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OF THE
DORSET MTQ^LL HISTORY
FIELD
EDITED BY
MORTON G. 8TUART,
lion. Secreltti-y.
VO LU M E X.
$0 ^cheater; :
PRINTED AT THE " DORSET CODNTY CHRONICLE " OFFICE.
1889
DA
v. ID
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/"^f /"\ X Y Y~Y^t Y"f X. Y IHPf t~V
- CONTENTS. -
PAGE
Index to Plates and Engravings ... ... ... ... ... iv.
Notice ... ... ... ... ... ... v.
List of Officers and Hon. Members vi.
List of Members ... ... viii.
The Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian
Field Club during 1888, by M. G. Stuart, M.A., F.G.S. ... xv.
Statement of Receipts and Payments and General Statement,
year ending May 31, 1887 xxxiv.
Statement of Receipts and Payments, year ending May 31, 1889 xxxv.
General Statement, year ending May 31, 1889 xxxvi.
Note on Elephas meridioiialis, found at Dewlish, by J. C.
Mansel-Pleydell, Esq., F.L.S., F.G.S 1
Dorsetshire Folk-speech and Superstitions relating to Natural
History, by J. S. Udal, F.R. Hist. Soc. ; (Member of
Council of the Folk-lore Society) 19
Notes on Botany (chiefly Geographical), by the Rev. R. P.
Murray, M.A., F.L.S 47
The Ridgway Fault, by M. G. Stuart, Esq., M.A., F.G.S. ... 55
Notes on a Minute Book belonging to the Corporation of
Dorchester, by H. J. Moule, M.A. ... ... ... ... 71
Bos primigcniifs, with Relation to Paleolithic and Neolithic
Man, by J. C. Mansel-Pleydell, Esq., F.L.S., F.G.S. ... 81
Mintenie : Its connection with the Churchills and Digbys, by
Rev. H. E. Ravenhill, R.D., Vicar of Buckland Newton
cum Plush 89
The Parish Register of Buckland Newton, by Rev. C. H.
Mayo, M.A., R.D., Vicar of Long Burton with Holnest ... 97
On New and Rare British Spiders, by the Rev. O. Pickard-
Cambridge, M. A., F.R. S., &c., &c. 7.. 107
On a New British Worm, Allurus Tetraedrus, by Frederick
O. P. Cambridge, B.A 139
Lantern Tower, Wimbome Minster, by W. J. Fletcher,
F.R.I.B.A 142
Canford Church, by the Rev. Sir Talbot H. B. Baker, Bart. ... 146
On Armorials of the Savage Family in Bloxworth Church,
Dorset, by James Salter, Esq., F.R.S., &c., &c., of
Basingfield, Hampshire ... ... ... 153
Notes on a few of the Fish recently taken on the Chesil Beach,
by Nelson M. Richardson, B.A 162
IV.
PAGE
Citnoliosaiirus riclutrdsoni, Lydekker (n. sp.), by J. C. Mansel-
Pleydell, Esq., F.L.S., F.G.S 171
The Erosion of the Coast near Vfeymouth by the Action of the
Sea, by Mr. T. B. Groves, F.C.S. (of Weymouth) ... 180
Ceme Ablwy Barn, by H. J. Moule, M.A. 187
Description of a Species of EjiiscJtnia ( Bankesiella ) new to
Science from Portland, by Nelson M. Richardson, B.A. ... 192
First Supplement to the " Lepidoptera of the Isle of Purbeck,"
by E. R. Bankes, M.A., F.E.S 197
Report on the Returns of Rainfall and Observations on the
Flowering of Plants and Appearances of Birds and Insects
in Dorset during 1888, by M. G. Stuart, Hon Sec. ... 214
PLATES AND ENGRAVINGS.
ELEPHAS MERIDIONALIS FACING
1. Section of hill shewing the Pliocene deposit in which the
Elephant remains were found ... 18
Right half of pelvic of Elephas meridionalis 18
2. Molars of Elephas meridionalis, E. antiquus, and E.
primigeniits ... 18
3. Scapula, tibia, radius, and humerus of E. meridionalis ... 18
RIDGWAY FAULT
4. Sketch plan of the Ridgway Fault from a model in the
Dorchester Museum ... ... ... ... 55
5. Sections of the Ridgway Fault 69
Bos PRIMIGENIUS
6. Cranium of Bos primigenws (woodcut) 81
NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS
7. New and Rare British Spiders 107
ARMORIALS OF THE SAVAGE FAMILY
8. Armorials of the Savage Family 161
ClMOLIOSAURUS RICHARDSONI
9. CimoliosfiHriis ricliardsoni ... ... ... ... ... 171
10. Humerus, carpel and metacarpel bones (woodcut) ... 178
CERNE ABBEY BARN
11. Flint and Stone Masomy and Roof, Cerne Abbas Bam ... 187
SPECIES OF EPISCHNIA (BANKESIELLA)
12. Moth new to Science from Portland 192
LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK
13. New and Rare Dorset Lepidoptera 197
NOTICE.
Members are reminded that payment of the current year's
subscription (10s.) entitles them to the immediate receipt of the
ERRATUM.
For Plate of " Moth New to Science from Portland
vide Plate facing pp. 197.
benefit of the Club's funds.
Any Member joining the Club and paying his subscription in a
year for which no volume may be issued is entitled to a copy of
that last previously issued.
Members are requested to give notice either to the Secretary or
Treasurer of any change in their address,
IV.
PAGE
C'i/Holiosauriis ric/utrdsoni, Lydekker (n. sp. ), by J. C. Mansel-
Pleydell, Esq., F.L.S., F.G.S 171
The Erosion of the Coast near Weyniouth by the Action of the
Sea, by Mr. T. B. Groves, F.C.S. (of Weyniouth) ... 180
Cerne Abbey Bam, by H. J. Moule, M.A. 187
Description of a Species of E pinch nia (Bankesiella) new to
Science from Portland, by Nelson M. Richardson, B.A. ... 192
First Supplement to the " Lepidoptera of the Isle of Purbeck,"
by E. R. Bankes, M.A., F.E.S 197
Report on the Returns of Rainfall and Observations on the
xyuiuucot/ci museum ... ... ~ "77T .71 TT. ... OJP
5. Sections of the Ridgway Fault 69
Bos PRIMIGENIUS
6. Cranium of Bos primigeniits (woodcut) 81
NEW AND RARE BRITISH 'SPIDERS
7. New and Rare British Spiders 107
ARMORIALS OF THE SAVAGE FAMILY
8. Armorials of the Savage Family 161
ClMOLIOSAURUS RICHARDSONI
9. Cimvliosaurus richardsoni ... ... ... 171
10. Humerus, carpel and metacarpel bones (woodcut) ... 178
CERNE ABBEY BARN
11. Flint and Stone Masonry and Roof, Ceme Abbas Bam ... 187
SPECIES OF EPISCHNIA (BANKESIELLA)
12. Moth new to Science from Portland 192
LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK
13. New and Rare Dorset Lepidoptera 197
NOTICE.
Members are reminded that payment of the current year's
subscription (10s.) entitles them to the immediate receipt of the
Vol. of "Proceedings" or other publications for the year; also that
payment of arrears entitles to previous volumes, issued in those
years for which the arrears are due.
All volumes are issued, and subscriptions received, by the
Treasurer, Rev. 0. P. Cambridge, Bloxworth Rectory, "NVareham.
Surplus Copies of former " Proceedings" (Vols. i. ix.) at an
average rate of 7s. 6d. a volume, and of <: Spiders of Dorset"
(2 vols. 25s.), are in the Treasurer's hands for disposal for the
benefit of the Club's funds.
Any Member joining the Club and paying his subscription in a
year for which no volume may be issued is entitled to a copy of
that last previously issued.
Members are requested to give notice either to the Secretary or
Treasurer of any change in their address.
Intimtavian field fab.
(*[V -JJ l VI/
J J J
Resident :
J. C. MANSEI^PLEYDELL, Esq., J.P., F.G.S., F.L.S.
KEY. SIR TALBOT BAKER, Bart.
GENERAL PITT RIVERS, F.R.S.
MORTON G. STUART, Esq. (Hon. Secretary).
REV. 0. P. CAMBRIDGE, M.A., F.R.S., C.M.Z.S., &c. (Treasurer).
Vll.
Honorary ^embers :
H. W. BRISTOW, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S., Ordnance Geological Survey.
W. CARRUTHERS, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S., F.L.S., British Museum.
R. ETHERIDGE, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S., Ordnance Geological Survey.
E. A. FREEMAN, Esq., D.C.L., Summerlease, Wells.
ALFRED NEWTON, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., Professor of Zoology and Com-
parative Anatomy, Magdalen College, Cambridge.
J. PRESTWICH, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S., Shoreham, Seven Oaks, Kent.
Rev. Prebendary SCARTH, F.S.A., Wrington Rectory, Somerset.
J. O. WESTWOOD, Esq. , Hope Professor of Zoology, Oxford.
G. B. WOLLASTON, Esq., Chiselhurst.
Rev. OSMUND FISHER, Harlton Rectory, Cambridge.
LIST OF MEMBERS
iVatnntl Distort) tnb Antiquarian
Jfidb lub.
The Right Hon. the Lord
Eustace Cecil
The Right Hon. Lord Digby
The Right Hon. Viscount
Portinan
The Lord Stalbridge
Acton, Rev. J.
Adams, A. T., Esq.
Aldridge, Reginald, Esq.
Aldridge, Dr.
Allen, George, Esq.
Andrews, T. C. W., Esq.
Atkinson, His Honour Judge
Tindal
Baker, Rev. Sir Talbot, Bart.
Bain, Rev. J.
Bankes, Albert, Esq.
Bankes, Rev. Eldon S.
Bankes, Eustace Ralph, Esq.
Barrett, W. Bowles, Esq. ,
F.L.S.
Baskett, C. H., Esq.
Baskett, Rev. C. R.
Batten, Mount, Colonel
Batten, Mount, Miss
Batten, H. B., Esq.
Lytchett Heath, Poole
M interne, Dorchester
Bryanston
Brook Street, London, and Knoyle
House, Salisbury
Iwerne Minster, Blandford
Bellair, Charmouth
Poole
Yeovil
Strangways, Marnhull, Blandford
1, Buxton Villas, Rodwell, Weymouth
Berghmote, \Viniborne
Ranston House, Blandford
Bridport
Wolveton House, Dorchester
Corfe Castle Rectory, Wareham
Corfe Castle Rectory, Warehain
Weymouth
Evershot
Stinsford Vicarage, Dorchester
Upcerne, Dorchester
Upceme, Dorchester
Aldon, Yeovil
IX.
Batten, John, Esq.
Beckforcl, F. J., Esq.
Bell, E. W., Esq.
Bennett, H. R., Esq.
Blanchard, E. W., Esq.
Bodington, Rev. E. J.
Bond, N., Esq.
Bond, T., Esq.
Brennand, W. E., Esq.
Bridges, Captain
Bright, Percy M., Esq.
Browne, Rev. W. C.
Buckman, S. S., Esq.
Budden, Alfred, Esq.
Burt, George, Esq.
Cambridge, Rev. 0. P. (Vice-
President and Treas.)
Cambridge, Colonel, J.P.
Chaffey-Chaffey, Esq.
Childs, Dr. C.
Chislett, H. 0., Esq.
Chudleigh, Rev. Augustine
Clibbom, Win., Esq., M.D.
Clinton, E. Fynes, Esq.
Colfox, T. A., Esq.
Colfox, Miss A. L.
Colfox, Miss Margaret
Colfox, W., Esq.
Colfox, Mrs. Thos.
Cotton, Lieut. -Colonel
Crespi, Dr.
Crew, Charles, Esq.
Crickmay, G. R., Esq.
Cross, Rev. J.
Curme, Decimus, Esq.
Dale, C. W., Esq.
Dcishwood, Miss
Davidson, Rev. T.
Dayman, Rev. Canon
Digby, J. K. D. W., Esq.
Aldon, Yeovil
Peterhof, Parkstone
Gillingham
Markham House, Wyke Regis
Fernside, Parkstone
Dorchester
Creech Grange, Wareham
Tyneham, Wareham
Blandford
Fifehead Magdalen
Bournemouth
Tyneham Rectory, Wareham
The Rings, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire
Wimbome
Swanage
Bloxworth Rectory
Bloxworth House, Wareham
Stoke-sub-Hambdon, Yeovil
2, Royal Terrace, Weymouth
Wimborne
West Parley Rectory, Wimborne
Bridport
Wimborne
Coneygar, Bridport
Westmead, Bridport
Westmead, Bridport
Westmead, Bridport
Rax House, Bridport
Fifield, Grosvenor Road, Weymouth
Wimborne
Lewcombe, Melbury Osmond
Weymouth
Baillie House, Sturminster Marshall,
Wimborne
Child Okeford
Glanvilles Wootton, Sherborne
Hill House, Templecombe, Bath
Ashmore, Salisbury
Shillingstone Rectory, Blandford
Sherbome Castle
1 >i.-nry, A. N., Esq.
