeed, tke exhibition, as a means of instruction to stu- 
dents in Mycology, was most interesting and successful. 


The following gentlemen took part in the day’s proceedings :—The Presi- 
dent, James Rankin, Esq. ; Arthur Armitage, Esq., Dr. M’Cullough (Aberga- 
venny), and the Rev. James Davies (Moorcourt), Vice Presidents ; Edwin Lees, 
Esq., F.L.8., Vice President of the Worcester and Malvern Field Clubs; the 
Rev. Wm. Houghton, M.A., F.L.S., Master Houghton, and Mr. Charles Sleigh, 
Preston, Shropshire ; Worthington G. Smith, Esq., F.L.S., London; Dr. Bull ; 
Rev. R. H. Williams, Byford; Thomas Cam, Esq. ; the Rev. Thomas Phillipps 
and Mr. Jacob Phillipps, Dewsall; T. Curley, Esq., F.G.S.; the Rev. J. E. 
Jones Machen; Lilburn Resher, Esq., Trewyn ; J. E. Smith, Esq., Hay ; Robert 
Archibald, Esq.; the Rev. A. Gray, Orcop; J. Griffiths Morris, Esq., R. D. 
Harrison, Esq., Holmer Hall; C. Lingen, Esq. ; the Rev. H. W. Phillott and 
Master Phillott, Staunton-on-Wye ; C. G. Martin, Esq., the Rev. W. C. Fowle, 
Brinsop ; Henry Courtenay, Esq., Tillington; J. Carless, Esq., Town Clerk ; 
Flavell Edmunds, Esq. ; Mr. With, and Mr, Arthur Thompson. 


The dinner took place at half-past four o’clock, being absolutely rendered 
late by the interest excited in the exhibition of Funguses. 


The turbot and cod fish were no sooner dismissed than the specialities 
which require notice—the Funguses—were served separately as entrées, not that 
it was most favourable to them by any means, but that the taste of the members 
might he more critically exercised upon them, 


The following Funguses were served. The Maned Agaric, Coprinus 
comatus, called ‘‘The Agaric of Civilization,” because it requires not the un- 
disturbed and airy pasture essential to so many kinds, but springs up on road 
sides or new ground at our very doors. It was simply cooked with the ordinary 
condiments of butter, pepper, and salt, and served on toast. 


The next wasa Giant Puff-ball, Lycoperdon giganteum, sliced, and fried 
with yolk of egg and fine herbs, 

The third was the Vegetable Sweatbread, Agaricus orcella, which with 
the fourth, The Champignon, Marasmius oreades, was served in white sauce. 


It is difficult to ascertain the exact estimation of the several dishes, 
but it is certain that they were very generally partaken of, and the success, so 
far as could be judged, was very decided. Three gentlemen thought the cook 
had not done justice to the whitermaned agaric—-a satisfactory proof that they 
at least had discovered its merits through the account published in the Trans- 


113 


actions of last year. Several thought the Ovcella and the Oreades excellent, 
but the chief merit was unquestionably awarded to the Pufi-ball.—‘‘ How do 
you recognise it ?—Can you be sure of it ?—How was it cooked? &c., &c., were 
questions asked over and over again. It was fortunate that on the table a small 
specimen still remained to show them how easy it was to distinquish it from 
every other kind of fungus, 


Immediately after dinner the following paper was read :— 


1i4 


EXPERIMENTAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE VARIOUS 
FORMS OF ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE. 


By Mr. WITH. 


Mr. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN,—A short discussion which took place at 
our Pontrilas meeting, concerning the probable cause of the remarkable manner 
in which certain trees are split into shreds when struck by lightning, has led me 
to believe that the following experiments on facts concerning electrical discharge 
may not prove uninteresting to you. 


In Nos. 34 and 35 of that excellent periodical “‘Scientific Opinion,” are 
two extremely interesting papers on ‘‘ Researches” made by Dr. Richardson 
with the large Induction Coil recently constructed by Mr. Apps, of the Strand, 
for the London Polytechnic Institution. 


Dr. Richardson’s experiments were made with a view te the determina- 
tion of the various forms of lightning discharge, and the specific effect of each 
form upon the animal frame, 


Being possessed of a fairly powerful Induction Coil, I have been able to 
re-produce the forms of discharge described by Dr. Richardson, and, doubt- 
less, had I felt justified in the experiments, could have verified his results 
in other directions, which include destruction of animal life. 


My intention now is simply to illustrate, on a small scale of course, the 
various forms which the lightning discharge assumes, and to state the ascer- 
tained effects in Dr, Richardson’s own words, 


I will, with your permission, entirely confine myself to experiment and fact, 
leaving theory for your private consideration. 


I wish in the first place to direct your attention to the means at hand for 
producing electric power. Ihave here a voltaic battery of five cells (Grove’s) 
with a coil containing 73 miles of secondary wire. I now show you the ordinary 
spark. ; 

Lightning discharges may assume four forms. To obtain that variety of 
discharge which Dr. Richardson calls No. 1, we must place the terminals of 
our coil about 1} inches apart, ; 


a «tle el 


115 


_ Let me now call attention to the peculiar nature of the spark here pro- 
duced. Observe its centre is a fine thread of blue light surrounded by a flaming 
atmosphere which may be blown aside, and is intensely hot. Wood was lighted 
from it to show its power of ignition. 

Now increasing the distance between the discharging points we obtain 
our flashes at a slower rate, but with an increased intensity. This Dr. Richard- 
son calls discharge No 2. It is simply a variety of discharge, No. 1, being a little 
less burning, and slightly more intense. Now I connect the coatings of this 


’ large Leyden jar with the terminals of the coil—one terminal with the inner, 


and the other with the outer coating. On making the discharge we observe 
a singular alteration in the nature of the flash, which has become short, dense, 
brilliant, and is accompanied with much noise. If we wish to increase the 
quantity of force passing in each flash, we must either increase the size of our jar, 
or so connect two or more jars that they operate as one, 


But in order to increase the Tension of these discharges we must proceed in 
a somewhat different manner. 

If we take two or more insulated Leyden jars, and connect them in such 
a way that the exterior coating of No, 1 shall be in metallic communication with 
the interior coating of No, 2, and the exterior coating of No. 2 with the interior 
coating of No. 3, and so on—connecting the inside of No. 1 with one terminal of 
our coil, and outside of the last jar with the other terminal—we obtain a flash 
of remarkable power and quality. 

‘I have here a series of sheets of glass, each sheet coated on both sides with 

tinfoil; each sheet is virtually a Leyden jar. 

These flat Leyden jars, if I may so eall them, are connected as I have just 
described, one side of a sheet corresponding to the inner, the other te the outer 
coating of a Leyden jar. ‘ 


I now place the two ends of this system in communication with the dis- 
charging terminals of the coil, and excite the coil. 


You see we obtain by this means a long, dense, brilliant flash accom- 
panied with loud detonations. 


This is Dr. Richardson’s No, 4 discharge. This spark possesses almost no 
heating power, unless much resisted. 


Now, as to the physiological effects of these four kinds of electric discharge. 
Discharge No, 1 burns, and sometimes stuns, 

No, 2 burns and stuns. 

Neither 1 nor 2 destroys life. 


No. 3 stuns, or kills, according to its intensity, and produces much con- 
vulsion and distortion of the body, together with bruising. 


No. 4 discharge is always fatal. Dr. Richardson says: ‘It kills straight- 
way, excites scarcely any motion, and leares the body life-like, to a degree 


116 


which must be seen to be accredited.” Making the experiment, Dr. Richardson 
says: ‘‘ We take a pigeon, place it on a stand, pass the negative terminal to one 
of its feet and direct the point of the opposite terminal towards its back. The 
discharge is made, and the animal, life-like as it seems, is fatally struck. It 
sits as it did before, the head is erect, its eyes are open, and its feathers are 
smooth. But it is actually dead.” 


Again, quoting Dr. Richardson :—‘‘These facts, one and all, connect 
themselves with death by lightning stroke.” 


Every one of the phenomena we have traced here has its natural counter- 
part in the phenomena of nature. We may henceforth, when we see a person who 
has been struck by lightning, know accurately from the effects produced the 
character of the discharge to which he has been subjected. 


Has he been scorched and stunned—he has received a discharge, the 
analogue of which is in the flaming spark of our coil. 


Has he been struck and left distorted, rigid in parts or bruised,—he has 
received from the cloud the discharge, the analogue of which is in our Leyden jar. 


Has he been struck and left free of all mark of burn or destortion, left in 
such serenity of death, with such persistent brightness of eye, calmness of expres- 
sion, and ease of limb, that you could almost accost him as though he were in 
life and could deceive yourself that he did yet breathe? He has received from 
the cloud the analogue of the discharge which has just been illustrated (applause). 


Mr. Lingen then made some remarks on Dr. Richardson’s experiments. 

Mr. With received the thanks of the meeting through thePresident, and 
was proposed as an Honorary Member of the Club by Dr. Bull and the Rev. A, 
Gray. 


The President then called upon Dr. Bull to continue his— 


117 


ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE EDIBLE FUNGUSES OF 
HEREFORDSHIRE. 


By Dr. Butt. 


(Continued from page 203 of the Volume of Transactions for the year 1868. ) 


“There's none stands under more calumnious tongues.” 
—Shakespeare, Hen. VIII. 


The experience of the present year would afford ample proof—if proof 
were wanted—that Funguses could not be depended upon as a regular source 
of food for the people. The rainfall in Herefordshire has been considerably less 
this summer than it was in 1868. The actual rainfall of the two years at Here- 
ford, for the months of June, July, and August, is given by E. J. Isbell, Esq., 
as follows :— 5 


1868. 1869. 
PONG 225550525502 CL a ee ee 0.947 
Cale tL N.e. BIT 51 Wee gee eee ee 0.300 
Axigust ....:.... TESS OS a: 0.843 
Total... < GiB72) es. cccersess 2.090 


It will be remembered that at the Ledbury meeting of the Club in May, 
Agaricus gambosus, Agaricus arvensis, and Marasmius oreades were gathered 
and eaten, but no Funguses were met with at any of the succeeding meetings. 


Notwithstanding these unfavourable circumstances the progress of Fungo- 
logy has been most marked and satisfactory. The address of the Rev. M. J. 
Berkeley at the Society of Arts, followed up by the proceedings at the Royal 
Horticultural Society last year, have been very successful in creating a general 
interest in the study of this neglected branch of natural history. Old books on 
the subject are being bought up, and new ones are frequently announced. The 
Naturalists Field Clubs are taking up the study of Funguses with more or 
less energy, and dinners are held where the merits of those that are edible are 
practically tested ; nor yet has that additional proof of success been wanting, an 
increased effort to excite still more the prejudice against them. 


The Woolhope Club has taken a leading position during the last three 
years in promoting the study and utilisation of Funguses, and has perhaps had 
some little influence in creating this interestin them. Be this as it may, the 
Club would be so little likely to underestimate the amount of progress towards 
the result they wish to obtain, that it will be better on the present occasion to 
direct attention to what has been said in opposition to them. 


118 


Light banter and pleasant ridicule has been plentiful, and those who de- 
sire to extend the right of appreciation of Funguses are grateful forit. It has 
drawn much attention to them; it has kept them in memory ; and is proving 
with them, as it does so constantly prove in other matters, the incentive to a 
desire for further information. This is all that is required. A student has only 
to take up the subject, and the Funguses themselves will secure his continued 
interest, by their beauty, their edible virtues, their poisonous qualities, or by 
the endless variety and peculiarity of growth which they present. 


There has, however, been one serious and laboured attack on their edible 
virtues which requires a more exact notice. In a Medical Review of the front 
rank, ‘“‘ The British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review,” for January of 
the present year, 1869, a prominent place is given to an article, some seven 
pages long, on Dr. Valenti-Serini’s work-on Suspected and Poisonous Funguses 
of the Territory of Siena—‘t Dei Funghi sospetti e velenosi del territorio Senese,” 
per Franceso Valenti-Serini—published under the authority of the Royal 
Academy of Medicine of Turin. The book has an introduction of only twenty 
pages, and, notwithstanding this, it embraces the whole subject of the origin, 
nature, and chemical analysis of Poisonous Funguses, the symptoms they pro- 
duce, the means of treatment, and the facts observed after death. There are 56 
plates of the size of nature and coloured. 


The Reviewer gives the work throughout unqualified praise ; and in an 
article, the whole tenor of which is directed against Edible Funguses, dwells 
minutely on the effects of the Poisonous ones, and says that particular attention 
ought to be called to this work, now that the Society of Arts is engaged “‘in 
collecting and diffusing information to show that our fungi, with few exceptions, 
and these easily discriminated, may safely be eaten.” No such statement as this 
was made by the Rev. M, J. Berkeley at the Society of Arts, and had the writer 
known anything of Funguses himself he could not have supposed that so absurd 
a statement would be made. The article bears internal evidence of this ignorance 
of the subject, not only in its guarded expressions—its inverted sentences—and its 
indiscriminate praise, but also by the fact that it is chiefly made up by trans- 
lations appropriated but not acknowledged, and by long avowed quotations. In 
short, it has been simply written to order, and is really very discreditable to the 
character of the Review in which it appears. 


These remarks are severe, but they are just. There is one point on which 
you can test for yourselves the Reviewer's assertion of ‘‘the extreme value of 
this book to science and humanity” on the present occasion. Here are two 
Funguses—Lactarius deliciosus and Coprinus comatus, which have been gathered 
in our excursion to-day. Here are the coloured representatives of them from 
the Transactions of the Woolhope Club; and here are the plates givenin Dr. 
Valenti-Serini’s book (laughter). It is but common charity to suppose that the 
reviewer has never seen any of the many excellent English coloured plates of 
Funguses, 


** 


115 


As a work of science Dr, Valenti-Serini’s book has its value—though it is 


- tertainly very weak and disappointing here—but as a work for general infor- 


mation, which it professes to be, it is worse than useless, 


“To credo. se non isbaglio, che questo sia il mezzo pit adattato perché il popolo si 
formi di queste piante una idea se non chiarissima, approssimativa almeno, per regolarsi 
quando vada in cerca delle medesine”—p. xii. 


Carry the same argument on which this claim to public utility is founded 
into any other class of plants and its absurdity will be transparent. Ought we 
to abstain from potatoes because it is the only wholesome product of a poison- 
ous family until we have thoroughly learnt all the dreadful effects of -the other 
members of the family? Must we not eat celery or parsley until we have 
studied all the many and common umbelliferous plants which are poisonous ? 


Mr. Worthington G. Smith and some friends had pulled up a plant of the 
Hogweed, or Cow-parsley, with a root like the parsnip. They thought it tasted 
like sweet chesnut, but luckily eating it cautiously they found their throats 
begin to burn, and escaped with this discomfort only. You will doubtless re- 
member also this spring seeing the account of three gentlemen in the island of 
Jersey, who, tired with a long walk, sat down to rest themselves. One of 
them pulled up a succulent plant with a root something like a carrot. It was 
the deadly nightshade. He ate some of it, and was dead in six hours. His two 
friends, who had merely tasted it, were made very uncomfortable. May we 
not eat parsnips or carrots until we have carefully learnt all about Heracleum 
sphondilum and Atropa belladonna ? 


When Science wishes to teach the people it should do so by simple 
conclusions, and not by terrifying arguments they cannot follow. There 
is no royal road to learning. Nature has no fixed outlines, and all natural 
objects require individual study. Here is an example of the errors committed 
when Science would be too precise. In works of school Botany it used formerly to 
be stated that all plants with papilionaceous flowers, as peas, beans, &c., are 
wholesome and nutritious. A young housekeeper, at the time studying Botany, 
met with this statement, and finding the Laburnum to have papilionaceous 
flowers, gathered the pods, had them sliced as French beans, and then boiled for 
the table. Luckily they were not nice, so the young people ate sparingly. but one 
elderly lady, who partook of them more freely, very nearly lost her life, and 
all who tasted them were made ill. 


For the sake of condemning Funguses altogether, the author quotes, and 
the reviewer re-echoes in the same spirit, the old Latin axiom—‘‘Sunt bona 
mixta malis, Sunt mala mixta bonis,” entirely overlooking its general application. 
Evil is everywhere mixed with good, and in food, as in all other things, it is 
an object of life to learn to choose the good and to reject the evil. True 
science will ever be at hand to aid in the selection, and that science must be 
false which teaches the rejection of both for no better reason than this, 


120 


Dr. Valenti-Serini, after stating that Funguses are much used in the north 
and in Italy as an article of food during Lent, and that by careful cooking many 
suspicious ones are constantly eaten, adds that in spite of the Ammonita and 
other dangerous species being most abundant, cases of poisoning rarely occur. 


“Ad onta che qui vi siano abbondantissime le ammonite ed iltre specie periculose, 
gla avvelenamenti sono rari” (p. 25). 


Cases of poisoning “‘rare”! even with this extended use! Pray, what other article 
of food is there from which accidents do not occasionally happen ? 


The plain and simple question to be answered after all is this: ARE THERE 
ANY FUNGUSES, GOOD AND WHOLESOME, WHICH HAVE SUCH DISTINCTIVE CHARAC- 
TERS OF THEIR OWN AS TO ADMIT OF BEING READILY DISTINGUISHED FROM ALL 
OTHERS BY ORDINARY PEOPLE? The Woolhope Club, and all those who know 
them, who eat, and enjoy them, say plainly and fearlessly, “‘ Yes, THERE ARE.” 
The ordinary mushroom is readily enough known by everybody, and certainly 
there are other Funguses good and wholesome that may be distinguished with 
still greater ease and certainty. 


The preceding volumes of our “Transactions” contain drawings and deserip- 
tions of six of them. In this one, the following are given, viz. : Hydnum repan- 
dum: the Hedgehog, or Spine-bearing Mushroom ; Fistulina hepatica: the 
Liver Fungus, or Vegetable beef-steak; Agaricus orcella : ‘‘ Orgelle, or Vegetable 
Sweetbread ; and Agaricus prunulus ; the Plum Mushroom. 


‘— 


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BOTANICA aa q 


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Beaten eloyr; from tru to tire fe 
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pers: with of France, os “ Burch on” or “L redi ‘@rinace,” “ Rigacehe,” -f 
= *  * Oheovet ine, - Dhe pernane” oy “ Barbe dé Vache.’ 3 
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121 


FAMILY I.—HYMENOMYCETES. 
ORDER 3.—HYDNEI, 


Hymenium spread over the surface of spines, teeth, persistent papilie, 
d&c., and not lining impressed pores or tubes. 


Genus—Hypnum. Stem central. 


HYDNUM REPANDUM.-— Linn. 
HEDGEHOG, OR SPINE-BEARING MUSHROOM. 


BOTANICAL CHARACTERS, 


Pileus : Smooth, irregular in shape, depressed in the centre more or less 
lobed, and generally placed irregularly on the stem (eccentric) ; of a pale buff 
or cinnamon colour ; from two to five inches in diameter. Flesh firm and 
white, when bruised it turns slightly brown. From crowded growth separate 
lobes of the same funguses, or the pileus of different funguses often unite in 
growth, become fused as it were, and present a single surface. 


Spines : Crowded, awl-shaped, slanting, soft and brittle, varying in size and 
length, and of a faint cinnamon tint, 


Stem : White, short, solid, crooked, and often lateral. 


The Hedgehog Mushroom is known by many names in the different 
Departments of France, as ‘‘ Zurchon” or “Urchin,” ‘* Grinace,” “‘ Rignoche,” 
Penchénille,” ‘* Chevrotine,” ‘‘ Chevrette” or ‘‘ Barbe de Vache.” In Tuscany it 
is known under the name of ‘‘ Steecherino, o dentino dorato.” 


There is no possibility of mistaking the Hedgehog Mushroom; when 

‘once seen, it is always to be remembefed. Its awl-shaped spines crowded 

beneath the pileus; its size, and colour, are most marked—it resembles closely, 

as has been said, a lightly baked cracknel biscuit, It grows in pine or oak woods, 
or in hedge bottoms, solitarily, in groups, or in rings, 


Hydnum repandum is certainly not a common fungus in Herefordshire. 
It is very local, but where it does grow, in favourable seasons, there is a 


2 _ considerable quantity of it. In Haywood Forest it grows on the south side; 


and according to Mr. Stackhouse it is found in another locality near Haugh 
Wood ; and the Rev, R, Blight found it in a hanging wood on the hill above 


Bredwardine, 
@ 


122 


OPINIONS ON THE MERITS OF HYDNUM REPANDUM AS AN 
EDIBLE FUNGUS. 


“The general use of this fungus throughout France, Italy, and Germany, 
leaves no room for doubt as to its good qualities.” Roques. 


“Tt is regularly sold in Austria, France, and Switzerland.” Greville. 
Vittadini places it ‘*among the most delicate of the funguses in Italy.” 


““When well stewed, it is an excellent dish, with a slight flavour of 
oysters. It also makes a very good purée.” Dr. Badham. 


**A most excellent fungus, but it requires a little caution in preparation 
for the table. It should be previously steeped in hot water and well drained 
in acloth ; in which case there is certainly not a more excellent fungus than 
it is.” Berkeley. 

‘‘The gastronomic qualities of the Hedgehog mushroom are of a high 
degree. Tis flavour, when stewed, is excellent, and cooked with white sauce it 
has a decided flavour of oysters.” Miss Plues. 


** A wholesome fungus and not to be despised, but not in the first-class as 
to flavour, requiring the help of condiments. It has the advantage, however, of 
growing later than most funguses, and may be found up to the middle of Novem- 


ber.” Edwin Lees. 
““A charming addition to the table. Its flesh is very firm and 
delicious.” Worthington G. Smith. 


““One of the most excellent fungi that grows; its flavour very strongly 
resembles oysters.” The Rev. W. Houghton. 


MODES OF COOKING HYDNUM REPANDUM. 


The Hedgehog Mushroom is dense in structure, and in whatever way it 
may be cooked, all authorities agree that it must be done slowly at alow tem- 
perature until it is tender, and with plenty of stock or white sauce to supply its 
deficiency in moisture. 

26. STEWED HYDNUM. 

‘‘CGut the mushrooms in pieces and steep for twenty minutes in warm 
water ; then place in a pan with butter, pepper, salt, and parsley; and beef or 
other gravy, and simmer for an hour.” Trans. from M, Roques. 


‘*Stew in a brown or white sauce.” Mrs. Hussey. 


‘Gut up in bits about the size of a bean and stew in white sauce, when it 
will almost pass off as oyster sauce,” The Rev. Win. Houghton, F.L.S. 


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123 
FAMILY I.—HYMENOMYCETES. 
ORDER 2.—POLYPOREI. 


Hymenium lining the cavity of tubes or pores which are sometimes broken 
up into teeth, or concentric plates, 


Genus Fistunina.—Bull, 


Hymenophorum fleshy. Hymenium inferior, at first papillose, the papille at length 
elongated and forming distinct tubes, 


FISTULINA HEPATICA.— Fries. 
LIVER FUNGUS, OR VEGETABLE BEEF-STEAK. 


BOTANICAL CHARACTERS. 
Pileus: undivided, lobed, thick, soft and fleshy. At first a dull pale 
purplish red, it becomes more red and passes, through chocolate, to the black 
misshapen mass it becomes in decay. The underside when young, is of a cream 
colour, with occasional minute red points, becoming yellowish red. The flesh, 
when cut, is streaked, red, and juicy, resembling (more or less) beet-root. 

Tubes: very slender, unequal, distinct from each other, scarcely half an inch 
deep when of full size. They frequently overlap the edge of the pileus and 
appear on the upper surface when they are short, take the red colour, and give 
a velvet-like surface. Pores extremely minute, Spores yellow. 


This Fungus has received many other names. Boletus hepaticus, Schff., 
Huds., Pers., Hook, &c. :—Agaricus porosus rubens, Ray syn, ; Fistulina bug- 
lossoides, Bull. ; Buglossus quercinus, Wallemb. ; Hypodrys hépatique, Roques ; 
Pungus pauperibus esculentus, ‘The poor man’s Fungus,” Schzeff, Cisalpinus calls 
it Lingue, and in Italy it is called Lingua quercina, or Lingua di Castagna. In 
France it is also called “‘ Langue-de-beuf,” ‘‘foie-de-beuf,” or gli-de-chéne.” 

The “Vegetable beefsteak” is also a Fungus which there is no possi- 
bility of mistaking. Its size, its colour, its soft fleshy consistence, its great 
juiciness when cut, and the streaked beetroot-like section are perfectly distinc- 
tive; when mature it really has a close resemblance to flesh, or liver. It is by no 
means uncommon in Herefordshire when looked for in the proper localities, 
that is about the stumps of hollow or decaying oaks, but it is also occasionally 
found on the chesnut, ash, walnut, willow, or beech trees. 

The plate given is drawn to exact size from a very small Fungus, dwarfed 
by dry weather, and it will be better to consider it as one third of the usual 
size, The yellowish cream colour of the under surface is only seen under the 


~ corner turned up, but it extends beneath the whole of it. It frequently grows 


to a size from four to six pounds in weight, and often much larger. It attains 
its full size when the weather is favourable in about a fortnight, and decays 
in another week. 


124 


OPINIONS ON THE MERITS OF FISTULINA HEPATICA AS AN 
EDIBLE FUNGUS. 
Par son volume et sa saveur agréable, ce Champignon doit étre mis au 


nombre des espéces alimentaires les plus utiles. Un seul individu peut fournir 


amplement de quoi faire un bon repas. Roques. 
No fungus yields a richer gravy, and though rather tough, when grilled, it 

is scarcely to be distinguished from broiled meat. Dr. Badham. 
One of the best things I ever ate, but then it was prepared by a skilful 

cook, Berkeley. 


This fungus may be considered—as is usually said of some thing not first- 
rate—‘‘not bad”—and though it may be eaten in the absence of better things I 
consider it coarse, and not to be cherished as a delicacy. Quite in the second 
class. Edwin Lees. 

When old it becomes rather tough, but in all its stages it affords an 
excellent gravy, and when young if sliced and grilled, would pass muster for a 
good beef steak. M. C. Cooke. 

If it is not beef itself it is the sauce for it. Mrs. Hussey. 

It is truly a vegetable beef-steak, for the taste resembles meat in a 
remarkable manner. It is good broiled witha steak and properly seasoned. There 
is a slight but very perceptible acid flavour with it, that gives considerable zest, 
and piquancy to the dish, rendering it a ‘‘ treat for an epicure.”—W. G. Smith. 

It is the best possible addition to a beef-steak, from the excellent gravy it 
affords, and is a steak in itself when properly cooked. 

Address at the Horticultural Society. 


MODES OF COOKING FISTULINA HEPATICA. 
27.—STEWED FISTULINA. 

In France it is first washed and dried, then placed in boiling water for a 
short time, and afterwards stewed with butter, parsley, scallion, pepper and 
salt ; yolk of egg being afterwards added when the stew is ready for the table. 
—WM., C. Cooke. 

In Vienna it is cut in thin slices and eaten in salad, as we eat beet-root.— 


M. C. Cooke. 
28.—FISTULINA GRAVY. 


Slice and macerate with salt, after the manner of making mushroom 
ketchup. The deep red liquor that is produced should be put into a dish with a 
little lemon juice and minced shalots, and a broiled rump steak deposited in it. 

Mrs. Hussey. 

N.B.—This liquor is not catsup, for it has but little of the flavour of 
mushroom, but is a beef gravy of high virtue. 

The best way to dress it, if old, is to stew it down for stock, and reject the 

‘flesh ; if young, it may be eaten in substance, plain, or with minced meat ; 
in all cases its succulency is such that it furnishes its own sauce. Dr, Badham. 

Palatable and nutritious when mixed with minced meat. Mrs. Hussey. 


as 
begot agar: 


re >eetes paily bomown 


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Seu, eligaty wantin, code oer murs long, snl 


, ww, 


Pe rit, wah Teme, wh Ue have, often ecomtr, 


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125 


FAMILY I.—HYMENOMYCETES. 
ORDER AGARICINIL 
' Genus AGARICUS. 
SvuBGENUS 13.—CLITOPILUS. 


Hymenophorum confluent with the fleshy or fibrous stem ; gills decurrent. 


AGARICUS “ORCELLA. — Bull. 
ORGELLE, OR VEGETABLE SWEETBREAD. 
BOTANICAL CHARACTERS. 


Pileus: Thin, irregular, depressed in the centre, lobed, with undulated 
borders, from two to three inches across. In colour clear white, sometimes tinted 
with pale brown on its prominences, and occasionally with a grey centre or 
even lightly zoned with grey. Its surface is soft and smooth to the touch except 
in wet weather, when it becomes soft and sticky. The flesh is soft, colour- 
less, and unchangeable. 

Gills: Crowded, decurrent, at first nearly white, then pinkish grey, 
taking at length a light-brown tint. Spores pale brown, 

Stem : Smooth, white, solid, short, decreasing in size. Central when young, 
but becoming eccentric from the pileus growing irregularly. 

Odour : Pleasant, usually compared to fresh meal, but Dr. Badham and 
other friends think it resembles more closely the smell of cucumber or syringa 
leaf, 


AGARICUS PRUNUULUS. — Scop. 
PLUM MUSHROOM. 
BOTANICAL CHARACTERS, 


Pileus : Fleshy, compact, at first convex, then expanded, becoming 
depressed in the centre, irregulary waved, and slightly pruinose; from two to 
five inches broad ; surface dry, soft, white, or sometimes gray. The flesh thick, 
white, and unchangeable. 


Gills : Crowded, deeply decurrent, at first white, then a pale dull flesh- 
colour, or yellowish brown. Spores pale brown. 


Stem : White, solid, firm, slightly ventricose, an inch or more long, and 
-half an inch thick ; naked, often striate, and villose at the base ; often eccentric, 


Odour: Like that of new meal, but usually too strong to be agreeable, 


126 


There has been considerable confusion between the two Agarics Orcella 
and Prunulus, some thinking that we have only Orcella in England (Dr. 
Badham) and others only Prunulus (Rev. M. J. Berkeley) and others again 
that they are both the same Fungus differing only in size. Dr. Badham and . 
some others again confuse Prunulus with Gambosus, the Fungus of early spring, 
and this has arisen from the French term ‘‘ mousseron” being often applied to 
both these Funguses—but they are so essentially different as not to be liable 
in any way to be mistaken for each other. * 


Agaricus orcella and Ag. prunulus are both placed on the same page in this 
illustration that their close alliance may be seen at a glance. Fries treats them as 
separate Funguses ‘‘in deference to ancient authority, since their differences are 
chiefly in degree.” These differences are nevertheless so well marked that they are 
kept separate here. Orcella is a smaller and more delicate fungus than Prunulus. 
It is thinner and less fleshy, more undulated in its borders, and has a lighter and 
more agreeable odour. Orcella grows in more open glades than Prunulus ; it is 
usually much whiter in colour, sometimes in high situations white and glazed 
as egg-shell, or even pottery. Orcella grows more solitarily than Prunulus, 
in light scattered groups, showing an inclination for the neighbourhood of oak 
trees, and where it does grow it may be found year after year in the same place, 
but seldom more than two or three ina spot. This year, 1869, when Orcella 
was pretty plentiful, Prunulus was not to be found in the situations where 
it usually grows abundantly. 


Prunulus is the reverse of all this. It prefers more shaded places, is 
larger, more fleshy, and with a strong odour rather heavy and overpowering. It 
grows in greater quantities together, and not unfrequently in crowded rings 
from four to six feet in diameter. 

As Edible Funguses they should certainly be kept distinct. Orcella is 
light and pleasant in odour, and excellent in flavour; it is so tender and 
delicate as to be termed, not inaptly, ‘‘ Vegetable Sweatbread.” Prunulus, on the 
other hand, though always good, is to many people too strong in odour, and more 
coarse in taste. 


OPINIONS ON THE MERITS OF AGARICUS ORCELLA AND AGARICUS 
PRUNULUS AS EDIBLE FUNGUSES. 


‘Senza dubbio uno de migliori funghi indigeni.” Vittadini. 
**A very delicate mushroom.” Dr. Badham. 


““The flavour of orcella is very delicate, and equal to anything among 
Funguses, or rather superior to the majority. The same remarks apply to 
prunulus, which I think the same thing. It belongs to the edible Funguses.” 

Edwin Lees. 


127 


“Leur parfum se répand au loin et announce leur presence.” 
* * * * * * 


“Dun goit et d’un parfum délicieux.” Roques. 
““ Whenever and wherever the mougeron is found let it be welcomed for its 
utility still more than its beauty. Miss Plues. 


MODES OF COOKING AGARICUS ORCELLA AND AGARICUS 
PRUNULUS, 


Orcella being usually found in small quantities, is hest perhaps when 
broiled and served on hot toast, Prunulus, growing in greater abundance, will 
serve also for boiling, or stewing, or both. 


“* Orcella should be eaten the day it is gathered, either stewed, broiled, or 
fried with egg and bread crumbs like cutlets,” Dr. Badham. 


“* However prepared it is most excellent ; the flesh is firm and juicy, and 
full of flavour, and whether broiled, or stewed, or however prepared, it is a most 


delicious morsel. Worthington G. Smith. 
** Orcella will dry, and may be preserved in this way. It loses much of its 
volume, but it acquires ‘un aroma suavissimo,’” Vittadini. 


SAGO » 


128 


THE DISCUSSION ON FAIRY RINGS. 
INTRODUCED py 
EDWIN LEES, Ese, F.LS., F.G.8., &., 


Vice-president of the Worcester and Malvern Naturalists’ Field Clubs. 


The PRESIDENT (James Rankin, Esq.) said that last year Mr. Edwin 
Lees, of Worcester, had read a paper to the Club on the interesting subject 
of ‘‘ Farry Rings,” and it was then suggested that members should during the 
ensuing year make particular observations for themselves, and that the matter 
should receive full attention at the present meeting. He would, therefore, now 
call upon Mr. Lees to open the discussion. 

Epwin Less, Esq., F.L.S., then commencing in a humorous vein, said 
that he must ask for their kind consideration and candid attention on behalf of 
the poor and humble client whose interests he had to maintain, who was of such 
retiring habits that he seldom appeared in public, kept himself secluded from 
view, and though he was really a public benefactor, yet unfortunately for him- 
self he was generally considered an enemy to agriculture, and the members 
of his family were consequently butchered unfeelingly by scores, and hung up in 
terrorem upon the branches of trees on almost every farm. As they would all 
understand, the poor client whose interests he now advocated was the little 
underground miner called the Mole. Having brought the case previously before 
them, they might think it would prove as interminable as a Chancery suit, 
but he hoped that the additional facts and observations that he had to 
produce, with the arguments founded thereon, would so incline their minds 
to the view he had taken that he should confidently expect a verdict in his 
favour. He had hoped that his friend Dr. Bull would have seen his way to 
accept a “‘brief” in favour of molar action ; but, though whilst he did not ignore 
“his client’s merits, he appeared to shrink from a decided advocacy of his 
claims, wishing to make the circuit of the ring on his own interpretation of 
Nature if he could. Thus left as sole advucate in the cause, he must do the 
best he could for the Mole on his own noted facts and experience. 

Mr. Luss then observed, that to simplify the case and ensure their assent 
to the view that he took he would moderate his demands, and though fully 
believing that the majority of Fairy Rings were primarily caused by the opera- 
tion of the Mole, yet he would not assert that other causes had not their share 
in making circular brands upon pastures, and though he had traced the hand, 
or rather paw of the Mole, most indubitably in a number of cases which he had 
diagramed in the field, yet he would admit that he had met with ares and rings 


i pelle 


ca 


129 


whose origin was difficult of solution. To obviate an objection made by Mr. 
Curley and others that Fairy Rings existed in Ireland though Moles were 
absent from that country, he would on the present occasion give up all 
claim to the Irish property (laughter), but ‘‘ without prejudice,” not having 
had an opportunity of examining the sister island, though nothing but assertions 
had been made, and no authorities appealed to. He would also advance no 
claim to any part of North America, as he had seen it stated in a volume of 
*‘The American Naturalist” that there were no Fairy Rings on that continent, 
and as he had never heard of any emigration of the Mole family there, that may 
be taken as negative evidence of no rings in the absence of the Mole, at any rate 
in America. He would confine himself to Britain and the Continent of Europe, 
and the numerous rings there apparent, especially in England, would satisfy the 
moderate requirements of construction and possession he now made on behalf of 
his client the Mole. He would now briefly sum up the evidence in support 
of his case in two parts, taking first the remarks of authors and observers, who 
had gone into the history of the mole, though without reference to the formation 
of Fairy Rings from them ; and, secondly, give the result of his own observa- 
tions, carried over many years, which had convinced him that the Mole was the 
primary originator of the curves, arcs, and rings so often seen marking pastures 
and lawns. In his former papers, printed in the ‘‘ Woolhope Transactions,” he 
had already quoted the statements of Bell, in his ‘‘ British Quadrupeds,” 
Jesse in his ‘‘ Natural History Essays,” and the French writer, M. St. Hilaire, 
all of whom had borne testimony to the gyratory lines made by the Mole in 
pastures, and Mr. Jesse particularly stated that ‘coupling runs,” as the 
mole-catchers call them, are made by the male mole in his searches for his 
partner, and ‘“‘are as near the surface as possible.” The remarks of these 
writers as to mole-runs are the more important, as they had no theory to 
support as to Fairy Rings being formed on the tracks of the mole. He had 
further been led by his friend Rev. J. D. La Touche, of Stokesay, and had the 
advantage of consulting a professional mole-catcher, and who had told them 
that these round-about runs of the mole were common enough in meadows, 
though, as he had only to attend to the catching of moles, he had not paid 
attention to Fairy Rings themselves as arising from these runs. Mr. Lees then 
exhibited a considerable number of sketches of Fairy Rings, diagrams made by 
himself in the field, of various figures and dimensions—some circular, othors 
exceedingly wavy and irregular, several of them dotted with Agarics, and others 
only forming a line of coarse grass, but all of them, as he declared, showing 
evident traces of the work of the mole. They were from various localities, and 
one most curious diagram he had taken in a field near Beaumaris, in the Island 
of Anglesea, only a fortnight since, showed evident traces of two moles running 
close together in two parallel lines, and forming two rings connected togethr 
by a double avenue! He had been particularly attentive to the subject this 
year, and all his former observations as to molar work were confirmed. But 


unless they looked close and went into the middle of meadows, the first work of 
. R 


130 


the mole is not so obvious as the verdant or fungus-dotted rings that afterwards 
were so clearly revealed to view. A clerical triend who had observed some rings 
of sudden appearance in a piece of meadow-land recently enclosed for a burial 


ground, had at first laughed at the idea of their being molar work, saying that — 


moles had never been observed near the place, but only a few weeks since had 
written to him (Mr, Lees) to say that he found the mole was really there, and he 
was now inclined to the molar theory. Of course the ring continued and the 
funguses appeared after the mole had done his work and had gone elsewhere, 
and he could not perhaps be found at that moment to explain matters to them; 
but if they perceived traces of his whereabouts in the same meadow, they 
might be sure that his was the original work, though the ring, when afterwards 
occupied by funguses, proceeded on other principles to continue and increase on 
its own account. But many lines and great arcs in meadows formed by the 
mole never get occupied by funguses. but they were marked by a fresh growth 
of coarse grass, arising where the former grass in the are or ring had decayed, 
and becoming less visible the succeeding year, they finally died out, and 
even the ring occupied by the fungi did not exist an unlimited time, 
frequently disappearing as ggddenly as they had shown themselves, while new 
rings of various sizes presented themselves to view every year. Mr. Lees 
concluded an argumentative address by referring to the constant activity of 
Nature in causing phenomena to dovetail into each other, and the operations 
of a little animal as in this case, which might be thought mischievous, lead 
to the production ef a peculiar vegetation, which wanted a pabulum for the 
sporules that floated in the atmosphere to imbibe. It was also remarkable that 
the molar circle appeared to be constructed on the same principle as what we 
all understood by ‘‘the family circle ;” and it would really appear that the words 
of the old song, 


“Oh ! ’tis love, ’tis love, that makes the world go round,” 


was as truly and more literally understood by the mole as by any member of 
the human family (laughter and cheers), 

D. R. HARRISON, Esq., said the moles had a very able advocate in Mr, 
Lees, but he thought facts were against them. He (Mr. H.) had given a good 
deal of attention to the subject of moles as affecting ‘‘ Fairy Rings” this 
summer and autumn; and he observed, in two meadows adjacent to his 
house where both abounded, that the moles generally preferred the lower 
and moister situations, and the fungi the dryer portions, The rings were 
of various and sometimes complicated forms, as shown in the rough sketch 
(sketch produced), but in most, if not in all cases, they indicated growth 
from a centre. 

Mr. Legs remarked the sketch was in favour of his theory, as it indi- 
cated moles’ work. 

Mr. Harrison: In early summer the inner side of the ring was marked 
by a lush growth of the stronger grasses, while the ring itself was crowded with 


el a ne ee 


131 

fungi, mainly the St. George’s mushroom, Agaricus gambosus. At the present 
time they had a bare appearance, from the decay of the finer grasses; and 
the Marasmius oreades was growing there. He had had several of these 
rings cut through without finding any trace of the moles’ operations; but 
in one instance he came upon a moles’ track passing through the ring 
towards the centre and had it opened several feet both inside and outside 
the ring. There were no surface indications of its course, either in the form 
of fungi or more vigorous vegetation, while the ring—under which there was 
no indication of a track—was distinguished by both, as described. He also 
remarked that under the ring the soil was infiltrated with mycelium, which 
always extended a few inches beyond its outer, but rarely beyond its inner 
margin. (A specimen of the soil filled with mycelium was produced). This. 
also seemed to him to give support to the generally received theory of growth 
from a central group. He regretted the facts would not allow him the pleasure 
of agreeing with Mr. Lees, as he should gladly have found that the scientific 
world was wrong for once, and that a member of the club was entitled to the 
credit of setting it right. 

He concluded by recommending the members of the Club to mark some 
isolated group of fungi, and also stake out careful™y some of the rings, witha 
view to a better settlement of the question (applause). 

The Rev. Wa. Hovucuton, F.L.S., said that, from the very first, the 
amatory molecular theory of Mr. Lee had for him no attraction. He was con- 
vinced that the mole had nothing to do with the formation of “fairy rings.” 
Mr. Lees’s quotation from Mr. Thomas Bell’s ‘‘ British Quadrupeds” did not 
bear him out. Mr. Lees laid great stress upon the circular form of moles’ runs ; 
of course, it was necessary for his argument; but what does Mr, Bell say ?— 
‘The tracks by which the male pursues his mate are numerous and curiously 
divaricating.” They are termed by the French naturalists traces d'amour, and 
by our English mole-catchers “coupling runs” or ‘‘rutting angles.” He (Mr. 
Houghton) had yet to learn that divaricating tracks and “rutting angles ” were 
synonymous with amatory gyrations. Mr. Lees had abandoned his explanation 
as far as it related to Ireland; but the absence of moles and the presence of 
‘‘fairy-rings” in that country are fatal to his theory, He (Mr. H.) also 
did not agree with Mr. Lees that the operations of moles destroyed the grass. 
His own experience led him to a different conclusion. The subject of “ fairy- 
rings” was no doubt a difficult one to explain, but he thought that some modi- 
fication of the centrifugal theory would be the true explanation (applause). 

Mr, J. E. SmirH said that after the numerous raps and ponderous blows 
our friend Mr. Lees has had, he felt very reluctant to give him any more, nor 
was it his wish to give the sick lion another kick, But he considered that the 
very foundation of this molecular theory was unsound. Mr. Lees stated that 
funguses find their pabulum in decaying vegetable and animal matter. The 
mole in his runs destroys parts of the grass, and the decaying grass forms a 
suitable nidus for the fnngi to germinate in. But no fungi are to be found in 


132 


these mole runs until a year after at least, and surely all destruction of grass 
and weeds by the mole has been restored by that time by the changing seasons. 
Where then is the pabulum for the funguses which the mole was stated to have 
formed? The grass has grown greener, and all dead matter has been taken up by 
living growth. Mr. Smith had found the Aguricus arvensis growing in rings 
where there was no sign of a mole hill anywhere near. He generally found the 
soil of the rings much harder than the rest of the field. A friend of his from 
Scotland had told him that fairy rings were common in Orkney, but the mole 
was unknown. When Mr, Lees said it was love that made the mole go round 
as well as the world, he had in his mind probably the statement of Ovid that 
the world was once indigestague moles (oh! oh! and applause). 

Mr. FLAVELL EpmuNDs humerously alluded to the expectation of his 
friends around him that there would be a battle as the inevitable result of the 
meeting of his friend Lees and himself, and assured him that it was with 
reluctance that he rose to say anything against the exceedingly clever and 
well argued theory which Mr. Lees had laid before them, Asa theory it was 
a taking one, and he should have been glad to adopt it, but it appeared that 
the facts were against it, His own observations, as well as the more 
systematic and extensive observations of Mr. Harrison and others, were wholly 
at variance with the conclusions of their friend Lees. The molecular theory, 
as it had been wittily styled, was in the first place, as their friend had 
admitted, wholly contradicted by the case of Ireland: he believed two 
things were generally accepted, first, that Ireland has plenty of fairy 
rings, and next that it has no moles. On neither point, however, could 
he speak from observation, As regards this district it was not so as he 
had examined a great number of instances of fairy rings, and had observed a 
still greater number of mole works, but had never found them together. Within 
a couple of miles from the place where they were sitting he could show them 
meadows where the mole-tracks are abundant, but there are no fairy rings ; and 
other pasture-fields where fairy rings are to be seen in all stages and states, 
from the mere patch of dark grass up to the curve, the semicircle, and the 
complete ring, with various kinds of fungi growing upon the ring and nowhere 
else in the field, yet not a mole-track anywhere near, or any sign that there 
ever was one. Notwithstanding the argument of their friend, he felt that 
neither the connection between the fairy rings and the mole, nor even the 
alleged circular direction of the mole’s workings, can be regarded as proved. 
In almost every instance he had found the mole to work pretty nearly in a 
straight line. Occasionally Talpa seems to change his mind for some reason, 
and ‘‘swerves from the direct forthright,” but it is generally a return towards 
the ditch from which he had begun his mining operations, although in many cases 
the plan, whatever it was, like teo many of our own, was never completed 
(applause). 

Dr. But then said that the present year had been so unfavourable for 
the development of “Fairy rings,” that they were pretty much in the same posi- 


“a> 2¥ pect cee” wheel 


133 


tion as they were last year in reference to the discussion as to the cause of their 
formation. There had been no ‘‘ Fairy rings” all through the summer, and 
it had been impossible therefore to make any practical observations upon them. 
His friend, Mr. Lees, had brought the subject before the club with great ability, 
asthe result of many years’ practical work in the field, and his views therefore 
were not lightly to be set aside. Something more was wanted than superficial 
observation or closet speculation, His facts and his diagrams were not to be 
called in question, although his intepretation of them might fairly be disputed. 

He had been observing ‘fairy rings” himself for the last three years 
with some care, and he confessed that he did not think the problem of their mode 
of formation one by any means easy to solve. He had learnt much with re- 
ference to them, and he thought that much more might still be learnt by carefully 
watching them. 

Mr. Harrison’s observation of a mole track crossing a ring was very in- 
teresting. The mole himself made the experiment, and yet the funguses so far 
refused to follow him. 

The rings formed by different funguses varied very much from each 
other, not only as to size, butin other particulars, and he thought he could 
trace in these variations the origin of some of the different theories of their 
formation. For example, the rings of the Agaricus gambosus, coming as they 
did immediately after the thunder-storms at the end of April, and present- 
ing the appearance of a burnt surface through the summer, might readily give 
rise to the electrical theory of their formation, which the original Dr. Darwin, - 
very strongly maintained. He has seen some rings sometimes during the 
summer which Ag. gambosus had occupied in spring and the appearance was 
exactly as if they had been made with a hot iron stamped upon the grass, Then 
again, if youexamined carefully the usual growth of Marasmius oreades, it was 
first a little group of funguses, then a small and perfect ring, gradually grow- 
ing larger year by year, and less perfect too, as might be expected, from some 
partial failure, and lasting for many years. This presented naturally the cen- 
trifugal theory, that is, the origin from a single plant, each year exhausting the 
soil, and growing, therefore, the next year on the fresh ground at the outer 
margin. He thought it most probable that the different funguses which took 
this circular form of growth, did so in different ways and fashions, and by care-~ 
fully observing these differences some general rules might, perhaps, be ob- 
tained. He believed it was one general rule that all “‘ Fairy rings” when once 
formed, if they continued to appear, increased in size year by year. He said 
when once formed, because he did not himself believe altogether in the com- 
monly-accepted centrifugal theory. His observations had convinced him that 


“Fairy rings” were often of considerable size on their first appearance. For 


example, a ring of the Agaricus geotrupus 27 feet in diameter had appeared 
on a well-tended lawn at Breinton three years since, embracing an apple-tree 
within the circle. The large funguses could not fail to be observed. They 
were a source of annoyance to the owner, and he stated positively that they 


134 


had never appeared there before, and he (Dr. Bull) knew they had never been 
there since. He did not know of the mole-run theory of explanation at 
that time, and could only say that there certainly were no evident traces of 
the mole there, The result of his observations, so far as they had gone, he 
must say were opposed to the mole theory asa general explanation. He knew 
his friend Mr. Lees was a careful observer in the field, and he had been, and 
was still, prepared to admit that the meles might account for some ‘“‘ Fairy- 
rings.” He would say that rings of the great puff-ball, Lycoperdon gigan- 
teum, had seemed to him most favourable to the theory of mole formation, 
and certainly the fact noticed by Mr. Harrison, that different funguses 
occasionally succeeded each other in the same ring, showed that for some cause 
or other, the ground in the ring was specially adapted to their growth. He 
thought, however, that facts were irresistibly strong against the theory on 
the side of the Moles, as well as that of the Funguses. As a general rule 
the mole runs were not circuitous, indeed it was quite ‘the exception when 
they took the regular form of an are of a circle. They were irregular, angular, 
zig-zag, or more or less straight, and he had found a difficulty last spring when 
he had examined a good many fields with numerous fresh runs in them in 
finding any that could have formed the regular site of a “‘ Fairy-ring.” He 
thought Mr. Lees had misunderstood M. St. Hilaire and other authors on the 
subject. The exact circular rings with communicating passages they described, 
were found immediately around the nest, and were covered by the large mole- 
heap which protected it. For one superficial mole run that formed the arc of 
a circle there were certainly twenty that were irregularin shape. All of them 
were made precisely in the same way, and all of them would therefore offer 


the same facilities for the growth of Fungus sporules. But Funguses did not ~ 


follow in the irregular runs, and to believe the mole-theory of the formation of 
“* Fairy-rings,” we must believe that the Funguses have the power to select only 
the circular runs, Then again, general observation showed, as every one must 
admit, that certain Funguses always grew in a scattered form, and certain others 
always grew in Fairy-rings, and this in the very midst of mole heaps and mole 
occupied fields. For instance, to give a couple of examples on each side, the 
common mushroom, Ag. campestris, and the Parasol fungus, Agaricus procerus, 
which so commonly grow in the fields and pastures, grew in an isolated or 
slightly clustered groups, whilst the large field or Horse Mushroom, Agaricus 
arvensis, and the Champignon, Marasmius oreades, equally general with the 
last, always grew in rings. If you suppose the two first as not adapted to 
grow in acircular form, or not disposed to take growth in mole-runs, as might 
be argued. Surely those that do so, the Agaricus arvensis for example, if it 
takes its form of growth from mole tracks, ought most frequently to be found 
growing in the irregular lines which these mole tracks most commonly take, 
and this we know isnot the case. Then with regard to Marasmius oreades, the 
‘* Fairy ring” which grow almost on every lawn inthe county. It was really 
trifling with common sense to say that they only grew upon circular mole runs, 


135 


for the circles were too small and too complete, nor could moles make runs upon 
fine grass-plats without being detected immediately. 

Another fatal objection to the mole theory was the fact that ‘‘ Fairy rings’ 
were often seen on ground that moles could not work, as on chalk downs, where 
the rock came close to the surface. And, lastly, not to mention the rings of 
microscopic funguses, this theory was utterly untenable if moles were not to be 
found in Ireland and Orkney, whilst “‘ fairy rings” were common there. 

Tt seemed to him exceedingly difficult to give any solution of the causes of 
their formation. From his observations three years ago, when rings of that 
large fungus the Agaricus Geotropus were very abundant, he measured carefully 
a ring at Whitfield, and another small section of a ring in a different place there, 
and both-had a diameter of 27 feet. The very next day, at Breinton, he met 
with the ring he had before alluded to, and, from its giving the same measure- 
ment, he was led to infer that it was the same fungus, and it turned out to be 
so, although it did not seem to be so at first sight. These observations with some 
other ring and measurements of different funguses which he made at that time, 
together with the fact of the sudden appearance of the Breinton ring at full 
size, suggested to him the hypothesis that the underground plant or mycelium 
had to grow to acertain distance before it bore its fruit, For instance, to keep 
to the same illustration, that the distance the Geotropus mycelium required 
to grow, before producing funguses, was thirteen feet six inches. This of course 
was mere supposition, There was no external indication that it did grow in this 
way, for the grass within the circles had not been affected. There could be 
no doubt but that the mycelium of funguses constantly grew in the earth, 
whether it produced fruit or not. When the season was unfavourable for want 
of moisture and heat, there were no funguses to prove the existence of the 
mycelium, When it was favourable, on the contrary, an abundance of all kinds 
of funguses appeared, shewing that the mycelium was there in readiness to 
produce fruit, each kind in its season and form. He was afraid that at present 
no more satisfactory answer as to why certain funguses grew in rings could be 
given, than that “it was their nature so to do.” They were very much indebted 
to Mr. Lees for bringing this interesting subject before them in the very able and 
entertaining manner he had done. There was room still for further observation, 
and he trusted that this was not the last discussion they should hold upon it 
(applause), 

Mr. Lees said that he must claim to say a few words in reply to the 
various criticisms that had been made in what he had propounded. One of the 
speakers had said that he must be sore from the basting that he had received 
from his opponents, but he could say as Homer had said of Hector in the Tliad, 
after a combat, that he was— 


2] 


“* Alive, unhurt, and vigorous from his wounds.” 


All his facts had been left untouched, and though every speaker had attacked 
the theory he had advanced, yet no one had been able to propose any other 


136 


except the old centrifugal one which he had entirely upset last year, and which 
Dr. Bull admitted was inadmissable. But in truth he had only stated facts 
that were indisputable, and the diagrams he had exhibited, not only demon- 
strated the impossibility of these diversiform shaped rings arising from a central 
fungus, but presented figures and waving lines that it appeared to him could 
only be ascribed in their primary formations to the work of that little active 
miner, the mole. Mr. Edmunds would not believe it unless he saw the mole 
at work, and thus it was with all objectors ; their attention was mostly directed 
to old rings occupied by funguses, or where there was a ring of brighter verdure 
in the meadow from their decay. Now, the mole in the first instance turned 
up the soil close to the surface, making a brown arc or ring, not occupied 
by funguses until the year after ; and this primary brown ring of soil formed by 
the mole seemed altogether overlooked by his friends on the other side, and to this 
brown ring of upturned soil he would wish them particularly to look. He had 
a few days since, when out with the Worcestershire Club, suddenly come upon 
several of these made by the mole that morning, and the sight of them gained 
him a dozen proselytes at once! He hoped, therefore, that they would look out 
for these fresh rings of upturned soil, and carefully examine them ‘“‘ without 
prejudice.” These turned-up lines were undoubtedly molar work, though in 
after years only a practised eye could trace the run of the mole in them, because 
either coarse grass or funguses in their growth had filled up the furrow that 
the mole had made. He had not gone forth into the field to make a theory on 
Fairy-vings, but had noted everyring that had come under his notice for the 
last thirty years; and he thought that it would have been more reasonable in 
the Club to accept his observations and conclusions, from observed facts carried 
over a long period of time, than to make objections from a very superficial view, 
with no other proposition to replace his own. Had the circles been all regular 
and complete, some other mode of growth in the mycelia of the funguses might 
have seemed possible, but with irregular rings of all sizes, where a perfect 
and complete ring was rare to find, the probability at least was in favour of 
animal action; and that the mole did make wavy lines, ares, and rings of various 
dimensions in grassy pastures he maintained was indisputable. He would not, 
however, press his own convictions upon an audience unwilling to accept the 
very important facts and statements that he had brought before them, and as it 
seemed clear the Club were very much divided in opinion, and each member 
had an idea of his own in the matter, he would not call for a formal decision, 
but leave them to revel in the uncertainty they delighted in, though he was fully 
convinced in his own mind, and was quite content to leave his ideas to future 
patient and unprejudiced observation (applause). 

The PRESIDENT gave the thanks of the meeting to Mr, Lees. He had 
fought an up-hill game valiantly, and they were indebted to him for a very 
interesting discussion (applause). 


—oD'Ge— 


137 


The Wloolhope Aaturalists’ Field Glub. 


THE ANNUAL MEETING, 


TuEsDAY, Fes. 22, 1870. 


The Club held its annual meeting at the Green Dragon Hotel on Tuesday 
last, which was very fully attended. The following gentlemen were present :— 
James Rankin, Esq., M.A., President, in the chair ; the President-elect, the Rev. 
H. Cooper Key, M.A.; the Vice-presidents, Arthur Armitage, Esq., Dr. 
M’Cullough, the Rev. W. C. Fowle, M.A., and the Rev. Arthur Gray, M.A. 
the Honorary Secretary, Sir George H. Cornewall, Bart., Moccas; the Central 
Committee, Dr. Bull, T. Curley, Esq., F.G.S., and John Lloyd, Esq.; the 
Rev. 8. Clark, M.A.; R. Lightbody, Esq., F.G.S., Ludlow ; the Rev. Berkeley 
L. S. Stanhope ; the Rev. Wm. Stanhope; W. H. West, Esq., Gliffaes, Crick- 
howell ; Rev. R. H. Williams; Evan Pateshall, Esq. ; the Rev. E. Du Buisson ; 
David Lawrence, Esq., Pontypool; R. Harcourt Capper, Esq.; the Rev. ©. J. 
Robinson, M.A.; J. F. Symonds, Esq.; the Rev. H. W. Phillott, M.A.; the 
Rev. C. J. Westropp; C. G. Martin, Esq.; Rev. E. J. Ash; George Cocking, 
Esq., Ludlow; Rev. H. J. W. Stillingfleet, M.A.; the Rev. F. T. Havergal, 


M.A. ; the Rev. J. H. Jukes; the Rev. Bernard Marshall; John Lambe, Esq., 


James Davies, Esq., the Rev. T. Thistlethwaite Smith ; Flavell Edmunds, Esq. ; 
F. Herbert, Esq. ; the Rev. T. M. Beavan; Henry Moore, Esq., Leominster ; 
Charles Fortey, Esq., Haven, Forest of Deerfold ; Rev. J. E. St. Maur Russell ; 
the Rev. Claude W. Nursey ; Joseph Carless, Esq. ; J. Humfrys, Esq. ; Thomas 
Llanwarne, Esq; the Rev. J. P. Bellingham; and Messrs. Carless, Court, 
Harman, Henry Southall, and With; and Mr. Arthur Thompson, the 


Assistant Secretary. 


The financial statement was then read, and ordered to be printed. 
Worthington G. Smith, Esq., F.L.S., of London, and Mr. With were unanimously 
elected honorary members. J. G. Alexander, Esq., of Leominster, the Rev. 
Bernard Marshall, Blakemere, and the Rev. T. Thistlethwaite Smith, Hereford, 
were elected members, and other gentlemen proposed for election at a future 


meeting. 
5 


138 


The following places and days were appointed for the Field Meetings 
for the present year :— 


Tuesday, May 24th—The Forest of Deerfold. 

Tuesday, June 21st—Ross and the Wye (Ladics’ day). 
Friday, July 22nd—Llangorse Lake. 

Friday, August19th—The Longmynd Hills, Shropshire. 
Thursday, Oct. 6th—Hereford, for the ‘‘ Fungus Foray.” 


A communication was then made that the British Archeological Associa- 
tion intended to hold its congress at Hereford this year, at the end of July or 
the beginning of August, and invited the members of the club to assist in its 
investigation of the archzological objects of interest in the city and neigh- 
bourhood. 


The Chairman of the Central Committee announced that the publication 
of the Flora of the County, by the Rev. W. H. Purchas, had already commenced, 
and would, he trusted, be steadily continued until completed. He then 
exhibited some very beautifully coloured illustrations by Worthington G. Smith, 
Esq., F.L.S., of rare funguses, discovered last year by the members of the 
Woolhope Club. 


The first drawing shown was the Polyporus annosus, found last February 
by Wm. Adams, Esq., F.G.S., president of the Cardiff Club, in a deep unused 
gallery, or heading, of the Llondu colliery, Parkslip, near Cardiff. It has the 
peculiarity of being phosphorescent, and when abundant, lights up the dark 
galleries in a peculiar manner. 


The next fungus was the Lentinus lepideus, a rare fungus first found by 
Dr. T. Algernon Chapman growing from between the timbers on the underside of 
a railway bridge at Abergavenny. It was found also by Elmes Y. Steele, Esq., in 
another locality at Abergavenny. Dr. Bull found it under the roadway of the 
Shelwick railway bridge, near Hereford, and it was afterwards observed in several 
other places, but always growing precisely in the same situation. 


The next figures represented a fine golden-coloured fungus, Cortinarius 
(Phlegmacium) fulgens, which was found growing under oak trees at Vennwood 
in September last. It is not quite new to the British flora, though it is not 
mentioned in Berkeley’s work. It has once before been found in England, by 
Mr. Broome, the celebrated mycologist. 


The last sheet, however, represented a fungus quite new to Britain. It 
was first exhibited by Dr. Bull, at Kensington, in 1858, and was found by him 
several times last autumn at Dinedor and in Haywood Forest. It is a striking 
fungus, of a dark brown gingerbread colour, and its name is Cortinarius 
(Pilegmacium) russus. At the suggestion of Mr. Worthington Smith, and with 
the kind offer of his assistance, it was unanimously decided that a coloured 
representation of this new Cortinarius should be published in the forthcoming 
volume of the Transactions of the Club. 


» 


. >? 


5; * ie ne ee ae o> 
ST ee ee 


139 


The following are the botanical characters of this fungus :— 


CORTINARIUS (PHLEGMACIUM) RUSSUS. Fr. 


(See Frontispiece.) 


Pileus—Fleshy, convex, then flattened, obtuse, viscid, glabrous at the 
disc, fibrous at the margin, brittle, uniformly red. Veil—tender, fugacious. 


Gills—Obtusely adnate, scarcely perceptably rounded, or with a slight 
decurrent tooth, crowded, veined, of a red peroxide of iron colour, similar to the 
pileus. 

Stem—Stuffed, then hollow, not bulbous, often curvato-ascending, soft 
streaked with fine silky fibres, somewhat pruinose at the apex. Flavour, not 
bitter but nauseous. 


Spores—Brown, °00032" x 0002." 
Explanation of Plate (the Frontispiece).— Fig. 1 and 2, Cortinarius 


(Pliegmacium) russus. Fig. 3, section of ditto. Fig. 4, spores x 700 diameters. 


It grows solitarily or in patches in Herefordshire woods, and has been 
gathered several times in Heywood Forest and Dinedor Wood, near Heieford. 


The President then introduced the question of the formation of a museum 
in connection with the Club, and after a long discussion, in which many members 
joined, the following resolution was passed—‘‘That the Woolhope Naturalists’ 
Field Club deems it expedient that a committee be appointed to inquire into 
the practicability of establishing a museum ;” and the following gentlemen were 
unanimously appointed to it :—Rev. H. Cooper Key, president, Sir George H. 
Cornewall, Bart., James Rankin, Esq., Dr. M’Cullough, Arthur Armitage, Esq., 
the Rev. C. J. Robinson, and James Davies, Esq. 


The first paper presented to the meeting was— 


140 


METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR 1869, 


BY EDWIN J. ISBELL, Esq. 


In compiling the Meteorological Tables for 1869, we have followed the 
plan adopted in the arrangement of those for 1868. Thus the Tables are again 
four in number, viz :—lst. PRarometer and Wind; 2nd. Thermometers; 3rd. 
Rainfall in Herefordshire during the past year; 4th. Rainfall in Herefordshire 
from the year 1818 to 1869. 

The observations have been made with the best instruments, and the 
tables have been drawn up with care. We trust, therefore, that these records 
of the meteorology of our neighbourhood, will be found free from errors of 
any kind, and worthy of a place in the ‘‘ Transactions” for 1869. 

The range of the barometer (see Table I.) will be found less than that of 
1868. The highest 9 o’clock reading (30°412 corrected but not reduced to sea 
level) was registered on December 6th., and the lowest (28°684) on February Ist. 
The yearly mean of 9 a.m. readings is 29°764. The barometer cistern is 187 feet 
above sea level, equal, very nearly, to two tenths of an inch on the barometer 
scale. The mean barometer reading in England at sea level is 29°95. 

The direction of the wind (Table I.) during the past year is given to 
eight points only. The vane, by means of which observations were made, stands 
(or rather turns) on the clock tower in the High Town. This vane, made and 
presented to the city by Mr. Dillon, is quite a model of its kind: a flat flin 
works upon a steel point, and the weight of the arrow point is exactly balanced 
by the weight of the feather. 

The late Mr. Howard strongly recommended this mode of construction, 
which obviously almost does away with friction, so that the heaviest vane will 
be made to move by the very lightest breath of air. The clock tower vane is also 
well exposed to winds for all points of the compass, and the pointers are correctly 
placed. 

We dwell upon these particulars because vanes are generally home made, 
and if ill constructed and badly placed, may lead to some serious errors in a 
very important branch of meteorological observation. 

According to our table the winds were as follows :—N. 21 days; N.E. 59; 
E. 6; S.E. 31; 8S. 33; S.W. 99; W. 26; N.W. 51; 39 days uncertain. 

The mean temperature of the past year (Table II.) as deduced from the 
maximum and minimum readings (the Greenwich corrections applied) is 49°67 ; 
the average temperature at Greenwich, as determined by, Mr. Glaisher, 
being 49°02. 


. ie a 


= 


ote ee 


141 


The average temperature for each month, as given by Mr. Glaisher, is as 
follows :—January, 369; February, 38°7; March, 41°7; April, 46°2; May, 
52°91 ; June, 59°1; July, 61°8; August, 61'2; September, 56°6; October, 50°2; 
November, 43°2 ; December, 39°8. 

During 1869 the average temperature of January was 41°6; February, 
45°4; March, 38°4; April, 50°7; May, 50°2; June, 57°6;-July, 63°55; August, 
61°3 ; September, 57°7 ; October, 49°9 ; November, 43°2 ; December, 361. 

In comparing the monthly mean temperature of 1869 with Mr. Glashier’s 
figures, we observe that January and February were much above the average, 
March below, April above, May and June below, July above, August about the 
average, September a little above, October a little below, November the average 
temperature exactly, December below it. 

During July and August the temperature was at times very high, and two 
days in July and four in August quite equalled the hottest days of 1868. On 
July 17th the temperature in the shade was 92°1; on the 18th, 93°8. The heat 
then moderated a little, but on the 25th of August it again became excessive 
and reached 91; on the 26th, 93:1; on the 27th, 95°3; and on the 28th, 94. 

But if the high temperature from the 25th of August to the 28th was 
remarkable, the fall which took place on the 29th* was more remarkable still ; 
for on this day the maximum reading was 62 in the shade, a change of 32° which 
severely tried the nerves and lungs of the weak, and did not altogether spare the 
feelings of the strong. 

The lowest temperature of the year was registered on December 28th and 
29th. The readings were as follows :— 


Stand. Grass. 
28th—15'2 as <a 121 
29th—13°4 a a 13°4 


Our rainfall records for 1869 are even more remarkable than those of 1868; 
for although the drought of 1869 was much more excessive tkan that of 1868 yet 
tke total fall for the year was very considerably above the average, at least in 
this part of England ; the large monthly totals of January, February, May, 
September, and December more than compensating for the want of rain during 
the summer months. 

The Wye, I believe, did not sink quite so low during the drought of 1869 
as it did during that of 1868; but this subject I must leave to Mr. J. Lloyd, of 
Huntington Court. In connection with this subject, however, it will be inte:est- 
ing to compare the following record of the rainfall at Rhayader, in Radnorshire, 
forwarded by Mr. R. Lewis Lloyd, with Mr. J. Lloyd’s river table and with the 
records of Herefordshire rainfall during the past year, given in Table III. Mr. 
R. L. Lloyd’s monthly totals are as follows :—January, 7°54 ; February, 6°76; 
March, 3°13; April, 2°45; May, 4:98; June, 0°76; July, 1:08; August, 2°29; 
September, 8:22; October, 4°05; November, 6°68; December, 7:20. Yearly 
total, 55°14 inches, 


* This remarkable fall of temperature really commenced on the evening of the 28th. 


142 


Two tested rain-gauges have been recently placed in the valley of the 
Wye, but as they have not been long enough at work to measure the rainfall 
of a complete year, I pass them over in our present report.* P 


Our greatest fall in twenty-four hours during the past year (at Hereford) 
was measured on the Ist of October, and is therefore placed to the September 
account ; it amounted to 1°620 inch. 

Table IV. is a repetition of a similar table given in the “* Transactions ” of 
1868. In drawing up this table Iam very much indebted to Mr. G. J. Symons 
(so well known as taking the lead in the rainfall department of meteorological 
science) for some yearly totals which did not reach me by local information, 
and also for the detection of a few slight mistakes which appeared in the reprint 
of rainfall tables in the ‘‘ Transactions” for 1867. Iam also indebted to the 
observers whose names are subjoined for materials for Tables III. and IV. :— 
Rocklands, J. M. Herbert, Esq. ; Hagley Park, Arthur Hutchinson, Esq. ; Titley, 
Miss Boddington ; Ross and Leominster, Messrs. H. and E. P. Southall; Sellack, 
Rev. W. Clement Ley; Stretton, Rev. H. C. Key; Tupsley, Mr. Ballard ; 
Blue School, Mr. With; and White Cross, Mr. Davison. I have also received 
some rainfall returns which I would gladly enter in the report, but from want 
of space it has been necessary to print complete yearly returns only.* 

Table IV. will enable anyone at a glance to form a judgment respecting 
the comparative wetness or dryness of any year from 1818 to 1869. Due allowance 
must, of course be made for difference of height above the sea-level, and it 
would have given me much pleasure to have settled this point once and for ever, 
but more important matters have occupied my time and attention, and I have 
been unable to render this service to my scientific friends. 

This much, however, is pretty certain—Hereford, at the Cathedral yard, 
is about 190 feet above the sea; Pool Cottage is 300 feet above Hereford, and 5} 
miles south of it; Titley is 16} miles N.W. of Hereford, and higher than 
Hereford, but I am unable to give the altitude ; Rocklands is situated 14 miles 
8.S.E. of Hereford, and is said to be 100 feet above sea-level. West Lodge, 
Leominster, is about 12 miles north of. Hereford, and 264 feet above the sea. 
Mr. Southall’s residence at Archenfield, Ross, is, I believe, about 300 feet above 
the sea (simultaneous barometrical observations are being carried on at present 
to determine this point), and 11} miles S.E. by 8. of Hereford. Stretton is 
about 2 miles W.N.W. of Hereford, and 10 or 15 feet higher. Sellack is 8} 
miles 8.S.E. of Hereford, and the churchyard is 50 or 60 feet higher than the 
Cathedral Close at Hereford. Tupsley is 1} mile nearly E. of Hereford, and 
perhaps 50 feet higher. 

It is very important to determine, if possible, the altitudes of our guages 
above sea-level, as the following sentence from Mr. Symonds’ “‘ British Rainfall 
for 1867 ” will show :—‘“‘ In all, except mountainous districts, the amount of rain 
collected increases about 2} per cent. per 100 feet of increased elevation ; there- 


* See Mr, Lloyd’s river table. 


——<. 
. 


143 


fore it is evident that in the greater part of England an error of 50 feet in 
the height above sea, involves an error in the amount of rain indicated of 
(30in. +100 x 1:°25=0°38) about four-tenths of an inch.” 

I had made various attempts to ascertain the height of our city above sea- 
level by means of simultaneous barometrical observations, and had come to the 
conclusion that- my garden was 184 feet above the half-tide Ordnance mark at 
Liverpool, when it occurred to me to write to T. D. Roberts, Esq., C.E., at 
Brecon, and ask the difference of level between Moorhampton station on the 
Brecon line and the Barton station at Hereford, intending afterwards to find the 
difference of level between Moorhampton station and Weobley, as the Ordnance 
line of levels passes through the latter place and there is a first-class bench mark 
(bolt) on the church wall. But Mr. Roberts has kindly saved me all further 
trouble ; for he joined the levels of the Brecon line with those of the Ordnance 
survey at Hay, and then made out and sent me the altitudes of all the stations 
from Hay to Hereford, thus furnishing us with what has been so long a desidera- 
tum to the scientific men of Hereford, viz., the height of the city above the sea as 
demonstrated by actual levelling, According to Mr. Roberts the Moorfield 
station is 179 feet above the sea, and my garden 182 feet. 


Mr. Roberts’s altitudes are as follows :— 


FT. 
Levels of railsat Hay... ay .. 25412 
Whitney Station... .. 259°78 
Eardisley as Se ... 230°12 
Moorhampton ... = os SOULE 
Credenhill ve tg ... 251°62 
Moorfields be a Barmy ib 
Barton ... Sr LOLOL 
Rails on Bridge over Canal at Widemarsh ... 183°98 


As the subject is one of importance to rainfall observers, I subjoin a few 
altitudes taken from the Ordnance Map and 


THE ABSTRACT OF SPIRIT LEVELLING. 
FT. 


Garway Hill * ona 2 L970 
Worcester Beacon BA .. 1395°0 
May Hill . oy ay) 9030 
a ( Rantisley Church - Me ...  255°884 (bolt)* 
& | Weobley Church aca .. 816°300 (bolt) 
=) Leominster : 
‘g | Dishley Street... Pee ... 264°355 (bolt) 
2 8 lime Hall ee ... 250°478 (bolt) 
Leintwardine Church ... ... 440°035 (bolt) 


By means of two aneroids, reading exactly alike, the altitude of any place 
within the distance of three miles from any one of the points named may be 
taken with sufficient accuracy for rainfall observations. 

Mr. Symons gives the following directions :—‘‘ If the bench mark and the 
gauge are not more than two miles apart, and their difference of arate is 


* The bolt mark is a kind of first class mark ; a bolt of copper being driven into the 
stone instead of a mere “mark cut upon it. 


144 


under 200 feet, the process is simply this—Place the aneroid or mercurial baro- 


meter (if the latter its readings must be corrected for temperature) level with 


the rain gauge. Read it, say 30°17, then place it level with the bench mark and 
read it, say 30°01, then take it back to the gauge, and read it again, say 30°15. 
All that is necessary is to take the mean of readiags at the gauge. 
Readings at gauge 30°17 
30°15 


” ”? 


aS Ft. 
Sum ... ... 60°32 Altitude of bench mark 492 
Mean 30°16 Deduct difference tt LSB, 
Readings at bench ET. 
mark ... 30°01 Height of gauge eye eo 

15 

Difference 9 

135 feet. 


and multiply the difference in hundredths between the mean at the gauge and 
that at the bench-mark by 9; the result will be the difference in feet, which 
must be added to the elevation of the bench-mark if the barometer there was 
higher than at the gauge, and deducted if it was lower.”* 

If, however, great accuracy should be required, standard mercurial baro- 
meters must be used, and certain corrections applied as given in Negretti and 
Zambra’s work on meteorological instruments, 


Then the work to calculate the height of a hill (Garway, in this instance) 
will be as follows :— 


Barometer at upper station... aa Se .. 28°872 
Barometer at lower station ... Be ... 29°924 


Then from Table I. (see Negretti and Varies s Treatise on Meteorological 
Instruments, p. 42) take out the following factors :— 
28°872=1899°43 


29:924—= 92312 
Tab. II. 976°31 
Correction for mean temperature (47 ‘1) 1031 
Tab III. 1006°57561 
Correction for latitude.................. 99936 
Tab. IV. 1005°9314 &e. 
Additive correction ..........:..c ee 3° 


1008-9314 &c. 
Lower barometer 4 ft. 10 in. above ground. 
Upper barometer 18 in. above ground. 
ae feet nearly 
10 


1013 10 
LG 


1012 4 Height above Hereford. 


* Mr, Symons supposes that the observer has only one instrument. 


= 


tt en i i ie sl le 


145 


Two instruments should always be used, and the observations at the 
upper and lower station should be made and registered at the same time. The 
temperature of the air at both stations should be also observed with care, as the 
mean temperature is a most important element in the calculations. 