Dobie, Kev. A. C. B.
Bowland, Kev. E.
Burden, H., Esq.
Burden, H., Esq.
Bugtnore, H. Radcliffe, Esq.
Ehves, Captain
Embleton, B. C., Esq.,
F.R. Met. Soc.
Evans, W. H., Esq.
Everett, Mrs.
Falkner, C. G., Esq.
Farley, Rev. H.
Farquharson, H. R., Esq., M.P.
Farrer, Oliver, Esq.
Farrar, llev. \V.
Fetherstun, Kev. Sir George
Ralph, Bart.
Ffooks, T., Esq.
Filliter, Freeland, Esq.
Filliter, George, Esq.
Fletcher, W. J. Esq.
Floyer, G., Esq.
Forbes, Major L.
Foster, J. J., Esq.
Freaine, Miss E. M.
Freaine, R., Esq.
Fyler, J. W., Esq.
Ffytche, Lewis, Esq.
Galpin, G., Esq.
Glyn, SirR., Bart.
Goodden, J. R. P., Esq.
Goodridge, Br., M.B.
Gorringe, Rev. R. P.
Green, Rev. Canon
Green, Rev. R., B.A.
Gresley, Kev. N. W.
Greves, Hayla, Esq., M.B.
GriHin, F. C. G., Esq., M.B.
Islington High School, London
Fontnicll, Shaftesbury
Tarrant Keynstone, Blandford
Blandford
Dorchester
The Lodge, Parkstone, Poole
Bournemouth
St. Wilfrid's, St. Michael's Road,
Bournemouth
Forde Abbey, Chard
Borchester
The College, Weymouth
Lytchett Minster, Poole
Tarrant Gunville, Blandford
Binnegar Hall, Wareham
Vicarage, Bere Regis
Pydel-Trenthide, Borchester
Totnel, Sherborne
Wareham
Wareham
Wimborne
Stafford, Borchester
Shillingstone, Blandford
36, Alma Square, Hamilton Terrace,
London
Gillinghaiu
Gillingham
Heffleton, Wareham
Freshwater, Isle of Wight
Tarrant Keynstone, Blandford
Gaunts House, Wimborne
Comjiton House, Sherbome
Child Ukeford, Blandford
Manston Rectory, Blandford
Steepleton, Borchester
Bridi>ort
Bursley Rectory, (tloucestershire
Rolney House, Bournemouth
Royal Terrace, Weymouth
XI.
Grove, Walter, Esq.
Groves, T. B., Esq.
Guest, M. J., Esq.
Guise, C. D. , Esq.
Hambro, C. J. T., Esq., M.P.
Hansford, Charles, Esq.
Hardy, T., Esq.
Harrison, G., Esq.
Hart, Edward, Esq.
Hill, Rev. Arthur
Hogg, B.A., Esq.
Holford, Mrs.
Hooper, Pelly, Esq.
House, Rev. Thos. Hammond
House, Harry Hammond, Esq.
Howard, Sir R. N.
Huntley, H. E., Esq.
Hussey, Dr.
Kelly, Alex., Esq.
Laing, Rev. S. Malcolm
Langford, Rev. J. F.
Laws, John, Esq., L.S.D.
Lawton, H. A., Esq.
Leach, J. Comyns, Esq., M.D.
Leonard, Rev. A.
Linton, Rev. E. F.
Lovett, Rev. R.
Ludlow, Rev. Edward
Luff', J. W., Esq.
Macdonald, P. W., Esq., M.D.
Malan, E. C., Esq.
Mansel-Pleydell, J. C., Esq.
(President)
Mansel-Pleydell, Major
Man.se!, Colonel
Marriott, Sir W. Smith, Bart.
Mason, Rev. H. J.
Mate, William, Esq.
Fern House, Salisbury
St. Mary Street, Weymouth
Bere Regis, Wareham
Elmore Court, Gloucester
Milton Abbey, Blandford
Dorchester
Max Gate, Dorchester
National Provincial Bank, Wareham
Christchurch
Preston Vicarage, Weymouth
Dorchester
Castle Hill, Dorchester
Weymouth
Winterborne Anderson Rectory,
Blandford
King's School, Sherborne
Weymouth
Charlton Park, Blandford
Dorchester
Mayfield, Parkstone
Hinton St. Mary Vicarage, Blandford
Nice
11, Gloucester Row, Weymouth
Higli Street, Poole
The Lindens, Sturminster Newton,
Blandford
The Palace, Salisbury
Crymlyn, Branksome Wood Road,
Bournemouth
Bishop's Caundle, Sherborne
Martinstown Rectory, Dorchester
The Old House, Blandford
Forston, Dorchester
Blackdown House, Crewkerne
Whatcombe, Blandford
Longthorns, Blandford
Smedmore, Wareham
Down House, Blandford
Eastleigh, Southampton
Poole
XII.
Maude, W. C., Esq.
Maunsell, Rev. F. \V.
Mayo, George, Esq.
Mayo, Rev. C. H.
Middleton, H. B., Esq.
Middleton, H. N., Esq.
Miller, Rev. J. A.
Mondey, Rev. F.
Montague, J. M. P., Esq.
Moorhead, Dr. J.
Moule, H. J., Esq.
Murray, Rev. R. P.
Okeden, Colonel
Paget, Rev. Cecil
Payne, Miss
Pearce Edgcumbe, Robert, Esq.
Penny, W., Esq., A.L.S.
Penny, Rev. J.
Phillpott, J. E. D., Esq.
Phipps, Rev. J. T.
Piercy, G. J., Esq.
Pinder, Reginald, Esq.
Pike, T. M.,Esq.
Pope, A., Esq.
Pope, Rev. E. J.
Portman, Hon. Miss
Pye, William, Esq.
Radclyfl'e, Eustace, Esq.
Ravenhill, Rev. H. E.
Reynolds, R., Esq.
Reynolds, Mrs. Arthur
Richardson, N. M., Esq.
Rivers, General Pitt
Robinson, Sir J., F.S.A.
Rodd, Edward Stanhope, Esq.
Ruegg, L. H., Esq.
Russell-Wright, Rev. T.
Salisbury, The Right Reverend
the Lord Bishop of
Sanctuary, Rev. C. Lloyd
Schuster, Rev. W. P.
Brakemvood, Bournemouth
Symondsbury Rectory, Bridi>ort
West House, Puddletrenthidc
Longburton Rectory, Sherliome
Bradford Peverell, Dorchester
Bradford Peverell, Dorchester
The College, Weymouth
2, Southfield Villas, Weymouth
Downe Hall, Bridport
1, Royal Terrace, Weymouth
The County Museum, Dorchester
Shapwick Rectory, Blandford
Turnworth
Holt, Wimlxmie
2, Westerhall Villas, Weymouth
Dorchester
Poole
Tan-ant Rushton Rectory, Blandford
Lyme Regis
H.M. Convict Prison, Portland
Bournemouth
Heronhurst, Bournemouth
Haven Hotel, Parkstone
Dorchester
Bradford Peverell, Dorchester
Littleton House, Blandford
Eaton Cottage, Roil well, Weymouth
Hyde, Wareham
Buckland Vicarage, Dorchester
Hazelbury, Crewkeme
Bridport
Montevideo, Chickerell
Rushmore, Salisbury
Newton Manor, Swanage
Chardstock House, Chard
Sherborne
County School, Dorchester
The Palace, Salisbury
Powerstock, Dorchester
Vicarage, West Lulworth, Wareham
Searle, Allan, Esq.
Serrell, D. H., Esq.
Sherren, J. A., Esq.
Smart, T. W. Wake, Esq., M.D.
Smith, Edmund, Esq.
Solly, Rev. H. S.
Solly, Edward, Esq.
Sparks, W., Esq.
Stafford, Rev. T. W. R.
Stephens, Mrs. J. T.
Stephens, R. Darell, Esq.
F.G.S., F.L.S., F.Z.S.
Stephens, Miss Guilelma
Stihvell, Mrs.
Stilwell, H., Esq.
Stroud, Rev. J.
Stuart, Morton G., Esq.
(Secretary)
Stuart, Colonel
Styling, F., Esq.
Suttill, P., Esq.
Symes, G. P., Esq.
Symonds, Miss Juliana
Sydenham, David, Esq.
Temple, Rev. John
Tern pier, Rev. J. L.
Thomas, Rev. S. Vosper
Thompson, Roberts, Esq., M.D.
Thompson, Rev. G.
Todd, Colonel
Travers, Rev. Duncan
Turner, W., Esq.
Udal, J. S., Esq.
Vaudrey, Rev. J. T.
Waddington, F. Sydney, Esq.
Walker, Rev. S. A.
Wallace, Alfred Russel, Esq.,
L.L.D., F.L.S., &c.
Sherbome
Haddon Lodge, Stourton Caundle,
Blandford
Weymouth
Cranborne
Preston, Blandford
Bridport
Parkstone
Crewkerne
Whitclmrch Canonicorum, Chamiouth
Wandenvell House, Bridport
Trewoman, Wadebridge
Girtups, Bridport
Leeson, Wareham
Leeson, Wareham
South Perrot, Crewkerne
New University Club, St. James Street,
London
Manor House, St. Mary's, Blandford
Yarrell's House, Poole
Bridport
Cornwall House, Dorchester
Waterloo House, Lennox Street, Wey-
mouth
Bournemouth
Bothenhampton Vicarage, Bridport
Bui-ton Bradstock, Bridport
Wimborne Minster
Monkchester, Bournemouth
Highbury, Bournemouth
Keynstone, Lodge, Blandford
Swanage
High Street, Poole
4, Harcourt Buildings, Temple, London
Osmington Vicarage, Weymouth
Spetisbury Rectory, Blandford
Corfe View, Parkstone
XIV.
Ward, Rev. J. H:
Warnc, C. H., Esq.
Warre, Rev. F.
Watts, Rev. R. R., R.D.
Weld, Sir. Fredk., Bart.
West, Rev. G. H.
White, Dr. Gregory
Whitehead, C. S., Esq.
Wliitting, Rev. W.
Williams, Rev. C.
Williams, Rev. J. L., R.D.
Williams, R., jun., Esq.
Williams, Mrs. R.
Williams, W. H., Esq.
Willis, W. Armstrong, Esq.
Wix, Rev. J. Augustus
Wright, H. E., Esq.
Wynne, Rev. G. H.
Yeatman, M. S., Esq.
Young, Rev. E. M.
Gussage St. Michael Rectory, Salisbury
45, Brunswick Road, Brighton
Melksham Vicarage, Wilts
Stourpaine Rectory, Blandford
Chideock Manor, Bridport
Ascham House, Bournemouth
West Knoll, Bournemouth
Sherbome
Stour Provost, Dorset
Grove Lodge, Dorchester
Canford Vicarage, Wimborne
Bridehead, Dorchester
Bridehead, Dorchester
Sherlwrne
Wimborne
Ibberton Rectory, Blandford
Dorchester
Whitchurch Vicarage, Blandford
The Manor House, Holwell, Sherborne
King's School, Sherborne
The above list contains the New Members elected in 1889, up to date
of publication.
J^atuval Jjistori) mib Antiquarian
Jficlb <Ilub
DURING THE YEAR 1888.
By M. G. STUART, M.A., P.G.S.
The Society has held four summer meetings during the season of
1888 viz., at Dorchester on June 6th, at Cerne Abbas in June, at
Wimborne in July, and at Weymouth in August, and was fortunate in
securing good weather for each of the days, which, considering the
continued rainfall of July and August, was a matter of congratulation.
The attendances at these meetings were large, and shewed an increasing
interest in the work of the Club. The number of papers bearing on
points of local interest has been larger in 1888 than in any previous year,
so that it was found impossible to include them all in the ordinary winter
meeting of December, and it was deemed advisable to hold a second
winter meeting at Dorchester in the month of February. In addition to
these a Committee Meeting was held at Dorchester in December for the
purpose of considering certain matters of business before laying them
before the members of the Field Club generally.
The work of preparing a list of the Prehistoric Monuments of the
County under the recommendation of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science has made some progress, but it will probably be
impossible to issue any list which at all approaches completeness until
1890. The phonological schedules, which were issued at the commence-
ment of the year for recording observations on various natural phenomena,
have brought together a considerable amount of material, a digest of
which will be found in a paper contained at the end of the present
volume. It is hoped that since the start has l>een made in this direction
other members of the Society will be induced to send in their observations
from time to time in these matters. The Reports of Ilainfall have, in
many instances, been furnished by friends, who are not members of the
Field Club, and the Committee wish to take this opportunity of thanking
them for their assistance.
XVI. .
The Ninth Vol. of " Proceedings" of the Club was issued to monitors
early in the month of Septemler. It is found nearly impossible to press
the work of printing forward sufficiently fast to ensure the volume being
ready by the first meeting of the year, held usually in the month of May.