The nearer the two stations are together the more accurate the measure- 
ment is likely to be. In the case of Garway we were very fortunate, the air 
remaining perfectly still both at Hereford and on the Hil! during the whole time 
of our observations; and it proved, from Mr. Roberts’s levels, that we were 
certainly not more than two feet from the truth, although the distance between 
the upper and lower station was just 10} miles in a straight line, 


I shall conclude this paper with some very interesting notes sent me by 
the Rev. W. Clement Ley, of Sellack, near Ross :—‘‘The number of days on 
which an appreciable fall occurred at this place was a little below our yearly 
mean. The number of days when 0°50 or upwards was registered, as also the 
total fall for the year, considerably above it. The year was deficient here in 
remarkable local phenomena, 

The electric display on the night of the 29th of September was the 
grandest, as seen from here, which I have ever witnessed in England, about 
10,000 flashes of lightning, sheet and forked, the latter of the most extraordinary 
forms, occurring in six hours. At times from 80 to 90 electric discharges occurred 
per minute. A §.S.E. upper current gale prevailed at the time, and the 
electricity at the earth’s surface was negative. 


The Auroral display of the 13th of May was not so brilliant here as in 
the northern counties, That of Sept. 27th I witnessed to great advantage. I 
observed a lunar rainbow at 10.40 p.m. of December 13th. 


The flood of the Wye on December 20th was as high as any which we have 
had since February, 1853. 


Our highest temperature for the year was 88°.5, August 27th, and our 
lowest (at 4 feet) 18° on the 2nd of December.” 


The following are the tables referred to :— 


146 


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149 
TABLE IV. 


HEREFORDSHIRE RAINFALL, 
From 1818 To 1869, 


Hereford, 
Hereford. 
Hereford. 


Pool Cottage, 
Dewchurch. 
St. Owen’s St., 
Hereford. 
Titley, 
Herefordshire. 
Rocklands, 
near Ross. 
West Lodge, 
Leominster. 
Archenfield, 
Ross. 
Stretton, near 
Hereford. 
Blue School, 
Tupsley, near 
Hereford. 
Richmond Place 
White Cross, 


28 17 


31° , 4 ; 
37°13 a‘ Y q 28.53 | 30°40 
38°13 ' 29°49 ; z i 30 96 | 32°25 


EDWIN J. ISBELL. 
WILLIAM COOKE, 


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151 
REMARKS ON THE FLOOD-WATER OF THE WYE. 


During the past summer the river continued unusually low. In April and 
May there were several flushes, but throughout June, July, and August (except 
on a few days), and up to September 12th, the height of the river varied little 
from low-water level ; consequently the salmon fishing season in the fresh-wateT 
fisheries has again been an unproductive one. The floods in December have been 
excessive, though the total height does not equal that of the same month in 1868. 
The flood of December 19th was 16 feet in height. The only higher floods on 
record are those of February, 1852, 18 feet 4 inches, and of February 11th, 1795, 
20 feet. 

Mr, Curley, C.E., has from careful measurements prepared a table showing 
the number of cubic feet of water passing down per minute, at each foot of 
height up to 10 feet, and thus it will be easy to compute approximately the 
quantity of water flowing down the Wye in the year. This table is now placed 
on the pier of the bridge by the side of the register-plate—a copy is also 
subjoined. Steps are being taken by one of the members to ascertain the amount 
of sediment in flood-water. Tables of the rainfalls at three different stations in 
the upper valley of the Wye are given, as well as that of the rainfall at Hereford. 
TABLE REFERRED TO. 


Height of River. Cubic feet per minute. 
Feet. 
Bybee wee 233°420 
Bix. .... 296°880 
4. wees. BOO 200 
Bi. ..... 413°140 
6) 1 ...-. 476°550 
aie’ soeses ODO LED 
10. .. 766°000 
Huntington Court, Hereford, Feb. 2nd. JOHN LLOYD, 


BAO OM 


152 


THE ANCIENT MAPPA MUNDI PRESERVED IN 
HEREFORD CATHEDRAL. 


The Rev. F. Havergal reported to the Club the progress that had been 
made with regard to the publication of an exact, full-sized, fac-simile of the 
celebrated Hereford Mappa Mundi. During the last twelve months all the 
arrangements have been made for its reproduction. A beautiful and accurate 
drawing has been made by G. C. Haddon, Esq., of this city, and it has been placed- 
in the hands of an excellent lithographer at Bruges. The size of the map is 6 by 5 
feet. It will be produced in six sections, and not less than thirty-six lithographic 
stones of the largest size will be required. The first section is most satisfactorily 
completed, and is now ready for inspection. The preparation of the 4to volume 
of descriptive letter-press has been undertaken by gentlemen highly qualified for 
the work, and that too is ina forward state of preparation. This will be illus- 
trated by four photographs from the map itself, which together will represent 
the whole map and afford the means of testing the strict accuracy of the litho- 
graphic fac-simile. These photographs have been well taken by Mr. Ladmore, 
of Hereford. 

The time has now arrived when it is desirable to obtain as many sub- 
scribers names as possible, that the requisite number of copies may be struck 
off. The publication of the map in this accurate form has proved both difficult 
and costly, but he trusted that the members of the Woolhope Club, with whom 
the first efforts for its publication originated, would exert themselves to make it 
known and to obtain subscribers. No effort had been spared, and they might 
depend upon it that none would be spared, to do full justice to this most 
interesting literary and antiquarian gem; and the price charged for it would 
not exceed the actual cost of its production. At present there were but seven 
copies ordered by persons resident in Herefordshire, which could only arise, he 
thought, from want of information about it. 

The following prospectus has already been issued :— 


THE ANCIENT MAPPA-MUNDI IN HEREFORD CATHEDRAL. 

This Map has been an object of interest to Geographers and Antiquaries 
since the year 1780, when a description of it appeared in Gough’s British 
Topography (vol. i. p. 71). At that time it was in the Library of Hereford 
Cathedral, but for several years past it has been suspended in the south aisle of 
the choir. 

We are informed of the name of the author of the Map in the following 
lines which appear in one of its corners : 


Tuz ki cest estoire ont. 

Ou oyront ou lirront ou ueront. 

Prient a ihesu en deyte. 

De Richard de Haldingham 6 de Lafford eyt pite. 
Ki lat fet e compasse. 

Ki joie en cel li seit done. 


So 


153 


The places here mentioned are identified with Holdingham and Sleaford in 
Lincolnshire. Holdingham is a hamlet in the parish of Sleaford, situated one 
mile from the town. 

_ Nothing was known by those who first studied the Map either of its 
connection with the Cathedral of Hereford, or of its date, except what was 
gathered from internal evidence. M. Lelewel, from the style of its penmanship, 
conceived that it was executed about 1220. M. d’Avezac, ingeniously comparing 
the course of historical events in the fourteenth century with the political 
divisions as indicated in the Map in respect to France, Burgundy and Flanders, 
concludes its date to have been between 1313 and 1320. English antiquaries 
have pronounced the style of writing to belong to the twenty years from 1290 to 
1310. 

But recent researches in cathedral records have fortunately furnished us 
with sure ground both as to its proximate date, and as to its connection with the 
cathedral, Richard of Haldingham, having previously held office in Lincoln 
Cathedral, was endowed with the prebendal stall of Norton in Hereford, and 
retained his prebend from 1290 to 1310, He was subsequently connected with 
the chapter of Salisbury, and became Archdeacon of Berks. It ean hardly be 
doubted that the Map was executed while he was prebendary of Hereford, and 
the period which is thus defined satisfactorily coincides with the conclusion of 
the English antiquaries from the style of the work. 


The Map is drawn in accordance with the notion which, with modifications 
from time to time, was the prevailing one in Christendom for more than seven 
centuries, from the time of Orosius and St. Augustin, until travellers in distant 
regions became more numerous, observant, and communicative. The habitable 
earth is represented as a circular island, with the “ ocean-stream” flowing round 
it. Jerusalem is placed in the centre. Asia occupies nearly the whole upper (or 
Eastern) half of the circle, while Europe holds the lower quarter on the left 
hand, and Africa that on the right. 


This arrangement is common to most of the medieval maps of the world. 
But the Hereford Map is distinguished from the rest by its great size, its 
elaborate drawing, its illustrations of objects in natural history and of historical 
facts, and its numerous inscriptions, many of which are of great interest in an 
archeological point of view. It may be regarded as the most complete repre- 
sentation in existence of those speculative notions of our forefathers regarding 
the earth, which speedily gave way upon the advance of actual geographical 
knowledge in the fifteenth century. 


The interest of the Map is greatly increased by the decidedly religious 
character of its chief illustrations. Inasort of gable over the circular border is 
a striking and curious representation of the Last Judgment; and in the Map 
itself, the Eating of the Forbidden Fruit in the Garden of Eden, the Crucifixion 
on Mount Calvary, and other events in Biblical and ecclesiastical history, are 


prominently shown, Many of the legends partake of the samecharacter. This 
U 


154 


fact, together with the peculiar form of the drawing, has furnished ground for 
conjecture that it was intended for an altar-piece of one of the chapels of the 
Cathedral. 

A copy of the Map, by no means an exact one, was made for the 
Geographical Society in 1830 : from this a second copy was drawn for M. Jomard 
in 1844, which was engraved in Peris. It is from these copies that the map has 
been studied by Continental geographers, and that portions of it have been copied 
and discussed in detail by several French scholars. An imperfect copy, from 
the original, of the part containing the British Isles (which had been previously 
engraved for Gough’s work) was published in 1846 by Mr. W. Saxe Bannister. 

The work, as a whole, has been the subject of elaborate essays by the 
Vicomte de Santarem (Histoire de la Cartographie au Moyen Age) and by M. 
d’Avezac, a former president of the Geographical Society of Paris (Vote sur la 
Mappemonde Historiéelde la Cathédrale de Héréford, 1861). It has also been 
briefly noticed by M. Lelewel (Geographie du Moyen Age, vol. ii. p. 6). But it is 
to be regretted that the labours of these scholars have been expended upon im- 
perfect copies, which have misled them in some very important particulars. 

The Map is elaborately drawn in colours on vellum. Its author must have 
been a distinguished caligrapher. Some few words, that can easily be detected, 
have been inserted by a later and less instructed scribe, who has transposed the 
names of the continents of Europe and Africa, which had not been inserted by 
the author. The ravages of time are but too perceptible in the work, and some 
parts can only be deciphered with difficulty. Itis obviously desirable that a very 
correct copy of it should be made while it is still possible to reproduce the 
colours of the original, as well as the drawing and the writing. A document so 
important in its bearing, not only on the history of scientifie knowledge but on 
the legends of the middle ages, should not be suffered to perish, and ought to be 
placed within easy reach of students at home and abroad. 

It is therefore proposed to publish a facsimile, executed with the utmost 
care in coloured lithography, to be accompanied by a photograph of 15 inches in 
diameter, by which the critical accuracy of the copy may be perfectly tested with 
the aid of a glass. Letterpress will be added, which will contain all that is 
known of the author, copies of the whole of the legends in the Map with 
explanations, and a critical examination of the Map and of its place in the 
history of cartography. 

It is expected that this work will be published about the latter part of the 
year (1870). 


The Rev. F. T. Havergal, the College, Hereford, will gladly give any 
further information about it, and receive subscribers’ names. 


—oKGe— 


155 


ABSTRACT OF THE RESULTS OF RECENT EXPLORA- 
TIONS OF THE DEEP SEA. 


By Dr. WCULLOUGH. 


Until a very recent period the nature of the sea bottom beyond a depth 
of a few hundred feet was almost unknown. About 1843, Professor Edward 
Forbes, having dredged to the depth of two hundred and thirty fathoms, formed 
the opinion that animal life probably ceased about three hundred fathoms, and, 
in spite of facts which militated against this conclusion, his authority caused 
this opinion to be very generally held. In Sir John Ross’s Antarctic Expedition, 
1839-1840, dredgings at depths of from two hundred and twenty to four hundred 
fathoms yielded evidence of animal life in great abundance and variety. Star 
fishes had at various times been brought up from much greater depths attached 
to sounding lines. In 185I Lieut. Brooke, of the United States navy, brought 
up by means of an apparatus attached to the sounding line a portion of mud 
from the bottom of the North Atlantic at a depth of more than two miles. In 
1857 the Admiralty sent a surveying vessel, under the command of Captain 
Dayman, to sound along the route of the proposed American Telegraph Cable, 
and an expedition was sent out for a similar purpose in 1860 under the command 
of Sir Leopold M’Clintock, with Dr. Wallich as naturalist. In both these expe- 
ditions very many specimens of the bottom sediment were brought up from 
depths up to two thousand four hundred fathoms. In 1861, whena Telegraph 
Cable in the Mediterranean was taken up for repair, several living Polyparies 
and Mollusks were found attached to portions of it which had been submerged 
to depths of from one thousand and ninety-three to fifteen hundred and seventy- 
seven fathoms, In 1864 and following years, M. Sars, Sweedish Government 
Inspector of Fisheries, while dredging off the Loffoden Islands within the 
Arctic circle, at a depth of three hundred fathoms, obtained results of the 
greatest interest and importance. These were brought before theRoyal Society, 
at the instance of Professor Wyville Thompson, and led to the Admiralty 
granting a vessel for carrying out deep sea operations in the summer of 1868 
and again in 1869. 

The expedition of 1868, in the “ Lightning,” was under the direction of 
Dr. Carpenter and Professor Wyville Thompson, and lasted from August 11th 
to September 21st. These investigations were directed to the channel between 
the North of Scotland and the Faroe Banks, and they dredged at various 
depths up to six hundred and fifty fathoms. In the expedition of the 
“Porcupine,” in 1869, three trips were made, In the first, on the West coast 


156 


of Ireland, Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys dredged up toa depth of fourteen hundred 
and seventy-six fathoms. In the second cruise to the northern part of the Bay 
of Biscay, Professor Wyville Thompson dredged at the enormous depth of two’ 
thousand four hundred and thirty-five fathoms, or more than 2? miles. In the 
third, Dr. Carpenter again explored the sea bed between the north of Scotland 
and the Faroe Islands at depths varying from one hundred to seven hundred and 
sixty-seven fathoms, ‘ 
The following important additions to our knowledge have resulted from 
these explorations. First, as to TEMPERATURE. Only two years ago the accepted 
belief was that the temperature of the sea at great depths was everywhere con- 
stant at 39.° The only reason for this belief seems to have been that fresh 
water attains its greatest density at 39° and the same was assumed of salt water, 
whereas the latter increases in density down to its freezing point at or below 28°. 


Between the north of Scotland and the Faroe Islands a cold area was 
found, where over a considerable extent the temperature at a depth of three 
hundred fathoms and upwards was below the freezing point of fresh water. At 
one place, at six hundred and forty fathoms, the greatest depth found in the 
cold area, the temperature was 29°6, while at a similar depth at no great distance 
the temperature was at least twelve degrees higher, the surface temperature in 
both cases being about 52 degrees. From these observations, it became evident 
that there are deep currents bringing cold water from the Polar regions to 
replace the warmer water, which is constantly flowing from the Equator, as well 
as to make up the loss caused by evaporation in the Tropics; and that instead 
of the deep sea being still and stagnant, it undergoes as constant, though, 
perhaps, more regular changes than the atmosphere, 


The results, as regards the distribution of animal life, were still more 
interesting and unexpected. The sediment brought up from great depths in the 
North Atlantic was almost entirely composed of calcareous skeletons of living 
organisms. Many specimens were composed chiefly of Foraminifera, sometimes 
as much as 85 per cent. consisting of one form alone, namely Globigerina. 
Certain bodies, which have been named coccoliths and coccosphores, which are 
evidently products of organisation, have also been found, the former in abun- 
dance. The great interest of these discoveries arises from the fact that some 
specimens of chalk consist of little else than Globigerinw, identical with the 
living form, and that coccoliths and coccospheres are also found in the chalk 
in no respect different from the recent forms, except in their being fossilised. 


The deep-sea mud was found to contain great quantities of a transparent 
gelatinous substance, exhibiting under the microscope a colourless and structure- 
less matrix in which granules and coccoliths are imbedded. Professor Huxley 
regards this as a distinct creature, and has named it Bathybius, and he thinks 
that the coccoliths are not independent organisms, but that they stand in the 
same relation to the protoplasm of Bathybius as the spicula of sponges or of 
Radiolaria do to the soft part of those animals. 


157 


Another very interesting and suggestive discovery was a Crinoid, the 
Rhizocrinus lofotensis, a stalked starfish, belonging to the Apiocrinide, a family 
which flourished during the Oolitic period, and appeared to have become almost 
extinct before the formation of the older Tertiaries. It was found originally off 
the Lofoden Islands, by Sars, and it has since been dredged off the North of 
Scotland and the coast of Florida. In the expedition of 1869 eight species of 
Mollusca were found which were supposed to have become extinct during the 
tertiary period. 

Besides these fossil forms, which have an interest of their own, a great 
abundance and variety of animal life has been found at the greatest depths 
which have yet been investigated. Considering how fragmentary these investi- 
gations have yet been and what mere scraps of the vast ocean depths have been 
included in them, some idea of the richness of the harvest yet to be gathered 
may be formed from the fact that in the expedition of 1869, of mollusca alone, 
one hundred and seventeen species were added to the fauna of the British seas, 
being an addition of more than a fourth to the number previously known. Of 
these one hundred and seventeen species, fifty-six were new to science. 

These investigations have caused a great change in our ideas on another 
point—the influence of pressure at great depths on animal life. So far from 
this pressure being, as was supposed, almost incompatible with it, there seems 
reason to believe that it has little influence on animals which have no air cavaties 
but whose bodies consist entirely of solid and liquid parts. Creatures which 
had been previously known te inhabit depths of forty or fifty fathoms have been 
brought up from a depth of 2? miles, and these not simple forms of life, but 
highly organised animals. There seems no reason to doubt that varied and 
abundant forms of animal life will be found at even much greater depths when 
we are able to explore them. 

There is still considerable difference of opinion as to the food of animals 
in deep water. Plants which convert inorganic matter into forms fitted to 
sustain animal life are wanting. Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys says that in the cruise 
of the ‘‘ Porcupine” in the North Atlantic, in 1869, he could not detect the 
slightest trace of any vegetable organism ata greater depth than fifteen feet. 
The higher animals no doubt feed on the lower, but whether these in their 
simplest forms obtain sufficient nutriment from the organic matter derived from 
the decomposition of animals and plahts—and which is found to exist in appre- 
ciable quantity in water at all depths—or whether they are able to draw 
nutriment directly from the inorganic world is still matter of debate. 

Connected with this question of food is that of light. It has been assumed 
that at these great depths there must be profound darkness, but as animals 
bright in colour, and possessing large and highly organised eyes, have been 
found inhabiting them, some doubt has been thrown on this assumption. 


158 


LIST OF BIRDS OBSERVED AT BREDWARDINE, 


Dvurine THE Years 1864-5-6-7-8-9. 


BY THE REV. ROBERT BLIGHT. 


Falco esalon 

Falco tinnunculus 
Accipiter nisus 
Circus cyaneus 
Strix flammea 
Syrnium aluce 
Noctua passerina 
Lanius collurio 
Muscicapa grisola 
Cinclus aquaticus 
Turdus viscivorus 
Turdus pilaris 
Turdus musicus 
Turdus iliacus 
Turdus merula 
Turdus torquatus 
Accentor modularis 
Frythaca rubecula 
Phenicura ruticilla 
Saaicola rubicola 
Saxicola rubetra 
Salicaria phragmitis 
Curruca atricapilla 
Curruca hortensis 
Curruca cinerea 
Curruca sylviella 
Sylvia sylvicola 
Sylvia trochilus 
Sylvia hippolais 
Regulus cristatus 


Merlin.* 

Kestrel, 

Sparrow Hawk. 
Hen Harrier.* 
Barn Owl. 

Tawny Owl. 

Little Owl.* 
Red-backed Shrike, 
Spotted Flycatcher, 
Water Dipper. 
Missel Thrush, 
Field Fare. 

Song Thrush, 
Red-Wing. 
Blackbird. 

Ring Ouzel. 

Hedge Sparrow. 
Redbreast. 

Red Start. 

Stone Chat. 

Whin Chat. 

Sedge Warbler. 
Black Cap. 

Garden Warbler. 
Whitethroat, 
Lesser Whitethroat, 
Wood Warbler. 
Willow Warbler. 
Chiff Chaff. 

Gold Crest, 


" Single Specimen, 


‘. barr 


es eee 


Parus major 

Parus ceruleus 
Parus ater 

Parus palustris 
Parus caudatus 
Motacilla Yarelli« 
Motacilla boarula 
Motacilla Rayi 
Anthus arboreus 
Anthus pratensis 
Alauda arvensis 
Alauda arborea 
Emberiza miliaria 
Emberiza scheniclus 
Emberiza citrinella 
Fringilla celebs 
Fringilla montifringilla 
Passer domesticus 
Passer montanus 
Coccothraustes chloris 
Coccothraustes vulgaris 
Carduelis elegans 
Linota cannabina 
Pyrrhula vulgaris 
Sturnus vulgaris 
Corvus corax 
Corvus corone 
Corvus frugilegus 
Corvus monedula 
Pica caudata 
Garrulus glandarius 
Alcedo ispida 
Hirundo rustica 
Hirundo urbica 
Hirundo riparia 
Cypselus apus 
Picus viridis 

Picus major 

Picus minor 
Certhia familiaris 
Troglodytes vulgaris 
Sitta Europea 


Great Tit. 

Blue Tit. 

Cole Tit. 

Marsh Tit. 
Long-tailed Tit. 
Pied Wagtail. 
Grey Wagtail. 
Ray’s Wagtail. 
Tree Pipit. 
Meadow Pipit. 
Skylark. 
Woodlark. 
Common Bunting. 
Black-headed Bunting, 
Yellow Hammer. 
Chaffinch. 
Brambling. * 
House Sparrow. 
Mountain Sparrow, 
Greenfinch. 
Hawfinch. 
Goldfinch, 
Linnet, 

Bullfinch, 
Starling. 

Raven.* 

Crow. * 

Rook. 

Jackdaw,. 

Magpie. 

Jay. 

Kingfisher. 
Swallow. 
House-Martin, 
Sand-Martin. 
Swift. 

Green Woodpecker. 


Great Spotted Woodpecker. 
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 


Tree Creeper. 
Wren. 
Nuthatch, 


* Single specimen, 


Cuculus canorus 


Cuckoo. 


Columba palumbus Ring Dove. 
Columba cenas Stock Dove. 
Columba turtur Turtle Dove. 
Phasianus colchicus Pheasant. 

Perdix cinerea Partridge. 
Vanellus cristatus Lapwing. 

Ardea cinerea Heron. 

Scolopax rusticola Woodcock, 
Scolopax gallinago Common Snipe. 
Crex pratensis Corncrake, 
Rallus aquaticus Water Rail. 
Gallinula chloropus Moorhen. 

Fulica atra Coot. 

Anas boschas Wild Duck. 

Anas crecca Teal. 

Anas penelope Wigeon. 

Podiceps minor Dabchick. 

Sterna hirundo Common Tern.* + 
Larus ridibundus Black-headed Gull.+ ¢ 


* Single specimen. 
+ These two were seen after long continued rough weather from N.W. 
t Flock of 42. 


: 


161 


NOTE ON THE LIFE HISTORY OF ABDERA 
BIFASCIATA, Marsh. 


By T. ALGERNON CHAPMAN, M.D., ABERGAVENNY. 


My attention was one day attracted by a rotten oak stick lying on the 
ground, from the circumstance that the bark on one side presented numerous 
minute circular holes, irregularly disposed. My immediate conclusion was that 
I had come across traces of some Zomicus ; but on cutting into the stick I found 
that each hole led into a little cul-de-sac, from a quarter to a third of an inch 
long, lying parallel with the fibres of the wood. This was obviously the work 
of some insect, but clearly not of any Hylesinidon. I was further puzzled by 
the inadequateness of the removed material to have fed an insect of the size 
indicated by the exit aperture. 

I have not since met with any stick containing these holes so abundantly 
as this first one did; but I soon after found sticks similarly perforated, and 
almost invariably found the holes associated with the presence on the stick of 
the remains of a fungus; and last spring I succeeded in finding sticks still 
inhabited by the larve of the insect that produces these holes. The reason 
that my first specimen was so puzzling was that all traces of the fungus had 
disappeared. ¢ 

The beetle (for the larve in question are those of a beetle) whose history 
I was thus led to investigate proved to be Abdera bifasciata, Marsh., an insect of 
some rarity. 

I have said that I usually found the indications of the presence of the 


beetle associated with a fungus. ‘The larve in reality feed not on the oak 


wood, but on the fungus, and I never find the fungus in any quantity without 
indications of the beetle. Though an enthusiastic mycophagist, I cannot lay ~ 
claim to any knowledge of mycology, and am consequently indebted to Dr. Bull 
for the knowledge that the fungus inhabited by Abdera bifasciata is the 
Corticium quercinum, Fr., and it is only to be found in its proper habitat. Its 
only habitat, so far as my observations go, is on those branches of trees from one 
to three inches in diameter, which die and become rotten onthe tree. It grows 
on the under sides of these branches, and though only I suppose really alive for 
one season, its dry remains may persist for several years, and when soaked with 
rain look much like the fresh fungus. Its favourite tree is the oak; I have also 
found it on the ash. Such rotten branches as the Corticiwm affects are usually 


broken off piecemeal by the wind, and should they happen to fall when the 
v 


162 


Corticiwm is in suitable condition, the larva of Abdera is easily found beneath 
it. As TI have informed several of my correspondents that the Corticiwm grows 
on the fallen branches after they have fallen, I wish especially to point out that 
that is not the case, and that although the fallen branches only are available in 
searching for the beetle, the proper habitat of the fungus, and consequently of 
the beetle is, I have fully satisfied myself, on the tree, and their being on the 
ground is to be regarded as an accident. 


The Corticiwm is a thin fleshy fungus, of a reddish chocolate colour, lying 
flat against the bark on which it grows, of a tougher consistence than its 
appearance suggests, and when dry it is athin, hard, dark-coloured scale, which 
finally curls up and falls off, leaving the bark little altered in appearance, but no 
doubt advanced a stage in the process of decay. 


Abdera bifasciata is one of the Melandryade, a family of the Heteromera. 
The Heteromera are a somewhat incongruous group, and even in the Melan- 
dryade there are species of somewhat differing affinities. Abdera, however, 
appears to be closely related to the typical genus Melandrya. 


Ican give you no information regarding the oviposition of Abdera bifas- 
ciata, but throughout the winter the larvee may be found of various ages beneath 
the Corticiuwm quercinum, and clearly feeding on those portions of it nearest the 
bark. Towards April and May they are full-fed, and each makes its way 
directly into the wood for a short distance, though sometimes for nearly half an 
inch, and then makes a little cell of its own length parallel witb the fibres of 
the wood, in which it changes to pupa. The entrance to the cell is protected 
by being stuffed with the sawdust removed in its formation. The larva turns 
round with its head towards the opening before assuming the pupal state. The 
perfect insect emerges in July; in doing so it enlarges the opening of the cell, 
Though this is the usual habit of the larvz, it often happens that the fungus 
begins to peel off before they are full-fed, and then the larve make their way 
into the superficial layers of the bark, in which they seem to find sufficient 
nutriment, possibly the mycelium of the fungus, to feed them to full growth. 


The full grown larva of Abdera bifasciata is 5 mm. in length, its general 
aspect is much that of a longicorn, the second segment, into which the head 
can be retracted, being the broadest. The head is rather longer than broad. 
The strong jaws seen from below are gouge or scoopshaped, on the upper side a 
slight projection is to be seen near the apex, the labrum is as long as the 
jaws, rounded, with a fringe of fine hairs, and with a line across near its edge, 
which does not seem to indicate a joint. The maxillz have each a three jointed 
palpus, their inner angles are produced into an organ of similar shape to the 
palpus, and fringed with short sete towards the extremity of its inner margin ; 
this organ does not appear to be jointed to the rest of the maxilla. The labium, 
difficult to observe between the maxille, appears to be a rounded plate, 
divided into a basilar half, which seems dotted with obsolete hairs and from 
whose margin there appear to rise two three jointed palpi, of which the large 


163 


basilar joints at least are united to the anterior half of the labium, almost 
hiding it, and the terminal joint is so small that its existence is doubtful; this 
bears a minute seta. The antennz are four jointed, the terminal joint bears a 
stiff bristle. Beside the last joint and in front of it is a rounded body which is 
either a separate joint or a process of the third joint, which of the two I have not 
satisfied myself. Behind each antenna is a row of three blackish eye-spots, 
each emarginate in front, centrally behind these is a fourth, and at a little 
distance above this a fifth ; these two last are blackish circles broadest in front. 
Near these are several bristles. The body consists of 12 segments; they are so 
transparent that much of the internal anatomy can be seen, some of it being 
obscured by regularly disposed masses of white fat. There are three pairs of 
four-jointed legs, the last joint being a slender brownish claw. Each segment 
has laterally a stiff-looking hair with two or three smaller ones. The 13th (last) 
segment has similarly two larger hairs and several smaller ones. There is a 
slight projection on the ventral surface of this segment, hardly pronounced 
enough to be dignified by the name of anal tubercle or proleg. There are ten 
pairs of spiracles, the first is situated below the line of the others at the anterior 
border of the third segment, the second at the anterior border of the fourth 
segment. This one is smaller than any of the others, but I have satisfied myself 
that it is really an aperture and not merely an approach of air tubes to the 
surface. The others are situated more and more towards the middle of their 
respective segments, so that the last four or five may be said to be so placed. I 
shall not add any remarks here on the fact of this larva possessing ten pairs of 
spiracles, as I hope to make some observations on this and some similar facts 
in a separate note, 


By this time the dinner-hour had arrived. Sufficient provision had not 
been made for the number of members who attended, since so many came 
without giving any notice of their intention to do so, and some gentlemen 
were unfortunately obliged to leave in consequence. . 

After dinner the President brought forward the distressed state in which 
the family of Professor Michael Sars, of Christiania, had been left by his 
unexpected demise. A plate was handed round the table, and £3 7s. was 
collected, which the president undertook to forward. 

Three glass bowls from the fish-hatching apparatus of J. F. Symonds, 
Esq., Broomy-hill, contained the ova and young fry of the salmon, the Great 
Lake trout, and the common trout. They created great interest, and the circu- 
lation through their transparent vessels was afterwards well shown by Mr. 
With’s microscope. 

The President then read his retiring address, and, on the proposition of 
Sir George H. Cornewall, Bart., and Arthur Armitage, Esq., received the thanks 
of the Club for his exertions in its interest as president during the past year, 
amidst much applause. 


164 


THE ANCIENT FOREST OF DEERFOLD. 


BY DR. BULL. 


PART I.—TOPOGRAPHICAL AND INTRODUCTORY. 


“Lug from the Radnorian plain 
At Prestain coming in ; where he doth entertain 
The Wadel, as along he under Derfold goes ; 
Her full and lusty side to whom the forest shows 
As to allure fair Lug abode with her to make.” 


Drayton, ‘‘ Polyolbion” 7. 


The ancient Forest of Deerfold, or Darvold, as it is now more commonly 
called, is situated in the Northern part of Herefordshire, between Aymestry 
and Lingen, and between Wigmore and Shobden. It is chiefly contained in 
the parish of Wigmore, but partly alsoin that of Aymestry. It is not large in 
size, about 2,500 acres, and consists of high ground, with one chief valley sloping 
to the South-east. Its situation is extremely secluded, and its scenery on the 
Northern side, where it is bounded by a steep descent to the plain beneath, is 
very fine. The highest portion of the forest is a hill to the South, and it is the 
highest ground in the district. Six other counties may be seen from it, viz., 
Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Montgomery, Radnorshire, and 
Brecon. The summit of this hill shows the remains of a circular camp, and 
there are the traces of a ditch which incloSed a much larger portion of the 
round top of the hill. The inner circle is planted with a row of Scotch firs, 
which may be about fifty years old. 

The Forest has now lost its wild character. It is completely inclosed and 
for the most part under cultivation. Two centuries ago a traveller could pass 
through it without leaving the shade’of the oak trees which grew there. Now 
the woods are chiefly confined to the steep hanging slopes of the hills, and thin 
belts of larch give their character to the landscape. The final inclosure took 
place in 1818, and the straight roads and formal allotments then made will 
long disfigure the district. It will be some time too before that sign of a forest 
district disappears, the remains of the charcoal burner’s fires, which the plough 
turns up in almost every field. These ‘‘ charking places” are very numerous all 
over the Forest. 

The chief proprietors at the present time are Lady Langdale, who has 
the largest share, Lord Bateman, the Messrs Fortey and Turner, and some three 
dozen smaller freeholders. 


q 
q 


165 


The attention of the Woolhope Club was drawn to the Forest of Deerfold 
by the discovery of the new instance of a Mistletoe-oak, the eighth in the list 
of those remarkable trees known to be in existence at the present time.* A 
visit to this tree gave rise to the discovery of another rarity, Asarum Europeum, 
the Asarabacca, and an account of both these discoveries was read at the first 
meeting of the Club this year at Ledbury (see pages 15 and 16). The Asarabacca 
is a medicinal plant of considerable virtue. It is only known to grow in four or 
five other places in the kingdom, and always in the neighbourhood of some 
religious institution. This ecclesiastical association has, singularly enough, been 
the means here too of opening up an interesting chapter in church history, though 
of a character very different from what might have been expected. 

On the eastern side of the Forest, Juniper (Juniperus communis) grows 
wild. There are a few large bushes there still. 

It may be also noticed that the neighbourhood of the Forest has ever been 
celebrated for its breed of horses, So late as 1660 it was specially so, and it is 
supposed that they were the descendants of some Spanish stock introduced by 
Robert de Belesme at the close of the 11th century. Giraldus Cambrensis 
speaks of their fame in Powys-land in his time, and no doubt the wild nature of 
the country favoured their breeding. The late Lord Bateman and Lord Oxford, 
in recent times, were great horse-breeders, and to this day there is a good hore 
fair at Brampton Brian in the immediate neighbourhood. 

The only printed fragment to be found in history with regard to the For 
of Deerfold is the brief statement in Duncumb’s ‘“‘ History of Herefordshire 
(p. 205) that ‘‘in the reign of Queen Elizabeth the Forest of Deerfold was om 
of the four royal Forests of Herefordshire, the others being those of Aconbury, 
Ewyas, and Haywood.” This is quite true, but it is scarcely enough to satisfy 
the most moderate enquirer. 

This want of any History of the Forest, and the ignorance of its existence 
even, which generally prevails through the county, render it desirable that all 
the information that can be procured should be made known. And this, too, is 
the more important since the poor of the immediate neighbourhood believe that 
they have still certain rights of common in the Forest, which, beyond doubt, 
formerly belonged to them ; but which, most certainly, have ceased to do so for 

ist fifty-one years, as will be shown hereafter. 2 


PART II.—THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE FOREST. 


“ Meery it was in the grene forest,. 
Among the leves grene ; 

Whereas men hunt east and west, 
Wyth bowes and arrowes kene, 


To raise the dere out of theyr denne.” 
Ballad of “‘ Adam Bell.” Percy’s Reliques. 
The Forest of Deerfold with the adjoining chases of Brindgewood, 
Prestwood, and Mochtree, formed a portion of that large tract of woodland, then 


* See page 15 for the list of all the known Mistletoe-oaks, 


166 


in Shropshire but now in the northern part of Herefordshire, in which Edric, 
Earl of Shrewsbury, ‘‘ Edric Sylvaticus,” the forester, successfully maintained 
the Saxon cause for some years after the Norman conquest of England. Edric 
subsequently swore allegiance to King William ; but owing to some offence given 
to him by the King, he revolted between the years 1072 and 1085. Ralph de 
Mortimer was deputed to reduce him, and having with considerable difficulty 
succeeded in doing so, he was rewarded by William with a large share of Edric’s 
possessions. 

At the time of the Domesday Survey (1085) the whole district was little 
more than a wild chase, and was otherwise wholly unproductive. ‘‘In his 
wastis terris excreverunt silve in quibus iste Osbernus venationem exercet, et 
inde habet quod capere potest, nil aliud.” This Osborn was Osborn Fitz Richard, 
the Lord of Richard’s Castle and Ludford, who was associated with Ralph de 
Mortimer in the overthrow of Earl Edric. 

Wolves abounded in these forests, and continued to do so for two centuries 
later; and the Hundred Rolls abound in curious laws and customs which prevailed 
in them. ‘‘ Hugh de Mortimer, a Lord of Richard’s Castle, on the death of his 
step-father, William de Stuteville, in 1259, was an active partisan of Henry III. 
in his wars with the Barons, being temporarily deprived of his castle by them ; 
and for his heroism at the battle of Evesham (1265), was granted the privilege of 
hunting the hare, the fox, weasel, and wild cat in any of the Royal forests of 
Shropshire.”—Robinson’s “‘ Castles of Herefordshire,” p. 119. 


For many a long year these united forests formed the hunting grounds of 
the Lords of Wigmore. Deer abounded in them, and it is a fair presumption 
that the Forest of Deerfold owes its name to the fact of the deep narrow vallies 
on its western side, being favourable to the formation of ‘‘Hayes.” The 
**Haie” so frequently mentioned as occurring among the sylve in Domesday 
were ambuscades, into which the game was driven by beating the woods with 
horns and dogs, and which were so fenced in at the sides and end as to prevent 


escape when once the animals had entered. 


“The dryvars thorowe the woodes went 
For to reas the dear ; 

Bomen bickarte uppone the bent 
With their browd aras cleare. 


Then the wyld thorowe the woodes went 
On every side shear ; 

Grea-hondes thorowe the greves glent 
For to kyl thear dear.” —Chevy Chase. 


The narrow vallies on the slopes of the forest near Lingen were admirably adapted 
for this purpose : and in Domesday vi. (Shropshire), in enumerating the lands of 
Ralph de Mortimer “ at Linghan,” it is said ‘‘ibi dimidium leuua silve et iii haie 
capreolis capiendis,” there half a league of wood and three ‘ Hayes,’ for taking 
young deer or kids belonged to him. 

Game of another kind was also amply afforded by the Forest of Deerfold. 
The small streams and marshy pools of the Dickendale meadows and the Haven 
dingle would be the frequent resort of herons, and it is scarcely possible to 


a 


) 
: 
: 


167 


imagine a more beautiful district for the noble sport of falconry. One can readily 
see, in the mind’s eye, a gay party of lords and ladies from Wigmore Castle, with 
the falconer in attendance, taking their station on the camp-hill on a fine autumn 
morning, and eagerly watching for the appearance of the heron above the trees 
when started by the beaters in the valley below. They would ride quickly in the 
direction taken by the quarry; the bird would be allowed to clear the high ground 
of the forest ; whenthe hood would be taken from some favourite hawk, and rising 
high in the air he would at once commence the pursuit over the broad valley 
below. The whole course would be plainly visible from the high ground of the 
forest, the rapid swoops of the noble bird to seize its prey, and the various efforts 
made by the heron to escape its enemy, until either the quarry was struck down, 
or it narrowly escaped by reaching the friendly shelter of some distant wood, as 
fortune might favour the one or the other. Two falcons might be pitted against 
each other, or several herons might be flushed together, and so the excitement 
would be varied, and the rides through this fine scenery be made still more 
enjoyable. The heron was then a favourite dish at the table, not less esteemed 
than the bustard or peacock. It was ranked as royal game and protected as such 
by the laws. Any one who took or destroyed its eggs incurred a fine of 
twenty shillings, which was a very heavy penalty in those days. 


At this distance of time it is not possible to say whether any heronry 
existed in the Forest itself, but it is well known that a fine colony of herons 
occupied a grove of lofty oaks, growing in a hill-side dingle at Willey Lodge, about 
two miles from Lingen, up to as late a period as 1836. There were from one to 
two hundred nests there, and often several in the same tree. The grove 
was felled by the owner, and thus unfortunately was destroyed one of the last 
of the Heronries of Herefordshire.* 


* Tur HERONRIES OF HEREFORDSHIRE.—It is yet within the memory of man that 
many Heronries existed in Herefordshire, although they have now become extinct. There 
was one within a mile of the city of Hereford, on the fine elms at the Moor. It gradually 
dwindled down to a single pair of birds, and they disappeared about 60 yearsago. There 
was also a large Heronry on elm trees at Newcourt, Lugwardine, about three miles from 
the city, and some few tenants remained to so late a period as 1863. There was a colony of 
herons ocoupying some tall oak trees on the N.W. side of Brampton Brian park at the 
beginning of this century, but when the exigencies of war caused the oaks to be felled the 
birds joined their neighbours at Willey Lodge. When the Willey Lodge Heronry was de- 
stroyed, as above noticed, the herons were said to have gone to Plowden, near Bishop's 
Castle, Shropshire, where the number of birds was much increased at the time. This 


_Heronry is still in existence. There was formerly a Heronry, it is said, at the Marsh farm, 


Eaton Bishop, in the centre of the county, and possibly others. But the Heronry which 
existed in this county to the latest period was at the Hawkswood, at the Moor, near Hay, 
where the herons built on some tall oak trees. This Heronry was in the immediate vicinity 
of a rookery, and here might be seen occasionally a curious border warfare between these 
very different birds for the possession of some particular tree. This Heronry was a very 
large one up to about the year 1852, when a large fall of timber disturbed the birds In the 
year 1856 there were about a dozen nests there, but the herons gradually diminished in 
numbers until they were reduced to a single pair, which built there as lately as 1863. The 
loss of Heronries is greatly to be regretted, but it is inevitable. Guns and gunpowder have 
have become too abundant and cheap for these fine birds to escape. In the open, and with 
fair play, the heron is a wary bird, and well able to take care of himself, but at the breeding 
season they can of course be readily approached, and their destruction is chiefly du 

that it should be so—to shooting them at this time under the name of sport. 


The existing Heronries nearest to Herefordshire are the large one of Plowden, Salop ; 
another at Treowen, near Monmouth, where 18 pairs of birds are now incubating (April, 
1870) ; and another large one at Ragley Park, near Alcester. 


168 


The name of the hundred in the time of the Conqueror which most closely 
corresponds with the present Wigmore Hundred, which includes the Forest of 
Deerfold, was the ‘‘ Hegetre” or Hightree Hundred. 


The Forest of Deerfold attached to Wigmore Castle and Honour formed 
part of the vast possessions of the Mortimers from the time of their presentation 
by William. They were twice forfeited for short periods in the reigns of Edward 
I, and Edward III., but were restored and remained in the possession of the 
family until they became a royal demesne on the accession of Edward IV, to the 
throne (1461). 

There still exists an old deed without date by which Roger Mortimer, son 
of Randolph, grants to John his chamberlaine certain lands in the town of 
Leynthall (now Leinthall Starkes in Aymestry parish), with common of pasture 
for 12 beasts and 50 hogs free of pannage in his woods and forests, except 
Gatlithe and Bringewood (and therefore including Deerfold forest), for the 
yearly payment of a pair of gloves of one penny price at Michaelmas. Witnesses, 
Dom. Henrico Mortuomari; D. Brian de Brampton; D. Roberto Corbet ; 
_ Magistro John de Croft.— Downton Castle Papers. 


Whilst still in the possession of the Mortimers—and before the wild 
character of the district was altered—the Forest of Deerfold received some 
visitors, of whom a special account must now be given. 


PART III. —THE LOLLARDS IN HEREFORDSHIRE. 


““ Now, ‘ goode men,’ quod our Oste, ‘ herkneth me. 
I smell a Loller in the wind’ quod he, 
* Abideth for Goddes digne passion, 
For we shall have a predicacion ; 
This Lollar heer wolde prechen us somewhat.’” 
Chaucer. The Schipmannes Prologue. 


At the close of XIV. and for some time in the XV. century the complete 
seclusion of the Forest of Deerfold afforded a refuge to some of the earliest and 
most noted followers of Wycliffe. They must have obtained the permission of 
the Mortimers and very possibly their protection also, for they remained here for 
many years comparatively undisturbed, and this, too, is the more probable, since 
its corresponds with the characteristic policy of the House of York. Roger 
Mortimer, Earl of March, was the Lord of Wigmore at this time. He spent 
the chief part of his time in Ireland as the King’s Lieutenant, and is not specially 
known to have been a patron of the Lollards. 


That this forest should have been a centre from which the doctrines of the 
Reformation were thus early spread in this part of England is a fact so little 
known and of so much interest, that the history of the men who came here, 
end the circumstances which prove it will be dwelt upon at considerable length. 


In 1390, William de Swynderby, or ‘‘ William the Hermit” as he was at 
one time called, took up his residence in the Forest of Deerfold with several 
companions. He made use of a chantry where mass was said a few times in 


169 


the year, in which he not only preached without any license from the Bishop of 
Hereford, but also administered the Holy Communion, probably in both kinds, to 
the laity. 

William de Swynderby first comes into notice as a priest in Leicestershire, 
The earliest and fullest account of him is givenin the Chronicles of his contem- 
porary, Henry of Knighton, a canon of Leicester Abbey. Knighton wrote in 
opposition to the views of the Wycliffites, and some allowance must therefore 
be made for the tone of his chronicles. 

Swynderby was a disciple and personal friend of Wycliffe. He seems to 
have gone to Leicester in a missionary spirit without any cure of souls, or other 
church appointment, and was shortly afterwards allowed to reside in the abbey. 
He preachedin the chapel of St. John Baptist without Leicester, near the Leper’s 
Hospital, and in the churches of St. Martin and St. Margaret of that town. 
He did not reniain very long as an inmate of the abbey, most probably on account 
of the very decided manner in which he adopted and preached the new views on 
the reformation of the Church. 

He was one of the many priests who received the protection of the Duke 
of Lancaster, John of Gaunt, and lived for several years as a recluse in his park 
at Leicester. Here he lived a life of great sanctity and self-denial, ‘‘ refusing the 
gifts and presents,” says Knighton, ‘‘ which were sent him by some devout people 
of Leicester,” and hence he became known as “‘ William the Hermit.” He 
continued, however, constantly to preach the Gospel ‘‘ running sometimes into 
the town and sometimes going into the country.” 

Swynderby was a man of good abilities and well-educated—probably at 
Oxford. He was gifted with a good voice, with great natural eloquence, and 
knew by heart much of the Bible in the vulgar tongue. He was simple and 
unaffected in manner, earnest and persuasive, and withal so strict and austere 
in his own life, as quickly to gain for himself considerable influence with the 
people. Wherever he preached crowds flocked to hear him, whether in the 
streets or in the market places, like the mendicant friars of the period, or in the 
churehes of Leicester and the neighbouring towns which seem at this time to have 
been open tohim. ‘“ By his preaching,” says Knighton, ‘‘he so captivated the 
affections of the people, that they said they had never seen nor heard any one 
who so well explained the truth to them ; and so they reverenced him as another 
God.” (fol. 2667). Swynderby is usually represented as a man of little learning 
but this is certainly a mistake. Not only the common people but learned 
men were attracted by him, and he was moreover able to keep them 


‘in close companionship for long periods of time. His writings it is true are 


in English, but this was evidently not because he could not write Latin, but 
because he made it a point to write in the vulgar tongue that every body should 
understand him. 

Swynderby preached with great boldness and simplicity and yet with a 
considerable amount of tact and caution. Avoiding the more dangerous topics, 
he preached against the vanity and pride of the people, against the luxuries and 

Vv 


170 


vices of the rich, and denounced openly those sins of the priesthood and the 
church which though but too common at that time were yet too gross to be | 
capable of defence. ‘‘He so provoked the women,” says Knighton, “* that the 
good and the grave women, as wellas the bad, proposed to stone him out of the 
place ; and but for the Divine clemency he had driven some honest men of the 
towninto despair.” His preaching certainly made a very great impression on the 
people, and it was probably in great measure due to Swynderby’s eloquence that 
“the Reformers’s sect,” as the chronicle states, ‘‘ was held in the highest honour 
in those days, and was become so numerous that you could scarcely see two 
persons in the highway, but one of them was a disciple of Wycliffe” (Knighton, 
fol. 2665). ' 

Swynderby seems to have remained in the park at Leicester until John of 
Gaunt left the country on his Spanish expedition in 1386. In the preface to the 
edition of the Bible of Wycliffe and his followers, by Forshall and Madden, 
published at the Oxford University Press in 1850, Swynderby is named as one 
of the principal associates (with Hereford, Ashton, and Parker) of Purvey in the 
preparation of the edition of the Bible, which has Purvey’s General Prologue, 
At this time he may have been engaged upon it with these leading Lollards. 

He is next heard of in a mandate issued by the Bishop of Worcester 
against the preaching of Lollards in his diocese, dated August 10, 1387. The 
following are the names of the Lollards given in the mandate, which describes 
them as leagued together in an unlicensed college :—‘‘ Nic. Hereford, Johan 
Asshton, duo, Joh. Purney, Joh. Parker, et Rob. Swinderly, insania mentis 
perducti ac suz salutis immemores sub magne sanctitatis velamine venenum sub 
labiis in ore mellifluo habentes, zizaniam pro frumento seminantes,” &c., &e., 
(Reg. Wakefield Wigorn, fol. 128; Wilkins, lii., p. 202). The best authorities 
agree in believing that ‘‘ Robert Swinderly” is a mistake of the Bishop’s notary 
for ‘‘ William Swynderby.” 

On the death of John of Gaunt (1389) an active persecution of the 
Lollards was commenced. Richard II. issued a commission against the inha+ 
bitants of Leicester, and Archbishop Arundel made a visitation there, summoned 
several of the leading inhabitants before him, and excommunicated them from 
the high altar of the Abbey Church. Swynderby, who at this time was again 
at Leicester, did not escape. On the representations of friar Frisby, an 
Observant, friar Hinceley, an Augustine, and Thomas Blaxton, a Dominican, he 
was cited to appear before John Bokynham, Bishop of Lincoln, in the cathedral 
church of that city to answer certain articles drawn up against him. These 
articles were eleven in number, and were chiefly directed against his attacks on 
the priests and the church. Swynderby’s caution, however, had been so great 
that his accusers preferred to invent charges against him rather than to bring 
forward the true ones. ‘‘ Yis I sey wytnessyng god yt is in hefen to my wytte 
& understondyng, yt I neur prychyd, helde, ny tauhte yes conclusiones 4 articles 
ye whyche falsly of freres were put uponme . : . to ye bpshoppe of 
lincoln,” writes Swynderby himself to the Bishop of Hereford, “for I was 


171 


ordeyned be prcesse, yei seyde, of here law by ye byshoppe a hysse comyssaryes, 
so as I deneyd hem to brynge my purgacion of x11 prstes of gode fame, i so I 
dyde, wt a letter 4 twelfe seles yrby, frome ye meyre of leycestr 4 from trewe 
burgeyses, 4 thrytty men to wyttenes wt me, as ye Duke of lancastr knywe @ 
herde, ye erle of Derby a oyer mony grete yt weren yt tyme (in) ye tone. .. 
so as I fully forsoke hé 4 neur graunted yt I seyde heme, ouer yis yei maden me 
to swere neure to holde heme, teche hé ne preche hem prueyly ne aptly a ytI 
schuld go to certeyn churches to reuoke ye conclusions yt I neur seyde in 
sclander of me selfe, by gret instaunce of ye freres. And so for dryde of dey 
(death) 4 for fleyshly consail yt I haddeI assented and so I dyd, 4 alsso yei maden 
my to swere yt I schuld not prche, by instaunce of ye freres, wtin (the) diocese, 
wtouten licence axed 4 grauntyd in, neur sethen I dyd.” (Reg. Trefnant.) 


Knighton gives the result of Swynderby’s examination before the Bishop 
of Lincoln, as follows :—‘‘ At length he was publicly convicted of divers heresies 
and errors, and deserved to have been made fuel for the fire. Then did his 
followers lament, and strike their hands and heads against the wall, making a 
mournful noise. For a great many of the town of Leicester accompanied him 
every time, to give him their assistance; but all was to no purpose. But by 
chance the pious Duke of Lancaster was at Lincoln the same day, who was always 
ready to assist all the Lollards, for he believed them to be holy men of God, on 
account of their fair speeches and assurance, although he was deceived as well 
as many others. He interposed with the Bishop in behalf of Swynderby, and 
the Bishop yielded to the Duke’s request, and let him off on the condition of his 
making a retractation” in several churches named. (Knighton fol. 2671.) 


Walsingham says :—“‘ When the Bishop of Lincoln had made preparations 
to correct this man, the mad multitude raged in such a manner as frightened the 
Bishop and deterred him from proceeding againsthim.” (Hist. Ang. p. 284.) 


Swynderby left Leicestershire, and next appears at Monmouth; then in the 
diocese of Hereford. John of Gaunt held the castle at Monmouth, and Swyn- 
derby had very probably visited the town before, and made friends there. The 
friars, however, followed him up. Copies of the proceedings at Lincoln were sent 
down to the Bishop of Hereford, who forthwith issued a monitory letter, 
inhibiting any one to preach in the diocese without his license. The terms of the 
inhibition are general, but it was without doubt specially directed against the 
Lollard preachers, and Swynderby in particular. It was served upon him person- 
ally at Monmouth early in the year 1390. He is next mentioned as preaching at 
Whitney on Monday, August 1st, 1390, and at that time had doubtless taken 
up his residence in Deerfold Forest. The following year he appeared before the 
Bishop himself, on Wednesday, June 14th, 1391, “‘in the parish church of 
Kingeton.” 

These facts all appear in the records of the Process issued by John 
Trefnant, Bishop of Hereford, against William Swynderby in the cause of 
heretical pravity in the year 1391, given in the Episcopal Register. 


172 


Swynderby had evidently very powerful friends and supporters in Here- 


fordshire. Under their protection, he seems to have met the Bishop at Kington 


without any formal citation, and he there agreed to attend again before him—to 
use the Bishop’s words, translated from the Register—‘‘at a day and place for 
him meet and convenient, of his own choice and free will; that is to say on 
Friday, being the last of the same month of June next following, assigned to 
him, at the church of Bodenham, of the same our diocese,” to answer certain 
‘cases and articles exhibited to us by many of Christ’s faithful people, zealous 
followers of the Catholic faith.” 


These articles were 17 in number, and besides the general charges of 
heresy and schism against him ; his attacks on the sins and wicked practices of the 
priests ; auricular confession ; limiting the usurped power of the Pope; and preach- 
ing without license ; they included also his disbelief in the doctrine of transub- 
stantiation (which it is remarkable had not been alluded to in the articles drawn 
up against him at Lincoln) ; and then come the two last charges, which refer to 
Deerfold Forest and the neighbourhood, and which therefore chiefly concern us 
at this time. 

“XVI. Item.—That the same William, unmindful of his own salvation, 
had many and often times come into a certain desert wood, called Dervoldswood, 
of your diocese, and there in a certain chapel not hallowed, or rather in a profane 
cottage, hath in contempt of the keys presumed of his own rashness to celebrate, 
nay rather to profanate. 


“XVII. Item,—The same William hath also presumed to do such things 
in a certain profane chapel, being situate in the Park of Newton, nigh to the 
town of Leintwarden, of the same your diocese.” (Translated from Bishop 
Trefnant’s Register.) 


A copy of these articles was sent to Swynderby, who drew up “A 
Protestation with his answers to the Articles,” at considerable length. The 
statement is very characteristic of himself. It is written simply, but with 
considerable ability, and with a constant reference to Scripture throughout. He 
maintains his opinions with great boldness, and yet with much greater tact 
and caution then appears on the surface, nor does he hesitate to meet his accusers 
on their own ground by the introduction of a little evasion and special pleading, 
when it suits his purpose to make use of either. He exposes the false charges 
and misrepresentations brought against him at Lincoln ; as a priest he claims the 
right to preach without the license of the Bishop ; he points out the practices of 
wicked priests and friars; justifies non-payment of tithes to such as are so ; 
declares the inefficiency of their services ; and finally he maintains that the Pope 
is antichrist. His caution is very clearly shown by his passing over without 
notice the articles vi. and vii., which charge him distinctly with holding the 
heretical opinions on the doctrine of transubstantiation, and thus he avoids the 
point which afterwards brought so many of the Lollards to the stake. 


His answers to the charge of preaching in the forest of Deerfold and 


173 


Newton are equally evasive. Here they are, in the language and spelling in 
which they appear io the register :— 

“Ve xiI article is yis yt oure Byshopp putes to me yt y mony tymes 
and ofte haue come, he sais, to a desert wode cleped derwoldeswode of his 
diocese, and yt in achapell noght halwed but acurset, sheperdeshulke be myn 
owne foly, he sais, haue p’sumet to syng but ray to curse in contempte 
of ye keyes ; here to y say y* yis is falsly put upon me of hem yt tolde yow yis 
for hit is a chapel where a prst synges ctain dayes in ye yere wt gret 
solempnitee and ctes y song neur y™ ynne seth y was born yn to yis world.” 


“Ye xu article is yis yt y schuld also prsume to syng in an unhalwet 
chapel yt stondes in ye park of neuton bisides ye toun of leyntwardy of 
his same dioceses, Trewly y wot not where yt place stondes.” (Reg. Trefnant). 


Swynderby attended personally at Bodenham, on the day appointed ‘‘about 
six of the clock,” and read his protest and answers to the articles ‘‘before all 
the multitude of faithful Christian people.” 

They were hy no means satisfactory. The Bishop evidently felt that he 
had been taken at an unfair advantage. He did not know Swynderby’s power. 
He had summoned a large congregation and came himself to hear a retractation, 
but instead of this had to listen to the defence of the Lollard doctrines by their 
most eloquent advocate. The Bishop did not like it, but he could not help 
himself. In his report he goes on to say, with careful precision, ‘‘ Which 
thing being done, the same William (without any more with him) did depart 
from our presence, because that we, at the instance of certain noble personages, 
had promised to the same William free access ; that is, to wit, on that day for 
the exhibiting of these answers, and also free departing without prefixing of any 
term, or without citation, or else any other offence or harm in body, or in goods.” 


The Bishop, however, lost but little time in preparing a formal citation 
for him. Five days after one was issued, dated July 5th, 1391, from ‘‘ our house 
at Whitborn.” “And because,” says the Bishop, ‘‘the said William Swynderby 
conceals himself and cannot be served personally with it we have caused him ta 
be publickly cited in the places where the said William had been accustomed to 
officiate.” It, therefore, is addressed ‘‘to his dear sons our dean of Leamster, 
to the parsons of Croft, Almaly and Whitney, and also to the vicars of Kington, 
Eardersley, Wiggemore, Monmouth, Clifford, and of St. John’s Altar in our 
Cathedral Church of Hereford,” &c., &c., charging them ‘‘to cite or cause to 
be cited peremptorily, and under the pain of excommunication, William Swyn- 
derby, pretending himself to be a priest,” &c., “‘to appear at North Lodebury 
on the 20th of this present month of July.” (Reg. Trefnant). 

Swynderby heard of it quickly, and though he did not appear himself, he 
sent a servant with ‘‘a certain schedule of paper, made like an indenture, to 
excuse him.” He was then ordered to appear on the 29th of July in the church 
of Ponsley, or Pontesbury. He did not appear there, and was pronounced 
t* obstinate,” and the 8th of August was appointed for him to appear at Cleobury 


174 


Mortemere. He was publicly called for in vain here, and was then ordered to 
appear August 16th in the parish church of Whitborn. He did not appear, 
and then was read out the process against Swynderby sent from Lincoln, and » 
witnesses were examined as to his proceedings in the diocese of Hereford, and 
on the 2nd day of September he was formally excommunicated and the faithful 
forbidden ‘‘to believe, receive, defend or favour the said William, under pain 
of the law.” 

Against this sentence Swynderby made a long appeal to the King and his 
Council: ‘‘ For the King’s court in such matter,” he says with some policy, 
‘is aboue the Bishop's court.” He contrasts ‘‘ Christe’s law” with ‘“‘the Pope’s 
law,” and says, ‘‘that if the Bishop or any man couthe shewe me by God’s 
lawe, that my conclusions, or myne answeres were error, or heresie I would 
amendet and openlie reuoke yem before all ye peepple.” He also sends a letter 
to the Nobles and Burgesses, which is copied in the Ecclesiastical Register. 
Tt is simply a strong sermon on Christian duty, and concludes thus :— 


“Deere worshypfull sires in yis world, I beseche you for cristes loue, 
as ye yt y trowe, louen godes lawe and trouthe yt yes dayes is gretly 
boren-a-bak, yt ye woln vouchsauf yes thinges yt y sende yow written to godes 
worshyp, to late yam be schewet in ye parlement as youre wittes can best conceyue 
to most worshyp to oure god and to shewing of ye trouthe and amendyng of 
holy churche my conclons and myn appele and oy¥ trewe matters of godes 
lawe. Yef any man can fynde yr ynne eithr falsnesse or defaute pTuet by ye 
lawe of crist clerly to c'stenmennes knowyng y shal reuok my wrong conceyt 
and by godes lawe be amendet and redy to holde wt godes lawe openly and 
pruely wt godes grace and no thing to holde, teche, or maintene yat is contrarie 


to his lawe, 
“Ve poure lege man of ye kynges and 


**youre poure ptst, WILLIA OF SWYNDERBY.” 
(Reg. Trefnant.) 


It was at the beginning of this year, 1391, that the highest tribute was 
paid to the eloquence and successful preaching of Swyndeiby. It consists in 
the fact that a special Inhibition was issued against him by Archbishop Courtney. 
It is called ‘* An Inhibition of the Archbishop of Canterbury lest any one should 
presume to listen to the preaching of William Skynderbye, &c.;” and it was 
**siven at our Manor of Maghfeld” May 18th, 1391. (Reg. Courtney, fol. 338a, 
Wilkins III., p. 215.) 


It cites his examination at Lincoln and his retractation afterwards, and 
threatens all that go to hear him “after this notice and intimation lawfully 
made” with the penalty of ‘‘the greater excommunication.” The different 
spelling of the name is due here as in other places to clerical error. 


Swynderby did not live as a recluse in the Forest of Deerfold. He brought 
with him or was quickly joined by several companions—some of them able and 
learned men—who, since they do not bear Herefordshire nkmes, very possibly 


pis ot 


175 
tame here to escape the persecution which was then being exerted so energeti= 


tally by Archbishop Courtney against the Lollards in Leicestershire and 


elsewhere. 
** Are not these woods 
More free from peril than the envious court.” 


His companions in Leicestershire had been Master Richard Waystach, 
chaplain of St. John’s— Peter Patershall, called John of Gaunt’s chaplain— 
William Smith, the metal founder, and many others. Here the names of 
Walter Brut and Stephen Bell are made known to us by the record of the 
proceedings taken against them, but ‘‘others” are several times referred to. 

Walter Brut was a graduate of the University of Oxford (Merton College), 
‘and in the processes against him is always styled ‘‘a layman and learned.” He 
is a true Briton as he takes care to show. His zeal against the Pope is said to 
have been aroused chiefly by the impudent pardons and indulgences of Pope 
Urban VI. granted to Henry Spencer, Bishop of Norwich, to fight against the 
rival Pope Clement VII. He had adopted fully the views of the Wycliffites, had 
attached himself to Swynderby, and come with him or joined him in Hereford- 
shire. He was very indignant at Swynderby’s condemnation, and did not 
hesitate to express his opinion about it with the utmost freedom in the city of 
Hereford to the Canons themselves. e 

Two instruments were drawn up against him and carried to the Bishop by 
Master Walter Pride, the penitentary of the Cathedral church at Hereford. 
“They were exhibited before us,” says the Bishop, ‘* sitting in our judgment 
seat in the parish church of Whitborn of our diocese.” 

The first instrument stated that ‘‘at supper time, on Oct. 15, 1391, in 
the dwelling-house of the worshipful man Master John Godemoston, canon of 
the cathedral church of Hereford, in the presence of Mastr Walter Ramesbury, 
precenter; Roger Hoare, canon; Walter Walle, chaplain (being a vicar of 
the choral), and certain other witnesses of credit, and in presence of me, Richard 
le Whylare, clerk of Worcester, being a public notary by the authority apostolic,” 
Walter Brut “stiffly maintained” that Swynderby’s condemnation was ‘naughty, 
wicked, perverse, and unjust,” and that his conclusions were true and catholic, 
and furthermore that the Pope was the very antichrist. (Reg. Trefnant.) 

The second instrument stated that Walter Brut, on January 19th, 1391 
(1392 by modern computation) personally appeared before the Lord Bishop at 
Whitborn and in his presence, and in the presence of Mastr Reginald of Wolston, 
canon of Hereford ; Mastr Philip Dilesk, parson of Llanuwryn (Montgomeryshire) ; 
Thomas Guldeffeld, parson of English Bykenore; John Cressit, parson of 
Whitborn ; and Thomas Wallewayne, household servant ; especially called and 
desired as witnesses; and in the presence of me, Benedict Come, a public 
notary of the diocese of St. Asaph, he did maintain that christians were not 
bound to pay tithes, nor might lawfully swear by the creator, nor the creature, 
that Swynderby’s conclusions were just, and that he did eat, drink, and com- 
municate with Swynderby, the Bishop’s sentence against him notwithstanding. 

(Reg. Trefnant). 


176 


Walter Brut was served with a series of seven charges against him, which 
are given at full length in the Register, and he was summoned to appear before 
the Bishop to answer them. Mr. Brut “partly appearing,” says the account 
in the Register ‘‘by his own self before us sitting in our judgment seat, and 
partly by his witnesses specially appointed for that purpose,” presented his 
answers to the articles and conclusions drawn up against him ‘‘on divers scrolls 
of paper written with his own proper hand,” in the form of two “suppositions.” 
This failed to satisfy the Bishop, who pronounced ‘this writing too short and 
obscure, and begged him to write more plainly and more at large.” Whereupon 
Mastr Walter Brut, nothing lothe, draws up a ‘‘declaration” covering a dozen 
skins, with small writing, and which may be said to consist of a general argu- 
ment from Scripture against the Pope and the Romish Church. 

The Bishop of Hereford then appointed Friday, October 3rd, 1393, for the 
said Walter Brut to appear before him, sitting in commission in the Cathedral 
Church of Hereford, at six o’clock, or thereabouts, having for his assistants in 
the same place divers prelates and abbots, and twenty bachelors of divinity 
(whereof twelve were monks and two doctors of the law), accompanied “‘ with 
many other prelates and worshipful men, and wise graduates in sundry faculties.” 


The following is the list of the members of the commission, as translated 
from the Episcopal Register :— 


John Grene, prior from Worcester. 
John Newton, chancellor of the University of Cambridge. 


Everard, a monk, prior of the Monastery of St. Peter, at 
Gloucester. 


William Trewellys, treasurer of the church at Exeter. 

Thomas Cranly, warden of New College, Oxford. 

William Colvyll, lately chancellor of Cambridge. 

John Myddelton, canon of Hereford. ‘ 

$e Masters in 
Nicholas Hereford. Theology. 
John Taclo, rector of Westbury. 


Brother John Bromzor, prior of the preaching friars, 
Hereford. 


Brother John Ude, warden of the friars minor, Hereford. 
Brother Walter Warde, of the order of minors, Worcester. 
Brother John Lendon, of the order of minors of the convent. 
Brother (Robert Mayal*) order of minors. 

J. Dudley, monk of Worcester. 


Master Ludovie Aber, treasurer of the church of St. David’s 


Master Adam Uske. \ Doctors of Law. 


Brother Walter Chadesley, of the order of St. Augustin, ee : 
Brother Philip Gudin, of the order of preachers. Theology." 
Master (a blank) from Cambridge. : 


* Name filled in with different ink at a later period. 


a 


177 


Master Walter Ramesbury, precentor of the church of 
Hereford. peer te Master of Arts and 


Bachelor of theology 
Master John Malune. 


The discussion and arguments continued “for all that day and the two 
days following (that is to say, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Oct. 3rd, 4th, and 
5th),” and so cleverly and well did Master Brut hold his own in this trying 
ordeal that from his declarations and writings ‘‘the monks did gather and draw 
out certain articles to the number of thirty-seven,” which were taken to the 
University of Cambridge to be confuted by those two learned men Master 
Colvyll and Master Newton, who sat upon the commission, and they did 
both labour in the matter to the uttermost of their cunning.” These articles 
are copied into the Register and marked all of them as “heresy” or “ error.” 

Walter Brut, on his part, agreed to make a publick submission to the 
Church in the following general terms, which are mild as compared with the 
extreme views of Swynderby :— 

““Y, Walter Brut, submtte me prtncipaly to the evangely of Jhu 
criste, and to the determinacion of holy chyrch and to ye general consayles 
of holy chyrche, and to ye sentence and determinacion of ye four doctors on 
holy wryt; that ys, Austyn, Ambrose, Jerom, and GG (Gregory). And y 
meklyilie submtte me to your correction as a sojet ougte to ye byshop.” 

He read out this scroll ‘* with a loud intelligable voice at the cross in the 
churchyard, on Monday, that is to say, the sixth of the said month of October, 
in the presence of the Bishop and his assistants, as also other barons, knights, 
and noblemen, and clergy, and also a great multitude of people,” and imme- 
diately afterwards a certain Thomas Cranley, master of divinity, a member of 
the Commission, made a sermon unto the people, taking the 2nd chapter of 
Romans for his subject, “‘ Be not over-wise in your own conceits,” &c. (Reg. 
Trefnant. 

The following curious contemporary notice of Walter Brut occurs in the 
** Vision of Piers Plouhman” (page 489) :— 


“ Behold upon Walter Brut 
Whom bisiliche thei pursueden 
For he said hem the sothe.” 


Two very singular anonymous letters appear also in the Episcopal Register 
of our Oathedral, and that they should have been allowed to do so, certainly 
says much for the candour of the notary. The first is entitled ‘‘a copy of a 
letter sent to Master Nicholas Hereford, by a Lollard,” and is very severe upon 
that learned divine for deserting the ranks of the Wycliffites. The other is a 
letter written in the name of ‘‘ Lucifer, Prince of Darkness, to the persecuting 
prelates of the Popish Clergy.” This is a highly satirical attack on the Pope 
and the Romish Church. An earlier copy is to be found at Paris of the date of 
1385, six years before the examination of Walter Brut. They are noticed here 
because, although the real authors are unknown, amongst others they have been 
attributed to Swynderby and Brut. 

The Bishop of Hereford, though he condemned and excommunicated the 
Lollards in Deerfold, felt himself powerless against them. They set at naught 

% 


178 


his ordinances and continued to teach and to preach with impunity, He next 
appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, to the King, and to the Pope himself. 

The King forthwith issued a commission against the Lollards in general, ~ 
and in particular against ‘‘a certain fellow named William Swynderby pretend- 
ing himself to be a chaplain, and one Stephen Bell, a learned man,” who though 
condemned and excommunicated by the Bishop of Hereford had conveyed them- 
selves by and by unto the borders of Wales, with such as were their factors and 
accomplices, keeping themselves close.” The commissicn authorises the bishop 
and his ministers, the sheriffs, bailiffs, and other officers, &c., to arrest the 
aforesaid William and Stephen, and to commit them “either to our prison, 
or else to the prison of the same bishop” and there to keep them safe, Sc. 
The commission was dated from Westminster, March 9th, 1392, and signed 
‘** Farrington.” (Reg. Trefnant, transl.) 

The following year the King sends another letter, dated Sept. 22nd, 1393, 
against Walter Brut and others, which is more interesting for its more special 
address, which is as follows :— 

‘*Richard, by the grace of God, King of England and of France, and Lord 
of Ireland, to his beloved and faithful John Chaundos, knight ; John Eynefford, 
knight ; Rynard de la Bere, knight; Walter Deveros, knight; Thomas de la 
Barre, knight; William Lucy, knight; Leonard Haklut, knight; and to the 
Mayor of the city of Hereford, to Thomas Oldcastell, Richard Nassh, Roger 
Wyggemore, Thomas Wallewayn, John Skydemore, John Up-Harry, Henry 
Morton, and the Sheriff of Hereford, sendeth salutations : 

‘* Forasmuch as it is advertised us that one Walter Brut and other such 
children of iniquity, have damnably holden, affirmed, and preached certain 
articles and conclusions, being notoriously repugnant against the Holy Scrip- 
tures,” &c., &c., it calls upon them to make proclamations everywhere to forbid 
their assembling together in conventicles, and to arrest, imprison, and punish all 
who do so. (Reg. Trefnant, transl.) 

Two years later the Bishop of Hereford appeals to the Pope Boniface IX, 
for assistance, and receives from him a Bull, inclosing one he had sent to King 
Richard, against the Lollards, with a scolding to the bishop himself for not 
having writ!en more boldly to the king about them. 

The bull to King Richard states how much the Pope is grieved ‘‘at certain 
heresies which have sprung up and do range without proper restraint at 
their owa liberty, to the seducing of the faithful people,” and further on it 
proceeds to specify that ‘‘under the regal presidence of your most Christian 
government, a certain crafty and hair-brained sect of false Christians are allowed 
to go on and increase, who call themselves ‘The poor men of the treasury of 
Christ and his disciples,’ and whom the common people by a more sound name 
call ‘ Lollards’* (as a man would say ‘ withered darnel,’) according as their sins 


* Nore ON THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM ‘‘ LOLLARD.”— Wycliffe and his 
followers had no sooner attracted the at‘ention of the dominant party in the 
church than the name of “ Lollards” was given to them. It was a party name 
of contempt and derision, and was at once generally adopted. Its origin has 
been much questioned, but it was certainly in use before Wycliffe’s days as a 


be 


179 
require”; and he calls upon the King to expel, banish, and imprison such men, 


and so that by ‘‘ severe judgment and virtuous diligence, might, favour, and aid, 
there may not one spark remain hid under the ashes, but that it be utterly 


extinguished and speedily put out.” (Reg. Trefnant, transl.) 


Nothing further appears in the Registers with reference either to 
Swynderby, Walter Brut, or the others. Swynderby is known to have escaped 
harmless during the reign of Richard II. Fox thinks he was one of the earliest 
martyrs, that he was burnt in Smithfield in 1401, in the presence of a great 
multitude of people: others think ‘‘that he in prison died,” or that he went 


name for heretics, if we put faith in Du Cange, who says in his Glossary, that 
certain heretics who arose in Germany and Belgium at the very beginning of 
the fourteenth century, were called ‘‘Lollards” or “Lullards.” In the 
** Genealogia Comitum Flandriz,” 1302, they are called ‘‘ Lilliards,” 

The earliest known mention of Lollards, however, is by Joannes 
Hocsemius, A.D. 1509, who says: ‘“‘In that year some circumambulating 
hypocrites, who are called ‘ Lollards’ or ‘Praise-God’s,’ deceived certain noble 
women in Hanover and Brabant,” &c. Trithemius, in Chron. a.D. 1315, says 
they were thus called from a certain German, named Walter Lolhard, about 
whom little seems known, but that he was burnt for heresy at Cologne in 1322. 

Another derivation Du Cange gives from Kilianus, ‘* Lollard, Mussitator 
(Psalm-singer), Mussitabundus, Lollaerd, Lollebroeder, Broeder-Lollard, Lol- 
lardus.” The word is thus connected with the German “lullen,” to hum, and 
our own “‘lull” and “lullaby.” In Dutch ‘‘lollen” is used as to sing psalms. 
Alexianus Monachus gives “ Lollard, the defendant of a wrong faith, or of a 
false religion, commonly called ‘ Lollards.? A Waldensian heretic was also called 
a Lollard.” 

This German origin of the term “ Lollard ” does not, however, sufficiently 
explain its general and immediate adoption, as a party name of contempt in 
England. It has been suggested, therefore, that by a play upon the word, the 
common people would naturally think it derived from the English verbal root 
“loll,” after the analogy of laggard, sluggard, drunkard, dotard, and thus 
* Lollard” would at once convey the idea of a lazy, idle, dawdler who preferred 
to preach rather than to work, and this view seems to receive support from 
a contemporary writer— 

“ And folk of ye order 
That lollers and loseles, for leel men halden.” 
Vision of Piers Ploughman, p. 131. 


Another play upon the word Lollard, which was very common, is the 
one used by Pope Boniface as quoted from his Bull, which treats it as if 
derived from the plant Loliwm, the darnel: That as this weed causes great 
damage to the corn amongst which it grows (infelix lolium. Georg:) so the 
Wyecliffites did great injury to the faithful in the church. Chaucer mentions 
it in this sense, when speaking of the “‘ loller”— 

“He wolde sowin some difficulté 
Or springen cokkle in our clene corne.” 

It must be added, however, that there are some, as well thoughtful 
students in history, as philologists, who believe the term ‘“ Lollard” to be 
purely and simply of English origin ; that it was first given to the followers of 
Wycliffe, and was carried from England into Germany, at the same time as the 
opinions denoted by it. 