It may l>e well to take the present opportunity of recording various
matters of interest which have occurred within the county during the
year 1888, of either Natural History or Antiquarian character. Amongst
these may be mentioned the discovery, in the month of January, of a
magnificent specimen of Histionotus angularis Eg., from the Middle
Purlecks of Herston, near Swanage, more remarkable for its combi-
nation of character, than any other fossil fish. This was purchased
by the President of the Society, J. C. Mansel-Pleydell, Esq., and
by his generosity placed in the County Museum at Dorchester.
The description of this almost unique specimen will probably l>e
laid before the Society during the ensuing year by the President,
and printed in Vol. XI. of the "Proceedings." During the month
of September the discovery a Roman well was made in the parish
of Winterborne Kingston, on the property of Mr. Mansel-Pleydell,
and various objects of great antiquarian interest, fragments of pottery,
coins, bones, &c., were found lying at the bottom. It is hoped that a
full account of this discovery will appear during 1889. A Roman
Tesselated Pavement was also laid bare during the year 1888 on the
property of the Rev. N. Bond, of Creech Grange, near Wareham.
THE FIRST MEETING for the year 1888 was held at Dorchester on
Wednesday, June 6th, in the County Museum. The day was fine and
there was a good attendance. According to custom the business of the
Club occupied most of the morning. The Treasurer, the Rev. O. P.
Cambridge, presented his annual financial statement, which was a
satisfactory one, showing receipts during the year, together with the
lialance in hand at the commencement of 1888, of 130 os. 3d., and
payments of 102 10s. 3d., leaving a balance of 27 los. This favourable
position in the finances of the Field Club was largely due to the
generosity of the President, who had borne the whole cost of the
publication of " The Birds of Dorset," a copy of which lie had presented
to each menitor of the Club. The Club last year numbered 187 ordinary
subscribing memlters ; this year they were 198, so that they were still
steadily increasing in numbers. On the motion of Sir Talliot Baker,
seconded by Mr. Filliter, the reiwrt was adopted. The Balance-sheet
will be found printed in full on p. xxxiv.
XV11.
THE ELECTION OF OFFICERS. The Rev. Sir T. Baker moved, and
Mr. Alfred Pope seconded, the re-appointment of the President, the
Treasurer, and the Secretary for the ensuing year, which was agreed to.
The election of New Members then took place, bringing the number of
Subscribers to over 200 the highest figure it has yet reached.
The selection of suitable spots for the Summer Meetings was the next
point on the programme, and led to a prolonged discussion, since several
generous invitations had been sent in from residents in various parts of
the county. Eventually a ballot was taken, resulting in the selection of
Cerne, Wimbome, Weymouth, and Shaftesbury for the succeeding four
months. Shaftesbury, however, was ultimately given up owing to the*
difficulty of reaching it and the lateness of the season.
The Presidential Address on the results of the year 1887 was then
delivered. Mr. Mansel-Pleydell referred to the death of Mr. Charles
Wame, the archaeologist of Dorset, and of the Rev. W. Kendall, Vicar
of East Lulworth, whose sudden death had deprived the Field Club of a
paper which he was engaged in preparing on " The Traces of Iron-
smelting in Prehistoric Times disclosed at East Lulworth." He then
alluded to the excavations which General Pitt-Rivers was so successfully
carrying on at Bockley Dyke and at other spots in the neighboureood of
Rushmore, and which brought into prominence the importance of the
Roman invasion in that part of Britain and the adoption of much of the
civilization of the Romans by the British inhabitants of Dorsetshire.
The Dyke was intimately connected with the Britons, and appeared to
have been constructed, either subsequently to, or certainly not long
before, the departure of the Romans from that part of the island. The
conformation and extension of the rampart was very suggestive, and
would indicate the existence of obstructive woods and forests in the
neighbourhood, which would account for the abrupt termination of the
Dyke at either extremity. It was evident that the Roman Road which
flanked the Dyke was constructed first, and to make way for it a devia-
tion was necessary, and the rampart allowed to continue its course
unimpeded. Here, probably, the last straggle of the Britons and their
Saxon invaders took place. The publication by General Pitt-Rivers of
the results of his excavations would probably subvert much that had
formerly been accepted\ with regard to the origin of this earthwork.
After a general review of the results of palreontological research in
tracing the history of the earth since paheozoic times, and the variations
in climate which the evidence pointed to, the President passed to a review
of the more purely local work accomplished in Dorsetshire during the
previous twelve months, Within the last few months they had been able
xvin.
to place Eli'phdft iHcriiiionalit \\\*m the pal:r<mtological records of the
county. It was of gigantic dimensions, as may lie assumed from the si/.e
of one of the incisors, which could not have been less than 11 feet in
length ; its girth at the base was 3 feet. The deposit, which consisted of
sand and flint, was covered over with a bed of glacial clay. He had no
doubt after further search they would find the remains of other mammals
which are usually associated with this elephant.* (The full account of
the Elephas meridional^ Bed will be found at p. 1 of the present
volume).
Mr. Richardson had obtained from the Oxford clay near Weymouth
nearly the entire skeleton of a Plesiosaur, which, after some hesitation, Mr.
Lydekker decides it to be a new species, and gives it the specific name of
Cinwliosaunts richardsoni, Phillips. (An account of this will be found
under theWeymouth Meeting in the month of September). Mr. Richardson
was specially engaged in entomology, and had recently added to the list
of British moths a new species found in the county. Mr. Damon, of
Weymouth, had made an important addition to their chelonian
palaeontology by the recovery of the carapace of Pelobntochelys Blaldi,
Seeley, from the Kimmeridge Clay of Weymouth, a genus founded by
Seeley upon a few fragments of a carapace from the same locality. A
crocodilian skull and parts of the snout in one of the cases of County
Museum, labelled Macrorhynchits, Meyer, had attracted his (the
President's) attention as the name finds no place in the British list of
fossils, and to obtain its true pakeontological place he had made a
comparison of it with other crocodilian remains. In the meantime Mr.
T. W. Hulke had made an examination of the roof of the mouth and
the position of the palate-nares, which showed it to belong to the
Teleosaurian group, partaking more of the Steneosanr character than of
Metriorhynchus (M. Deslonchamps' two divisions of the family). He
has provisionally named it Steneosaunis Purbeckensis. There were grave
grounds to fear that the Abbotsbury Swannery, in which every Dorset
person took a pride, was in danger through the claims of a few fishermen
to the right of entry upon that part of the Fleet which from time
immemorial had been reserved for the use of the swans. The case was
now under the consideration of the Law Courts, and he most earnestly
hoped Lord Ilchester would be able successfully to resist the claim and
maintain the rights which the owners of the Swannery had exercised for
more than five hundred years. Lastly, he thought every naturalist,
artist, and lover of the l>eautiful had ground for complaint in being
* This formed Jthe subject of a communication to the Geological Society at Burlington
House on June 20th, 1889.
denied free access to the Cliffs between Swanage and Stndland, which
the public had enjoyed at any rate for the last 60 years. The pedestrian
was now arrested near Old Harry, and obliged to make a detour of more
than a mile, deprived of one of the most lovely cliff walks imaginable,
the scene enlivened by crowds of sea fowl, of which Old Harry is one of
the principal resting-places. The Rabbit Warren could be maintained
equally well if the owner had incurred a little additional expense in
placing the iron fence 20 30 yards from the cliffs and parallel to them.
. . . . The address was received with applause.
THE REPORT OF THE CURATOR OF THE MUSEUM. Mr. H. J. Moule
then read his report on the alterations and additions effected in the
County Museum during 1887. He stated that many gifts and loans had
found their way to the collection during the year. Geologically and
arclueologically Dorset was a rich and well worked mine, but the collec-
tions actually belonging to the county hardly showed it. The Dorset
fossil series was a fair one, but it did not contain 5,000 specimens on
view, while a private collector possessed, by report, 2,500 specimens from
the Inferior Oolite of the county alone against their 560. With regard
to the Antiquarian Collection, if the loans were withdrawn the property
of the county would appear to be very meagre indeed. The Curator
then enumerated the principal acquisitions during the year, and the list
of the Donors, concluding with an earnest request that, through the
generosity of owners of collections, the cases in the Museum might be
made more worthy of the county.
THE PREHISTORIC MONUMENTS OF THE COUNTY. The Secretary
made a report upon the returns which had been sent in under this head.
He stated that it had been agreed to print and issue schedules to the
incumbents of the various parishes in the county asking them to fill them
in and return them. Returns had been made for 56 parishes, and since
there were, he believed, upwards of 263 parishes in the county, there
remained over 200 for which no return had l>een sent in. Therefore, some
new plan should be devised to obtain the requisite information. A pro-
longed discussion took place, in which Messrs. Moule, Middleton,
Cambridge, and others took place, and eventually it was decided to obtain
the assistance of various members in different parts of the county to
supervise the returns for parishes in their own immediate neighbourhood.
THE GEOLOGICAL CONGRESS. The Secretary read a Circular Letter
respecting the Congress to be held in London from September 17th 22nd,
requesting the co-operation of the Club.
At 1.15 a break was made for luncheon, and at 2 p.m. the party started
in carriages for Ridgway Hill, distant some 4 miles. Ridgway Hill is
XX.
the site of an extensive "fault," which runs 12 or 14 miles westerly
towards Abbotsbury, and is of consi<leralle geological interest. The
route lay by Herringstone House to Culliford Tree, where the carriages
were left to be met again later in the afternoon, and a path was taken
along the old British Ridgway Road westwards, until a patch of old
Tertiary Sands and Gravel was reached. From here a magnificent view
of the country was obtained. The day, which had been misty and
inclined to rain, had now cleared up, and the sun shone brightly.
Northwards and eastwards the heath districts of Wareham and Moreton
lying on the Tertiary beds were visible with the wide spreading chalk
downs beyond. Standing on the edge of the escarpment and looking
southwards, a second minor escarpment parallel to the first was visible,
formed of the harder beds of Kimmeridge clay. The steep coombe-
shaped valleys are a feature of this district, having on their sides in
places, and particularly near Bincombe, several terraces clearly cut and
parallel to each other, the indications of the previous state of cultivation
of the soil. Here the Secretary read a paper on the Ridgway Fault,
which will be found at page 55 of the present volume. At 4.15 the
carriages were rejoined, and on reaching Dorchester the party were
entertained at tea by the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Wright.
A MEETING was held on Thursday, June 28th, the rendezvous being
the New Inn, Cerne Abbas. At 11.30, the hour fixed, the weather
looked very unfavourable and threatening, and doubts were expressed
whether the contingent from Dorchester, who had a drive of 7 8 miles
to reach the place of meeting, would arrive. However, the day improved
as it wore on and by luncheon time fully 60 persons were numbered in
the party, and 30 were present at 7.30 p.m., to hear the Rev. C. H.
Mayo's amusing extracts from the Parish Register in the Vicarage
Garden at Buckland Newton.
The meeting commenced in the large room of the New Inn by the
Secretary reading, with a view to giving a sketch of the history and
antiquities of Cerne, a resume, drawn from Hutchins' History of Dorset,
and other sources. Since Hutchins' History can be easily consulted, it is
needless to refer to more than one or two points here. Cerne derives its
name from the river on which it stands the Char which gives its name
to Charminster, Nether Cerne, and Minteme (Monk Cerne). The history
of Cerne is naturally bound up with the Abbey, which originally existed
here. William of Malmesbury states that the Abbey was originally
founded by St. Augustine, but it is very doubtful if St. Augustine ever
went so far west as Cerne. The more likely account of the foundation of
XXI.
the Abbey is that it was established in A.D. 870 by Edwald, who, struck
by the unhappy fate of his brother, St. Edmund the Martyr, retired here,
where he lived a hermit's life and died in 871, many miracles being wrought
at his tomb. Of the Conventual Church there remain no vestiges, but it is
supposed to have stood east of the Abbey Gatehouse, partly in what is now
the Churchyard and partly in the field on the North Side. The Abbey
buildings stood at the north part of the town, and extended east towards the
foot of the hill. Scarcely any vestiges of it remain. The only remnant
is a Mansion House, situated at the N. end of the Market-street, which
seems to have been built out of the ruins of the Abbey.
From the New Inn the party proceeded to the Church, where the Rev
H. D. Gundry acted as cicerone. Here Sir T. Baker read extracts from
the report of the British Archaeological Association in 1871. The church
is supposed to have been erected by the Convent for the use of the town
about the middle of the 15th or beginning of the 16th centuries. It is
chiefly of Perpendicular architecture, and largely built of Ham Hill
stone, with external walls composed of alternate layers of chipped flints
and stone. The tower, built in three lofty stages, with octagonal
buttresses, and with a figure of the Virgin, holding the infant Saviour,
filling a niche in the west front, the entire west front of the Church with
its wealth of ornament, and the curious gurgoyles on the exterior formed
the chief features of architectural interest.
St. Augustine's Well was next visited. Mr. Chisholm Batten remarked
that they were standing on what was probably the most ancient object of
interest in Cerne. It was probable that the Well was named after a very
important person in the history of the Christian Church St. Augustine,
Bishop of Hippo. From here the party proceeded to the ancient Abbey
Gateway and Barn. The embattled tower and gate are all that remains
of the Abbey of Cerne. It is bxiilt of brick and stone with escutcheons
bearing arms, 16 in number, placed on the west front. The old Abbey
House, with bams, dog kennels, <Src., made from the ruins of the Abbey,
were burnt in 1740 with the dogs and horses. Here, too, was the Park
belonging to the Abbot, and the fine Valley, east of the present house,
is still called the Park. Under the south point of the hill are traces of
the garden, with walls and posterns, called Beauvoir. The Abbot
possessed a Vineyard, which still gives the name to a field ; hops, too,
were successfully cultivated here. The Barn stands on the S. West of
the town, and on the S. side of the river, a magnificent structure,
capable still, in 1810 of receiving the produce of 800 acres. It is built of
alternate layers of freestone and chipped flints, the flint masonry being
of the most beautiful description. Great interest was shown in the
XX11.
architecture and masonry of Cerne Bam, and a paper was subsequently
prepared by Mr. II. J. Monle describing the structure in detail, to which
he added a water colour sketch, drawn by himself on the spot. This
was read at the Winter Meeting in Deceml>er at Dorchester, and will
be found in the present volume at p. 187.
About 1.30 the party left Cerne in carriages for Upcerne, passing
Trendle Hill, which bears the figure of a giant 180 feet in height, cut in
the chalk. The inspection of this was deferred until the proprietor,
General Pitt-Rivers, should have undertaken the necessary work of
cleaning it. The weather had now quite -cleared up, and a bright and
pleasant afternoon seemed in prospect. Upceme House, the residence of
Colonel Mount Batten, was reached at 1.45, where the party were most
hospitably entertained at luncheon by their host and hostess. Colonel
Batten stated that the vaults and underground chambers, which tradition
asserted to have been constructed beneath the house, did not exist, nor
did the underground passage, which was said to connect Upcerne and
Cerne Abbey, since the house was not constructed until after the
dissolution of the monastery. Sir Robert Mellor, who built Upcerne,
appeared to have been fond of bricks and mortar, for he built three
houses in Dorset namely, Bridehead, Winterbome Came, and Upcerne.
The houses at Bridehead and Came had been restored beyond recognition,
but Upcerne, with exception of a small addition, remained as it was left
by Sir Robert Mellor. Inside there was little of structural interest,
except an oak chimney piece.
From Upcerne the route was resumed in the direction of Minterne.
The district in this neighbourhood gives some good sections of the Lower
Chalk and Chloritic marl, which is very fossiliferous, and has afforded an
excellent series of species for various public collections. Owing to the
rich soil, resulting from the decomposition of these beds, ferns grow in
great profusion in the hedges and steep banks by the roadside ; in fact,
the district bears rather the aspects of Devonshire scenery than of the
Dorsetshire type. Minterne House was reached about 3.15, for which
Lord Digby had most kindly granted permission to visit. Within the
house the varioxis family portraits and the tapestry room, the tapestry of
which was designed from some of the paintings of Teniers, formed the
chief subjects of interest. In the grounds the party were conducted by
the head gardener to see a fernery which had lately been laid out on an
extensive scale along the shady banks of the stream, which forma the
upper waters of the Char. During the visit the members assembled
under the trees in front of the house, where the Rev. H. E. Ravenhill
read a paper on the history of Minterne and its various owners, which
will lie found at p. 89 of the present volume.
XX111.
From Minterne the members drove to Buckland Newton by the way of
Dogberry, thence turning to the right over the top of Mount Silva.
From this point, one of the highest in the neighbourhood on the edge
of the chalk escarpment, a magnificent view was obtained over the Vale
of Blackmoor lying northward* As the afternoon had become very clear
and bright after the rain of the preceding night the distant points of
Ham Hill, Glastonbury Tor, the Mendip Hills and Stourton Tower were
plainly visible. Buckland Newton, which lies in the valley on the east
side beneath Mount Silva, was reached about six o'clock, and here the
party were again most kindly received by the Rev. H. E. Ravenhill, R.D.,
and Mrs. Ravenhill. Tea was provided in the Vicarage, after which a
paper, which had been prepared by the Rev. C. H. Mayo on the old
parish register of Buckland Newton, was read by the Rev. H. E.
Ravenhill. This paper will l>e found at p. 97. The party were conducted
over the parish church by the Vicar, the Rev. H. E. Ravenhill, R.D.,
who gave an outline of the history of the building, which is of several
dates. The chancel, of great length, is the oldest part of the fabric and
was built in the 13th century. The side windows are lancet and Early
English with Purbeck marble shafts, capitals, and bases. Two on the
north, at the west end of the chancel, remain in their original state. The
other north window, at the restoration in 1869, was rebuilt partly with
fragments of marble from the south windows and partly with new work.
On the south side of the chancel much of the Purbeck marble was gone,
and the remainder was so dilapidated that it had to be entirely removed.
The work had been carried out in exact harmony with the old
windows on the north side. When the Archaeological Institute visited Dor-
setshire in 1865 the Early English windows were specially mentioned as an
object of interest for the antiquary. They appear to be of about the same
date as those of Salisbury Cathedral. The Lay Rectors in 1869 put a
new flat roof to the chancel, nearly an exact copy of the old roof. The
chancel arch is of Ham Hill stone, of Perpendicular style of architecture,
with panelling similar in design to part of Sherborne Abbey. Some of
the steps to the rood screen on the north side still remain, while on both
sides of the arch are hagioscopes. That on the south side was partially
closed till the restoration of the nave in 1878. The north arcade was so
dilapidated that it had to be renewed when the new roof was put to the
nave. It was rebuilt exactly as before. The south arcade, though out of
the perpendicular, has been left untouched. The roof of the nave and
north aisle were veiy decayed and had to be entirely replaced by new
work. The old roof of the nave was of waggon shape and pressed too
heavily on the arcades, according to the opinion of the late Diocesan
Architect, T. H. Wyatt, Esq. The tower arch of Portland stone and the
west widow are of different date from the rest of the building. The
porch on the south side is of Tudor date, with a groined roof of Ham Hill
stone. The roses in this are in harmony with the decoration of the fine old
octagonal font. The oak l>ench ends and some of the old carved
panelling in the nave have, as far as possible, been retained. At the
restoration in 1878 traces were discovered of the foundations of an earlier
church in the north-west part of the nave. The chancel was restored in
1869 and the nave and aisles in 1878, The exterior of the church early
in this century was covered with stucco to protect the walls of chalk
rubble from the driving weather to which they are exposed. [For the
alxjve particulars, which will be found to supplement those given in
Hatching, I am indebted to the Rev. H. E. Ravenhill. ED.]
The party broke up at 7.30 p.m., and it was nine o'clock l>efore
Dorchester was reached. The day, which began so unpropitiously,
proved to be one of the longest and pleasantest in the records of the
Field Club.
A MEETING was held on Wednesday, July 25th, at Wimborne. The
weather was extremely wet and windy, and matters did not look at all
hopeful for the carrying out of a successful meeting ; however, a party of
about 50 were present during the larger part of the day, and, as much of
the programme had by a fortunate coincidence l>een arranged to be
carried out under cover, the rain did not cause so much inconvenience as
it would on other occasions. The party assembled in a tent, which had
been erected in the garden of Mr. W. J. Fletcher, where the
President, after formally opening the meeting, proceeded to the
description of a cranium of Bos primigenitis, which was exhibited
by the owner, Mr. W. J. Fletcher. This fine specimen had
been discovered some three years previously during the erection
of a new bridge across the river Stour, in the parish of West
Stour, in the Vale of Blackmoor. Whilst digging for the purpose
of laying the foundations for the pier of the bridge the workmen came to
a hole in the river lied, which was filled with trunks and branches of
trees, waterlogged and apparently of great age. Amongst these, and
particularly at the bottom, were numbers of bones, most of which had
been destroyed previous to examination, but Mr. Fletcher had succeeded in
rescuing the cranium at present under discussion. The President's paper,
together with a woodcut of the cranium, is printed in full at p. 81 of this
volume. Subsequently Mr. Fletcher most generously presented the
spcimen to the County Museum at Dorchester, where it is now preserved.
Wimborne Minster was then visited. As the Society hail, on a previous
occasion, spent some time on the consideration of the architectural
features of the fabric as a whole, it was proposed to deal only at this
meeting with the architecture of the Lantern Tower, on which an
address was delivered by Mr. W. J. Fletcher, the subject of which will
Ije found at p. 142 of this volume. He subsequently stated that the
tower fell in 1608, owing, no doubt, to the arches in the side aisle being
taken away. At that time the aisles were merely used for the purposes
of procession by the choir and monks, but when the Church was altered
in the Decorated Period the aisles were also altered to make more room,
as at present. To do this the aisle arches were taken away, and this,
no doubt, weakened the tower, and was the cause of its falling. It fell
to the east.
The Rev. Vosper Thomas then read a Paper on "The Ancient Library
of the Minster." He said the Library of the Minster was of some
interest, not merely as a storehouse for valuable literature of the period,
but as an example of one of the earliest attempts at popularising know-
ledge. It was formed as early as 1686 for the free use of the inhabitants
of the town of Wimborne. It was founded by the Rev, William Stone,
formerly principal of New Inn Hall, Oxford, and one of the three
ministers and officials of the Royal Peculiar of Wimborne Minster. By
his will, dated May 12, 1685, he gave certain lands for augmenting the
income of the hospital of St. Margaret's, and also a large collection of
books, which were placed in the Treasury, a room which is now known
as the Library. The books were brought from Oxford in 1686 under the
care of the Rev. Richard Lloyd, master of the Free Grammar School.
The books consisted chiefly of the Fathers and other works of divinity,
and several additions had been made to Mr. Stone's collection. In July,
1725, the library was catalogued, and on the shelves were found 200
separate works. In 1863 a new catalogue was made, and the library was
then found to contain 185 works, .and, since ten of these were not in the
former catalogue, it is evident that some 25 works were lost in the
interval. The single MS. in the library bears the date of 1343. From
the latter catalogue it apj>ears that the books were nearly all printed
between 1520 and 1710. The principal donors were the Rev. T. Ansty,
1697, one of the principal presbyters or ministers appointed in 1661, and
the Rev. Samuel Concul. At the so-called Restoration of the Minster
the library was rebuilt, and the iron rods on the edges of the shelves were
replaced, to which the books were attached to the old chains, as they
now appear. There was a good edition of Walton's Polyglot Bible in
7 volumes (1657), a black leather Breeches Bible (1595), a line copy of Sir
XXVI.
Walter Raleigh's History of the World ( K!l4i. In this treasury room the
churchwardens' books and papers were kept for upwards of 150 years for
safe custody. These are of considerable interest, the accounts beginning
as early as 1399, and some are written on vellum. For some years past
the whole of the churchwardens' accounts, formerly kept here, have been
deposited by the church governors' consent in a large chest in the north
chancel. In the library are also two old oak chests, belonging to the
governors, containing a collection of deeds relating to the property
of the Dean and Canons of the Old Collegiate Church, from Henry
III. to Henry VIII. , also other deeds relating to property in various
parts of the country placed here for safe custody. Here also is
the original deed, founding a chantry or grammar school at Wim-
bome Minster, by Richard, Bishop of Winchester ; John, Bishop
of Rochester ; Charles Somerset, Lord of Herbert, knight ; Sir
John St. John, knight ; Henry Homeby, clerk ; and Hugh Assheton,
clerk ; executors of the will of Margaret, Countess of Richmond
and Derby, mother of Henry VII. This deed was executed by
Thomas Lovell, Henry Marnay, J. St. John, Henry Homeby, Hugh
Assheton. Here are ancient copies of the charter of Queen Elizabeth
relating to the powers and rights of the governors of the Collegiate
Church. In this chest is deposited the charter of Charles I. to the
governors of the church, and this is the charter under which the
governors now act and derive their power to appoint clergy, choristers,
clerk, organist, verger, etc. The accounts of the governors and documents
contained in a tin box are also worth perusal.
The charter of Charles I. was exhibited and caused considerable
interest. The deed is well executed ; but the seal is broken in several
pieces. A good seal of Queen Elizabeth in fine preservation was ex-
hibited by the Rev. Vosper Thomas, to whom it belongs.
Mr. Luff stated he could remember when the books lay about the
library, covered with dust, and >vith no care taken of them. This was
before the restoration of the library.
The members of the Field Club were most hospitably entertained at
luncheon by Mr. and Mrs. W. Fletcher at 1.30, and subsequently a paper
was read on "St. Margaret's Chapel" by the Rev. Vosper Thomas, of
which the following is the outline :
At a distance of quarter of a mile from Wimborne on the N.W. stands
a very ancient hospital or almshouse, the original foundation being
unknown. A small chapel is attached to it, dedicated to God, St.