The English root “loll,” as above noticed, affords its most simple deriva- 
tion. The Germans adopting the English name, without knowing its origin, 
or without being able to find any direct root for it in their own language, 
ie be led easily enough to derive it from the name of the chief leaders of 
the sect. 

These gentlemen, therefore, think lightly of the authority and dates of 
Hocsemius, and believe that Walter the Lollard, lived at a later period than that 
usually assigned to him; and also that he takes his own name from his opinions, 
instead of giving it to them. 


180 


abroad. The last solution seems the most probable, for he was far too well known 
to be burnt anonymously, and the great foresight’and caution which stand so 
prominently forward in the study of his character, create the belief that he . 
would not fail to find some means of escaping his enemies. 

It is highly probable that the advantages of the Forest of Deerfold asa 
safe refuge were pointed out to Swynderby by Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham. 
He possibly procured for him the protection of the Mortimers, to whom the 
Forest belonged, and there can be little doubt but that he maintained Swynderby 
during his residence here, since it was one of the charges against that great and 
good man, that he supported Lollard preachers at this time in the dioceses of 
London, Rochester, and Hereford: The church of Almeley, moreover, @ 
residence of the Oldcastle’s, was one of those churches in which it is known that 
he officiated on his first arrival in the county. 

There is no proof that Sir John Oldcastle himself spent any time at the 
Forest, or even visited it ; but it is extremely probable that he did so, not only 
before his own persecution, but also after his escape from the Tower, when it 
is known that he spent the chief part of his time at no great distance from it. 

A small promontory, jutting out from the high ground of the Forest on its 
western side, between Limebrook and Lingen, is called ‘‘ Oldcastle.” It consists 
of a few acres of table land, surrounded to the North, West, and South sides by 
steep wood-covered declivities. It would be a safe refuge, or form an excellent 
outpost, in a military point of view, in defence of the Forest, and indeed it 
presents an excellent site for a castle. There are, however, no traces of occu- 
pation about it, and not a vestige of castle, mound, or earthwork of any 
description. How it came by the name of ‘‘ Oldcastle ” is not known. It may be 
added that the land pays tithe, whereas the adjoining lands belonging to Lime- 
brook Nunnery are exempt. 

The Lollards must have remained in the Forest of Deerfold for some 
considerable time, for though nothing more is accurately known with regard to 
them here, the enquiries that have given rise to this paper have led to the 
discovery of an old oak building of a very interesting character, which the name 
and traditions of the place point out as their chapel. It is the house itself of 
the ‘“‘ Chapel farm,” and from time immemorial has been occupied as a farm- 
house. In an adjoining orchard are two large yew trees, which tradition states 
mark the burial ground. 

Nothing is known with regard to the site of the chantry in the Forest, in 
which Swynderby first officiated ; but at Newton, where he was also accused of 
having held services, is a field called the ‘‘ Chapel Meadow,” and in this field 
the foundation of some sort of building can still be traced. 

The accompanying sketches and exact description of the ‘‘ Chapel farm ” 
house, which may fairly be presumed to have been used by the Lollards as a 
residence or chapel, or both, have been kindly made for this paper. Whatever 
its exact object may have been, the building is of extreme interest, both as a 
specimen of Medieval design and as showing the enduring nature of our oak 
timber as a building material, = 


181 
DESCRIPTION OF THE OLD BUILDING IN DEERFOLD FOREST. 


By THoMAS BLASHILL, Esq, 


The building stands east and west, and consists of one large room or hall, 
44ft. Yin. long by 18ft. 9in. wide internally, with a shed, 18ft. Yin. by 8ft. 6in., 
attached to the western end. The whole is constructed of oak framing 
standing on astone plinth. In the main portion the framing is filled in with 
very thin stone walling, and the roof is covered with tiles. In the shed the 
framing is covered with boards, and the roof thatched. 


Arrangement.—At the ground level the floor of the main building is 
open throughout, but there isa chamber over the western end; the stairs by 
which it was originally reached seem to have been at the north-west corner. The 
chief entrance was just east of the centre of the south front. A second door 
at the west end led into the shed ; and I infer from the appearance of the frame- 
work that there was an external door on the south side of the shed, witha 
window opposite to it on the north side. 

The hall had two windows placed high up on the north side, and one near 
to the east end of the south side. I suspect there was also another below this 
last, and there are signs of a very small window in the east end. This last 
must, however, have opened into a chamber, and has, I think, been used for 
the object of looking from a chamber into the hall. Immediately beneath this 
east window there is a break in the masonry of the plinth, 6ft. 3in. in length. If 
We assume that the building was a chapel, this would show the place of the 
stone altar. 

The chamber over the west end of the hall had three windows, one of 
which looked into the hall, and another, opposite to it, either looked over the 
roof of the shed, or, as I believe, into the shed itself. The third window was an 
external one on the south side. 

The above description includes everything appertaining to the arrangement 
which gives any clue to the uses of the building. 


Construction.—The construction of the framed portion is of massive oak 
sills, posts, and quartering. The posts have a good moulding up their fronts, 
and their heads are cut to a suitable shape for carrying the roof-trusses. The 
trusses are quite plain, and, indeed, of a rude and mean design, except as to the 
under side of the tie-beam, which is moulded to match the posts. Between the 
main trusses are intermediates, which have curved braces of good design, and 
the whole carry purlius or side pieces moulded like the other timbers. There 
are plain square rafters which now carry the modern roof-covering. The whole 
roof was filled in between the trusses with very handsome curved braces, having 
cusps with terminal leaves carved on them. The wall-plates are moulded and 
finished with battlements on the top. The same description applies to the 
chamber excepting that the wall-plates and the posts below them are plainly 
chamfered and there are no battlements used. 


182 


The remains of the windows are very slight, but I should expect they 
had simple wooden tracery in the heads as indicated in the interior view. 


There are a few ornamental floor tiles remaining of the same manufacture | 
and patterns as exist at Wigmore Abbey and several other places in that part of 
the country. I saw also in the stone plinth one stone which had a splay cut on 
it and had been used in a former building, probably many such would be found 
on careful search, 


Date.—The building seems to be of the later half of the 14th century. 


Nature of the Building.—I came prepared to find the remains of a chapel 
“here—and there are certain reasons for thinking that it was a building of this 
kind—as 

1. It is called Chapel Farm. 

2. It stands east and west. 

38. The orchard on south side tradition calls ‘‘the burial-ground.” It 
would bein a suitable position for such a purpose, and it has two yew trees 
at the corner some centuries old. 

4, There is the break in the plinth at the east end where a stone altar 
might be expected to exist. 

6. There is but one piece of furniture belonging to the house, that is to the 
landlord, and this exactly corresponds with the old communion tables. It was 
certainly intended to stand against a wall, and has turned front legs and a 
loose slab on top. It is of very large size, larger indeed than is common in 
parish churches. 

I am, however, of opinion that the building is the Hall or principal part 
of a 14th century house, and for the following reasons :— 


1. The timber construction though rare in ecclesiastical buildings is 
common in domestic buildings. 

2. The arrangement of a large room with one chamber, if not two looking 
over it, is unusual with churches, but was part of the regular arrangement 
with halls where the solar usually had a window of inspection looking down 
into the hall itself. In the case of chapels where the closet or pew of the 
master of the house looked into them, the opening was large, so that his family 
could see also, 

3. The curved braces under the roof are more ornamental than we usually 
find in churches, but they are quite common in halls, the roofs of which were 
handsomer. But the roof trusses are of a plain design, such as we find in barns 
and other domestic buildings—hardly ever in a church. 


4. I can detect nothing which indicates a chancel or a part more highly 
decorated than the rest, and the east window cannot have been at all of the 
usual scale for a church or chapel. 


5. I can find no mention of a chapel in the ordinary authorities at or 
about the time of the Reformation, while if it had so existed and had even 


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183 


been used afterwards (as the wooden communion table seems to indicate) we 
must have found something about it. 
6. The ‘‘ graveyard” may just as well—for all I can see—be an old garden. 


If this is a chapel there can scarcely be a doubt that it is the one 
alluded to in the Harleian MS. 6726, where it is mentioned (anno 1655) as ‘‘ The 
Chapel of Dervold, a privileged place, now in the possession of one Richards, 
mentioned in Fox’s Martyrology as a place frequented by Lollards, ond so 
Derevold Forest.” 

Gough’s Camden (1806), speaking of Wigmore Castle, says: ‘‘On the 
summit of the hill behind the castle were two parks, one stocked with deer till 
the civil wars, now both inclosed and ploughed up ; also a forest called Deerfald, 
corruptly Darval. In the village of Darval are ruins of a chapel, which some 
called Lollards chapel, because they were wont to meet at this vill.” (p. 79.) 


PART IV.—THE FOREST INCLOSURE, 


‘The race of man is as the race of leaves : 
Of leaves one generation by the wind 
Is scattered on the earth ; another soon 
In Spring’s luxuriant verdure bursts to light, 
So with our race ; these flourish, those decay.” 


Homer. Lib. VI. Lord Derby’s translation. 

The Forest of Deerfold with the surrounding district attached to the 
Castle and Honour of Wigmore passed, as has been mentioned before, into 
possession of the Orown. Edward VWI. was the first Lord of Wigmore who was 
also King of England. One of the few recorded facts of the short reign of his 
ill-fated son Edward V., is his making the Duke of Buckingham, then the ally 
but soon afterwards the victim of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, “ Constabularius, 
Senescallus et Receptor” of the Castle, Lordship, and Manor of Wigmore, in 
the Marches of Wales, as well as of the other possessions of the Crown and 
of the House of York in the same part of the kingdom. (Grants of King 
Edward V,, p. 8.) 

The Castle of Wigmore and its dependencies remained in the hands of the 
Sovereign during the reigns of Henry WII., Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, 
and Elizabeth. af 

In the time of the last named princess we find Sir Henry Sidney, when 
residing at Ludlow Castle, as Lord President of the Marches, applying for 
permission to cut wood in the Forest of Deerfold for the use of the garrison. 
He alleges as his reason for doing so, that the supply of wood in the neigh- 
bourhood of Ludlow was so much reduced that they were compelled to burn 
that noxious mineral pit coal. 

The Harleian MS. 354 contains the following entry :—“‘ A Suruaey of the 
Forrestes and Chaces of Bringewood, Mocktree, and Daruole wt the Mannor of 
Buriton, taken the xxjth daye of Januarie in the first yeare of ye raigne of King 


184 


James (1603) taken before Sr. Roger Bodenham, Knight: Sr. Charles Fox, 
Knight : Giles Foster, Esquire, his Mats. generall receuor: Robert Berry, 


Esquire, his Mats. generall surueir: Roland Vaughan, Esquire: Willm Layton, 


Esquire: by vertue of his Mats. commission to them directed.” 
The Forest of Darvoll being measured, containeth in acres, 2,095 


Timber “trees vat od, ete PEEEO . <.. sol ce .stiace- cot aes casecvseseanets co eee 
Underwood ab Glos. 20, GHC:AGCLC Ls. verses yes aede-Sassaveieesese cede vent 399 acres, 
£5,778 10s. 


The Forest of Mochtree and Chace of sehen Seb ne 
measured do contain, in acres ......... ; soo 


Timber trees, atros, 4d. the tree s...cacr csosscepactossuccssssncaeveees SOy LTO 


£618 16s. 8d. 
(Then follows a valuation of the Iron Works at Brindgwood, after which 
comes)— 
**These forests are stately grounds and do breed a great and large Deer 
and will keep of Red and Fallow deer two or three thousand at the least.” 


In an old MS. volume in the office of Woods and Forests, Whitehall-place, 
is an entry relating to the Forests of Bringwood, Mochtree, and Dorvall to the 
effect that these forests were formerly part of the Honour of Wigmore, in 
Herefordshire, and parcel of the ancient possession of the Crown. That Dorvall 
contained 2095 acres, including the four woods, Wood-wood, Okeley, Knitte, and 
Purven, all of which were granted by Queen Elizabeth to John Downing and 
Maurice Kiffen, in the 33rd year of her reign (1591) for 21 years. under a rent 
of £18 2s. 6d. per annuum. That the forest next came into the possession of the 
Earl of Essex, and after him into that of Sir Henry Lindley, by whom it was 
conveyed back to James I. in the 2nd year of his reign (1605). The three forests 
were granted March 21st, 13th Charles I. (1638) to Sir George Whitmore, Sir 
Edward Sawyer, and Wm. Gibson under a fee farm rent of £55 2s, 114d. per 
annum, and this fee farm rent was settled on Queen Catherine. 


The lease granted to Downing and Kiffen—who worked the iron forges of 
Bringwood—must have been given up for four years afterwards it was again 
disposed of. 

By Letters Patent, 2nd May, 37 Elizabeth (1595) the Honour, Castle, 
and Demesne lands of Wigmore, the Manor of Leinthall Earles, the forest, 
chase wood and wood grounds called Darvold, the Manor of Burrington, the 
forest and chase of Mochtre, Prestwood, and Bringwood were granted to Sir 
Gelli Meyrick, Knt., and Sir Henry Lindley, of London, Knt. Sir Gelli Meyrick 
was attainted for high treason in the Earl of Essex’s rebellion, 43 Elizabeth (1601) 
and executed. Gn his attainder, Sir Gelli’s moiety of the manors above 
mentioned was granted by the Crown to Sir Henry Lindley, who on the 22nd 
of January, 1601, sold and conveyed the Honour, Castle and Demesne lands of 
Wigmore to Thomas Harley, Esq., reserving to himself out of the grant the 
Forest of Darvold and other property before mentioned. 


— 


3 185 


Sir Robert Harley (son of Thomas Harley) was in 1604 made Forester of 
Bringwood, alias Bornigwood Forest, and custodian of Prestwood Chase, both 
adjoining Darvold, but which had become separate inclosures made from time 
to time, as the great tract of woodland was broken up by the advance of civili- 
zation and the enormous consumption of timber in the Baron’s wars—(Henry 
TIT. , 1258-65. ) 

In 1632 a survey of Mochtree and Darvold was made by a Mr. Samuel 
Parsons, which is alluded to in deeds about to be mentioned. It is as follows :— 

Mochtree contains 1,337 acres, 
And Darvold 1,330 acres ; 
but it only includes the portion of Darvold at that time unenclosed. 

Sir Henry Lindley having separated the forests from the Castle and 
honour of Wigmore conveyed them baek to King Charles I., who, by Letters 
Patent, granted unto the Earl of Lindsey and his heirs, the Chases or Forests 
of Mochtree, Bringwood, Prestwood and Darvold, at the yearly rent of 
£55 2s. 11$d., by virtue whereof the Earl entered, intending to improve the 
same, and after some treaty with the inhabitants of Wigmore Borough, Adforton, 
Letton, Newton, Stanway, Lymebrook, Dervolds Chappel,’ the Grange and 
Peytoe, Walford Overlye, and Netherlye, Sherlye, Lingen and Yeattons, who 
claimed to have a right of Common in the Forest of Dervold, an agreement dated 
2nd September, 1637, was entered into between the said Earl and inhabitants of 
ye said townships, and signed by Sir Robert Harley, K.B., and Semerset 
Fox, Esq., that the said Earl should inclose for his own use one half of the Forest 
of Deerfold, so as the said commoners might have sufficient passage with their 
cattle to water ; and the other half of the Forest to be to the said commoners, 
whereof Woodwood to be part, and 200 stuhs to be allotted by the Earl to be 
left in lieu of estovers for the use of the commoners, and Somerset Fox to have 
the Rowle for his tenants of Letton, Newton and Adferton in lieu of estovers, 
the tenants for their part referring the division to Sir Robert Harley. The 
Earl ditched and enclosed his half, but the inhabitants receding from the 
agreement broke down his mounds and fences and turned their cattle into the 
Earl’s half of the Forest. 

The Earl filed his Bill in Chancery against Sir Robert Harley, Somerset 
Fox, James Lewis, Bailiff of the Borough of Wigmore, John Maddex and 
others, who appeared and expressed their willingness to abide by the agreement, 

The said letters patent were surrendered and another grant thereof made 
by King Charles to Sir George Whitmore, Sir William Sawyer, and Wm. Gibson, 
Merchant Taylor, who approved of the agreement and desired to be made parties 
tothe suit, whereupon a decree was made in confirmation of the agreement. No 


_inclosure followed this decree. 


» Owing to some dispute with the Commons the same year as the grant to 
Lord Lindsey was made, a grant by which it was agreed that the said Earl 
should “ disafforest and destroye the deer therein,” which it was pretended by 
the Commoners ‘‘do great hurt and damage them in their corne, whereby they 

¥ 


~ 


186 


did acknowledge they should be greatly eased, and their estates preserved and 
much bettered,” and in the same year “‘the Earl in full manifestation of his 
full purpose to proceed in the said agreement and to give the owners and inhabi- © 
tants of the said towns and places a clear manifestation of his real performance 
thereof, did with all convenient speed destroy all the deer within the said 
Forests, and did also survey, plot, and measure all the said Forests, and did 
also cut down much timber and provide all other necessaries for the division 
thereof, and did spend large sums of money in dividing, ditching and quick- 
setting the said forests, 

After this a dispute arose with Sir Robert Harley and the Earl of Lindsey, 
which was tried, and the Earl confirmed in his rights by a decree of the Court 
of Exchequer, November 15th, 1638. 

‘ (Copy). 

Hereford. ) Whereas the Right Honourable the Earle of Lindsey hath 
Salop. } exhibited this English Bill in this Court against Sir Robert 
Harley, Knight, Somerset Fox, Esq., William Littleton, Esq., and divers other 
defendants, for and concerning the enclosure and improvements of the Forests 
of Mocktree, Brindgwood, Prestwood, and Darvold, in the county of Hereford 
and Salop, whereof the Earle is the fee farmer to his Majesty, at the yearly rent 
of £33 12s, 0d., the Courte was this day informed by Mr. Atturney Generell, on 
behalf ef the said Earle, that the said Earle had caused the said premises 
to be disafforested, and did destroy the deer to the great benefit of the commons, 
and then the defendants, and all others that claymed any interest of commons 
in the Forests of Mocktree, and Brindgwood alias Prestwood, have by a mutuall 
agreement between themselves given their consent to an enclosure and impreve- 
ments, and have accepted of allotments in lieu of their commons, which are 
agreed accordingly, and that they by their answer do confesse the . . . 
to be true, and that there is a decree-drawn up by advise of council and 
agreement Of all parties on both sides, and therefore his Majesty’s said Atturney 

prayed that the said agreement and consent might be decreed accordingly. 

It is therefore this day ordered that the said agreement and consent shall 
be decreed if the defendants showe no cause to the contrary. 

And for that it was further informed by his Majesty’s said Atturney- 
Generell that all such as claim common on Darvold have likewise—by a mutual 
agreement betweene the said Earle and them—consented to the division and 
improvement, and have accepted of an allotment in lieu of their common, and 
for that the said Earle hath left the commons —- oak trees and about — acres of 
coppice wood in lieu of their — estovers, only these excepted, viz., William 
Tyler, James Tyler, and Francis Mill, that refractorily stand out. Wherefore 
his Majesty’s said Atturney-Genereli desired that the obstinacy of these might 
not hinder his Majesty’s services and the publique good; but that the like decree 
for Darvold as for the rest might be made, by far greate and maine parte being 
many hundreds against three, and that the other three might be bound by their 
eonsent, and ordered to conform themselves accordingly. 


187 


It is therefore further ordered by the Court that the said W. T., J. T., 
and F. M. shall then show cause why a decree should not be drawne upp, as 
is desired, and that a sub pena with the tenor of this order be awarded to give 


all the defendants notice thereof. 
Signed, FansHAWwE. 


Lord Craven succeeded the Earl of Lindsey in the possession of these 
Forests. He had lent Lord Lindsey £2,000 on mortgage, and for this sum 
and £4,000 more he purchased the Estates altogether. (D. C. papers.) 


The following petition from the Commoners of Deerfold to Lord Craven is 
copied from an old deed partially illegible. It is without date, but it doubtless 
belongs to the middle or end of the 17th Ruiiie — 

““Wee, whose names are . wees tesereeseess Many Of us his Majestie’s 
poore tenants, subjects, ielinbitanks within the sev. ....... of Wigmore, 
Atforton, Walford, Letton, Newton, Lye, Teinitiyaniine, "Taste, Shorley (7), 
and other places adjacent to a certaine waste or wood called Dervold, having (as 


our ancestors time out of mind did heretofore ........................ and enjoyed), as 
appertanent to our severall messuages ........................free right of Commons of 
pasture in the said pasture and wood ........................ thereof, for all manner of 
cattel, and commons of Estovers to the greate common support of. ys, our wives 
and children and familys ................0.... of so are not able to subsist and undergoe 
the pay...........: and duties as are necessarily incumbent upon us ......... freedome. 
May it please your Lordship, wee have......... andy e2is Hck eet: without any in- 
terruption or denyall untill of late for these Aa’ Oper aes years last past. One 


Master Whitby, a messenger employed for the "gathering of his Majestie’s rentes 
in this county of Hereford, hath severall times come upon the said waste........... : 
eattel and sheep depasturing ............66...00000 of, destrayning for arrears of 
rent due unto his Majestie for the same, and thereupon compelled us to the 
payment of severall sumes of money for the redeeming of the said cattel, so by 
him driven to very great wrong and damage of us freeholders Commoners ......... 
The said Mr. Whitby does still give out that he will continue driving off the 
said waste untill his Majestie’s rent, with the arrears due for the same, be 
discharged ; so that wee, the freeholders and commoners, can with noe security 
depasture our cattell, in such wise as we ought of right to doe: which, unless by 
some good measure timely redressed, will be to the great impoverishing if not 
the utter ruine of most of us. Wee are therefore bould to make our humble 
address to your geod Lordship, beseeching you that you will be pleased in pitty 
and compassion to us, the freeholders and commoners, to order some course of 
settlement for the payment of his Majestie’s rent, with the arrears (if any are 
yet unpaid), that in the future wee, who are known free commoners, and in 
ne way rightfully liable to the payment of any rent er mulct at all in the 
relation to the said waste and wood, may quietly and without disturbance enjoy 
the benefitts and advantages which to us doe of right appertayne ............ in the 
same, according ............ usage of us and our ancestors, 
**To the Lord Craven.” 


188 


It may perhaps have been im consequence of this petition that in 1664 the 
following arrangement was entered into between Lord Craven, the then holder 


of Dervold, and Sir Edward Harley, K.B., on behalf of himself and the other — 


commoners :— 

“Propositions concerning the enclosing of Derfold, in the county of 
Hereford, consented unto and agreed upon by the Right Honble. William Lord 
Craven on the one part, and Sir Edward Harley, Kuight of the Bath, on 
behalfe of himselfe and the rest of the Commoners (soe far as lyeth in him), on 
the other part. 

**1, It is agreed that the Lord Craven may inclose for himselfe and his 
heires the two coppices called Gravely and Powen, containing, according to the 
survey of Mr. Parsons, 40a. Or. 10p., and in in the great wast of Dervold 540a, 
In which number of acres are to be reckoned and included Ffrancis Lowes house 
and backsyde, Vallowes in Dickendale, the Banck below Dyers house, and all 
other late erected cottages upon Dervold, except such as by the Commoners shall 
be judged inconvenient to remayne where they are now erected. 

“*2. That the Lord Craven and his Trustees and the Patentees for 
Darvold shall at such tyme and in such manner as councill shall advise, 
absolutely convey, assume, and confirme unto Sir Edward Harley and his heires 
(for the reserved benefit of himself the said Sir Edward Harley and his heires, as 
alsoe of all the Commoners), all the residue of the great wast of Darvold, 
exceeding the 540 acres consented to be inclosed by the Lord Craven, and alsoe 
the grounds and lands called Knuckle, by the aforesaid survey 75a. Or. 20p., and 
Okely containing as aforesaid 74a. 1r., and Wood-wood containing as aforesaid 
75a. 3r. 25p., with all trees, woods, and bushes, which now doe or hereafter 
shall grow upon the premisses. The sayd Wood-wood to be limited and 
assigned for estovers to the inhabitants of Wigmore. 

«3. That the particular division and assignment of the Lord Craven’s part 
of Darvold, and of the Commoners’ part be set forth by Sir Edward Harley, 
Charles Baldwyn, Esq., and two surveyors indifferently chosen, the one by the 
Lord Craven, and the other by the sayd Sir Edward Harley, for and on behalf 
of the Commoners, in such manner that the Commoners’ part shall lye convenient 
to the several townships and sufficiently supplied with water. 

**4. That the Lord Craven’s part shall be inclosed and soe continually 
mayntayned at the sole cost and charges of the Lord Craven, and if at any 
time for want of reparation, or insufficiently of the sayd ffences, the Commoners’ 
cattle shall happen to come or stray into the part soe enclosed by the Lord 
Craven, then the owner of the cattle not to be impeached, but if such insuffici- 
ency of the sayd fiences any damage or trespasse shall be done in any part of 
Darvold or the part thereof allotted to the Commoners, it shall be lawfull 
for any of the Commoners to impound or bring action of trespasse. 

‘“‘5, That the conveyance made by the Earle of Lindsey to Mr. Fox, of 
the Rowles, be confirmed to Sir Edward Harley by the Lord Craven, and the 
Patentees for Darvold. 


iawe 


— re eee 2 ee oo 


189 


“*6, That the cottages upon Darvold, many of which were occasioned by 
the woodfall in Darvold, be allotted soe much land out of the Lord Crayen’s 
part as may enable them to maintayne their famelys, that they continue not a 
great charge and burthen to the neighbour towneshyps. The proportions of 
land soe to be layd to the severall cottage, being such as Sir Edward Harley and 
Mr. Baldwyn shall think fit, and at such rents as other tenants to the Lord 
Craven’s part of Darvold shall pay. 

“7, That the Commoners and their parts of Darvold, and the members 
thereof be secured from the ffee ffarm rent and from all arrears already due, all 
these particulars to be settled as councill on both sydes shall advise. 


**8, If it is found by Sir Edward Harley, Mr. Baldwyn, and the two 
Surveyors aforesayd, that there is any considerable mistake in Mr. Parson’s 
survey, as to the quantity of the great waste of Darvold, they are to 
rectify the same on both sides. 

“T doe here approve of this agreement and composition, and consent 
thereunto, and in all things confirm the same. 

“* (Signed) CRAVEN (and seal). 
John Baber. 
Robert Lawes.” 

(Endorsed : ‘“‘ Propositions concerning Derfold signed by Lord Craven and 

received from Mr. Lawes, March, 1664.”) 


**Signed and sealed in the presence of \ 


From this date until the beginning of the present century the following 
notes are all that have been obtained :— 


Robert, Earl of Oxford, purchased the fee farm isuing out of the Forest 
of Darvolt, of the Crown. 

Richard Knight, of Bringewood, Esq., purchased in the name of Robert 
Payne, from the heirs of Sir Anthony Craven, deceased, the Lordship of 
Leintwardine and other lands, including the right of soil of the Forest of 
Darvolt, 

By deed dated 27th June, 1722, Richard Knight and Robert Payne 
conveyed all their estates in the Forest of Darvolt (except Puley and Graley, 
which was in the possession of Robt. Weaver, Esq.) to Robert Earl of Oxford 
in fee. 

It would, however, be very tedious, and serve no good purpose to follow 
down the several properties in the Forest through the different family successors, - 
The accounts given leave the Harleys in possession of the chief part of the 
Forest, and Lady Langdale, as their descendant, is now, as has been said, 
the chief proprietor. 

The only remaining feature of interest is that which relates to the final 
enclosure of the open portions of the Forest in the year 1818, and the extinction 
of the rights of the commoners, which had existed up to that time. That the 
freeholders and inhabitants of the surrounding villages had the right of forage, 
or wood for fires, and common of cattle and other animals in the Forest up to 


190 


the year 1818 is beyond question, indeed it is proved by the deeds already 
quoted, and how then has it come to pass that they kave been lost. 


At the commencement of the present century a vast amount of common : 
and open land was enclosed, and the arguments in favour of doing so were 
strong and unanswerable. The commons land in too many cases were not 
merely waste, but wasted ; where all had the right to cut, nothing was allowed 
to grow ; and so many animals were turned upon them in spring, that the grass 
was quickly eaten up, and only those could keep animals who had other 
provender for them as well; and thus the poorer classes of inhabitants got 
scarcely any benefit at all. These common lands formed a refuge moreover for 
gypsies, travelling tinkers, and other wandering people of still less reputable 
habits, who lived on the district for the time they were there, levying 
contributions, not only on the game preserves of the rich, but also on fields, 
the hen-roosts, and the folds of the surrounding inhabitants. And thus when 
the natural increase of population required more land for cultivation, and the 
advance of civilisation rendered it so much more valuable, the neighbouring 
proprietors found no difficulty in getting an Act of Parliament to share it 
between them, and were naturally enough very glad to do so. ‘‘ Vast 
quantities of land,” says Mr. Fawcett, in a recent article of Frasers Magazine, 
over which the public possessed invaluable rights, have gradually been 
absorbed by individual proprietors. Up to the year 1845 commons were 
enclosed by private bills. All public discussion was thus avoided, and it is now 
impossible to form an adequate conception of the extent to which individuals 
were enriched at the expense of the public and the poor. By means of these 
private bills more than seven million acres of land were enclosed between the 
beginning of the eighteenth century and 1845. The late Duke of Newcastle 
(then Earl of Lincoln) once saidin the House of Commons—‘“‘ This I know, 
that in nineteen casesout of twenty, committees of this House, sitting on private 
enclosure bills, neglected the rights of the poor.” Thus it fared with 
the common lands of the Forest of Deerfold. Before the Act of Inclosure 
was obtained due publication of the intention was doubtless made. All the 
neighbouring proprietors and those who had used their privileges made personal 
claims and struggled to get the best allotment they could. Their rights as 
commoners became thus extnguished to their satisfaction by individual com- 
pensation, The really poor made no application themselves, and none was made 
for them. The House of Commons, too, forgot to preserve their rights, and 
thus as a body the commoners were unrepresented and ceased to exist. The 
Act of Parliament alienated for ever the privileges which had before undoubtedly 
existed as rights in common. The whole land is now freehold, and the poor 
have no more right to the woods of Overlye than they have to cut the shrubs of 
Yatton Court, or to gather flowers in Lord Bateman’s garden at Shobdon, 


191 
PART V.—THE PRECINCTS OF THE FOREST. 


“« There in close covert by some brook 
Where no profaner eye may look, 
Hide me from day’s garish eye.”—I7 Penserose. 


** And did the Lollards bring the Asarabacca to Deerfold?” is it asked. 
Most certainly not, for this would tell of a peaceful residence and rest that 
belonged not to them; but within half a mile of the place where it grows so 
freely are the ruins of the Priory of Lyngbrook, Lymbrook, or Limebrook, as it is 
variously called, and the existence of the plant there is probably due to the 
gentle charity of some sister who knew its value, and required it for her daily 
ministrations with the sick. 

The ruins stand in a narrow valley on the western borders of the Forest. 
The valley is very quiet and secluded, with a noisy brook running through it, 
crossed by a wooden footbridge just below. The meadow is full of grassy mounds, 
and these with a few old walls, built of the shaly stone of which the neigh- 
bouring rocks consist, and overgrown with roses and wych elms, are the only 
remains of the Nunnery. A small plain arched doorway leads inte an oblong 
room, about 15 ft. by 10 ft., and there are traces of a room above; but the roof, 
the windows, and all the upper parts of the walls are gone, Another gray old 
crumbling wall joins it, pierced by one small and very plain window with a 
wooden lintel. A plain doorway similarly built leads out into the meadow. 
The adjoining ground shows some traces of fish ponds, and there are two or 
three very old yew trees scattered about. Such is all that remains now of the 
Priory founded by Ralph de Wigmore, Lord of Lingen, in the reign of Richard I. 
(1189-99). ‘<A place of nunnes,” says Leland, “ within ii. myles of Wygmore.” 


In Dugdale’s Monasticon Anglicanum amongst the Benedictine Monas- 
teries is—‘‘ Lingebrook Priory in Herefordshire. Upon Inquisition taken the 
24th Edward III. (1351) the jury found that it was not any detriment if the King 
did permit Adam Esgar (clerk) to bestow the manor of Brokkeswodepawn on the 
Priory and Convent of Lingebrook, to be held by them to keep the anniversary of 
William de Pawn yearly in the sd Priory as the sd Adam should appoint.” 

“*King Richard II. gave leave to the Carthusian monks to purchase the 
Priory, which it seemed belonged to the Abbey of Aveney in Normandy, and was 
supported as alien in the Parlement held at Leicester 2nd Henry V. (1415) Joan 
and Elizabeth daughters of Edmund Mortimer were nuns here in Edward I, 
time,” (Blunt.) 

The Priory continued to be occupied until the general suppression, when 
it had six nuns, and was valued at £22 17s. 8d. per annum (Dugdale), or at 
£23 18s. 6d. per annum. (Speed.) 

“The scite, capital, messuages, &c., and other hereditaments of this in 
Lymebrooke were granted by the 7th Edward VI. to John West and Roger 
Gratwich, yeomen, and their heyres.” (Blunt.) 

At the Archzxological Institute of London, June 10th, 1869, Sir Thomas 
Winnington exhibited a deed of the Nunnery of Lymbrook, Herefordshire, 


192 


granting the parsonage of Clifton-on-Teme to the rector, A.D. 1527 ; attached to 
it was the seal of the house, which was before unknown. It had been found 
recently at Stanford Court. ‘ 

About a mile north of the ruins of Lymebrook Priory, hanging still on the 
skirts of the forest of Deerfold, is the site of the ancient castle of Lingen. An 
orchard inclosed with a deep and wide moat, wet still here and there, and a large 
and steep mound at the eastern end, surmounted by a picturesque Scotch fir tree, 
present all that remains of it. If it ever had walls, no trace of them exist, and 
if it ever was a stronghold, it must surely have been at a time when the flat 
’ ground surrounding it was boggy and insecure. The village of Lingen gives its 
name to one of the oldest families in Herefordshire. Of the Castle and its 
Lords, its history, and their adventures, it is not necessary to say anything 
here, for is it not all told in that interesting and valuable contribution to the 
history of the county, by one of our members—“ The Castles of Herefordshire 
and their Lords,” by the Rev. J. C. Robinson, M.A. 

Nor, for the very same reason, may the beautiful and extensive ruins of 
Wigmore Castle, on the other side of the Forest be dwelt upon: the ancient 
Abbey near the castle; nor the romantic passages in the history of their illus- 
trious possessors, the Mortimers. It would be more in character with the 
objects of the Club to speak of the geology of the Forest of Deerfold and its 
natural productions, but this may not be, for the paper is already very long, 
and the Club has fixed the first excursion of the approaching season to inves- 
tigate more thoroughly these very points. 

One duty only remains, and it is the very pleasing one of returning thanks 
to all those whose kind interest in the Woolhope Club has led them to supply 
the materials which form the groundwork of this paper. The facts of history 
and legal memoranda are chiefly due to Lady Frances Vernon Harcourt, Mrs. 
Stackhouse Acton, R. W. Banks, Hsq., and the Rev. J. C. Robinson. Thomas 
Blashill, Esq., of London, has earned much gratitude. His drawings and 
description of the old house of the Chapel farm shew clearly enough the very 
great trouble he has taken to render them asaccurate as possible. The permission 
so readily granted to examine the Episcopal Registers and books in the 
Cathedral library has been most useful in opening up an almost forgotten 
chapter in the church history of the county. The Rey. 8. Clark, the Rev. T. 
Woodhouse, and some other gentlemen have been more useful than they would 
perhaps themselves admit; and lastly the kind and genial hospitality at the 
Haven in the Forest itself, has given all the visits of enquiry there a pleasant 
recollection. The Messrs, T. W. and C. Fortey have indeed spared no trouble 
to give every assistance required, and have clearly proved themselves, in the 
eyes of our Club, worthy possessors of that most interesting tree—upon whose 
branches after all this whole story hangs— 


THE MISTLETOE OAK OF THE FOREST OF DEERFOLD, 


193 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM: 


AN ANALYTICAL KEY TO THE BRITISH AGARICINI, WITH 
CHARACTERS OF THE GENERA AND SUBGENERA. 


By Worraineton G. Suita, F.LS. 
(Read before the Woolhope Club, Hereford, February 22nd, 1870.) 


(Puates I-VI.) 


Contents.—1. General Observations on the Agaricini. 2. Analytical 
Key. 38. Characters of the Genera and Subgenera of the Agaricini. 


1. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE AGARICINI. 


In a large group of plants like the Agaricini, of which we have in 
this country some seven hundred representatives, all more or less in- 
timately allied, systematic arrangement is of the highest importance. 
During the last half-century various attempts have been made in this 
direction, the last and most successful being that of the illustrious 
Fries, in his ‘Monographia Hymenomycetum Sueciz,’ published in 
1856. In this work, although the author does not depart materially 
from the views expressed in his ‘ Epicrisis’ (1836-38), he separates 
several species of Agaricus into two new subgenera (Znoloma and Stro- 
pharia), removes some Tricholomata into the genus Pazillus, and makes 
many minor alterations. Since this work was issued, Fries has con- 
tinued to write on the subject, and has recently established a third new 
subgenus (Pilosace) of Agaricus, making thirty in all. The only work 
in English that gives descriptions of all the British species is the ad- 
mirable ‘Outlines of British Fungology,’ by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley 
(1860),—which has proved invaluable during the last ten years to 
students here and in America, where Fries’ works are rare. As re- 
gards the Hymenomycetes, Mr. Berkeley in the main adopts the views 
of Fries, giving descriptions of many new species. 

There is perhaps no test of the value of characters so searching as 
an analytical key, and, as far as I am aware, no one has hitherto 
attempted to produce one for the Order Agaricini. This want I have 


194 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


here endeavoured to supply. It has been more or less perfectly in ma- 
nuscript for the last seven years, and has always been used by me in | 
determining new or critical Agarics. At the request of many friends, 
T am induced to print it; and it only remains for me to say, that the 
characters given are either taken from the works of Fries or Berkeley 
or are from my own notes and observations. When the latter have 
agreed with those of the above-mentioned authorities, 1 have not hesi- 
tated to use their very words ; but I have minutely examined between 
five and six hundred fresh specimens, ranging over the whole Order, 
and in every instance I have made careful drawings of the plants and 
their spores, together with dissections. I have also referred to, and 
retained copies of, more than a thousand published plates, being nearly 
every species referred to by Fries or Berkeley. The accompanying 
outlines have been in every case drawn from nature, and the spores 
of each species have been uniformly enlarged seven hundred diameters 
with a camera-lucida. 