Margaret, and St. Anthony. In this hospital at present only 4 poor men
and 4 poor women are maintained. By many curious and ancient deeds,
xxVii
now in Kingston Lacy muniment room, it appears this hospital was set
apart for the relief and support of poor persons afflicted with the leprosy,
and was subject, as all sucli hospitals and lazar houses are, to the
hospital of Burton Lazar, in Leicestershire, as that was to the grand
hospital at Jerusalem. In the reign of King John, one Hugo de Luigweria
gave to the poor of this hospital an acre of land lying on the west of a
field called Redcotts, near the hospital, which still belongs to it. In the
year 1282 Peter, Bishop of Exeter, gave an indulgence to all who should
give any goods towards the support of this hospital. Thus the common
tradition of its foundation by John of Gaunt seems to be groundless,
since he was not created Duke of Lancaster until 1362. It would seem
impossible to discover any settled endowment for this hospital before the
10th of Henry VIII., when, by deed, a proctor was appointed to gather
alms for its benefit. Reference was made by the same deed to the bull of
Pope Innocent IV. given in 1245, proving the antiquity of the foundation,
for it appears from it a building was erected before 1245. Very early a
charity was founded in the chapel by one John Redcodds, to which
charity several tenements in Wimbome then belonged, and still form part
of the endowment. In 35th Henry VI. Margaret, wife of RoV>ert
Kemston, gave unto Sir Roger Hill, then priest of the charity, certain
vestments, which subsequently reverted to the charity of Thomas de
Brembere, dean of the collegiate church, Wimbome. From the books of
accounts it seems that the government was, from 1567 to 1683, under the
direction of two of the most substantial inhabitants of the parish, chosen
annually, styling themselves guardians or wardens of St. Margaret's
Hospital, assisted by the constable of the town and the steward of the
manor. From that time it has been managed by the steward and lord of
the manor, the latter of whom exercised the right of appointing the
chaplain and the inmates. In the chapel, before the Reformation, Divine
service was performed by priests or chaplains, and only when it fell into
decay were the services suspended.
The party thence drove to Canford Manor, where, by the kindness of
Lord \Vimborne, the house and grounds were opened for the inspection
of the Society. Here the pictures, the elaborately carved staircase of
walnut wood and of Italian workmanship, and the fine tapestry of the
hall, formed the chief features of interest, and are only excelled, perhaps,
by the collection of remains brought from Nineveh by Sir Henry Layard.
These arrived at Canford alxmt the summer of 1851. They came from
two palaces. The lions and the best preserved figures were discovered in
the palace of the King Sardanapalus, buried in the mounds of Nimroud
on the Tigris. The slabs, which have suli'ered from lire and are much
jcxvm.
cracked, came from Senacherib's palace at Nineveh, and were dug out of
the mound Kouyunjik among the ruins of the city. They were floated
down the river Tigris on a raft to Busrah, where they were shipped for
England, and came round the Cape.
The old kitchen and scullery, stated to have belonged to John of
Gaunt, also created much interest. Here the Secretary read a resume,
drawn from " Hutchins' History of Dorset," which gives a detailed
account of these buildings and the successive Lords of the Manor. It
may be well to mention the following facts in connection with this
kitchen : It appears from Hutchins' account that a little east of the
Church stood the seat of the Webbs. It was not very large, and was
probably built at different times, with little regularity, out of the ruins
of the old house. Adjoining the house on the north was, till 1774, a
long range of most ancient buildings, the remains of the seat of the
ancient Lords of the Manor. Towards the west end was a large old
kitchen, called by the country people John of (Jaunt's Kitchen. This
building still remains (1868), and is still used for its original ptupOMDltbe
present mansion. It was made a brewhouse, and had a remarkably large
chimney, 18ft, broad and 6Aft. high, in the crown of the arch. In the
earlier edition of Hutchins' it is stated that this ancient house was
probably erected by William Montacute, first Earl of Sarum, or his
father William.
After leaving Canford House the party walked across to the Parish
Church. The architectural characteristics of the building were described
in a paper prepared for the occasion and read by the Rev. Sir Talbot
Baker, which will be found at p. 146 in this volume. Subsequently the
members were entertained at tea in the Rectory by the Rev. J. L. and
Mrs. Williams, and this brought the day to a termination.
ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 16TH, a meeting was held at Weymouth, for
which a programme had been prepared, which was, perhaps, too varied
if anything for the time allotted to it. The party met at the Weymouth
Railway Station at 11.45, where brakes and carriages were in readiness to
convey them to Preston. Here Mr. T. B. Uroves, of Weymouth, read a
paper upon the " Roman Pavement," which was discovered here about
the year 1852, of which the following is the outline :
Dorchester, during the Roman occupation of Britain, is supposed to
have had connection with the sea by the Port of Clavinio, and it is at the
north of this Preston valley that such competent arch.ieologists as
Mr. Charles Warne and Dr. Buckland are disposed to look for its site.
The first discoverer of Roman remains in this immediate vicinity was Mr.
XXIX.
Mecihurst, an arch.-eologist of much experience in excavations in the
county of Suffolk before settling in Weymouth. He, in 1832, during a
particularly dry summer, observed traces which led him to explore
Jordan Hill, which resulted in the discovery of a Roman temple, and what
was probably a sanatorium with a cemetery attached. This was
eventually described by Dr. Buckland in a paper before the Ashmolean
Society at Oxford in 1843. The finding of this particular pavement was
due to accident. In 1852 Mr. Scutt, the tenant of the farm, in making a
straighter course for the stream found traces of ancient occupation. The
work of uncovering the pavement, however, was not completed until
shortly before the meeting of the British Archaeological Association in
1871. It was then visited by the Association and described by the Rev.
Prebendary Baker. The remains were found 3 and 4 feet below the
surface, and were of the following dimensions : The long wall of the
building was traced to the length of 65ft. 8in. ; the court containing the
pavement was 21 feet square, the pavement itself being about 15 feet
square. The centre is occupied with a circular ornament with angular
enrichments, set in a square with white and black framings. Outside of
this is a broad cable-pattern border, then other embellishments, and,
finally, outside of all, a repetition on a larger scale of the cable-pattern.
Other smaller chambers were discovered paved with larger tessene. The
tessene vary in size from 1 inch square to f inch square. They are of
three colours, red, brown, and white. The red are fragments of baked
tile. There are abundant indications that the building was destroyed by
tire. Little else of importance had been discovered in the neighbourhood.
A tradition is current in the neighbourhood that the Romans, on finally
quitting Britain, embarked from the shores of Weymouth Bay, and that
they brought down with them to the coast a vast amount of treasure, a
Jarge part of which they were obliged to bury as they were unable to
carry it with them, and this still remains to be discovered.
A discussion ensued. Mr. Groves stated that the roof covering the
pavement had been generously provided by Sir Talbot Baker. Lord
Eustace Cecil thought the pavement might be older than the time of
Constantine. Mr. Moule considered there was nothing to fix the date of
the pavement. Mr. Chisholm Batten thought it seemed to belong to
Christian times, since there was no trace of heathen mythology the only
example he had seen without. The Rev. Osmond Fisher examined the
White and Brown Tessera and considered they belonged to leds of
Purbeck limestone and Kimmeridge shale respectively. Owing to the
in.sumcient protection of the pavement it was resolved to place a wire
railing round the pavement to prevent the public from carrying away the
XXX.
The cost of this was defrayed by the Field Club, aided by
special contributions for that purpose.
After leaving the wooden building which encloses the pavement the
members of the Field Club walked to visit the Norman Bridge, which
had been put in repair at the expense of the Club some three years
previously. From here the party drove back to Weymouth, where they
were invited to luncheon at the College by the Rev. J. Miller, the Head-
Master. Before sitting down to luncheon, however, some time was
devoted to the inspection of a series of flint implements and other
antiquarian objects, chiefly found in the vicinity, which Avere exhibited
by Messrs. Fuller, Mondey, and Damon. After luncheon the customary
toast of "The Queen "was proposed by the President. The President
then offered, on the behalf of the members, a hearty vote of thanks to
the Rev. J. and Mrs. Miller for their hospitality to them that day.
Several new members were elected to the Club.
The Secretary then referred to some methods of business. He said the
British Association met on September 5th at Bath, and wished to know
whether any one present would be willing to attend the meeting as a
delegate of the Dorset Field Club. He then said that Vol. ix. of the
" Proceedings " would be ready for circulation in the course of a few days.
He regretted that there had been a delay in its publication, but he thought
this was almost unavoidable. He gave notice that the September meet-
ing of the Society originally fixed to be held at Shaftesbury had been
given up from the lateness of the season and the difficulty of reaching the
spot. In its place he proposed that two winter meetings should be held
at Dorchester that season instead of one as formerly. He thought he had
suflicient materials to furnish two excellent programmes.
Mr. T. B. Groves then presented a paper on " The Recent Encroach-
ment of the Sea in the Vicinity of Weymouth," which was read by Mr.
H. Moule. This paper will be found at p. 180 of the present volume,
together with the substance of the discussion which followed it.
About 2.30 p.m. the party were driven across Weymouth to the Fleet
Coastguard Station. Here they took a path leading down to the shore
of the estuary, where boats were waiting to convey them across to the
Chesil Beach. The object of the visit to the Chesil Beach M-as to
examine the curious group of plants which grow in this locality, and
which were explained by Mr. Mansel-Pleydell, the President.
The following is a list of some of the characteristic plants of the
Chesil Beach :
Tritictini cctxinmn, T. acutiun, Sjxrgii luria iitttrina, Ant/icinis
Anthyllis vttlncraria, AJJIUHI gmveolvny, Artucriu oulgaris,
XXXI,
Atriplex Babingtonii, A. deltoidea, A. portulaokles, Beta maritime,
Brassica nigra, Bromits mollis, Daucus carota, Euphorbia Portlandica,
Festuca, gigantea, Linum angustifoliiiin, Glaux tnariti/na, Ononis arveHsia,
Plantitgo maritima, Polygonum Roberti, Sagina maritima, Silene
maritima, Triglochiti maritimuin.
The Fleet water was re-crossed about 4. 30 and a visit was then made to
Montevideo, the residence of Mr. and Mrs. N. M. Richardson, who had
invited the members to tea. A fine specimen of Cimoliosaurus
richardsonii, a fossil reptile, discovered by Mr. Richardson in the Oxford
clay in the neighbourhood, was exhibited on tables in the garden.
The President read a paper describing the chief anatomical features of
this specimen^ which will be found with an illustration at p. 178 of this
volume. Subsequently the fine entomological collections of Mr.
Richardson were examined, the cabinets of Lepidoptera exciting great
interest. This brought the day to a conclusion, as the party had to leave
about 6 p.m. for Weymouth Railway Station for their respective trains.
A COMMITTEE MEETING was held in one of the rooms of the County
Museum buildings at Dorchester on Wednesday, December 19th. The
business consisted principally in drawing up the Table of Contents for
the tenth volume of Proceedings, and in considering the advisability of
holding a two days' meeting at Bridport during the ensuing summer.
A GENERAL MEETING was held on the same day at twelve o'clock in
the Museum, which was well attended. The President was absent and the
chair was occupied by the Rev. O. P. Cambridge. Several new members
were elected. The paper on "The Extinct Dorsetshire Elephants," by
the President, was postponed in his absence.
The Rev. O. P. Cambridge read a Paper on " The National Footpaths
Preservation Society." He said if any body of persons was specially in-
terested in keeping up rights of way, in the shape pf footpaths and commons
it was a Field Club. One object of a Field Club was to increase the love of
Nature far beyond the limits of its own membership. This is much
aided by the power to traverse the fields, or to go through the wood by
the footpath. On these grounds, therefore, as well as the broader ground
of a desire to preserve to all the right to go by the footpath, as being not
merely the pleasanter but often the shorter way, he ventured to ask the
members to give their support to the society. The object of the society
was to help people to preserve the right to footpaths, and to give them
sound advice, both as to the right, whether existent or not, and as to the
mode of proceeding to preserve it. The Society was established about
xxxii.
1884, and now numl>eretl some 400 members. Amongst other supporters
it ntunliered 16 Natural History Societies or Field Clubs. He, therefore,
proposed that the Dorset Natural History and A nti<iuarian Field Club do
l>ecoiiie a memtar of the National Footpaths Preservation Society on the
annual payment of 10s., and he hoped that some of the memliers would
also join in their individual capacity. Mr. Moule, in seconding the
proposition, cited two instances of footpaths which had l>een closed in the
Dorchester neighliourhood within his recollection. The Chairman quoted
an instance in his own neighbourhood (Bloxworth). Mr. Groves mentioned
instances in the Weymouth district. The motion was then carried.
Mr. Moule read a Paper on " The Abbey Bam at Cerne," which was
visited at the meeting held on June 28th. This, with a d rawing executed
by Mr. Moule to illustrate the excellent Hint masonry of the building,
will be found at p. 187 of this volume.
The Chairman then read a Paper written by Mr. F. O. P. Cambridge
on " A New British Worm," found near Bloxworth during the preceding
summer. This will be found at p. 139.
Mr. H. M. Richardson read a Paper giving an account of some of the
rarer tish which have l*een lately taken in the mackarel nets on the
Chesil Beach. This Paper will be found at p. 13*2. A discussion followed,
in which Sir Tallx>t Baker stated that the sturgeon, when taken at the
Abbotsbury end of the Chesil Beach, had always been sent to the Earl of
Ilchester. The Rev. C. R. Baskett said the Earls of Ilchester had the
rights of the beach at Ablx>tsbury granted to them by the Monastery,
otherwise the sturgeon, being Royal tish, would go to the Crown.