My ideas of the value and sequence of the genera and subgenera of 
the Agaricini differ very little from those of Fries and Berkeley. Had 
either of these authors applied the test of an analytical key, I have 
little doubt that, in regard to those small differences, they would have 
coincided with me. The five great series of Agarics, termed, from the 
colour of the spores,—1, Leucospori (white spores); 2, Hyporhodit 
(pink spores) ; 3, Dermini (brown spores) ; 4, Pratelle (purple spores) ; 
and 5, Coprinarii (black spores),—are of the first importance in dis- 
criminating species. It is remarkable that, whilst in the first group 
we have in this country some two hundred and fifty species, the num- 
bers grow gradually less through the pink, brown, and purple series to 
black, in which latter there are only sixteen. 

After thus dividing the genus Agaricus, Fries proceeds to the sub- 
genera; but this I consider too abrupt, as each spore-group naturally 
divides itself into three sections, thus :— 

1. Hymenophorum distinct from the fleshy stem. L, Plate I. fig. 2. 

2. Hymenophorum confluent and homogeneous with the fleshy stem. 
P, Plate I. fig. 5. 

3. Hymenophorum confluent with, but heterogencous from, the car- 
tilaginous stem. Q, Plate I. fig. 7. 

The arrangement of the subgenera under these sections is shown in 
the accompanying table (Plate VI.), and it may be considered in its 


OO ———————— 


JOURNAL OF BOTANY.—PLATE VI. 


TABULAR VIEW OF THE SUBGENERA OF AGARICUS. 


i ao III. IV. v. 
LEUCOSPORI. anann DERMINI. PRATELLE. | COPRINARII. 


3 : Amanita. 
ig 
238 
fre} Q 

b 

a 
ce) 
ee Lepiota 
Be 
eg 
BE 
ise) 
% 


5. 
Clitocybe. 


geneous with the fleshy stem. 


6. 
Pleurotus. 


** Hymenophorum confluent and homo- 


gas 
So6 ae 
a 8-§ Collybia. 
5 2,8 
oo 's 
oH 
qué 
P| 
ae 
ov 
oa 
a2 
tn 
eggs 
a 
= + Nr, + 
* ; at o.. 


(Proposed new subgenera are in italics.) 


J 
| 
. 
. 
yet ‘ 
Teer 
’ 
by 
4 
. . 
; 
#s . 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 195 


favour that it displaces from the order generally adopted only two sub- 
genera, Plevrotus and Crepidotus ; the former is usually, but apparently 
without reason, placed after Mycena or Omphalia, and the latter after 
Galera. Pleurotus, as Fries himself says, is closely allied to Tricholoma 
and Clitocybe ; it is, in fact, only a Tricholoma or Clitocybe growing on 
trees and stumps instead of on the ground. Its proper position, then, 
undoubtedly is after Clitocyde. Its peculiar habit is not sufficient to 
separate it from this group, as we find a habit precisely the same in 
Armillaria, Pholiota, and Stropharia. For convenience, it would be 
well to retain the resupinate species in their present position at the end 
of the subgenus. In the use of this table it may seem a question 
whether the sequence of the species should follow the vertical or the 
horizontal lines ; the alliance is certainly greater in the horizontal series. 
For instance, Armillaria is much nearer to Pholiota and Stropharia 
than to Zricholoma ; in the former the structure and the adit are the 
same, the spores only are different in colour. A reference to the cha- 
racters of the subgenera in part 3 of this essay will show that this is 
true of all the other subgenera. I do not, however, propose to adopt 
this system, though Fries has used it in arranging the genera of the 
Agaricini, for after Agaricus he places Coprinus, wholly disregarding 
the spores, and depending on the structure, which resembles Lepiota ; 
then follows Cortinarius, resembling Armillaria, Tricholoma, and their 
allies (see table); then Pawillus, with the gills decurrent as in Clitocybe ; 
and so on, in accordance with s¢rwcture and habit, to the end of the Order. 
Had the genera of 4garicini been arranged after the manner of the sub- 
genera of Agaricus, the sequence would have been :—White spores : 
Russula, Lactarius, Hygrophorus, Nyctalis, Paxillus (Lepista), Cantha- 
rellus, Marasmius, Lentinus, Panus, Xerotus, Schizophyllum, Lenzites. 
Pink and brown spores: Bolbitius, Cortinarius, Paxillus (Tapinea). 
Black spores : Gomphidius, Coprinus. It is singular that none of these 
genera have purple spores, analogous with the Praédelle. So little 
value does Fries attach to the colour of the spores amongst these 
genera, that some of the species of his Pawillus have white spores, others 
red. The genus Marasmiusis so near the subgenus of Agaricus, Colly- 
bia, that it is sometimes very difficult to determine to which group some 
svecies belong. Fries himself is often very uncertain ; with some species 
he has recently put the common Agaricus (T'richoloma) personatus, Fr., 
into the genus Pazillus, partly on account of the gills separating from 


196 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


the hymenophorum, See remarks under Tricholoma, Lepista, and 
Pasillus. 

I. Leucosvort, White-spored Agarics (PLate 1.).—Without doubt 
the species bearing white spores are much higher in type than the plants 
producing coloured spores. Most of the former are firm, and many 
persistent, whilst as we approach the black-spored Agarics, through 
the pink, brown, and purple series, there is a greater tendency to 
deliquesce till we reach the small, ephemeral species of Coprini, whose 
entire lives endure but one hour, and whose whole structure may be 
destroyed by a breath. The spores of the Leucospori are mostly oval 
in shape, sometimes nearly round (in Plewrotus they are usually elon- 
gated ovals), generally very regular in shape, but sometimes spinulose 
(showing an affinity to 2wssula and other genera). The spores vary in 
size; the ZLewcospori producing the largest as well as the smallest 
known spores; as a rule they are small (and thus opposed to the 
black-spored groups, where, as a rule, they are /arge), generally white, 
but sometimes dingy, or with a suggestion of yellow, showing an 
affinity to Cantharellus, ete., or pink, and pointing to Lentinus. It 
is worthy of note that no other Fungus is analogous with the species 
of the “ringed” section of Amanita; it stands quite alone in pos- 
sessing a volva and ring. It is also remarkable that, as a rule, none 
of the Leucospori grow on dung or in rank places, whilst in the darker 
and black-spored groups these habitats are the rule. 

IL. Hyrornopi, Pink-spored Agarics (Puate IL.).—There is not one 
quarter so many Agarics bearing pink or salmon-coloured as white spores. 
The size of the spores varies greatly. A few are very small, others 
equally large (see Plate IT.), whilst the majority are remarkably irre- 
gular in shape, resembling the fragments of granite seen in the roads. 
Some of the species are edible, as in Clidopilus (analogous with the 
white-spored edible species of Clitocybe), whilst others are poisonous, 
as in Lnxtoloma, reminding us of such dangerous species of Zricho- 
loma as A. sulfureus, Bull, ete. 

In this section blank places for unrepresented subgenera become 
apparent. Were the study better prosecuted, and the Agarics from 
all the world known, most, if not all, these species would probably be 
filled in. The genus Plwéeus occupies the only space unrepresented 
amongst the Lewcospori, Plate I., but it is exceedingly probable that 
white-spored Agarics exist with gills perfectly /ree from the stem, and 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 197 


without a ring, though at present none are described.* Weight is added 
to this opinion by the fact that Fries has lately established a sub- 
genus (Pilosace) amongst the Pratelie with these very characters (Plate 
IV.). Till then Pluteus stood quite alone in structure. 

Hitherto no subgenus has been recognized amongst the Hyporhodii 
analogous to Lepiota among the Leucospori, but such a group really 
exists. In the ‘Commentario della Societa Crittogamologica Italiana,’ 
No. 2, September, 1861, there is an Agaric described as a doubtful 
Pluteus under the name of “4. (Pluteus ?) xanthogrammus, Ces.” It 
greatly resembles 4. (Armillaria) mucidus, Fy., in aspect, and the 
stem is furnished with a ring; so that it fills up the vacant space in 
the Hyporhodii. 1 propose for it the subgeneric name of Chameota. 
To it also belongs 4. cretaceus, Fr., A. echinatus, Roth, etc. A. 
cretaceus, Fy., should not be referred to as intermediate between Lepiota 
and Psalliota. It is singular that, with these unrecognized exceptions, 
not a single rosy-spored Agaric is described as possessing a stem fur- 
nished with a true ring, whilst in the Pradelle, every species in every 
subgenus has a ring more or less manifest. 

Some species of the subgenus Crepidotus must be removed to the 
space in the Hyporhodii, analogous to Pleurotus, as their spores are 
rosy, and not brown. To this new and natural group I give the 
name Claudopus. Myr. Berkeley’s species of Pleurotus (?) with pink 
spores belongs to this subgenus, When Mr. Berkeley’s book was pub- 
lished, ten years ago, no species of the subgenus ZHecilia were known 
to be British; now at least three are on our lists. , 

Ill. Dermint, Brown-spored Agarics (Ptate III.).—In the ‘Der- 
mini, the blanks for unrepresented subgenera are more numerous. 
There are no British species with the hymenophorum free from the 


* Since this paper has been in print, I have received from Mr. Charles H. 
Peck, of Albany, New York (under date March 30, 1870), an interesting note 
regarding a critical American Agaric. If his description prove correct, the 
plant he mentions exactly fills the only vacant space amongst the Leucospori. 
He says, in answer to my inquiries, “I have found what I have classed with 
the Lepiote, a viscid, cespitose species, growing on old stumps close to the 
ground, having no trace of veil or annulus, a circumstance in which it does not 
agree with other species of that subgenus so far as known to me.”’ The habitat 
of this Agaric, leaving out its structural characters, does not agree with any 
species of Lepiota, but is in correspondence with that of Pluteus, where the. 
annulus is also absent, and which is probably one of its analogues. The habi- 
tats correspond in other analogous subgenera, as in Lepiota and Psalliota ; 
Armillaria, Pholiota, and Stropharia, etc. 


198 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


stem; but in Agaricus (Pholiota) tersus, Fr., it is so, and the stem 
is furnished with a fugitive ring, showing a clear analogy between 
this species and Lepiota (Plate I.), Chamaota (Plate II.), and Psal- 
liota (Plate IV.); neither are any brown-spored Agarics furnished 
with a volva, unless, indeed, a trace of such a structure is indicated 
in Cortinarius (for Cortinarius is certainly allied to Pholiota and 
Hebeloma), where many of the species have an adnate volva and 
arachnoid ring. 

Remarks on Fries’ new subgenus Jnocyde will be found under Hebe- 
Jona. ‘This latter subgenus resembles Cortinarius in many respects, 
even to the lesser groups, into which both are divided, depending on 
the character of the pileus, whether it is slimy, moist, or squamulose. 

The subgenera Flammula and Naucoria are in a most unsatisfactory 
condition. They require thorough revision. The species of Naucoria, 
with decurrent gills and depressed pilei (4. furfuraceus, P., ete.) I 
remove to the next position, as analogous in every respect to Omphalia 
and Zecilia, and describe under the name Tudaria. 

IV. PratELLe, Purple-spored Agarics (Puate IV.).—The affi- 
nities and characters of all the subgenera are referred to under their re- 
spective headings. I have already said that Pi/osace is not British. As 
A. physaloides, Bull, has decurrent gills and a pileus at length de- 
pressed, I remove it to the space corresponding amongst the Pratelle 
to Omphalia and Eecilia amongst the white- and pink-spored species ; 
and name the subgenus Deconica. 

V. Coprinaril,« Black-spored Agarics (Ptate V.).—There is 
little to be said about these in addition to the observations under the 
respective subgenera. Psathyrella is very close to Coprinus, more so 
than Paneolus. In the Coprinarii the unrepresented spaces are very 
numerous. I am unable to offer any suggestion as to filling them, 
unless by cutting up the genus Coprinus, the species of which genus 
differ exceedingly in many points, especially in the attachment of the 
cills to the stem. C. comatus, Fr., is clearly allied to Lepiota; the 
habit, scaly pileus, moveable ring, change of colour when cut, edible 
qualities, ete., all point in this direction. The characters of some of 
the others, as those growing on wood, etc., indicate other affinities ; 
but till Agarics are better known these spaces must remain unoccupied. 


2. ANaLyTIcAL Key to THE AGARICINI. 
In using the following key, the first and most important point to be 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 199 


determined in naming an Agaric is to ascertain the colour of the spores. 
The specimens used for study should always be perfectly fresh and, if 
possible, young, as in many species the characters, especially of the veil 
and colour, are evanescent. To beginners the habitat also will be found 
of considerable importance.* The genera are printed in italics, and 
the subgenera in Roman type. The numbers prefixed to the sub- 
genera will enable the reader to refer at once to the Plates, where the 
numbers correspond. 


I. Spores white, or very slightly tinted —Leucospori. 
* Plant fleshy, more or less firm, putrescent (neither 
deliquescent nor coriaceous). 
+ Hymenophorum free. 
Pileus bearing warts or patches free from 
the cuticle Seem Shee ooh el he aia lot ACPO RNID 
Pileus scaly, scales concrete with the cuticle . 2. Lerrora. 
+ Hymenophorum confluent. 
{ Without cartilaginous bark. 
§ Stem central. 


i Witharme. . . . « « «. . .» &ABMIDDARIA. 
|| Ringless. 
Gillssinuate. . ..... =... 4 TRICHOLOMA. 


Gills decurrent. 
Separating from the hymenophorum 5. LEPISTA. 
Not separating from the hymeno- 


phorum. 
Edgeacute. . .. . . . . 5. CLITOcyBE. 
Edge swollen . . . . . . 11. CANTHARELLUS. 
Gills adnate. 


Plants parasitic on other Agarics . 12. NYCTATLIS. 
Not parasitic. 


Milkyiog ens: tee) whisk cu on Oe eG DA BLU. 
Not milky. 
Rigid and brittle . . . . . 10. RUSSULA. 
Wasytitas - Um sie os fey da Ee GROPHORUS. 
§ Stem lateralorabsent . . .. . .- . 6, PLEUROTUS. 
t With a cartilaginous bark. 
Gills/decurrent: “Goya ) 3%... «, 9. OMPHALIAS 


Gills not decurrent. 


* Being anxious to procure fresh specimens of new and rare species for 
an illustrated work on the British Hymenomycetes now in hand, I append my 
address. Each Fungus should be wrapped separately in thin paper to prevent 
bruising. Under three-quarters of a pound in weight will travel by sample 
post for 3d. if no letter is enclosed. _ 

12, North Grove West, Mildmay Park, London, 7 


200 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


Margin at first involute : 
Margin at first straight . . . . 
* Plant tough, coriaceous, or woody. 
+ Stem central. 


GUUS:SIN DIG perme Eres nel is 
Gills branched . 
+ Stem lateral or wanting. 
Gillsstoothedthes-9 hen es > peg 
Gills not toothed. . . . 4 46 
Gills channelled fongibadinally, or eee 
Gills splitting longitudinally . 18. 


Gills: anastomosmroes) feet. denies 5. le 


II. Spores rosy or salmon-colour.—Hyporhodii. 
* Without cartilaginous bark. 
+ Hymenophorum free. 
PP EWiutavOlvan sere me fe we telto fs is 
{ Without a volva. 
With a ring 
Ringless . 
+ Hymenophorum peneneat 
{ Stem central. 
Gills adnate or sinuate 
Gills decurrent. 
{ Stem lateral or absent 
* With cartilaginous bark. 
Gills decurrent 
Gills not decurrent. 
Gills subdeliquescent 
Pileus torn into scales . : 
Pileus papillose, subeampanulate. 
Gills membranaceous, persistent . 


. COLLYBIA. 
. Mycrna. 


ache 
; Le 


MARASMIUS, 
XEROTUS. 

. 14. LENTINUS. 

. 15. PANUS. 

. 17. TROGIA. 
SCHIZOPHYLLUM. 
. 19. LENZITES. 


. VOLVARIA. 


. 11. CHammoTA. 
. 12. PLUTETS. 


. ENTOLOMA. 
CLITOPILUs. 
. CLAUDOPUS. 


. ECCILIA. 


. BOLBITIUVUS. 
. LEPTONIA. 


. 17. NOLANEA. 


III. Spores brown, sometimes reddish or yellowish-brown.—Dermini. 


* Without cartilaginous bark. 
+ Stem central. 
+ With a ring. 
Ring continuous . . ae 


. 19. PHoLioTaA. 


Ring arachnoid, fistious or evanescent. 


Gills adnate, terrestrial . . . . 


. 4. CORTINARIUS. 


Gills decurrent or acutely adnate, gene- 


rally epiphytal . . 
{ Without a ring. 


. 21. FLAMMULA. 


Gills adhering to the hymenophorum, and 


sinuate 


and decurrent . ... .. « 
+ Stem lateral or absent. . 


. . 20. HEBELOMA. 
Gills separating from ie Eeangplice a 


6. PAXILLUS. 
. 22. CREPIDOTUS. 


PLATE TI. 
SERIES 1. LEUCOSPORI.—SPORES WHITE. 


* Hymenophorum distinct from the fleshy Stem. 


|. AMANITA. Ze LerlOmn A < 


7- GOLLYBIA. 


aN 


SUBGENERA OF AGARICUS. 


PLATE II. 
SERIES 2. HYPORHODII.—SPORES PINK. 


* Hymenophorum distinct from the fleshy Stem. 


10 .VOLVARIA. (Il. CHAMZEOTR.) 12.PLUTEUS. 


** Hymenophorum confluent and homogeneous with the fleshy Stem. 


IS. ENTOLOMA. 


14,.CLITOPILUS. | (I5,CLHUDOPUS.) 


SUBGENERA OF AGARICUS. 


PLATE III. 
SERIES 3, DERMINI—SPORES BROWN. 


* Hymenophorum distinct from the fleshy Stem. 


** Hymenophorum confluent and homogeneous with the fleshy Stem. 


I9-PHOLIOTR. 20.HEBELOMA. 


i se 


(INOCYBE) 


21.FLAMMULA. 22.CREPIDOTUS. 


¥** Hymenophorum confluent with, but heterogeneous from the cartilaginous Stem. 
23.NAUCORIA. 24. GALEBA. ( 25.TUBRARIA.) 


Toh | 


W.G.S.ADNAT DEL. 


SUBGENERA OF AGARICUS. 


PLATE IY. 
SERIES 4, PRATELLZ.—SPORES PURPLE. 


* Hymenophorum distinct from the fleshy Stem. 


26 .PSALLIOTA. 


= 


** Hymenophorum confluent and homogeneous with the fleshy Stem. 


27.-PIiLOSACE. 


NOT BRITISH. 


23 .STROPHARIA 29 -HYPHOLOMA. 


*#** Hymenophorum confluent with, but heterogeneous from the cartilaginous Stem. 


3O.PSILOCYBE, 3I.PSATHYRA. (32.DECONICR.) 


Q 
OO Te om 


SUBGENERA OF AGARICUS. 


WIGS AD NAT DEL 


PLATE V. 
SERIES 5. COPRINARII—SPORES BLACK. 


* Hymenophorum distinct from the fleshy Stem. 


no 


** Hymenophorum confluent and homogeneous with the fleshy Stem. 
33.PNNALOLUS. 
P a 
i | \ 4 
| | = 


*** Hymenophorum confluent with, but heterogeneous from the cartilaginous Stem. 


34 .PSATHYRELLA. 


W.G.S.AD.NAT. DEL 


SUBGENERA OF AGARICUS. 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 201 


* With cartilaginous bark. 


Gills decurrent . . ...... =. ~ . 25. TUBARIA. 
Gills not decurrent. 
Margin of pileus at first incurved . . . . 23. NavcoRIA. 
Margin of pileus always straight. . . . . 24. GALERA. 


IV. Spores purple, sometimes brownish-purple, dark purple or dark brown.— 
Pratelle. 
* Without cartilaginous bark. 
+ Hymenophorum free. 
POWithh ere he se ee de fee Swe 20. ERATEIOTA. 
[ Ringless. . . . a, ae ke se at E LLORAU EE 
7 Hymenophoram cctienit 
Veil normally ring-shaped on the stem. . . 28. STROPHARIA. 
Veil normally eer to the margin of 


pileus. ... of tastes .aclie 20>, LLY PHOROMA, 
* With cartilaginous as 
Gillsdecurrent . . ... =... . . . 82, DECONIOA. 
Gills not decurrent. 
Margin of pileus at first incurved . . . . 30. PsILocyBE. 
Margin of pileus at first straight. . . . . 31. PsarHyra. 
V. Spores black, or nearly so.— Coprinarii. 
Gillsdeliquescent), je. 4 + so ee es sO COPRINGS, 
Gills not deliquescent. 
(DECUINEDt ets Be Wel ky si) tie So vl os Gn GOLEM MD LUN, 


Not decurrent. 
Pileus striate, gills not variegated . . . 34, PSATHYRELLA. 
Pileus not striate, gills variegated . . . 33. PANZOLUS. 


8. CHARACTERS OF THE GENERA AND SUBGENERA OF THE 
AGARICINI. 


Orper Acaricint.—Hymenium inferior, spread over easily-divisible 
gills or plates radiating from a centre or stem, which may be either 
simple or branched. 

Genus I. Acaricus, Linn. Syst. Nat. (1735).—Spores of various 
colours; gills membranaceous, persistent, with an acute edge; trama 
floccose, confluent with the inferior hymenium. Fleshy fungi, putrify- 
ing, and not reviving when once dried, hence differing from such genera 
as are deliquescent, coriaceous, or woody. 

Series I. Leucosport, Fr. Epicr. p. 3.—Spores white. 

Subgenus 1. Amanita, Persoon, Syn. Meth. Fung. p. 246 (Plate 
I. fig. 1).—Veil universal, at first completely enveloping the young 
plant, distinct and free from the cuticle of the pileus; pileus convex, 


202 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


then expanded, not decidedly fleshy ; stem distinct from the hymeno- 
phorum,* ringed or ringless, furnished with a volva, free and lax, connate 
with the base, or friable and nearly obsolete; gills free from the stem. 
—Has. On the ground, mostly in woods and uncultivated places. 

This subgenus is remarkable for the great development of the veil, 
which at first entirely envelopes the young plant in a thick clothy 
wrapper ; as the fungus reaches maturity, the veil is naturally ruptured, 
and part of it remains in scattered and easily removed patches on the 
pileus (B), and part forms a more or less complete cup or volva at the 
base (c); when there are no fragments on the pileus, the veil has 
been ruptured in one place, where the whole mass remains; this is 
often the case in Agaricus phalloides, Fr. Some of the species have 
the stem furnished with a ring (D), which is part of the veil, whilst three 
species are ringless (or more properly, ¢he ring is adherent to the stem). 
In some species the veil is thick and greatly developed, whilst in others 
it is thin and friable, and both volva and patches are evanescent ; the 
higher forms of Amanita stand alone; from the stem being furnished 
with a volva and ring. Some of the species are edible, others highly 
poisonous. 

Amanita corresponds with the pink-spored Volvaria, Plate II. fig. 
10. The species figured is Agaricus (Amanita) muscarius, L., spores 
00032” x :00025". 

Subgenus 2. Leprora, Fr. Syst. Myc. vol. i. p. 19 (Plate I. fig. 2). 
—Veil universal, and concrete with the cuticle of the pileus breaking 
up in the form of scales (r); pileus never compact, often very thin, the 
flesh always soft and threadlike, and not only distinct from the stem, 
but often separated above into a peculiar cup; stem distinct from the 
hymenophorum,* generally hollow, full of threadlike fibres, rather sub- 
cartilaginous than fleshy, different in texture from the flesh of the 
pileus (hence it is easily removed, leaving a cup or socket at its point 
of juncture with the pileus £), furnished with an annulus, which is at 
first continuous with the cuticle of the pileus, often moveable, some- 


* Some exceptions may be found to nearly every character amongst Agarics, 
and this one of a free hymenophorum has two exceptions, one in a variety of 
Agaricus (Lepiota) granulosus, Batsch, where the gills are adnate (or even have 
a decurrent tooth), and the other in an Amanita which I have described under 
the name of Agaricus adnatus, where the same condition obtains. The pre- 
sence of the annulus, too, is not without exception ; it is often fugitive, and 
must then be sought for in young specimens; and it is sometimes absent from 
the first in Agaricus (Armillaria) melleus, Vahl. 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 203 


times evanescent; volva none ; gills free, hence not sinuate or decur- 
rent.—Has. On the ground, mostly in rich grassy places, and more 
often in fields than woods. 

Lepiota corresponds in structure with Chameota, Plate II. fig. 11, and 
Psalliota, Plate IV. fig. 26; the sections of both subgenera change 
colour, and they have a common habitat. Coprinus is allied to this sub- 
genus. Several species of Lepiota, as A. clypeolarius, Bull, A. cepestipes, 
Sow., and A. eristatus, Fr., appear in hothouses all the year round. 
Lepiota is readily recognized amongst white-spored Agarics by its free 
gills, annulated stem without a volva, and generally scaly pileus. Nearly 
all are autumnal and edible. The species figured is Agaricus (Lepiota) 
procerus, Scop. Spores ‘0006 “x -00035.” 

Subgenus 3. AnMTLLARIA, Fr. Syst. Mye. vol. i. p. 26 (Plate IL 
fiz. 3).—Veil partial, in infancy attaching the edge of pileus to the 
upper part of stem,and often forming flocci on the pileus (4); pileus gene- 
rally fleshy ; stem homogeneous and confluent with the hymenophorum, 
furnished with a ring (sometimes absent in abnormal specimens), below 
the ring the veil is concrete with the stem, often forming scales upon 
it similar to the scurfy scales on the pileus; gills broadly touching or 
running down the stem.— Has. On the ground or on stumps of trees. 

This subgenus corresponds with Pholiota, Plate III. fig. 19, and 
Stropharia, Plate IV. fig. 28 ; it is also allied to Tricholoma, Clitocybe, 
and Collybia, amongst the white-spored Agarics. Fries subdivides 
Armillaria into groups, depending on their relations to one or other of 
these subgenera. The species figured is Agaricus (Armillaria) melleus, 
Vahl. Spores :00035” x :00023”. 

Subgenus 4. TrrcHoLoma, Fr. Syst. Mye. vol. i. p. 36 (Plate I. 
fig. 4).—Veil absent, or if present, floccose and adhering to the mar- 
gin of pileus ; in 4. acerdus, Bull., the margin of pileus extends beyond 
the gills, exactly as in 4. separatus, L. (Plate V. fig. 33); pileus — 
generally fleshy ; stem homogeneous and confluent with the hymeno- 
phorum, central and subfleshy, without either ring or volva, and with 
no distinct barklike coat; gills sinuate, 7. ¢. with a sinus (or small 
sudden curve) near the stem (H).—Has. All the species grow on the 
ground, the larger in hilly woods, and the smaller in pastures. 

Tricholoma corresponds with Entoloma, Plate II. fig. 13; Hebeloma, 
Plate III. fig. 20; Hypholoma, Plate IV. fig. 29; and Paneolus, 
Plate V. fig. 33. Most of the species grow in the autumn, some 


204 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


very late, but a group of which 4. gambosus, Fr., is the type, 1s 
strictly vernal, and the species constituting it have long been con- 
sidered special delicacies ; the greater number of the remaining 
species are also edible, and have a pleasant odour like that of new 
flour, but a few are rank and suspicious, of which 4. saponaceus, Fr., 
is an example. This very large subgenus has been subdivided by 
Fries in the following manner :—1. Pileus viscid. 2. Puileus floccu- 
lose. 3. Pileus rigid. 4. Pileus silky. 5. Pileus spotted or mi- 
nutely cracked. 6, Pileus spongy. 7. Pileus hygrophanous. In 
Hygrophorus, Lactarius, and Russula, the general structure is much 
the same as in Zricholoma, but they form well-marked genera. Hy- 
grophorus is distinguished by its waay nature; Lactarius by its milky 
gills and flesh; and Russula, by its rigid brittle gills generally in one 
series and vesiculose flesh. The species figured is Agaricus (Tricho- 
loma) terreus, Scheff. Spores -0002” x :00013”. 

Subgenus 5. Crirocyss, Fr. Syst. Mye. vol. i. p. 78 (Plate 1. fig. 
5).—Pileus, generally fleshy in the disk, obtuse, plane or depressed, 
hygrophanous or not hygrophanous; stem confluent and homogeneous 
with the hymenophorum, elastic, with an outer coat, covered with 
minute fibres; gills acutely adnate, or decurrent. The fibrillose outer 
coat of Clitocybe (and sometimes of Zricholoma and Pleurotus) must 
not be confounded with the truly fibrous bark of Codlybia, Mycena, 
Omphalia, and their analogues.—Has. All are terrestrial. 

Clitocye corresponds with Clitopilus, Plate I. fig. 14, and Mlam- 
mula, Plate III. fig. 21. The species are generally small, though 
some are very large ; many possess an agreeable odour, but few only 
are known to be edible. Most of the species appear late in the autumn 
or in early winter. In Cantharellus the gills are strongly decurrent, 
but they are reduced to thick veins or folds. The species of Hygro- 
phori, with decurrent gills, can be easily separated from Clitocybe, 
by their waxy nature; and Lepista is known by the decurrent gills 
separating from the hymenophorum. ‘The species figured is dyaricus 
(Clitocybe) geotrupus, Bull. Spores 00028" x ‘0002”, they sometimes 
have a slight tendency to become echinate; spines are greatly deve- 
loped in the var. subinvoludus, Batsch, a single spore of which is shown 
at J. 

Subgenus 6. Prnurotus, Fr. Epicr. p. 129 (Plate I. fig. 6).— 
Veil evanescent, or none; pileus fleshy in the larger species, with a 


~ 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 205 


smooth margin or ragged from the remains of the veil; substance 
either compact, spongy, slightly fleshy, or membranaceous ; stem mostly 
lateral (or wanting), when present, confluent and homogeneous with the 
hymenophorum ; gills with a sinus or broadly decurrent tooth.— Has. 
Most of the species grow on wood, a few only on the ground. 

Pleurotus corresponds with Claudopus, Plate II. fig. 15, and Crepi- 
dotus, Plate UI. fig. 22. The species are large, handsome, and 
polymorphic, but some are small and resupinate ; they generally appear 
late in the year, and return, year after year, to the sanfe habitat more 
frequently than terrestrial fungi: all are harmless and some edible. 
All become putrid when old, and never coriaceous or woody; in 
this they differ from Lentinus, Panus, Xerotus, Trogia, Schizophyllum, 
and Lenzites. The species figured is Agaricus (Pleurotus) spongiosus, Fr. 
Spores °0004” x 00018”. The elongated shape is characteristic of many 
species of this subgenus. 

Subgenus 7. Coxttypia, Fr. Epicr. p. 81 (Plate I. fig. 7).— 
Pileus at first convex, with an involute margin; stem with a carti- 
laginous bark, of a different substance from the hymenophorum, but 
confluent with it; gills adnate or slightly attached (not decurrent).— 
Has. Most of the species are epiphytal. Usually small and tough, 
lasting far into the winter; few only are known to be edible, as A. 
fusipes, Bull, A. esculentus, Wulf., ete. Marasmius is closely allied to 
Collybia. 

Collybia corresponds with Leptonia, Plate II. fig. 16; Naucoria, 
Plate III. fig. 23; and Psilocybe, Plate 1V. fig. 30. The species 
figured is 4. (Collybia) fusipes, Bull. Spores :0002" x-00013”; the 
small section shows young plant of 4. (Collybia) maculatus, A. and S., 
to show involute margin of pileus. 

Subgenus 8. Mycena, Fr. Syst. Myce. vol.i. p. 140 (Plate I. fig. 8). 
—Pileus more or less membranaceous, generally striate, with the 
margin always straight, and at first pressed to the stem (never involute), 
expanded, campanulate, and generally umbonate (not depressed as in 
Omphalia); stem externally cartilaginous, tubular, not stuffed when 
young, confluent with the hymenophorum, but heterogeneous from it ; 
gills never decurrent, though some species have a broad sinus near the 
stem.—Has. Mostly epiphytal. 

Most of the species are small, beautiful, and inodorous, but some 
which have a strong alkaline odour are probably poisonous; none are 
known to be edible. They appear after rain in summer and autumn. 


206 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


Mycena corresponds with Nolanea, Plate II. fig. 17; Galera, 
Plate III. fig. 24; Psathyra, Plate IV. fig. 31; ‘and Psathyrella, . 
Plate V. fig. 34. The species figured is Agaricus (Mycena) poly- 
grammus, Bull. Spores 00035" x 00026". Two forms of a young 
A. (Mycena) epipterygius, Scop., are given on the plate, to show the 
margin of pileus adpressed to the stem. 

Fries, in his ‘ Monographia Hymenomycetum,’ alters the sequence 
of Mycena and Omphalia as given in his ‘ Epicrisis,’ and places Om- 
phalia first. The arrangement of the ‘ Epicrisis’ seems to me more 
natural, as Mycena is certainly intermediate between Collybia and Om- 
phalia, the gills being adnate in the former and decurrent in the latter. 

Subgenus 9. Ompuatta, Fr. Epicr. p. 119 (Plate I. fig. 9).— 
Pileus generally from the first umbilicate, afterwards funnel-shaped, 
almost always membranaceous or submembranaceous and hygropha- 
nous, margin incurved or straight; stem cartilaginous and tubular, 
when young often stuffed, confluent with the hymenophorum, but hete- 
rogeneous from it; gills generally truly and considerably decurrent.— 
Has. Generally epiphytal, and mostly peculiar to hilly regions, prefer- 
ring a damp, woody situation, and a rainy climate. 

Omphalia corresponds with Kecilia, Plate II. fig. 18; Tubaria, 
Plate III. fig. 25; and Deconica, Plate IV. fig. 32. The species, 
though small, are many of them beautiful; their properties are not 
known, and they endure changes of temperature like the hygropha- 
nous species of Clitocybe. Omphalia is naturally divided into two 
groups, one, Collybarie, approaching Cvilydia in the involute margin 
of the pileus, but differing in the deeply decurrent gills and umbilicus, 
and the other, Mycenaria, pointing to Mycena in the straight margin 
of the pileus, at first adpressed to the stem, but differing in the nature 
of the gills and pileus. The species included in the last three sub- 
genera might more conveniently be classed in four, thus :—Margin 
of pileus at first incurved, gills adnate,—Collybia ; margin of pileus 
at first incurved, gills decurrent,—Omphalia (Collybaria) ; margin of 
pileus at first straight, gills adnate or sinuate,—Mycena ; margin of 
pileus at first straight, gills decurrent,—Omphalia (Mycenaria). Under 
this arrangement various analogous species amongst the MZyporhodii, 
Dermini, and Pratelle, now so unsatisfactorily placed in such subgenera 
as Naucoria, ete., would fall naturally into proper positions. The 
species figured is 4.(Omphalia) fibula, Bull. Spores 00013" x -0008". 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 207 


Series II. Hyrornontt, Fr. Epier. p. 188.—Spores pink or salmon-colour. 

Subgenus 10. Votvarta, Fr. Syst. Myce. vol. i. p. 277. (Plate IT. 
fig. 10).—Spores regular in shape, oval or pip-shaped, pink or salmon- 
colour; veil! universal, forming a perfect volva (a and c), distinct from the 
cuticle of pileus; stem distinct from the hymenophorum; gills free, 
rounded behind, at first white, then pink, soft, liquescent—Has. Gar- 
dens and hot-houses, and in woods and on manured ground, growing 
on rotten wood and damp ground ; one species is parasitic on a white- 
spored Agaric, Agaricus nebularis, Batsch. 

The different species of Volvaria are very closely allied ; some appear 
in spring and early summer, others later in the year; they are almost all 
tasteless, and none are known to be edible. Volwaria corresponds with 
Amanita (Plate I. fig. 1). Their peculiar habitat, viz. rotten wood, 
manured ground, etc., and their semiliquescent gills show some affi- 
nity with Coprinus and Bolbitius, but the species of the latter genera 
have no true volva, and differ in several other respects. 

The specimen figured is Agaricus (Volvaria) volvaceus, Bull. Spores 
0002” x 00013”. 

Subgenus 11. Cuammora, subgen. nov. sp. Psalliote, Fr. (Plate IT. 
fig. 11).—Spores pale rose; stem distinct from the hymenophorum, 
furnished with a fugitive ring; gills free—Has. On the ground, or 
on decayed wood. 

Corresponds in structure with Lepiota (Plate I. fig. 2), and Psalliota 
(Plate IV. fig. 26). The species described under the name of “ 4. 
(Pluteus ?) xanthogrammus, Ces.,”’ in ‘ Commentario della Societa Crit- 
togamologica Italiana,’ n. 2, September, 1861, appears to exactly 
fill this place. From my examination of 4, (Psalliota) cretaceus, Fr., 
and A. (Psalliota) echinatus, Fr., I am disposed to place them also 
here. The species figured is 4. (Chameota) xanthogrammus, Ces. 

Subgenus 12. Phursus, Fr. Epicr. p. 140 (Plate IL. fig. 12).— 
Spores generally regular in shape, but in some species approaching the 
irregularity of Zntoloma, pink or salmon-colour, more or less bright ; 
some approaching in colour the spores of Genus 6, Paxillus, others Sub- 
genus 21, Flammula; veil none; pileus of the same nature with the 
stem and gills, smooth, silky, or wrinkled; stem ringless and without 
a volva, distinct from the hymenophorum ; gills free, at first white, 
then yellowish, at length pink, very crowded, almost cohering, some- 
times subliquescent.—Has. The species almost always grow on, or 
close éo, the trunks of trees. 


208 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


The characters of this subgenus agree with those of Volvaria, with 
the exception of the volva, which is absent in Pluwteus. Fries appears 
to think it is doubtful whether the pellicle of the pileus, always fibrous, 
flocculose, or pruinose, should not be considered as an universal con- 
crete veil, which would give an analogy with Lepiota, Plate I. fig. 2. 
He has recently established a new subgenus of purple-spored Agarics 
(see Plate IV.) under the name of Pilosace, with (excepting the 
spores) precisely the characters of Pludews. Pluteus and this new 
subgenus Pilosace are undoubtedly allied, but, strangely enough, they 
have no known representatives amongst either the white- or brown- 
spored groups. The species of Pluéews appear in spring, early sum- 
mer, or late in the autumn. They are tasteless, and none edible. 
The species figured is Agaricus (Pluteus) cervinus, Scheff. Spores 
00023” x 00018”. 