Some further discussion subsequently took place on the catalogue of
the prehistoric monuments of the county in process of compilation, after
which a paper, written by Mr. James Salter, F.R.S., of Basingtield, " On
the Armorials of the Savage Family in Bloxworth Church," was read by the
Treasurer. This paper will l>e found at p. 153 of the present volume.
The Secretary read a paper on " Orchis mascula," prepared by Mr. E. C.
Malan, F. L.S. This paper was written with the view of drawing atten-
tion to the value of the careful study of particular species of plants, and
was illustrated by a large num1>er of drawings and photographs of various
parts of the plant in different stages of growth e.g., the roots, leaves,
flowers, and j>ollinia. The paper also contained a quantity of Folk-Lore
connected with this plant, collected from various sources.
The meeting terminated about 4.30 p.m.
A SECOND WINTER MEETING was held at the County Museum on
Wednesday, February 13th. The weather was very cold and wintry and
XXX111.
the attendance consequently small. The first paper on the programme
was on "Three Extinct Dorsetshire Elephants," by the President, and
referred chietty to the discovery of Elephant remains in Dewlish valley
during the preceeding 18 months. This paper was illustrated by Jin
excellent series of diagrams drawn by Mrs. E. M. Mansel-Pleydell,
which were hung round the Museum. The President, during the
discussion which ensued, described the character of the deposit in which
the remains were discovered and stated his hope to continue the
investigation of the deposit during the ensuing summer. Specimens of
the curiously polished flints, found in the overlying bed, were exhibited.
The paper will be found in full at the commencement of this volume.
The Rev. R. P. Murray read a paper on " Notes on Botany (chiefly
Geographical." This led to considerable discussion. The President
considered the presence of the plants enumerated in the paper need not
be attributed to the migratory route indicated by the author but to other
causes. They are all common southern plants, and have a wide
geographical range, and belong to a flora which had been pushed
down southwards during the Glacial period, at whose close, when a
milder climate prevailed and the bed of the North Sea was raised, the
Arctic plants retained their hold only on the highlands and mountains,
while the previously displaced flora regained possession of the area they
had been forced to quit. Many, doubtless, perished, while others
survived only in favourable nooks and corners isolated spots of which
the plants referred to in the paper were examples, as well as many of our
own rare plants in the county.
Mr, H. J. Moule read a very interesting paper, entitled "An Old
Dorchester Minute Book," given at p. 17. The Rev. O. P. Cambridge,
F.R.B., author of the "Spiders of Dorset," : read a paper on the new
species which had lately been discovered, entitled " New and Rare
British Spiders," given at p. 107.
The Secretary then read a long paper, compiled by Mr. J. S. Udal,
entitled " Natural History, Folk-speech, and Superstitions of Dorset,"
given at p. 19. This paper, since its publication, has led to a consider-
able amount of criticism and discussion, particularly in the pages of the
Dorset County Chronicle, which space prevents appearing in the present
volume. It is to be wished, however, that the additional material, which
the original paper has been the cause of bringing to light, may be
gathered together and form a compendium to it in our next volume.
This concluded the programme of the day and with it the work of the
year,
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01* (Elcph&s JKeribiomtlis,
POUND AT DEWLISH,
WITH A HISTORY OP THE PROBOSCIDIAN FAMILY AND SPECIAL
REFERENCES TO E. ANTIQUUS AND E. PRIMIGENIUS, WHOSE
KEMAINS HAVE ALSO BEEN FOUND IN THIS COUNTY.
By J. C. MANSBL-PLEYDELL, Esq.,
P.L.S., P.G.S.
EFORE entering into a detailed account of the
discovery of Elephantine remains at Dewlish
I propose giving a sketch of the Proboscidian
family, from its first appearance to the present
time. It includes Deinotherium, Mastodon, and
Elephas ; the two first are extinct, the last
constituted several species, of which two only now exist the
Asiatic and the African Elephants.
DEINOTHERIUM.
The career of Deinotherium was a short one, limited exclusively
to the Miocene age. Great Britain, as far as it is known, was
not submerged during that age, and formed part of the Continent,
hence the remains of Deinotherium have not been met with in these
islands. The lower jaw had two powerful tusk-like incisors
directed downwards vertically, which were used either in digging
up the roots on which it fed, or in mooring itself to the banks of
the river it inhabited, for, like the Hippopotamus, it was probably
2 NOTE OX ELEPHAS MERIDIOXALIS.
aquatic. The upper jaw had no molars ; neither the upper
nor lower were provided with canines. The molars were crossed
by transverse ridges, somewhat resembling the Mastodon.
Deinotlienum giganteum appears to have been the only species.
MASTODON.
This extinct family is represented by seven species, ranging In
Europe and Asia, from the Miocene to the Pliocene. In North
America its remains occur as late as the Pleistocene. Both the upper
and lower jaws of Mastodon are furnished with tusks, those of the
lower jaw disappearing in the adult state. It differed from the
Elephant in having three molars in use at the same time. The
crowns had mammillated boss-like tubercles with transverse ridges
standing out in bold relief. In many species of Mastodon there is
a true vertical succession, affecting the third or the third and
second molars instead of the horizontal forward succession of
replacement, as is the case with Elephants. The range of the
genus is very extensive ; it has been supposed to reach Australia.
A fragment of a tusk found near Moreton Bay, Queensland, was
described by Sir R Owen (Proc. Royal Soc., March 30, 1882), the
Australian origin of which there is no question.
The true Elephants appeared like the Deinotlierium and
Mastodon, in the Miocene age. They are grouped by the late
Doctor Falconer under three suborders Stegodon, Loxodon,
and Eu-elephas, of which Stegodon approaches nearest the Mastodon
in the mammillary form of the crown-ridges, so much so that if the
crown of a molar of Stegodon is denuded of its coat of cement it
would be referred to Mastodon rather than to Elephas. Three of
the four species of this genus are restricted to the Miocene forma-
tion of India, the fourth, S. insignis, survived the Pliocene age
of that country.
Loxodon is represented by the living African Elephant. It
differs from Stegodon in the character of the molars, which are
more elevated and the enamel thinner. The European Pliocene,
Elephas meridionalis, the chief subject of the present memoir,
NOTE ON ELEPHAS MERIDIONALIS. 3
belongs to this section, Elephas planifrons, of the Upper Miocene
Sewalik Hill formation of India, and the Post-pliocene pigmy
Elephants of Malta, E. Melitensis, which was not more than 4| feet
high, and Eleplias Falconeri, Busk, which did not exceed 2^ or
3 feet.
Eu-eleplias is represented by the living Indian Elephant. It in-
cludes also E. antiquiLS and the Mammoth ; both are of the Pliocene
age, and probably appeared during the latter part of it, when the
warm temperature of the earlier period had given place to the cold
which began then to set in the precursor of the Glacial Period.
The Pliocene beds give no evidence of a true glacial fauna, neither
in the alluvial deposits of the valleys of the Po and of the Arno, nor
in the corresponding deposits on the northern side of the Alps, the
valley of the Khone, and other parts of Switzerland. The climate was
more equable and of a higher temperature than at present ; the flora
then was remarkably uniform in France and in Italy. The Pliocene
flora of Lyons, of the Cantal in France, of Bologna, and Tuscany in
Italy, connects the past and present plant-life of Europe with those of
distant regions, now separated by extensive seas, such as America,
the Caucasus, Japan, and China. The Valley of the Po was then
an arm of the sea, which stretched into what are now Alpine valleys.
The Valley of the Arno Avas also submerged at this period. In the
overlying marine deposits both fauna and flora shew a considerable
lowering of the temperature ; immigrants from the north were
introduced and largely prevailed towards the end of the Pliocene
period, reaching as far southward as Sicily. I expect it was at the
later period Elephas meridional is, Hippopotamus, and Rhinoceros
Etruscus (leptorldnm) and Irish Elk were driven southwards, and
were hardy enough to endure the changes attending the early part of
the Glacial Period. As there was then land communication with
Africa, some found refuge there, others unable from some cause or
other to reach it in time perished. Of the above named animals, as well
as Machairodus latutens, Rhinoceros meyarhinus, Ursus Arvemensis,
Hippopotamus is theonly one now living, therest having perished from
inability to survive the new state of things. Elephas meridionals
4 NOTE ON ELEPHAS MERIDIONALIS.
lias been traced in the Italian interglacial beds, on the plains of
Arezzo, and in the freshwater beds of the Upper Val d'Arno, also in
the French interglacial beds of Perrier near Issoire, in the Valley
of the Allier, where it is associated with the Mammoth, also in a
Pleistocene alluvial deposit in the Valley of the Rhine, between
Lyons and Bourg. In England deposits of the Pliocene age occur
in the submerged Forest-bed of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, and
in the high and low-gravels of the Thames Valley, which contain
the same association of Mammalian remains as in the sub-Appenine
Pliocenes of the Valleys of the Po and of the Arno. These are over-
laid by beds of boulder-clay of the Glacial Period and by superficial
gravels of the post-glacial ages. The Crag is the lowest British horizon
in which Proboscidian remains have been found Mastodon, Eleplias
meridionali*, Eleplias antiquus, together with Hippopotamus and
Rhinoceros Etruscus (leptorhinus). Elephas antiquus has been
found at Bracklesham Bay, in the Isle of "Wight, and at Pagharn
Harbour in Suffolk, in mud-deposits, which were evidently laid
down when the temperature was moderately high. These are
doubtless the oldest Pliocene beds in England, contemporary with
the fluviatile beds of Gray's Turrock in Essex.
The probable climatal condition of Europe during the Pliocene
age may be inferred from the Hippopotamus, whose remains are
locally abundant in the beds of that period. It is an amphibious
animal, spending the day either floating on, or swimming near the
surface of the rivers they inhabit, and roaming at night to feed on and
near its bank. Wherever it is now found there is open water all
the year round. A frost of twenty-four hours' duration, sufficiently
severe to freeze over the lakes or rivers it inhabited, would cause a
disastrous annihilation of every Hippopotamus thus imprisoned.
It appears to have been spread over the whole of the Pliocene area
of England in the Valleys of the Severn, the Avon, the Thames,
Kirkdale Cave, and Kent's Hole. It has been found at Motcombe
in this county. A comparative warm temperature throughout the
year may be also inferred by the presence of southern freshwater
shells which are now extinct in England.
NOfE ON BLBPHAS MERIDIONALIS. 5
It is probable that not more than one species of Elephant occupied
one district at the same time, and the district must have been
extensive. The supply of food they required must have been
enormous, and no district could have maintained two species of
such large animals, whose habits are gregarious and their food
similar ; if we draw an analogy from our own experience at
the present day, we find only one species of Elephant,
Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Camel, Giraffe, Ostrich, or Crocodile, in
any one given district. A similar law doubtless existed in geological
times. The comparatively meagre flora of the Forest-bed, as
determined by Heer, in which the three species of Elephants
occur leads us to a similar conclusion.
ELEPHAS MERIDIONALIS.*
Although a contemporary with Eleplias dntiquus and the
Mammoth, it appeared at an earlier period than either. It is desig-
nated by Ncste as being the most ancient elephant. Until
the discovery of its remains at Dewlish it had been only knoAvn as
occurring in the Forest-bed of the eastern coast. Its European
distribution, however, extended through the northern, central, and
southern Departments of France, and with the exception of some
notifications of it in Xorthern Italy and South-eastern Europe, there
are not any well authenticated records of it elsewhere in Europe. It
is found with Mastodon in the Valley of the Arno and in Piedmont,
also on the north side of the Alps. In the Pliocene alluvium of St.
Prest in France it is the only Elephant ; this is the case in corre-
sponding beds in the Departments of the Gard and of the Herault,
and in the sub-volcanic Pliocene alluvium beds of the Auvergne
and of Velay, where the Mastodon also occurs, but in a lower
horizon. Eleplias meridionalis exceeded the two other British
Elephants both in size and height. It stood 17 feet from the
withers, its limbs were enormous, as may be supposed, to enable
them to carry such a weighty bulk. Being a Pliocene animal, it
* 0. Fisher, " Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society," vol. xliv.,
p. 818, 1888.
6 NOTE OK ELEPHAS MEIUDIONALIS.
was probably unfurnished with hair. Its molars shew a greater
width of crown than any of its congeners ; the enamel-plates are
thick with wide intervening ridges of cement. The height of the
molar is low in comparison to its breadth, the fangs, especially
the anterior, one being long and strong. Their discs, when only
partially worn down, shew the rings of digitation, in proportion to
the amount of wear. The molar belonging to Mr. Kent (here
exhibited) had just come into wear, from which an idea may be formed
of the appearance of a new unused tooth. The tusks are enormous,
commensurate with the rest of the animal ; the alveoli in which
the tusks were inserted form elongated massive cylinders. They
have a slight outward divergence, which is obviously necessary, as
otherwise the tusks would interfere with each other had the
distal end of the alveoli converged. The osteology of JElephas
meridionalis agrees in its general character with those of the other
two species, although differing materially in size. Both the
shoulder and pelvic-girdles of the Dewlish Elephants, which were
fortunately entire, corresponded nearly with the dimensions of
this species, given by Mr. Leith Adams in his Monograph
of British Fossil Elephants. In spite of the care and pains
I took to remove the abundant remains from the bed, by applica-
tions of hot liquid glue, fish-gluten, thick coatings of plaster of
Paris, and strong supports, the disintegrating effects of the
impalpable sand, which filled up every osseous cell, neutralised it
all ; many vanished before our eyes into " dust and ashes."