Subgenus 18. Enronoma, Fr. Epicr. p. 148 (Plate IL. fig. 13).— 
Spores extremely irregular in shape, salmon colour, pink, or more or less 
approaching bright red,or brown; veil, as in Ziicholoma and Hebeloma, 
“ potential rather than definite ;” pileus, with a margin at first incurved, 
never at first umbilicate, fleshy or thin according to the species, viscid, 
smooth, hygrophanous, dry, silky, or flocculose; stem fleshy-fibrous, 
sometimes almost waxy, continuous with the hymenophorum, and homo- 
geneous with it; gills sinuated, as in Z'richoloma, etc., almost free, or 
more or less adnate, sometimes parting from the stem.—Has. All 
are terrestrial. 

Allied to Zricholoma, Plate I. fig. 4, but, with few exceptions, the 
species of Hutoloma are much thinner and often brittle. Many possess 
the odour of new flour, but none are edible, and some highly poisonous. 
They appear in summer after heavy rains. Besides corresponding 
with Zricholoma, Entoloma agrees in structure with MHebeloma, Plate 
III. fig. 20, and Hypholoma, Plate IV. fig. 29. The species figured 
is Agaricus (Entoloma) sinuatus, Fr. (A. fertilis of Berkeley’s ‘ Out- 
lines’). Average size of spores 00035" x -00025". 

Subgenus 14. Curropruus, Fr. Epicr. p. 148 (Plate II. fig. 14).— 
Spores salmon colour, in some species very pale, almost white, pip- 
shaped, somewhat irregular spheres or altogether irregular as in Ento- 
loma, fig. 13; pileus viscid, smooth or pruinose, dull white, cinereous or 
brownish, generally fleshy; stem fleshy or fibrous, confluent with the 
hymenophorum and homogeneous with it ; gills decurrent, never 
sinuated.—Has. All are terrestrial. 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 209 


With the exception of the gills, most of the characters correspond 
with Zntoloma. The odour of the species is more or less mealy; 
some, however, are oily, some tasteless, others edible. Clitopilus is 
closely allied to Clitocybe, Plate I. fig. 5, and differs from Entoloma 
precisely as Clitocybe differs from Tricholoma. Clitopilus agrees more 
or less with Flammula, Plate III. fig. 21. The species figured is 
Agaricus (Clitopilus) prunulus, Pers. Spores °00045” x -0002”. 

Subgenus 15. CLaupopus, subgen. nov. sp. Pleuroti and Crepidoti, 
Fr. (Plate II. fig. 15).—Spores pink, or pale lilac; stem lateral or 
none, when present confluent and homogeneous with the hymenopho- 
tum; gills sinuate or decurrent.—Has. on wood or the ground. 

Claudopus corresponds with Pleurotus, Plate I. fig. 6, and Crepidotus, 
Plate II. fig. 22, only differing in the colour of the spores. Mr. 
Berkeley’s fine species, Agaricus (Pleurotus) euosmus, A. (Crepidotus) 
byssisedus, P., and other species fall naturally into this subgenus. The 
spores of A. prunulus, Pers., are often quite as pale in colour as those 
of A. exosmus, B., and those of A. popinalis, Fr., are hardly to be dis- 
tinguished from white. The species figured is 4. (Claudopus) euosmus, 
B. Spores :0003” x 00013”. 

Subgenus 16. Lepronia, Fr. Syst. Myc. vol. i. p. 201 (Plate I. 


- fig. 16).—Spores salmon-colour, irregular in shape; pileus less cam- 


panulate than Nolanea, and never truly fleshy, cuticle always torn 
into scales, disk umbilicate, and often darker than margin, which is at 
first incurved ; stem rigid, with a cartilaginous bark, often dark blue, 
confluent with the hymenophorum, but heterogeneous from it; gills 
not decurrent, but often with a small tooth or sinus, separating from 
the stem, variable in colour, at first dirty white, yellowish, greenish, 
grey, or blue-—Has. Dry hills, and sometimes marshy places, in July 
and August. 

Most of the species grow in clusters, are small, and of an elegant 
colour; most common in rainy seasons. Structurally the same as 
Collybia, Plate I. fig. 7; Naucoria, Plate III. fig. 23; and Psilo- 
cybe, Plate IV. fig. 30; and bears the same relationship to Clitopilus 
as Collybia to Clitocybe. The species figured is Agaricus (Leptonia) 
incanus, Fr. Average size of spores *00034”. The small sketch, 
showing incurved margin of pileus, is 4. (Leptonia) chalybeus, P. 

Subgenus 17. Notanza, Fr. Syst. Myce. vol. i. p. 204 (Plate IL. 
fig. 17).—Spores salmon-colour; pileus submembranaceous (as in 


Zs— 


210 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


Leptonia and Eccilia), subcampanulate, and papillose, not umbilicate, 
at first straight and pressed to the stem, not incurved as in Leptonia ; 
stem cartilaginous, fistulose, sometimes stuffed,confluent with, buthetero . 
geneous from the hymenophorum ; gills not decurrent.—HaB. Generally 
terrestrial, growing on grassy hills, and in wet places inwoods. 

The species are thin, slender, inodorous, and brittle (but some very 
tenacious), growing in summer and autumn. Nolanea corresponds 
with D/ycena, Plate I. fig. 8; Galera, Plate III. fig. 24; Psathyra, 
Plate IV. fig. 31; and Psathyrella, Plate V. fig. 34. Fries, in 
his ‘Monographia,’ has not reversed the sequence of Nolanea and 
Eecilia to make them accord with Omphalia and Mycena amongst the 
Leucospori. Leptonia, Nolanea, and Eccilia are very nearly allied by 
many characters. The species figured is 4yaricus (Nolanea) pascuus, 
P. Average size of spores 0003". 

Subgenus 18. Eccrita, Fr. Syst. Mye. vol. i. p. 207 (Plate II. fig. 
18).-—Spores salmon-colour; pileus generally umbilicate, disk homo- 
geneous, margin at first incurved, as in Leptonia; stem hollow, confluent 
with, but heterogeneous from the hymenophorum ; gills truly decurrent. 

Corresponds with Omphalia, Plate I. fig. 9; Zubaria, Plate III. 
fig. 25, and Deconica, Plate IV. fig. 32. The species figured is 
Agaricus (Eccilia) Parkensis, Fr., for specimens of which I am in- 
debted to Mr. C. E. Broome. Average size of spores ‘00027”. 


Series III. Derrrnt, Fr. Epicr. p. 160.—Spores various shades of reddish- 
brown, brown, red, or yellowish-brown. 


Subgenus 19. Puoniora, Fr. Syst. Mye. vol. i. p. 240 (Plate III. 
fig. 19).—Spores sepia-brown, bright yellowish-brown, or light red ; 
stem confluent and homogeneous with the hymenophorum, furnished 
with a ring, persistent, friable, or fugacious—Has. All the British 
species grow on stumps except five, which grow on the ground prin- 
cipally in damp, mossy places. 

A few species are said to be edible, but they cannot be recom- 
mended. Pholiota is analogous to Armillaria, Plate I. fig. 3, and 
Stropharia, Plate IV. fig. 28. There is some danger of confusing 
Pholiote with Cortinarii, but attention must be paid to the spidery 
veil and the rwust-of-iron tint of the spores in the latter, and the 
habitat of the former. The species figtred is Agaricus (Pholiota) 
squarrosus, Mill. Spores 00022” x :00017". 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 211 


Subgenus 20. Hrsenoma, Fr. Syst. Mye. vol. i. p. 249; with which 
T include Znocybe, Fr. Monogr. Hymen. Suec. vol. i. p. 334 (Plate III. 
fig. 20).—Spores for the most part clay-coloured, or in Inocybe ferru- 
gineo-fuscous ; veil of a different texture from the pellicle of the pileus, 
or in Znocybe homogeneous with the fibres of the pilens ; pileus fleshy, 
pelliculose, damp, subviscous, or (in Znocyde) fibrous; stem confluent 
and homogeneous with the hymenophorum, fleshy-fibrous, ringless ; 
gills sinuato-adnate—Has. All terrestrial. 

All the species are gregarious, and many so similar in appearance as 
to be with difficulty distinguished from each other. Some are scent- 
less, several smell like rotten pears, and many have a disgusting odour 
and are poisonous ; none are esculent. Fries, in his ‘ Monographia Hy- 
menomycetum Sueciz,’ has introduced a new subgenus after Hebeloma, 
which he names Zuocybe, distinguished by the pileus being sidky-fibrous, 
and having a few other unimportant characters; but I do not see how 
such a subgenus can stand, unless, indeed, a similar corresponding 
subgenus be founded after Tricholoma, Entoloma, and Hypholoma, for 
all these subgenera have numerous species exactly corresponding with 
the silky pileus, ete. of Zxocye. I therefore prefer to keep to his old 
views as expressed in the ‘ Hpicrisis,’ and keep Inocybe as a sec- 
tion of Hebeloma. Hebeloma corresponds with Tricholoma, Plate I, 
fig. 4, Entoloma, Plate II. fig. 13, Hypholoma, Plate IV. fig. 29, 
and Panolus, Plate V. fig. 33. The species figured is Agaricus 
(Hebeloma) fastibilis, Fr. A very common species, closely allied to 4. 
crustulinoformis, Bull. Spores -0004” x -0008”. 

Subgenus 21. Ftammuta, Fr. Syst. Mye. vol. i. p. 250 (Plate III. 
fig. 21).—Spores in most species purely ferrugineous, occasionally 
approaching yellow ochre, always bright in colour; veil filamentous, 
often obsolete; pileus fleshy, and, as the subgenus is at present con- 
stituted, very variable. It may be,—1, covered with an inseparable 
and fibrillose cuticle; 2, covered with a more'or less viscid and se- 
parable cuticle; 3, moist, and with zo separable cuticle; 4, neither 
pelliculose nor viscid, and broken up more or less into scales or fibrils ; 
stem fleshy, fibrous, confluent, and homogeneous with the hymeno- 
phorum ; gills adnate, acutely adnate, or decurrent.—Has. On the 
ground or on wood. 

Fries says the natural affinity of Flammula is with Pholiota, 
Plate III. fig. 19, but I consider all true /lammule should correspond 


212 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


with Clitocybe, Plate I. fig. 5, and Clitopilus, Plate I. fig. 14. I 
suspect some of the species of Flammula that approach Pholiota 
in structure might with propriety be removed to that subgenus, and 
Flammula proper be restricted to species with more or less decurrent 
gills. Most of the species are tasteless or bitter, and none edible. They 
appear in late autumn or early winter. Some species of Pavillus may 
be mistaken for Flammule, but attention must be paid to the gills 
separating from the hymenophorum and other characters in Pawillus. 
The species figured is Agaricus (Flammula) sapineus, Fr. Spores 
00028” x 0002". 

Subgenus 22. Creprpotus, Fr. Syst. Myce. vol. i. p. 272 (Plate 
III. fig. 22).—Spores dark or yellowish-brown ; veil none ; pileus ex- 
centric, dimidiate, or resupinate ; flesh soft ; stem lateral, or wanting, 
when present, confluent with and homogeneous with the hymenophorum. 
—Has. Most of the species grow on wood, a few on moss. 

The species are very irregular and variable. They mostly appear 
late in the autumn, and none are known to be edible. Crepidotus 
corresponds with Plewrotus, Plate I. fig. 6, and Claudopus, Plate Es 
fig. 15. As at present constituted, the species of this subgenus produce 
spores very variable in colour; some, being truly pink, find a fitting 
place amongst the Hyporhodii ; other species having spores so in- 
tensely dark, that I suspect they will ultimately have to be removed to 
the Pratelle. The species figured is Agaricus (Crepidotus) mollis, 
Scheeff. Spores “00025” x 00022”. 

Subgenus 23. Naucoria, Fr. Syst. Mye. vol. i. p. 260 (Plate HI. 
fig. 23).—Spores various shades of brown, dull or bright; veil absent, 
or attached to the edge of the pileus in young plants in the form of 
minute flakes; pileus convex and at first incurved, smooth, flocculent 
or squamulose; stem cartilaginous, confluent with, but heterogeneous 
from the hymenophorum.—Has. Terrestrial or epiphytal. 

No subgenus includes so many dissimilar species as this. In size, 
structure, the nature of the veil, and the colour of the spores, they 
differ exceedingly. Naucoria corresponds with Collybia, Plate I. fig. 
1; Leptonia, Plate Il. fig. 16; and Psilocybe, Plate IV. fig. 30. 
The species figured is Agaricus (Naucoria) semiorbicularis, Bull. 
Spores *0005” x 00032”. 

Subgenus 24. Gaera, Fr. Syst. Mye. vol. i. p. 264 (Plate III. 
fig. 24).—Spores ochraceo-ferruginous ; veil often wanting, when pre- 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 213 


sent fibrous and fugacious; pileus more or less campanulate, margin 
straight, at first adpressed to the stem; stem cartilaginous, fistulose, 
confluent with but heterogeneous from the hymenophorum; gills ad- 
nate, or with a decurrent tooth exactly as in Mycena, Plate I. fig. 8. 
Galera also corresponds with Nolanea, Plate II. fig. 17; Psathyra, 
Plate IV. fig. 31 ; and Psathyreila, Plate V. fig. 34. The most typical 
species is perhaps Agaricus sphagnorum, Pers., with broad gills and 
decided sinus, but from its rarity I prefer to figure the common A. 
tener, Scheeff—Has. The greater number of species are terrestrial. 

The species are not numerous, and most are slender and brittle, 
appearing in the autumn. The species figured is Ayaricus (Galera) 
tener, Scheff. Spores 00054" x -0003". 

Subgenus 25, Tusanrta, subgen. nov. sp. Naucoria, Fr. (Plate III. 
fig. 25).—Pileus generally depressed, at first with an incurved mar- 
gin; stem cartilaginous, hollow, confluent with but heterogeneous 
from the hymenophorum; gills decurrent. 

As in Eccilia, there are very few known representatives of this 
position, either British or foreign, and the note appended to Omphalia 
applies equally to Eecilia, Tubaria, and Deconica. As at present con- 
stituted, some species of Omphalia ave never depressed, but have a 
pileus more or less hemispherical or even obscurely umbonate from the 
first ; the same applies to Deconica. The analogous species of Z'u- 
baria falling to this place are given in the list. 

The species figured as a type is 4. (Tubaria) furfuraceus, P.; it is 
strictly analogous, both in structure and habit, with Omphalia, Plate I. 
fig. 9; Zecilia, Plate II. fig. 18; and Deconica, Plate IV. fig. 32. 
Spores ‘0003” x -00016". 


Series TV. Prareria, Fr. Epicr. p. 212.—Spores various shades of brownish- 
purple, dark purple, or intense brown. 


Subgenus 26. Psauurora, Fr. Epicr. p. 212 (Plate IV. fig. 26). 
—Spores dark brownish-purple, dark brown, reddish-purple, or pale 
slate; veil universal, concrete with the cuticle of the pileus, and 
fixed to the stem, forming a ring; pileus fleshy; stem distinct from 
the hymenophorum, furnished with a ring; gills free, and rounded 
behind, at first white, then pink, afterwards intense purple-brown.— 
Has. Allare terrestrial, mostly growing in rich pastures and on ma- 
nured ground. 


214 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


Most of the species appear in the autumn, and several are valued for 
their esculent properties. Psa/diota corresponds with Lepiota, Plate I. 
fig. 2, and Chameota, Plate II. fig. 11. The species figured is 4. 
(Psalliota) campestris, L. Spores 00032" x :0002". 

Subgenus 27. Prnosacz, Fr. (Plate IV. fig. 27).—Agrees in 
structure with Pluwteus, Plate II. fig. 12, and has the hymenophorum 
distinct from the ringless stem; there are no British representatives. 

Subgenus 28. SrropHaria, Fr. Monog. Hymen. vol. i. p. 409 
(Plate IV. p. 28).—Spores intense bright purple-brown, brown or slate- 
colour; veil, if present, universal, superficial, scaly, or viscid ; stem con- 
fluent and homogeneous with the hymenophorum; gills adnate, not 
free and rounded behind, as in the last (Psadliota).—Has. Terrestrial 
or epiphytal. 

Formerly included under Psadliota, but now separated by Fries on 
account of the different habit, different attachment of the gills, and 
other characters. The species, of which none are edible, have various 
habits, but most are epiphytal, as are their analogues. S¢ropharia cor- 
responds with Armillaria, Plate I. fig. 3, and Pholiota, Plate III. 
fig. 19. The species figured is Agaricus (Stropharia) @ruginosus, 
Curt. Spores :00028” x 0002”. 

Subgenus 29. Hypuotoma, Fr. Syst. Mycol. vol. i. p. 287 (Plate 
IV. fig. 29).—Spores brownish-purple, sometimes intense purple, almost 
black ; veil woven into a spidery fugacious web which adheres to the 
margin of the pileus, B. (not properly ring-shaped round the stem) ; 
pileus with an inseparable pellicle; stem confluent and homogeneous 
with the hymenophorum.—Has. Generally stumps. 

Most of the species are gregarious and not edible. Hypholoma cor- 
responds with Zricholoma, Plate I. fig. 4; ntoloma, Plate II. fig. 
13; Hebeloma, Plate IIL. fig. 20; and Pangolus, Plate V. fig. 33. 
The species figured is Agaricus (Hypholoma) lacrymabundus, Fr. 
Spores 0003” x 0002". 

Subgenus 30. Psinocype, Fr. Syst. Mycol. vol. i. p. 289 
(Plate IV. fig. 80).—Spores purple, purple-brown, or slate-colour ; 
veil obsolete (or in a few species fugacious, when present not forming a 
distinct ring); pileus glabrous, at first incurved; stem cartilaginous, 
ringless, confluent with but heterogeneous from the hymenophorum. 
—Has. All grow on the ground. 

The species are almost all gregarious, caespitose, inodorous, with 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 215 


fugitive colouring, and not edible. Fries divides the subgenus into 
two groups, the ¢enacious and the fragile. Psilocybe corresponds with 
Collybia, Plate I. fig. 7; Leptonia, Plate II. fig. 16, and Naucoria, 
Plate IIT. fig. 23. The species figured is Agaricus (Psilocybe) spadi- 
ceus, Scheff. Spores 0003” x -0002”. 

Subgenus 31. Psatuyra, Fr. Epic. p. 231 (Plate IV. fig. 31). 
—Spores dark purple-brown, approaching slate-colour ; veil universal, 
fibrous, or absent, not forming a ring; pileus submembranaceous, coni- 
cal or campanulate, margin at first straight and adpressed to the stem ; 
stem fistulose, ringless, cartilaginous, fragile, confluent with but hete- 
rogeneous from the hymenophorum.—Has. On the ground or rotten 
wood, 

All are slender and hygrophanous, with fugitive colouring, and 
closely allied to the fragile species of the last subgenus. Psathyra 
agrees with Mycena (Plate I. fig. 8), Nolanea (Plate II. fig. 17), 
Galera (Plate III. fig. 24), Psathyrella (Plate V. fig. 34). The 
species figured is Agaricus (Psathyra) corrugis, Pers. Spores 
0005” x 0003”. 

Subgenus 32. Deconica, subgen. nov. sp. Psilocybis Fr. (Plate 
IV. fig. 32).—Pileus thin, plane, at first incurved; veil obsolete or 
adhering to the margin of pileus, not forming a ring; stem cartilagi- 
nous, hollow, confluent with but heterogeneous from the hymenopho- 
rum; gills decurrent. 

The typical species figured is 4. (Deconica) physaloides, Bull. ; it is 
analogous with Omphalia (Plate I. fig. 9), Hecilia (Plate II. fig. 18), 
and Tudaria (Plate IIT. fig. 25). Spores 00034” x 0002”. 


Series V. Coprrnaku, Fr. Epicr. p. 284.—Spores black. 


Subgenus 33. Panmotus, Fr. Epicr. 234 (Plate V. fig. 33).— 
Veil, when present, interwoven, sometimes wanting; spores black, 
oval, plain, lemon-shaped, or echinulate ; pileus somewhat fleshy, viscid 
when moist, shining when dry, not becoming purple or brown, xever 
striate, the margin exceeding the variegated gills——HaB. Almost all 
grow on dung, often near towns, in summer and autumn. 

This and the following subgenus differ from all the preceding in 
their black spores, and occupy an intermediate position between Aga- 
ricus and Coprinus, agreeing with the latter in the colour of the 
spores, but joined more properly to the genuine Agarics by the gil/s not 


216 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


deliguescing. Although the veil may be entirely absent in some species, 


yet they are so allied that they cannot be well separated. It is, how- . 


ever, difficult to place this subgenus in proper connection with the 
foregoing, but I consider its nearest ally to be Hypholoma, Plate IV. 
fig. 29, and the subgenera in corresponding places on the preceding 
plates, principally on account-of the nature of the veil; and the 
margin of pileus exceeding the gills as in Agaricus (T'richoloma) 
acerbus, Bull; some of the species are, however, allied to Psadlliota, 
Plate IV. fig. 26, and its congeners on the previous plates, with which it 
agrees well in several characters, such as the habitat, manured ground, 
ete.; this subgenus (like several others) would probably bear subdivision, 
which is not at present advisable. 4. phalenarum, Fr., is said to be 
edible. The species figured is Agaricus (Paneolus) separatus, L. 
Spores :0006” x 0004”. 

Subgenus 34. PsatHyreLua, Fr. Epicr. 237 (Plate v. fig. 34). 
—Spores black, oval, plain or echinulate ; veil inconspicuous, not in- 
terwoven, generally absent; pileus membranaceous, striate, margin 
straight, adpressed to the stem, wot exceeding the gills ; stem confluent 
with but heterogeneous from the hymenophorum ; gills adnate or free. 

The species are all very slender, and the only other subgenus with 
black spores (Paneolus, fig. 33) is readily distinguished by the charac- 
ters of the pileus; it agrees in every point with Psathyra, Plate IV. 
fiz. 31, except the colour of the gills being never brown or purple, 
and the spores black. It also agrees, more or less, in structure with 
Mycena, Plate I. fig. 8; Nolanea, Plate Il. fig. 17; Galera, Plate 
III. fig. 24, and also appears to be allied to Genus III. Boxsirrus, 
which, however, is at once distinguished by its coloured spores. The 
species figured is Agaricus (Psathyrelia) disseminatus, P. Spores 
0003" x :0002”. 


Genus II. Coprinvs, Fr. Epicr. p. 241.—Spores black; margin 
of pileus straight, at first adpressed to the stem; stem confluent with 
or distinct from the hymenophorum; gills at first coherent, and 
sprinkled with a micaceous scurf, soon deliquescing into a black fluid, 
trama none.—Has. Fat and rank places, often on dung, but some- 
times on decaying wood. 

Readily distinguished by its deliquescent habit. 

Genus III. Bouzrrius, Fr. Epicr. p. 253.—Spores coloured ; pileus 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 217 


yellow, becoming moist; stem hollow, confluent with the hymenopho- 
rum; gills becoming moist, but not deliquescent, at length losing their 
colour and becoming powdery.—HaB. Dung or rank earth near towns. 

A very natural but small genus, intermediate between Agaricus and 
Coprinus on oue side, and Coprinus and Cortinarius on the other; it 
resembles Coprinus in its mode of growth, and ephemeral existence ; 
the species have no known use. 

Genus IV. Cortinarius, Fr. Epier. p. 255.—Spores rusty ochre, 
resembling in colour peroxide of iron; veil universal, of a different 
texture from the pileus, and consisting of arachnoid threads : a similar 
veil is found in Agaricus, but it is there either entire, partial, or con- 
tinuous with the cuticle of pileus; stem confluent with the hymeno- 
phorum ; gills adnate, membranaceous, persistent, cinnamon-coloured 
and powdery, trama floccose.—Has. Woods and fields. 

This genus, the most natural amongst the Agaricini, is readily dis- 
tinguished by its peculiar habit, but is badly defined by artificial cha- 
racters ; the species are variable in size and changeable in colour: when 
old, they present a different appearance from their young state, and are 
very different when dry to when fresh. It has been divided as follows :— 

Subgenus 1. Puteemacivm, Fr. Epicr. p. 256.—Pileus with a con- 
tinuous pellicle, viscid when moist ; veil (and consequently the stem) 
dry, not glutinous. 

Subgenus 2. Myxacrum, Fr. Epier. p. 273.—Pileus glutinous ; veil 
(and consequently the stem) viscid, polished when dry. 

Subgenus 3. Inotoma, Fr. Epicr. p. 278.—Pileus fleshy, subcom- 
pact, perfectly dry, with no viscid pellicle, silky with scales, or innate 
fibres, not hygrophanous; stem bulbous. The ere handsome and 
easily distinguished. 

Subgenus 4. Dermocyse, Fr. Epicr. p. 283.—Pileus thin, but 
fleshy, with no viscid pellicle, entirely dry, not hygrophanous, at first 
clothed with a superficial down, then glabrous ; stem thin, somewhat 
stuffed, equal or attenuated, not bulbous; gills changeable in colour. 
The species are polymorphous and defined with difficulty, in conse- 
quence of the changeable colour of the gills. 

Subgenus 5. TeLamonta, Fr. Epicr. p. 291.—Pileus moist, hygro- 
phanous, at first glabrous or sprinkled with the arachnoid superficial 
fibres of the veil, thin or moderately compact in the disk; stem pero- 
nate, and annulate from an inferior veil. Mostly large and handsome. 


218 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


Subgenus 6. Hyprocysg, Fr. Epicr. p. 303.—Pileus generally thin, 
glabrous, hygrophanous, but not viscid, cuticle rigid, not fibro-lace-— 
rate; stem rigid, subcartilaginous without, never annulated or scaly. 

Genus V. Lepista, gen. nov.; Lepista, Pawilli sect. Fr. Epier. p. 
315.—Spores (as well as the whole plant) dirty white; pileus fleshy, 
with an involute margin gradually increasing indefinitely ; stem always 
central, continuous with the horny hymenophorum; gills fragile, per- 
sistent, decurrent, membranaceous, entire, with a sharp edge, supported 
by the horny hymenophorum.—Hap. Al! the species are terrestrial. 

I have followed Fries’ later views in transferring some Tricholomata 
to this position, on account of the absence of a true trama, ete.; as 
Tricholoma is analogous to Entoloma, 1 have sought for the corre- 
sponding absence of a trama in the latter subgenus, and from my own 
notes I find it partially absent in Agaricus (Lntoloma) placenta, Batsch., 
and A. (Entoloma) nidorosus, Fr. Certain species also occur in the 
analogous subgenera Hebeloma and Hypholoma with the trama partially 
absent, as 4. (Hebeloma) lanuginosus, Vr., and 4. (Hypholoma) laery- 
mabundus, Fy. ; the character also pertains to some species of Coprinarit. 

The value of the trama as a character has not been properly studied, 
and in future its presence or absence should be invariably given in all 
descriptions of Agarics. Nylander and Hoffman affirm its presence in 
Pawillus involutus, Fr.; and there certainly appears to be a floccose 
trama present in P. pannoides, Fy., a species which may be as readily 
mistaken for a Cantharellus as P. porosus, Berk., for a Boletus. 

Genus VI. Paxittus, Fr. Gen. Hymen. p. 8, ex parte.—Spores (as 
well as the whole plant) ferrugineous ; pileus fleshy, seldom entire, gene- 
rally more or less dimidiate, entirely lateral or sessile, with an involute 
margin, and cradually increasing indefinitely; stem continuous with 
the hymenophorum ; gills tough, soft, persistent, decurrent, anasto- 
mosing behind, branching, or forming spurious pores as in Boletus, 
with a sharp edge, separating from the fleshy hymenophorum, owing 
to the absence of a trama.—Has. Generally on trunks of trees, saw- 
dust, ete., but some are terrestrial. 

Genus VII. HyGropnorus, Fr. Epicr. p. 320.—Spores white ; veil, 
when present, universal; stem confluent with the hymenophorum ; gills 
sharp-edged, trama similar in substance to that of the pileus—Has. 
On the ground, mostly late in the autumn, some in the summer. 

Most of the species are handsome and easily recognized. From 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 219 


Agaricus this genus differs in the trama, the substance of which is 
similar to that of the pileus; from Lactarius and Russula by the trama 
not being vesicular, but subfloccose, and intermixed with granules ; 
and from its nearest ally, Cantharellus, by the sharp-edged gills. 
This genus is also distinguished by the hymenophorum being changed 
into a waxy mass, and at length detached from the trama. Many 
species are sapid and edible. In Cortinarius, Pazxillus, and Gomphi- 
dius, the spores are coloured, and the gills lose their colour. 

Genus VIII. Gomputpivs, Fr. Epicr. p.319.—Spores large, fusiform 
(often spuriously uniseptate, according to Fries), greenish-grey, becom- 
ing black ; veil universal, glutinous, terminated on the stem by a floc- 
cose annulus; pileus continuous with the stem, fleshy, convex, at 
length top-shaped; stem confluent with the bymeuophorum ; gills 
strongly decurrent, somewhat branched, soft, mucilaginous, often 
spreading in a continuous membrane.—Has. Growing on the ground, 
chiefly in Pine woods, solitary, subpersistent. 

Principally distinguished by the mucilaginous nature of the gills. 
Nearly allied to Cortinarius, but at once distinguished by the shape 
and colour of the spores, and from all the dark-purple and black- 
spored Agarics by the compact pileus, ete. Properties unknown ; 
none edible. 

Genus IX. Lactarius, Fr. Epicr. p. 333.—Spores white or very 
pale yellow, generally echinate ; veil none, but in some species the 
margin of pileus is bearded or pubescent; pileus fleshy, of a floccose 
or vesiculose (not fibrous) texture, at length depressed in the disk, 
margin at first involute ; stem fleshy, not corticate, often hollow when 
old, confluent with the hymenophorum ; gills milky, in nearly all the 
species at first white, often changing to sulphur-colour, red, or violet 
on exposure to the air, subdecurrent, unequal, with an acute edge, 
trama subvesiculose—Has. All grow on the ground. 

This genus is nearly allied to Russula, but easily distinguished by 
the milky gills. They vary greatly in taste, being mild, aromatic, 
bitter, or acrid and burning. Lactarius includes delicate and exces- 
sively poisonous species. 

Genus X. Russuza, Fr. Gen. Hymen.—Spores white or very 
pale yellow, generally .echinate ; veil entirely obsolete; pileus fleshy, 
convex, then expanded, and at length depressed; stem stout, po- 
lished, not corticate, generally spongy within, confluent with the 


220 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


hymenophorum; gills nearly equal, milkless, rigid, brittle, with an 
acute edge, sometimes dropping water, trama vesiculose—Has. On 
the ground in late summer and autumn. 

This genus agrees with Lactarius in size and some other characters, 
but differs in the absence of milk, and the gills being nearly equal, 
or in one series. Odour none, or unpleasant. A few species are edible, 
but most are noxious. 

Genus XI. Canruarettus, Adans. Fung. Ord. V.—Spores white ; 
veil entirely absent; pileus fleshy or membranaceous; stem confluent 
with the hymenophorum, or absent; gills decurrent, folded, more or 
less thick and swollen, branched, trama floccose.—Has. Growing on 
the ground, or on rotten wood, moss, etc. 

This genus holds an intermediate place between Agaricus and 
Craterellus, some species being close to one, some to the other genus. 
Some are said to be poisonous, others edible. 

Genus XII. Nycrauts, Fr. Gen, Hymen.—Veil universal, floccoso- 
pruinose; pileus in the British species fleshy and pruinose or pulve- 
‘rulent ; stem confluent with the hymenophorum; gills broad, simple, 
unequal, thick, fleshy, juicy, or subgelatinous, edge obtuse, not de- 
scending on the stem.—Has. The British species are small and para- 
sitic on other Agarics. 

This genus consists of fleshy putrescent Fungi. Some species grow 
in subterranean passages. 

Genus XIII. Marasmtius, Fr. Gen. Hymen.—Spores white, sub- 
elliptical; pileus tough, fleshy, or membranaceous ; stem central (in 
one species absent), confluent with the hymenophorum, but of a 
different texture; gills thick, tough, and coriaceous, confluent at the 
base, generally distant, and rarely decurrent, with a sharp entire edge. 
—Has. Epiphytal, growing on decayed leaves or the roots of grasses, 
ete. 

This genus, closely alllied to Collybia, commences the series of 
Agarics that are not putrescent, but which dry up with drought, and 
come to life with rain. This biological character is of great import- 
ance ; for by its neglect species nearly related have been widely separated. 
The texture of all the species is tough, distinguishing them from the 
preceding. The species are mostly small and slender. Some are edible, 
others have an offensive, foetid, or alliaceous smell. 

Genus XIV. Lenvrnus, Fr. El. p. 45.—Spores white ; pileus fleshy, 


a 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 221 


coriaceous, tough, hard, and dry; stem hard and often obsolete, when 
present continuous and the same with the hymenophorum ; gills tough, 
simple, unequal, thin, edge acute, generally toothed; trama none.— 
Has. On stumps, rarely on the ground. 2 

A natural but very polymorphic genus, distinguished from Pleurotus 
by its tough and fleshy substance. 

Genus XV. Panus, Fr. Epier. p. 396.—Spores white; pileus un- 
equal-sided or lateral, tough, fleshy, at length coriaceous; but not 
woody, drying up, but reviving with moisture; stem the same with 
the hymenophorum; gills thinner than in the last genus, tough, at 
length coriaceous, unequal, with an entire acute edge; trama floccose. 
—Has. On stumps. 

All the species are tough (at first softer), never woody ; drying up in 
decay. 

Genus XVI. Xerorvs, Fr. El. p. 48.—Spores white; pileus mem- 
branaceous ; stem confluent with the hymenophorum, which descends 
into and*forms a trama; gills dichotomous, foldlike, coriaceous, adnato- 
decurrent, with an obtuse entire edge; in the single British species 
branched and very distant——Has. The British plant grows in peat- 
mosses. 

This genus, which is chiefly tropical, resembles a coriaceo-membra- 
naceous Cantharellus, with narrow gills. 

Genus XVII. Trogra, Fr. Gen. Hymen.—Spores white ; pileus sub- 
membranaceous, soft, tenacious, flaccid, but very dry, flexible, reviving 
with moisture ; gills venose, fold-like, forked, edge channelled longi- 
tudinally or crisped; texture fibrous.—Has. On wood, chiefly from 
the East Indies. 

In the only British species (Cantharellus crispus of the ‘ Epicrisis y 
the edge of the gills is obtuse (not channelled), but it has the habit, 
form, and texture of Tragia, and is referred to this genus without 
doubt, by Fries. 

Genus XVIII. Scuizopuyiivm, Fr. Observ. Mycol. vol. i. p- 103.— 
Spores white ; pileus not fleshy, dry, sessile; gills coriaceous, branched, 
split longitudinally at the edge, with the two divisions revolute or 
spreading, joined to the pileus by a tomentose pellicle—Has. Rotten 
wood. 

An easily recognized but very aberrant genus of the Agaricini, 

Genus XIX. Lenzires, Fr. Gen. Hymen.—Spores white ; pileus 


222 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


coriaceous, dimidiate, sessile; gills coriaceous, firm, unequal, simple 
or branched, and anastomosing behind, edge obtuse or acute, trama 


floccose ; often spuriously porous.—Has. On stumps, rails, ete. 


Chiefly tropical, where the species become woody, with us they are 
only coriaceous. Allied to Zrametes and Dedalea, amongst the Poly- 


porei. 


A List oF THE British AGARICINI. 


[The species printed in italics are new to this country since the publication 


of Berkeley’s ‘ Outlines.’ ] 


Genus I. AGARICUS, JL. 
Series I. Leucosport, Fr. 
Subgenus 1. Amanita, P. 
* Vaginate. 
1. A. (Am.) vaginatus, Bull. 
2. A. (Am.) Cecilie, B. and Br. 
3. A. (Am.) adnatus, W. Sm. 
** Phalloide. 
4, A. (Am.) vernus, Bull. 
5. A. (Am.) phalloides, Fr. 
6. A. (Am.) mappa, Batsch. 
*** Muscarice. 
7. A. (Am.) muscarius, Z. 
8. A. (Am.) excelsus, Fr. 
9. A. (Am.) pantherinus, DC. 
10, A. (Am.) strobiliformis, Fr. 
*72* Valide. 
11. A. (Am.) rubescens, P. 
12. A. (Am.) spissus, Fr. 
13. A. (Am.) asper, Fr. 
¥#*** Denudati. 
14, A. (Am.) lenticularis, Zasch. 
15. A. (Am.) megalodactylus, B. 
Subgenus 2. Lepiota, Fr. 
* Proceri. 
16. A. (Lep.) procerus, Scop. 
17. A. (Lep.) rachodes, Vitt. 
18. A. (Lep.) excoriatus, Scheff. 
19. A. (Lep.) gracilentus, Kromb. 
20. A. (Lep.) mastoideus, 2%. 
** Clypeolarii. 


21. A. (Lep.) acutesquamosus, Wm. 


22. A. (Lep.) hispidus, Lasch. 


23. A. (Lep.) Badhami, B. and Br. 


24, A. (Lep.) meleagris, Sow. 
25. A. (Lep.) clypeolarius, Budd. 
26. A. (Lep.) cristatus, 27. 
*** Annulosi. 
27. A. (Lep.) Vittadini, Moretti. 
28. A. (Lep.) holosericeus, Fr. 
29. A. (Lep.) naucinus, Jr. 
30. A. (Lep.) cepeestipes, Sov. 
**** Mesomorphi. 


31. A. (Lep.) granulosus, Batsch. 


32. A. (Lep.) polystictus, Berk. 
EEX Tiniti. 
33. A. (Lep.) gliodermus, F7. 
Subgenus 8. Armillaria, Fr. 
* Tricholomoidee. 
34. A. (Ar.) constrictus, Z. 
35. A. (Ar.) ramentaceus, Bull. 
** Clitocyboider. 
36. A. (Ar.) melleus, Vahl. 
*** Collybioides. 
37. A. (Ar.) mucidus, Fr. 
Subgenus 4. Zricholoma, Fr. 
* Tricholomata Limacina. 


38. A. (Tr.) equestris, Z. 

39. A. (Tr.) sejunctus, Sowd. 
40. A. (Tr.) portentosus, Fr. 
41. A. (Tr.) fucatus, Zr. 

42. A. (Tr.) spermaticus, Fr. 
43. A. (Tr.) nictitans, Fr. 

44, A. (Tr.) fulvellus, 7. 