ELEPHAS ANTIQUUS.
This Elephant also preceded the Mammoth in point of time
and was its contemporary as late as postglacial times. It
appeal's not to have had so wide a range ; its remains having not
been notified from a locality of higher latitude than 54 degrees
north, in North Western Europe. It survived the Glacial Period
and is found abundantly in Southern Europe, on the south side
of the Alps and of the Pyrenees, but it is only on the northern
side of these ranges its remains have been found with those of
NOTE ON ELEPHAS MERIDIONALIS. 7
the Mammoth and Eleplias meridionalis. It is common in Italy,
and has been found in many parts of Sicily and in Piedmont,
in the neighbourhood of Rome and Florence, also in Spain and
as far south as Gibraltar. It is scarce in France, the Valleys
of the Somme and of the Maine only have yielded any of its
remains. Some have been obtained from the preglacial beds of
the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts, from the more recent river
and estuarine beds, and from cavern and fissure deposits. The
English quaternary alluviums which cover the boulder-clay in the
eastern counties are not rich in remains of Elephas antiquus,
Mr. John Evans gives a list of the drift-beds in England, and cites
one instance only of Eleplias antiquus, in a bed which does not lie
under the boulder-clay. Until Falconer's time this species Avas
supposed to be only a variety of the Mammoth, neither were the
two forms of the crowns of its molars the broad, and the narrow
differentiated by any previous palaeontologist. The lower
molars have a slight central expansion of the crown more or less
angular, the crimping varies in different teeth as well as in the
same tooth, according as the crown has been more or less worn
down. Some of the digitations of the plates show disconnected
discs as in Elephas meridionalis, while the rest have a continuous,-
unbroken double-edge of enamel.
Professor Boyd Dawkins considers the tusks of Elevhas antiquus
to be nearly straight. Mr. Leith Adams (1881) thoiight this fact
had yet to be identified. This will be referred to further on, where a
remarkable double curved tusk very different in shape and bulk to
that of E. meridionalis is described.*
In an irregular trough or depression of the Purbeck and Upper
Portland beds from 20 to 30 feet thick and from 50 to 60 yards
wide, extending to a distance from 200 to 300 yards underlain by
large waterborne blocks on the surface of the Upper Portland rocks
in the eastern part of the Admiralty Quarries, Portland, is a
Mammiliferous Drift, composed of red clay or brown, passing into
* See Prof. Prestwiche's " Notes on the Phenomena of the Quaternary
Period in the Isle of Portland and Around Weymouth." Q.J.G.S., 1875.
8 NOTE ON ELEPHAS MERIDIONALIS.
coarse loam with angular debris of Portland and Purbeck beds,
together with a considerable number of blocks of hard Sarsen
stones, underlain by a layer of waterborne rounded pebbles, and in a
matrix of sand red-loam, mixed with peroxide of manganese ; the
pebbles were perfectly clean and polished surface. In the lower
part of the deposit numerous mammalian remains were found,
including a large number of teeth of elephants. Mr. Busk
identified a well marked molar- of Elephas antiquus and fragments,
apparently of the Mammoth. Another molar, belonging to R.
Damon, Esq., F.G.S., is kindly lent to us to-day for exhibition. I
had the good fortune to accompany Professor Prestwich during t
his examination of this interesting deposit.
ELEPHAS PRIMIGENIUS.
The Mammoth. This, like E. antiquus, comes under Doctor
Falkner's subgenus, Eu-Elephas. It is the most interesting of all
the extinct Elephants, owing to its having co-existed with man,
as is proved by the implements and utensils of human manufac-
ture found with its remains. M. Mortillet describes the figure
of a Mammoth engraved on the beam of a reindeer's horn from
Montastruc, near Bruniquel, Department of the Tarn et Garonne,
France, which served as the handle of a poignard. Its head is
lowered, and the trunk lies perpendicularly between the fore-legs ;
the tusks form a support to the blade of the poignard, the tail
has a thick, bushy tip, which, as M. Mortillet adds, would be
the case of an animal covered as the Mammoth was with hair and
wool. The Mammoth stands pre-eminent among its congeners in
the wideness of its distribution. Its lighter frame and more pliable
constitution rendered it capable of surviving the vicissitudes of
climate to which it was subjected, and to which Elephas merulio-
nalis and Elephas antiquus succumbed. It passed through the
whole of the Glacial Period, and of the Elephant family was the
only contemporary of man. Its remains are found in the Old
World from the extreme North of Siberia to the farthest parts of
Western Europe. It has been reported from Portugal, rarely from
NOTE ON ELEPHAS MERlDIONALIS. 9
Italy, except in the north, near Turin ; it touched the Mediterranean
basin at Ventimiglia, the present frontier of France and Italy, and
has been reported from the neighbourhood of Rome. It crossed
the mountains of Northern Europe, and its remains have been
found 70 degrees north latitude, in the Valleys of the Obi, of the
Lena, and of the Tenisei. Its absence from Sweden, Finland, and
Denmark may be accounted for by a submergence of those
countries during the ice-age. A molar, and one only, has been met
with in Denmark. Mammoth remains are found in the whole of
Central Europe from Great Britain to the Caspian Sea and China.
Its remains have been found in North America from Behring's
Straits to Texas. It is distinguished from the rest of the family
by the plates of the molars being more numerous and narrower,
the enamel extremely thin, and scarcely crimped.
Mr. Leith Adams shews that the number of ridges of each tooth,
especially those at the posterior end of the series, is subject to
every kind of variation, also in the number of plates of which each
tooth is composed, but the thickness of the enamel varies so much
as to have given rise to a distinction between a thick-plated and a
thin-plated variety; the former prevail mostly in Italy, the latter in
Siberia and Northern Europe, including the British Isles.
There are many instances on record from Siberia of the soft por-
tions of the Mammoth having been found preserved as fresh as if it
had died yesterday. The date of the earliest record is 1692-95. In
Lorenz Lange's Travels, 1721, we are told how the Russian
prisoners who were banished to Siberia obtained a livelihood by
turning snuff-boxes out of Mammoth's teeth. Sangtschof, who
wrote in 1887 a description of his journey through Siberia, says
the river at Alaseya had washed out of its sandy banks the
skeleton of a gigantic animal, apparently about the size of an
elephant. It stood in an upright position and retained its skin.
In 1806 Adams heard that a Mammoth, with its flesh, skin, and
hair intact, had been found on the banks of the Lena, in latitude
70 degrees north, as early as 1801 ; three years after, in 1804,
Schumakof, a Tungus chief, took away the tusks and bartered them
10 NOTE ON ELEPHAS MERIDIONALS.
for goods to the value of 30 roubles. Adams did not see the
remains until 1806. In the meantime the natives had carried off a
great part of the flesh to feed their dogs ; wild beasts too, had fed
upon it, and little more than the skeleton was left ; one of the fore-
legs had been taken away, the skin of the side on which the body
rested was covered with hair, and so heavy it took ten men to drag
it on to the banks of the river, which consisted of a continuous
and undisturbed bed of gravel intercalated with clay without
boulders, supported by a bed consisting of coarse sand containing
boulders of various kinds and sizes. I will only name one
more instance mentioned by Xordenskiold, who collected frag-
ments of bones and pieces of the hide of a Mammoth at the
confluence of the river Mesenken with the Yenesei 71-28" north
in 1876. The hide was an inch thick and nearly tanned by age.
It was clear in Xordenskiold's opirion it had been washed out of
the tundra-banks ; close by it was a very fine cranium of the
Musk-ox. In 1887 he found on the banks of a tributary of
the Lena 69 north an exceedingly well preserved carcase of a
Rhinoceros (R. Merkii Jaers). The nearer, he adds, we come to
the coast of the Polar Sea the more common are the remains of
the Mammoth, and nowhere are they found in such numbers as
on the Xew Siberian Islands. Hedenstrom, in the space of one
verst, saw ten tusks sticking out of the ground. Other animal
forms occur on these half explored islands, which must have lived
on the plains of Siberia with the Mammoth. As no flesh
could remain without decomposition in an unfrozen bed, it is
obvious that xmdecomposed and entire animals found in the
Siberian tundras must have been frozen immediately after death,
and remained so until extricated from their ice tomb, localise
exposure to the air through the melting of the ice would have caused
decomposition to set in. This was Sir Charles Lyell's view
" It is certain," he says, " that from the moment when the carcases
both of the Mammoth and Rhinoceros were buried in Siberia in
latitude 64 and 70 north the soil must have remained frozen and
the atmosphere as cold as at this day. It is clear that the ice or
NOTE ON ELEPHAS MERIDIOXALIS. 11
congealed mud in which the bodies of such quadrupeds were
enveloped has never once been melted since the day when they
perished, so as to allow the free percolation of water through the
matrix, for had this been the case the soft part of the animals
could not have remained undecomposed." M. D'Archaic, an
eminent French geologist, expresses himself in similar terms.
It seems probable that Siberia enjoyed at no very remote period
a climate sufficiently mild to afford, food for Elephants or
Rhinoceros of different species to those of the present day. It is
supposed that such large animals would require a luxuriant vegeta-
tion for their support, but Darwin shows this to be erroneous. He
says : " The southern parts of Africa, though sterile and desert,
are remarkable for the number and great bulk of their indigenous
quadrupeds." Dr. Andrew Smith saw in one day's march in
latitude 24 south, 150 Rhinoceros, several herds of Giraffes, and
his party killed in one night eight Hippopotamus. Yet the country
was thinly covered with grass and bushes alxmt 4ft. high. "Where
Mammoth's remains are now found in Siberia, lichens can only
grow. Stumps of trees occur on the tundras associated Avith their
roots and dissevered branches, which now grow a few degrees
south, and much dwarfed. We are forced to the conclusion,
therefore, that the temperature of Siberia was higher then than it
is now. The food of this giant animal consisted partly of the
leaves of fir, as shewn by their occasional presence in the inter-
stices of their teeth. As yet the contents of the Mammoth's
stomach have not, I believe, been examined ; the brain, muscles,
and tendons are the only portions which have -undergone a
microscopic examination.
One of the constant characters of the Mammoth's molars of all
ages and of all regions, is that the enamel-ridges rise only a very
little above the ivory and cement. The alternate successions of
enamel, ivory, and cement, are more condensed, and a larger
number of plates form the part of the tooth which is in use.
Lartel gives from 20 to 24 plates in a molar about 9J inches
long. The number the same length of an Indian Elephant's
12 NOTE ON ELEPHAS MERIDlONALlS.
molar is not more than 16. The wide geographical range and long
duration as to time of the Mammoth, extending from the Tiber
42 north, to the Lena, 70 north, and from Mexico 25 north to
Eschscholtz Bay, 66 north, shews a remarkable pliancy and adapta-
tion to changes and varieties of climate. The woolly covering
which protected the Siberian form probably disappeared from the
bodies of those which haunted the southern homes of the species.
The adaptation of the molar crowns for the food supplied by
countries wide apart from each other, and not specially adapted
more for one region than another, gave them facilities for a survival
besides a robust constitution, for want of which the other two
species failed.
There are several records of the molars of the Mammoth having
been found in this county at Lyme Regis, Blandford, Encombe,
and Portland ; also the magnificent scapula, from a gravel bed
near the Lidden, which Lord Stalbridge so generously presented to
the County Museum last year.
The tusks of the Mammoth have a double spiral curvature,
amounting in some cases to three-fourths pf a circle, with recurved
points. The smaller tusk of the two before us shares some of
these characters.
I have dwelt, perhaps, too long upon the general history of this
very interesting family, with more special reference to the three
British species which have been met with in this county. I now
proceed with an account of the Elephantine remains from a remark-
able bed reaching over and beyond the summit of a hill overhanging
the village of Dewlish, which, with few exceptions, belong to
Elepltas nieridionalis. " Hitherto no traces of Elei>lia$ meridional is
have been discovered on dry land," so wrote the late Professor
Leith Adams in his Monograph on the British Fossil Elephants
in 1877 ; sixty years before these words were written, four
molars of this rare species were discovered in this bed. The
discovery was attributable to the work of an humble field-
mouse in the construction of its winter retreat on the side of
this barren hill ; the choice was made, perhaps, on account of
NOTE ON ELEPHAS MERIDIONALIS. 13
its favourable western aspect. The sand scraped out attracted the
attention of a passer-by, who was aware of the value of sand in a
district in which this material is wholly absent. A facetious friend,
referring to the first discoverer of the sand-bed, said " No
mouse before this gained such laurels not mus ridiculus,
but mus fossor prceclarus should be its title." Two of the four
molars above referred to are in the possession of Lady Michel ; the
other two, a lower molar and part of an upper one, are in the
Salisbury Museum. These last were described in " The Monthly
Magazine" of May, 1814, thus: "Two animals, to all appearance
coiled up like a serpent, which fell to pieces when being handled,
and other matters which the workmen called hands, somewhat
petrified (fangs of molars ?). It appears like the upper jaw of
an animal, the bars of the mouth petrified, but no teeth visible."