45. A. (Tr.) flavo-brunneus, Fr. 
46. A. (Tr) ustalis. 

47, A. (‘T'r.) albo-brunneus, Fr. 
48. A. ( Tr.) pessundatus. 


— 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 223 


49. A. (Tr.) frumentaceus, Bull. 
** Tricholomata flocculosa. 

50. A. (Tr.) rutilans, Scheff. 

51. A. (Tr.) scalpturatus, Fr. 

52. A. (Tr.) luridus, Scheff. 

53. A. (Tr.) Columbetta, Fr. 

54, A. (Tr.) imbricatus, Fr. 

55. A. (Tr.) vaccinus, P. 

56. A. (Tr.) crassifolius, B. 
57. A. (Tr.) murinaceus, Bull. 

58. A. (Tr.) terreus, Scheff. 
*** Tricholomata rigida. 

59. A. (Tr.) saponaceus, Fr. 

60. A. (Tr.) cartilagineus, Budd. 

61. A. (Tr.) cuneifolius, Fr. 

62. A. (Tr.) colossus, Fr. 
*#** Tricholomata sericella. 

63. A. (Tr.) sulfureus, Bull, 

64. A. (Tr.) bufonius, P. 

65. A. (Tr.) lascivus, Fr. 

66. A. (Tr.) inamenns, Pr. 

67. A. (Tr.) ionides, Bull. 

68. A. (Tr.) peonius, Fr. 

69. A. (Tr.) carneus, Bull. 
_***** Tricholomata guttata. 

70. A. (Tr.) gambosus, Fr, 

71. A. (Tr.) albellus, DC. 

72. A. (Tr.) monstrosus, Sowd. 

73. A. (Tr.) immundus, Berk. 

74, A. (Tr.) tigrinus, Fr. 
****** Tricholomata spongiosa. 

75. A. (Tr.) albus, Fr. 

76. A. (Tr.) acerbus, Build, 
**XEEEE Tyicholomata hygrophana. 

77. A, (Tr.) grammopodius, Bull. 

78. A. (Tr.) melaleucus, P. 

"9. A. (Tr.) brevipes, KI. 

80. A. (Tr.) humilis, Fr. 

81. A. (Tr.) subpulveruientus, P. 

Subgenus 5. Clitocybe, Fr. 

* Disciformes. 

82. A. (Cl.) nebularis, Batsch. 

83. A. (Cl.) inornatus, Sowd. 

84. A. (Cl.) vernicosus, F7. 

85. A. (CL) odorus, Bull. 

86. A. (Cl.) cerussatus, Fr. 


87. A. (Cl.) phyllophilus, 7. 
88. A. (Cl.) pithyophilus, Secr. 
89. A. (Cl.) candicans, Pers. 
90. A. (Cl.) dealbatus, F7. 
91. A. (Cl.) gallinaceus, Scop. 
** Difformes. 
92. A. (Cl.) elixus, Sow. 
93. A. (Cl.) fumosus, P., var. 
polius, Fr. 
94. A. (Cl.) opacus, With. 
*** Tnfundibuliformes. 
95. A. (Cl.) giganteus, Sow. 
96. A. (Cl) maximus, Fr. 
97. A. (Cl.) infundibuliformis, 
Scheff, var. membranaceus. 
98. A. ( Cl.) trulleformis, Fr. 
99. A. (Cl.) geotropus, Bull. 
100. A. (Cl.) inversus, Scop. 
101. A. (Cl.) flaccidus, Sow. 
**** Cyathiformes. 
102. A. (Cl.) cyathiformis, Bull. 
103. A. (Cl.) brumalis, Jr. 
***** Orbiformes. 
104, A. (Cl.) metachrous, Fr. 
105. A. (Cl.) fragrans, Sow. 
#k*EXX Versiformes. 
106, A. (Cl.) difformis, P. 
107. A. (Cl.) ectypus, Fr. 
108. A. (Cl.) bellus, P. 
109. A. (Cl.) laccatus, Scop. 
Subgenus 6, Pleurotus, Fr. 
* Lepiotaria. 
110. A. (P1.) corticatus, Fr. 
111. A. (Pl.) dryinus, P. 
112. A. (P1.) spongiosus, Lasch. 
** Concharia. 
113. A. (Pl.) ulmarius, Bull. 
114, A. (PI.) subpalmatus, Fr. 
115. A. ( Pl.) craspedius, Fr. 
116. A. (P1.) fimbriatus, Bolt. 
117. A. (Pl) lignatilis, Pers. 
118. A. ( Pl.) circinatus, Fr. 
119. A. (Pl.) ostreatus, Jacq. 
120. A. (Pl.) salignus, Hoffm. 
*** Holopleurus. 
121. A. (Pl.) petaloides, Buz. 


224 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


122. A. (P1.) serotinus, Schrad. 

128. A. (P1.) mitis, P. 

124. A. (PL) tremulus, Scheff. 

125. A. (Pl.) acerosus, Fr. 
**** Omphalaria. 


126. A. (Pl.) porrigens, P. 

127. A. (Pl.) septicus, Fy. 

128. A. (Pl.) mastrucatus, 7. 
129. A. (P1.) atroceruleus, Fr. 
180. A. (Pl.) algidus, Fr. 

131. A. (Pl.) Leightoni, Berk. 
132. A. (P1.) cyphelleformis, Berk: 
133. A. (P1.) Hobsoni, Berk. 
134. A. (Pl.) applicatus, Batsch. 
135. A. (P1.) striatulus, Fr. 

136. A. (Pl.) hypnophilus, P. 
137. A. (Pl.) chioneus, P. 


Subgenus 7. Collybia, Fr. 
Strizepedes. 
138. A. (Col.) radicatus, Relh. 
139. A. (Col.) longipes, Bull. 
140. A. (Col.) platyphyllus Fr. 
141. A. (Col.) fusipes, Budl. 
Var. edematopus, Fr. 
142. A. (Col.) maculatus, 4. and S. 
143. A. (Col.) butyraceus, Bull. 
** Vestipedes. 
144. A, (Col.) velutipes, Curt. 
145. A. (Col.) stipitarius, 7. 
146. A. (Col.) confluens, P. 
147. A. (Col.) ingratus, Schum. 
148. A. (Col.) vertirugis, Cooke. 
A 
A 


* 


149. A. (Col.) conigenus, P. 

150. A. (Col.) cirrhatus, Schwm. 

151. A. (Col.) tuberosus, Bull. 

152. A. (Col.) racemosus, P. 
*** Leevipedes. 

153. A. (Col.) acervatus, Fr. 


154. A. (Col.) collinus, Scop. 
155. A. (Col.) xanthopus, Fr. 
156. A. (Col.) dryophilus, Bu/?. 
157. A. (Col.) exsculptus, F7%. 
158. A. (Col.) tenacellus, P. 
159. A. (Col.) esculentus, Wu. 
160. A. (Col.) clavus, LZ. 

A 


161. A. (Col.) ocellatus, I. 


**** Tephrophane. 
162. A. ( Col.) inolens, Fr. 
163. A. (Col.) plewipes, Fr. 
164. A. (Col.) laceratus, Lasch. 
165. A. (Col.) protractus, Fr. 
166. A. (Col.) atratus, Fr. 
Subgenus 8. Mycena, Fr. 
Calodontes. 
167. A. (My.) pelianthinus, 7, 
168. A. (My.) balaninus, Berk. 
169. A. (My.) marginellus, Fr. 
170. A. (My.) elegans, P. 
171. A.(My.)rubro-marginatus, Fr. 
172. A. (My.) coccinellus, P. 
173. A. (My.) rosellus, Fr. 
** A donidex. 
174, A. (My.) purus, P. 
175. A. (My.) Iris, Berk. 
176. A. (My.) Adonis, Bull. 
177. A. (My.) luteo-albus, Bolt. 
178. A. (My.) flavo-albus, Fr. 
179. A. (My.) lacteus, Pers. 
*** Rigidipedes. 
180. A. (My.) proliferus, Sowd. 
181. A. (My.) rugosus, Fr. 
182. A.(My.) galericulatus, Scheff. 
183. A. (My.) polygrammus, Bull. 
184, A. (My.) parabolicus, 4.and 8, 
**** Pragilipedes. 
185. A. (My.) atro-albus, Bul. 
186. A. (My.) dissiliens, Fr. 
187. A. (My.) alcalinus, Fr. 
188. A. (My.) pauperculus, Berk. 
189. A. ( My.) vitreus, Fr. 
190. A. (My.) tenuis, Bold. 
191. A. (My.) tenellus, Fr. 
*k*** Pilopedes. 
192. A. (My.) filopes, Budd. 
193. A. (My.) vitilis, Fr. : 
194. A. (My.) speireus, Fr. 
195. A. (My.) acicula, Scheff. 
#*EEEE TLactipedes. j 
196. A. (My.) hematopus, P. 
197. A. (My.) eruentus, F7. 
198. A. (My.) sanguinolentus, A. 
and 8, 


* 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 225 


199. A. (My.) crocatus, Sehrad. Series II. Hyrornonpn, Fr. 
200. A. (My.) chelidonius, Fr. Subgenus 10. Volvaria, Fr. 
201. A. (My.) galopus, Schrad. 233. A. (Vol.) bombycinus, Scheff. 
#**EEXE Glutinipedes. 234. A. (Vol.) volvaceus, Bul. 
202. A. (My.) epipterygius, Scop. 235. A. (Vol.) Loveianus, Berk. 
203. A. (My.) pelliculosus, Fr. 236. A. (Vol.) Taylori, Berk. 
204, A. (My.) vulgaris, P. 237. A.(Vol.) parvulus, Weinm. 
205. A. (My.) citrinellus, P. 238. A. (Vol.) speciosus, Fr. 
206. A. (My.) roridus, Fr. 239. A. (Vol.) gloiocephalus, Fr. 
#EFEEEEE Bosipedes, Subgenus 11. Chameota, 
207. A. (My.) stylobates, P. subgen. nov. 
208. A. (My.) tenerrimus, B. 240. A. (Ch.) cretaceus, Fr. 
209. A. (My.) pterigenus, Fr. 241. A. (Ch.) echinatus, Roth. 
210. 4. (My.) sacchariferus, B. and Subgenus 12. Pluteus, Fr. 
Br. (ms.). _ 242. A. (PL) cervinus, Scheff. 
FHEELEELE Thsititir. 243. A. (Pl.) umbrosus, P. 
211. A. (My.) corticola, Schum. 244. A. (Pl.) petasatus, Fr. 
212. A. (My.) hiemalis, Osb. 245. A. (P1.) leoninus, Scheff. 
213. A. (My.) setosus, Sow. 246. A. (Pl.) chrysopheeus, Scheff. 
214. A. (My.) capillaris, Schum. 247. A. (Pl.) nanus, P. 
215. A. (My.) juncicola, Fr. 248. A. (Pl.) phlebophorus, Dittm. 
Subgenus 9. Omphalia, Fr. Subgenus 13. Entoloma, Fr. 
* Collybarie. * Genuini. 
+ Hydrogramme. (No British 249. A. ( En.) sinuatus, Fr. 
representatives.) 250. A. (En.) prunuloides, Fr. 
tt Pyxidate. 251. A. (En.) placenta, Batsch. 
216. A. (Omp.) pyxidatus, Bull. .« 252. A. (En.) elodes, Fr. 
217. A. (Omp.) hepaticus, Batsch. 253. A. (En.) repandus, Bull. 
218. 4. (Omp.) affricatus, Fr. ° 254. A. (En.) Bloxami, B. and Br. 
219. A. (Omp.) sphagnicola, Berk. 255. A. (Hn.) ardosiacus, Bull. 
220. A. (Omp.) oniscus, Fr. 256. A. ( En.) ameides, B. and Br. 
ttt Umbelliferze. ** Leptonidei. 
221. A. (Omp.) muralis, Sow. 257. A. (En.) jubatus, Fr. 
222. A. (Omp.) umbelliferus, Z. 258. A. ( En.) griseo-cyaneus, Fr. 
223. A.(Omp.) rufulus, B.and Br. 259. A. (En.) sericellus, Fr. 
224, A. (Omp.) stellatus, Sow. *** Nolanides. 
** Mycenaria. 260. A. (En.) clypeatus, LZ. 
225. A.(Omp.) campanella, Scheff. 261. A. (En.) rhodopolius, Fr. 
226. A. (Omp.) camptophyllus, 262. A. ( En.) majalis, Fr. 
Berk. 263. A. (En.) costatus, Fr. 
227. A. (Omp.) griseus, Fr. 264. A. (En.) sericeus, Buil. 
228. A. (Omp.) helvelloides, Budd. 265. A. (En.) nidorosus, Fr. 
229. A. (Omp.) fibula, Budd. Subgenus 14, Clitopilus, Fr. 
230. A. ( Omp.) gracillimus, Weinm. 266. A. (Cl.) prunulus, Pers. ; var. 
231. A. (Omp.) bellix, Joknst. orcella. 


232. A. (Omp.) integrellus, P. 267. A. ( Cl.) cretatus, Berk. 


226 CLAVIS. AGARICINORUM. 


268. A. (Cl.) mundulus, Lasch. 
269. A. ( Cl.) popinalis, Fr. 
270. A. ( Cl.) undatus, Fr. 

271. A. ( Cl.) cancrinus, Fr. 


Subgenus 15. Claudopus, subgen. nov. 


272. A. (Cl.) euosmus, Berk. 

273. A. (Cl.) variabilis, P. 

274. A. (Cl.) depluens, Batsch, 

275. A. (Cl.) byssisedus, P. 
Subgenus 16. Leptonia, Fr. 

276. A. (Lep.) lampropus, Fr. 

277. A. (Lep.) serrulatus, P. 

278. A. (Lep.) euchrous, P. 

279. A. (Lep.) chalybeeus, P. 

280. A. (Lep.) incanus, Fr. 

281. A. (Lep.) asperellus, Fr. 

Subgenus 17. Nolanea, Fr. 

282. A. (Nol.) pascuus, P. 

283. A. (Nol.) rufo-carneus, Berk. 

284, A. (Nol.) rubidus, Berk. 

285. A. (Nol.) Babingtonii, Blox. 

286. A. ( Nol.) junceus, Fr. 
Subgenus 18. Zecilia, Fr. 


287. 4. ( Ee.) carneo-griseus, Berk. 


288. A. (Ze. ) Parkensis, Fr. 
289. A. ( Ec.) rhodocylix, Lasch. 
Series III. Dermrnt, F7. 
Subgenus 19. Pholiota, Fr. 
* Humigenei. 
290. A. (Ph.) durus, Bolt. 
291. A. (Ph.) preecox, P. 
** Truncigenei. 

292. A. (Ph.) radicosus, Bull. 

293. A. (Ph.) pudicus, Bull. 

294. A. (Ph.) leochromus, Cooke. 

295. A. (Ph.) capistratus, Cooke. 

296. A. (Ph.) heteroclitus, Fr. 

297. A. (Ph.) comosus, Fr. 

298. A. (Ph.) squarrosus, Mill. ; 

var. Miilleri. 

299. A. (Ph.) aurivellus, Batsch. 

300. A. (Ph.) adiposus, Jr. 

301. A.(Ph.) spectabilis, Fr. 

302. A. (Ph.) flammans, Fr. 

303. A. ( Ph.) Junonius, Fr. 

304. A. (Ph.) mutabilis, Scheff. 


305. A. (Ph.) marginatus, Batsch. 


*** Muscigenei. 
306. A. (Ph.) pumilis, Fr. 
307. A. (Ph.) Mycenoides, Fr. 
308. A. (Ph.) Leveillianus, D. 
and M. 

Subgenus 20. Hebeloma, Fr. 
309. A. ( Heb.) punctatus, Fr. 
310. A. ( Heb.) versipellis, Fr. 
811. A. ( Heb.) mesopheus, Pers. 
812. A. ( Heb.) sinapizans, Fr. 
313. A. (Heb.) crustuliniformis, 

Bull. 
314. A. ( Heb.) fastibilis, Fr. 
315. A. (Heb.) testaceus, Batsch. 
316. A. (Heb.) longicaudus, P. 
(Inocybe.) 
* Squarrosi. 
317. A. (Heb.) relicinus, Fr. 
318. A. (Heb.) flocculentus, Poll. 
319. A. (Heb.) plumosus, Bolt. 
** Taceri. 


320. A. (Heb.) pyriodorus, Pers. 
321. A. (Heb.) scaber, Mill. 

322. A. (Heb.) lacerus, F7. 

323. A. (Heb.) obscurus, P. 

324. A. (Heb.) flocculosus, Berk. 
825, A. (Heb.) Hookeri, Klotzsch. 


326. A. ( Heb.) deglubens, Fr. 
*** Rimosi. 

827. A. (Heb.) fibrosus, Sow. 

328. A. (Heb.) fastigiatus, Scheff. 

329. A. (Heb.) Curreyi, Berk. 


330. A. ( Heb.) euthelus, B. and Br. 


331. A. (Heb.) rimosus, Bull. 


332. A. (Heb.) auricomus, Batsch. 
333. A. (Heb.) trechisporus, Berk. 


334. A. ( Heb.) hiuleus, Fr. 
335. A. (Heb.) lucifugus, Fr. 
336. A. (Heb.) sindonius, Fr. 
337. A. (Heb.) geophyllus, Sowd. 
338. A. ( Heb.) vatricosus, Fr. 
Subgenus 21. Flammula, Fr. 

* Heterogenei. 
339. A. (FIl.) helomorphus, Seer. 
340, A. (F1.) scambus, Fr, 


eS 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 227 


341. A. (F.) floccifer, Berk. 
** Lubrici. 
342. A. (FI1.) lentus, Pers. 
343. A, ( Fl.) gummosus, Lasch. 
344. A. ( FI.) spumosus, Fr. 
345. A. (Fl.) carbonarius, Fr. 
eee Udis 
346. A. (FL) flavidus, Scheff. 
347. A. (Fl.) inopus, Fr. 
¥*#*%* Sapinei. 
348. A. (F1.) hybridus, Swartz. 
349. 4. ( Fl.) decipiens, W. Sm. 
350. A. (Fl.) sapineus, Fr. 
351. A. ( Fl.) picreus, Fr. 
352. A. (F1.) filiceus, Cooke. 
Subgenus 22. Crepidotus, Fr. 
353. A. (Cr.) alveolus, Lasch. 
354, A. (Cr.) mollis, Scheff. 
355. A. (Cr.) haustellaris, Fr. 
356. A. (Cr.) rubi, Berk. 
357. A. (Cr.) chimonophilus, B. 
and Br. 
358. A. ( Cr.) pezizoides, Nees. 
Subgenus 23. Naucoria, Fr. 
* Gymnoti. 
359. A. (Nau.) cucumis, Pers. 
360. A. (Nau.) centunculus, F7. 
361. A. (Nau.) horizontalis, Bull. 
362. A. (Nau.) melinoides, Fr. 
363. A. (Nau.) nuceus, Bolt. 
364. A. (Nau.) sideroides, Bull. 
** Pheeoti. 
365. A. (Nau.) vervacti, Fr. 
366. A. (Nau.) pediades, Fr. 


367. A. (Nau.) semiorbicularis, Budd. 


368. A. ( Nau.) sobrius, Fr. 
*** Lepidoti. 

369. A. ( Nau.) escharoides, Fr. 

370. A. ( Nau.) conspersus, Pers. 

371. A. (Nau.) erinaceus, /7. 

372. A. (Nau.) siparius, Fr. 

378. A. ( Nau.) carpophilus, Fr. 

Subgenus 24. Galera, Fr. 

* Pluteotropi. 

374, A. (Ga.) reticulatus, P. 

375. A. ( Ga.) aleuriatus, Fr. 


376. A. ( Ga.) pilipes, Sow. 
** Polytropi. 
377. A. (Ga.) ovalis, Fr. 
¥*** Teneri. 
378. A. (Ga.) lateritius, Batt. 
379. A. (Ga.) tener, Scheff. 
380. A. ( Ga.) antipus, Fr. 
381. A. (Ga.) confertus, Bolt. 
382. A. (Ga.) sparteus, Fr. 
*#** Hypnophile. 
383. A. (Ga.) embolus, Fr. 
384. A. (Ga.) hypnorum, Batsch. 
385. A. ( Ga.) sphagnorum, Pers. 
***4* Briodermei. 
386. A. (Ga.) mycenopsis, Fr. 
387. A. ( Ga.) paludosus, Fr. 
Subgenus 25. Tubaria, subgen. nov. 
388. A. (Tu.) inguilinus, Fr. 
389. A. (Tu.) furfuraceus, P. 
390. A. (Tu.) autochthonus, B. 
and Br. 
Series TV. Pratetim, Fr. 
Subgenus 26. Psalliota, Fr. 
391. A. ( Ps.) elvensis, Berk. 
392. A. (Ps.) arvensis, Scheff. ; 
var. angustus. 
393. A. (Ps.) campestris. 
Var. pratensis, Vitt. 
villaticus, Brond. 
silvicola, Vit. 


The hortensis. 
Cultivated elongatus. 
form.  Buchanani. 
vaporarius, Otto. 
rufescens. 


394. A. (Ps.) silvaticus, Scheff. 
395. A. (Ps.) versicolor, With. 
Subgenus 27. Pilosace, Fr. (un- 
represented). 
Subgenus 28. Stropharia, Fr. 
* Viscipellis. 
396. A. (Str.) eruginosus, Curd. 
397. A. (Str.) albocyaneus, Desm. 
398. A. (Str.) obturatus, Lasch. 
399. A. (Str.) melaspermus, Bull. 
400. A. (Str.) squamosus, Fr. 


228 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


401. A. (Str.) stercorarius, Jr. 
402. A. (Str.) semiglobatus, Batsch. 
403. A. (Str.) Jerdoni, Bers. 
Subgenus 29. Hypholoma, Fr. 
* Fasciculares. 
404, A. (Hyp.) sublateritius, Fr. 
405. A. ( Hyp.) capnoides, Fr. 
406. A. ( Hyp.) epixanthus, Fr. 
407. A. (Hyp.) fascicularis, Huds. 
408. A. (Hyp.) dispersus, Fr. 
** Velutini. 
409. A. (Hyp.) lacrymabundus, Bull. 
410. A. (Hyp.) velutinus, P.; var. 
leiocephalus. 
*** A ppendiculati. 
411. A. (Hyp.) Candollianus, Fr. 
412. A. (Hyp.) lanaripes, Cooke. 
413. A. (Hyp.) appendiculatus, Bull. 
414, A. ( Hyp.) egenulus, Berk. 
415. A. ( Hyp.) hydrophilus, Bull. 
Subgenus 30. Psilocybe, Fr. 
* Tenaces. 
416. A. (Psi.) semilanceatus, fr. 
** Fragiles. 
417, A. (Psi.) spadiceus, Scheff. 
418. A. (Psi.) cernuus, Wiill. 
419. A. ( Psi.) clivensis, Berk. 
420. A. (Psi.) Foenisecii, P. 
421. A. (Psi.) comptulus, Berk. 
and Br. 
422. A. (Psi.) areolatus, Klotzsch. 
Subgenus 81. Psathyra, Fr. 
423. A. (Psa.) conopilus, P. 
424, A, ( Psa.) mastiger, B. and Br. 
425. A. (Psa.) corrugis, P.; b. gra- 
cilis, I’r. 
426. A. (Psa.) bifrons, Berk. 
427, A. (Psa.) spadiceo-griseus, 
Scheff. 
428. A. ( Psa.) obtusatus, Fr. 
429. A. (Psa.) fibrillosus, P. 
430. A. ( Psa.) pennatus, Fr. 


431. A.( Psa.) utricecola, B.and Br. 


432. A. (Psa.) gossypinus, J’. 
433. A. (Psa.) semivestitus, B. 
and Br. 


434, A. ( Psa.) Gordoni, Berk. 


Subgenus 32. Deconica, subgen. noy. 


435. A, (Dec.) coprophilus, Bull, 
436. A. (Dec.) bullaceus, Bul. 
437. A. (Dec.) physaloides, Bull. 
Series V. Coprrnanil, Fr. 
Subgenus 33. Paneolus, Fy. 
438. A, (Pan.) separatus, Z. 


439. A. (Pan.) leucophanes, Berk. 


and Br. 
440. A. (Pan.) fimiputris, Bull. 
441. A. (Pan.) phalenarum, Fr. 
442. A. (Pan.) retirugis, Batsch. 
443. A. (Pan.) campanulatus, Z. 
444, A. (Pan.) papilionaceus, 
Bull. . 
445. A. (Pan.) cinctulus, Bolt. 


446, A. ( Pan.) subbalteatus, Berk. 


and Br. 

447. A. (Pan.) fimicola, Fr. 

Subgenus 34. Psathyrella, Fr. 
448, A. (Psa.) gracilis, I. 
449. A. (Psa.) hiascens, 77. 
450. A. (Psa.) aratus, Berk. 
451. A. (Psa.) pronus, Fr. 
452. A. (Psa.) atomatus, Fr. 
453. A. (Psa.) disseminatus, P. 


Genus II. COPRINUS, Fr. 
* Pelliculosi. ; 
454. C. comatus, Fr. 
455. C. ovatus, Fr. 
456. C. sterquilinus, Fr. 
457. C. atramentarius, Fr. 
458. C. fuscescens, Jr. 
459. C. picaceus, Fr. 
460. C. aphthosus, 7. 
461. C. similis, B. and Br. 
462. C. floceulosus, DC. 
463. C. extinctorius, 2%. 
464. C. fimetarius, Z. 
465. C. tomentosus, Fr. 
466. C. niveus, Fr. 
467. C. micaceus, Fr. 
468. C. aratus, Berk. and Br. 
469. C. radians, F’r. 


ee eee 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 229 


470. C. deliquescens, Fr. 


** Veliformes. 


471. C. Hendersonii, Fr. 


472. C. macrocephalus, Berk. 
473. C. lagopus, Fr. 
474, C. nychthemerus, Fr. 
475. C. radiatus, Fr. 
476. C. domesticus, Fr. 
477. C. ephemerus, Fr. 

C. 


478. C. plicatilis, Fr. 

479. C. Spragueii, B. and C. 
480. C. hemerobius, Fr. 

481. C. filiformis, Berk. and Br. 


Genus III. BOLBITIUS, Fr. 


482. B. Boltonii, Fr. 

483. B. fragilis, Fv. 

484. B. titubans, Fr. 

485. B. tener, B. 
486. B. apicalis, W. Sm. 


Genus IV. CORTINARIUS, Fr. 


Subgenus 1. Phlegmacium, Fr. 
487. C. (Phl.) caperatus, Fir. 
488. C. (Phl.) varius, Fr. 

489. C. (Phl.) cyanipes, Fr. 
490. C. (Phl.) russus, Fr. 

491. C. (Phl.) anfractus, J. 
492. C. (Phl.) multiformis, Fr. 
493. C. (Phl.) glaucopus, F’r. 
494. C. (Phi.) callochrous, Fr. 
495. C. (Phl.) ceerulescens, Fr. 
496. C. (Phl.) purpurascens, Fr. 
497. C. (Phi.) dibaphus, Fr. 
498. C. (Phl.) turbinatus, Fr. 
499. C. (Phl.) fulgens, Fr. 

500. C. (Phl.) prasinus, Fr. 

501. C. (Phl.) scaurus, Fr. 
Subgenus 2. Myxaciwm, Fr. 

502. C. (Myx.) collinatus, Fr. 

503. C. (Myx.) elatior, Fr. 


504. C. (Myx.) livido-ochraceus, Fr. 


505. C. (Myzx.) stillatitius, Fr. 
Subgenus 3. Inoloma, Fr. 

506. C. (In.) violaceus, Fr. 

507. C. (In.) camphoratus, Fr. 


508. C. (In.) callisteus, Fr. 
509. C. (In.) Bulliardi, Fr. 
510. C. (In.) bolaris, Fr. 
511. C. (In.) pholideus, . 
512. C. (In.) sublanatus, Fr. 
513. C. (In.) arenatus, P. 
Subgenus 4. Dermocybe, Fr. 
514. C. (Der.) ochroleucus, Fr. 


515. C. (Der.) tabularis, Fi. 

516. C. (Der.) diabolicus, Fr. 
517. C. (Der.) caninus, Fr. 

518. C. (Der.) anomalus, Fr. 
519. C. (Der.) spilomeus, Fr. 
520. C. (Der.) sanguineus, Fr. 
521. C. (Der.) cinnamomeus, Fr. 
522. C. (Der.) uliginosus, Berk. 


523. C. (Der.) raphanoides, Fr. 
Subgenus 5. Telamonia, Fr. 


524. C. (Tel.) bulbosus, Fr. 
525. C. (Tel.) torvus, Fr. 
526. C. (Tel.) evernius, Fr. 
527. C. (Tel.) armillatus, 77. 
528. C. (Tel.) limonius, 7. 
529. C. (Tel.) brunneus, Fr. 
530. C. (Tel.) hinnuleus, Fr. 


531. C. (Tel.) helvelloides, Fr. 

532. C. (Tel.) periscelis, Weinm. 

533. CO. (Tel.) psammocephalus, Fr. 

534. C. (Tel.) ileopodius, Fr. 

535. C. (Tel.) hemitrichus, Fr. 
Subgenus 6. Hygrocybe, Fr. 

536. C. (Hy.) armeniaceus, Fr. 

587. C. (Hy.) dilutus, Pr. 

538. C. (Hy.) castaneus, Fr. 

539. C. (Hy.) rigens, Fr. 

540. C. (Hy.) leucopus, Fr. 

541. C. (Hy.) Reedii, Berk. 

542. C. (Hy.) decipiens, Fr. 

543. C. (Hy.) acutus, Fr. 

544, C. (Hy.) Junghuhnii, Fr. 


Genus V. LEPISTA, gen. nov. 
545. L. nuda, W. Sm. 

546. L. cinerascens, W. Sm. 
547. L. personata, W. Sm, 


230 


Genus VI. PAXILLUS, F. 


548. P. involutus, 77%. 
549. P. atro-tomentosus, Fr. 
550. P. panuoides, Jr, 


Genus VII. HYGROPHORUS, fr. 


* TLimacium. 


551. H. chrysodon, Fr. 

552. H. eburneus, 2. 

553. H. cossus, Lr. 

554. H. cerasinus, B. 

555. H. aromaticus, B. 

556. H. mesotephrus, B. and Br. 
557. H. arbustivus, Fr. 

558. H. hypothejus, /7. 

559. H. olivaceo-albus, Fy. 


560. H. limacinus, Fr. 
** Camarophyllus. 
561. H. leporinus, Fr. 
562. H. pratensis, Fv. 
563. H. virgineus, 7. 
564. H. niveus, Fr. 
565. H. distans, Berk. 
566. H. russo-coriaceus, B. and 
Mill. 
567. H. ovinus, F7. 
*** Hygrocybe. 


568. H. Colemannianus, Blow. 
569. H. letus, Hr. 

570. H. ceraceus, 7. 

571. H. coccineus, Fr. 

572. H. miniatus, #7. 

573. H. puniceus, Fr. 

574. H. obrusseus, 77, 

575. H. conicus, 7. 


576. H. chlorophanus, Fr. 

577. H. psittacinus, Fr. 

578. H. calyptreformis, B. and Br. 
579. H. unguinosus, /’r. 

580. H. murinaceus, Jr. 


Genus VIII. GOMPHIDIUS, Fr. 


581. G. glutinosus, Pr. 
B. roseus. 

582. G. viscidus, Fr. 

583. G. stillatus, Strauss. 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


Genus IX. LACTARIUS, Fv. 


* Piperites. 


584. L. torminosus, 77. 
585. L. cicilioides, Fr. 

586. L. turpis, #. 

587. L. controversus, Pers. 
588. L. pubescens, Schrad. 


** Timacini. 


589. L. insulsus, 7. 
590. L. zonarius, Fr. 
591. L. blennius, Fr. 
592. L. hysginus, Jr. 
593. L. trivialis, Fr. 
594. L, circellatus, F7. 
595. L. uvidus, £7. 


*** Piperati. 


596. L. pyrogalus, Bud. 

597. L. plumbeus, Fy. 

598. L. acris, Fr. 

599. L. chrysorrheus, Fr. 

600. L, piperatus, Z. 

601. L. vellereus, Fy., var. exsuc- 
cus, Otto. 


*¥*** Tapetes. 


602. L. deliciosus, Z. 


***** Russulares. 


603. L. pallidus, /’r. 
604, L. quietus, Fr. 


605. L. theiogalus, Fr. 
606. L. cyathula, Fr. 
607. L. rufus, Scop. 

608. L. glyciosmus, Fr. 
609. L. fuliginosus, 2. 
610. L. volemum, /7. 
611. L. serifluus, fr. 
612. L. mitissimus, Fr. 
613. L. subdulcis, Bull. 
614. L. camphoratus, Fr. 


Genus X. RUSSULA, fr. 


* Compactee. 


615. R. nigricans, J. 
616. R. adusta, Fr. 
617. R. delica, Fr. 


** Furcatie. 


618. R. fureata, Fr. 


SE ns 


619. R. sanguinea, Fy. 
620. R. rosacea, Fr. 
621. R. sardonia, Fr. 
622. R. depallens, Fr. 
*** Rigide. 
623. R. lactea, Fr. 
624. R. virescens, Fr. 
625. R. lepida, Fr. 
626. R. rubra, Fr. 
**** Heterophylle. 
627. R. vesca, Fr. 


628. R. cyanoxantha, Fr. 
629. R. heterophylla, Fr. 


630. R. foetens, Fr. 
#*¥EL* Fyagiles, 


631. R. emetica, Fr. 
632. R. ochroleuca, Fr. 
633. R. fragilis, Fr. 
634. R. integra, L. 
635. R. decolorans, Fy. 
636. R. aurata, Fr. 
637. R. veternosa, Fr. 
638. R. nitida, Fr. 
639. R. alutacea, Fr. 
640. R. lutea, Fy. 

641. R. vitellina, Fr. 
642. R. chameleontina, Fr. 


Genus XI. CANTHARELLUS, Fr. 


* Mesopodes. 
643. C. cibarius, Fr. 
644. C. aurantiacus, Fr. 


645. C. Brownii, B. and Br. 


646. C. umbonatus, P. 


647. C. radicosus, B. and Br. 


648. C. tubeformis, Fr. 


649. C. infundibuliformis, Fr. 


B. cinereus, Fr. 
** Pleurotus. 
650. C. muscigenus, Fr. 
** Resupinati. 
651. C. retirugus, Fr. 
652. C. lobatus, Fr. 


Genus XII. NYCTALIS, Fr. 


653. N. asterophora, Fr. 
654. N. parasitica, Fr. 


CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 231 


Genus XITI. MARASMIUS, Fr. 


1. Collybie. 
* Scortei. 
655. M. urens, Bull. 
656. M. peronatus, Fr. 
657. M. porreus, Fr. 
658. M. oreades, Bolé. 
** Tergini. 
659. M. fusco-purpureus, Fr. 
660. M. Wynnei, B. and Br. 
661. MW. terginus, Fr. 
662. M. erythropus, Fr. 
663. M. archyropus, Fr. 
*** Calopodes. 
664. M. scorodonius, Fr. 
665. M. Vaillantii, Fy. 
666. MW. angulatus, Pers. 
667. MW. languidus, Fr. 
668. M. feetidus, Fr. 
669. MW. nigricans, Berk. 
670. M. amadelphus, Fr. 
671. M. ramealis, Fr. 
672. M. candidus, Fr. 
‘ 2. Mycene. 
* Chordales. 
673. M. alliacens, Fr. 
674. I. caulicinalis, Fr. 
** Rotule. 
675. M. rotula, Fr. 


676. M. graminum, B. and Br. 
677. M. androsaceus, Fr. 
678. M. perforans, Fr. 
679. M. insititius, Fr. 
680. M. Hudsoni, Fr. 
681. M. epiphyllus, Fr. 
M 


682. M. saccharinus, Fr. 
683. M. spodoleucus, B. and Br. 


Genus XIV. LENTINUS, Fr. 
* Squamosi. 

684. L. tigrinus, Fr. 

685. L. Dunalii, Fr. 

686. L. lepideus, Fr. 

687. L. adherens, Fr. 
** Cochleati. 

688. L. cochleatus, Fr. 


232 CLAVIS AGARICINORUM. 


*** Subsessiles. 
689. L. vulpinus, Fr. 
690. L. fimbriatus, Curr. 
691. L. flabelliformis, Bolt. 


Genus XV. PANUS, /*. 
692. P. torulosus, fr. 
693. P. conchatus, 77. 
694, P. stipticus, fr. 


Genus XVI. XEROTUS, Fr. 


695. X. degener, Fr. 


Genus XVII. TROGTA, Fr. 
696. T. crispa, Fr. 


Genus XVIII. SCHIZOPHYLLUM. 
697. S. commune, Fr. 


Genus XIX. LENZITES, Fr. 
698. L. betulina, Fr. 
699. L. flaccida, Fr. 
700. L. sepiaria, Fr. 
701. L. abietina, Fr. 


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OFFICERS FOR THE YEAR 


1870. 


President: 
The Rev. Henry Cooper Key, M.A., F.R.A.S., Stretton Rectory, 
Hereford. 
Vice=-Presidents: 


The Rev. W. C. Fowiz, M.A., Brinsop Rectory, Hereford. 
The Rev. Artuur Gray, M.A., Orcop, Ross. 

James Rankin, Esq., M.A., Bryngwyn, Hereford. 

Eimes Y. STEELE, Esq., Abergavenny. 


Honorary Secretary: 
The Rey. Sir Gro. H. Cornewatt, Bart,, Moccas, Hereford. 


Central Committee: 


Dr. Butt, Hereford. 
T. Curtey, Esq., F.G.S., Hereford. 
Joun Luoyp, Esq., Huntington Court, Hereford. 


Assistant Secretary and Treasurer: 


Mr. ArtHur TuHompson, St. Nicholas Street, Hereford. 


’ 
t 
+4 


5 as 


FIELD MEETINGS APPOINTED 


1870. 


1—Tvuespay, May 247 .............00000005 The Forest of Deerfold. 
2—Tunspay, June 21st (Ladies’ Day)...Ross and down the Wye. 
BU RIDAY, DULY. DUM. ... occ .cdeccektsesdlecesesccs Llangorse Lake. 


4—Fripay, Aveust 19ra..... seeetneeeeennees The Longmynd Hills. 


5—Tuurspay, OCTOBER 67H...... Hereford, for “A Foray amongst 


the Funguses.” 5 


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