Doctor Shorto had a clearer view of their value and character than
the writer of the above extract, to whom he addressed the following
letter : " I was at Dewlish last week and procured some of the
matters taken from the pit on the side of the hill. They are the bones
of Elephants." The possibility of the occurrence of Elephas meridio-
nafis elsewhere in England is hinted at by Doctor Falconer in the
case of a molar described and figured by Parkinson in his British
Fossil Mammalia from Staffordshire. "Supposing," says he, "Par-
kinson's record to be exact, it would in no way surprise him if
teeth of Elephas meridionalis did not turn up among the remains
found in the Valley of the Avon."
This remarkable and exceptional Dorsetshire deposit stands above
the village of Dewlish at an altitude of 90 feet on the siimmit of
a hill, which spreads out eastward into an undulatory ridge, look-
ing north and south. It is about a mile broad, and forms the
watershed of the Milton and Dewlish rivulets ; the former being
a tributary to the river Stour, the latter to the river Piddle. The
face of the hill, as has been already noticed, looks westward, and
is extremely steep at an angle of not less than 70. The river,
which flows more than 50 yards from the base of the hill, shews
no traces of having at any time filled the valley, there being a
14 NOTE ON ELEPHAS MERIDIONALS.
total absence of terraces. After a careful examination of the
western side of the valley, which rises less abruptly, and testing
several places on the same level as the deposit on the opposite side,
I found no traces of it. There was the same bed of hard stul>-
lx>rn clay (ylacicd ?), which caps the hill on the western side of
the valley, and differing only in being in contact with undisturbed
chalk.
SECTION OF THE GRAVEL BED.
1. Mould, about 3 inches.
2. Chalk (rubble), 10 inches.
3. Stiff red clay, 6 inches.
4. Fine impalpable sand and flint (remains of Elephant), 3 feet.
5. Sand and ferruginous gravel (small), 3 inches.
6. Flint material waterborne, 15 inches.
7. Sand and ferruginous gravel (larger than Xo. 5), 3 inches.
8. Sand (the lower portion with different sized flints), 12 feet.
9. Chalk.
Of these six beds each shews the different conditions under which
it was laid down, torrential or placid, only one is fossiliferous, con-
sisting of flints of different sizes and of the finest impalpable quartz
sand. The largest flints and bones lie at the bottom, the lighter
above, where the sand predominates. Beneath this bed are two others,
separated from each other by a thicker bed, containing sand and
waterworn flints. The uppermost of the two consist almost entirely
of small, thin, flat, shell-like flints, not thicker than a threepenny
piece, very much oxydised. The lower one resembles the upper in
every respect, except in the size of the flints, which, although larger,
retain their flat shell-like character. The carrying powers of the
stream were evidently more powerful in one case than in the other.
The question which suggests itself is, as to what mechanical
agency was employed to sort these light and buoyant flints from
the rest of the material borne with them on the current. It would
be intelligible if other objects of all shapes and sizes and of equal
weight were present, but this is not the case in either of the two
beds. Many of the flints in the upper beds of the deposit are
NOTE ON ELEPHAS MERIDIONALIS. 15
highly polished, apparently by trituration after deposition, as the
polish is absent on the surfaces abutting the blocks of chalk,
which are interspersed here and there, and which at first sight gives
one the idea of the intervention of a fault ; they had evidently
fallen from the massive chalk as the torrent or invading flood
passed over. The preservation of the smaller tusk I attribute to
the protection it received from one of these blocks falling across it
bridge-like instead of upon it.
The presence of so many Elephantine remains in this limited
.space goes far to strengthen the idea that they belong to Eleplias
meridionalis, without taking into account the pronounced character
of the molars and the tusk which distinguish it from the Mammoth,
the limbs and teeth of which, as met with in England, are invari-
ably dissociated and isolated ; never found, as in this case, with
several of its bones together.
In the year 1883 a labourer of Mr. Kent's found a molar in the
sand-pit from which the previous four had been found in 1813.
This tooth had not come into use at the time of the animal's death,
for the digitations of the plates are scarcely worn and shew
their incipient points. Elephants' molars are not displaced vertic-
ally like other mammals, but move forward in the jaw horizontally,
pushing on the preceding tooth as plate by plate wears out, and at
last taking its place in succession. This second find stimulated me
to examine the pit, and I soon found a humerus of gigantic size.
After removing the surrounding flints and sand with considerable
care I successfully laid bare the bone, portions of which fell to
pieces as soon as touched. In hopes of its preservation by douches
of liquid gelatine, and a covering of cement, I left it after carefully
protecting it with a covering of sacks and hurdles. An inroad of
idlers the next day (Sunday) saved me any further trouble, for on
my next visit I was pained to find the sacks and hurdles had been
removed and not a vestige of the limb remaining all was without
form and void. The length of the humerus was nearly four feet,
its width at the joint furthest from the shoulder distal end was
nine inches. In September, 1887, Mr. Osmond Fisher, who had
16 NOTE OX ELEPHAS MERIDIONALIS.
seen the two molars in the Salisbury Museum already alluded to
labelled Eleplias meridiondlis, visited the locality, and by a
fortunate coincidence I was his companion during the limited time
at his disposal alx)ut three hours, when he found a portion of a
nearly worn down molar. Acting under his advice I continued the
search systematically for sveral days, on the first day I obtained the
border and fossa of a massive prescapular, the ridge, spine, and
posterior border absent. This fragment, for so it might be
called, was three feet six inches long. Close by was another bone,
which might have been an ilium ; it had no medullary cavity, its
length was one foot nine inches, constricted towards the middle,
where its breadth was reduced from one foot one inch at the
extremity, to only eight inches and a-half. A diagonal ridge
traversed the bone from end to end. All attempts to save these
bones were unavailing. The usual consistent adhesiveness of the
thin liquid glue application failed to consolidate the bone, for the
cells were filled with the impalpable, penetrating sand-grains.
The next find was a left alveolus, three feet two inches long ; the
diameter of the orifice to receive the tusk was five and a-half inches,
which corresponded with the diameter of the anterior end of a
tusk which was lying near it, its posterior end expanded into a
thin, wing-like plate. The remains of other tusks were profusely
disseminated in the upper part of the fossiliferous bed.
The following is a list of the remains found in the year 1888 :
1. A left humerus 4 feet long.
2. A radius 2 feet long.
3. An ulna, length 2 feet 2 inches.
4. An entire scapula with ridge and recurved process.
5. The anterior border and fossa of a scapula 3 feet 6 inches
long, and 9 inches from the border to the ridge and spine.
6. The left side of a pelvis, ischium missing ; length of ilium and
outer border 3 feet 10 inches.
7. An ischium (?) detached ; length (transverse) 2 feet 2 inches,
breath at broadest end 1 foot 1 inch, at most constricted part
8 inches.
XOTE OX ELEPHAS MERIDIOXALIS. 17
8. A femur, length 2 feet 3 inches.
9. A tibia, length 1 foot 10 inches.
10. The massive left alveolus of an upper jaw, the cavity of
which corresponded Avith a magnificent tusk which lay near it.
The orifice for the insertion of the latter was cylindrical and 6
inches in diameter ; the other extremity was somewhat flattened,
expanding into a thin, wing-like plate on one side. Dr. Falconer
considered the angle which the alveolus makes with the frontal
plane affords a mark of distinction between E. meridionalis and
E. primigenitis, but unfortunately, owing to its detachment from
the tusk, the angle cannot be ascertained. Its length is 3 feet
9 inches.
11. A tusk 6 feet 2 inches long, and 6 inches in diameter at its
base. The point, for about 18 inches, rested perpendicularly
upon a bed of waterworn flints, mingled with fine quartz-sand.
By a bold upward curve the tusk was raised two feet four above
the base line, and lay nearly horizontally, at that level in a southerly
direction. The posterior end lay within a few inches of the alveolus.
12. A tusk of much larger dimensions, 7 feet 6 inches long,
and 2 feet 3 inches in circumference at the base. About 18 inches
of the anterior end missing. It was probably in this condition when
the superincumbent bed of clay was deposited, as both are in con-
tact. This tusk differs in shape from the preceding; the curve
(which bore its whole weight as it lay in the bed) had an upward
and forward direction. Both extremities touched the clay-bed above.
The deficient extremity probably had an outward direction.
13. Kemains of other tusks were scattered in several parts of the
deposit. In some places the fragments of ivory were so numerous
as to predominate over the other materials.
1 4. A molar ; crown in use 4| inches long, consisting of 6 plates
(the anterior missing) ; 6 others unexposed and not in use. Breadth
of fourth plate in use 3f inches, depth 4J inches.
15. A molar; crown 1\ inches long, consisting of 10 plates.
Breadth of fourth plate 3| inches ; depth from tenth plate
(posterior) to the fang 5 inches.
18 NOTE ON ELEPHAS MERIDIONALIS.
16. Several other molars of Eleplias ineridionalis have been
found, the whole number being seven, including three plates and
part of the fourth in which the digitations are worn down into
continuous ridges.
17. Isolated plates of other molars are scattered in various parts
of the deposit.
I am inclined to view the bed as Pliocene, deposited immediately
upon the Chalk after previous removal of the lower Tertiary beds,
(of which there are abundant proofs in- the neighbourhood), during
one of the many oscillations to which Europe was subject during
the Pliocene and Glacial ages. A denudation must have removed
the Pliocene bed after its deposition, of which there are no traces
left, as far as our present knowledge goes, except in the Dewlish
sandpit, which has no connection with the Dewlish river ; the
carrying force of the Pliocene stream appears to have come from
the north-east, and the deposit laid down before the present
features of the district were established. The angular flints of
the Dewlish bed are probably derived from the neighbourhood,
the sand and quartz pebbles from some distance, the latter from
an older bed invaded by the Pliocene flood bearing with it the
massive bodies of elephants. The age of the bed will be ascer-
tained with some certainty, if, on further examination next
summer, we find remains of other mammalia, molluscs, and plants.
Proc. Dorset X. H.dkA. F. Club Vol. X. 1889.
FIG. l.
a. A line representing the outline of the valley.
b. River bed.
c. Middle chalk, forming the eastern side of the valley.
d. Elephant bed extending to E.
ee. Dotted line representing former level (theoretical)
of the chalk prior to denudation.
ff. Probable extension of the Pliocene bed over the chalk.
g. Diy valley.
FIG. 2.
Right half of pelvic of E. meridionalis.
(M JRRIGENDUM.
In the explanation of Fig. 1 the "dotted line representing
former level of the chalk prior to' denudation " should h>
ff. , and the succeeding line ee.
Proc. Dorset \. H.dA. F. Club Vol. X. 1889.
FIG. l.
a. A line representing the outline of the valley.
b. River bed.
c. Middle chalk, forming the eastern side of the valley.
d. Elephant bed extending to E.
ee. Dotted line representing former level (theoretical)
of the chalk prior to denudation.
ff. Probable extension of the Pliocene l>ed over the chalk.
g. Dry valley.
FIG. 2.
Right half of pelvic of E. meridionalis.
Proc. Dunet X. II. d'A.F. Club To/. A'. 1889.
1. Elephas primigenius.
2. Elephas antiquus.
3. Elepkas meridionalia.
Proc.Dorset.N.H.kA.F.ChLbVoLX. 1883.
Berjeau fcHihley, del.otlith
WeBt,Newman Jc C imp.
1. Scapula (one-tenth natural size).
2. Tibia (one-eighth natural size).
3. Radius (one-fourth natural size).
4. Humerus (one-eleventh natural size).
ir Jfolk-scptech
relating to $&tmnl pstorp.
By J. S. UDAL, P.E. Hist. Soc. ;
(Member of Council of the Folk-lore Society).
OME twelve years ago I sent to the pages of
Notes and Queries (5th series vii.,- 45, viii., 44)
two lists, containing the names which the country
folk of Dorset ascribe to the common natural
history objects that we see around us, such as
animals, birds, insects, plants, &c. (and which, for
want of a better term, I may call Natural History Folk-speech),
in the hope that other correspondents would do the same for other
counties. That hope, however, I am sorry to say, with but one or
two trifling exceptions, has not been realised.
Since that time the Folk-Lore Society, founded in 1878, has
supplied a decided want in enabling folk-lorists to chronicle in the
pages of its Record and its Journal those special items appertaining
to the study of Folk-lore which might have been lost or overlooked
in the wider and more cosmopolitan columns of Notes and Queries.
I do not think that the Proceedings of the Dorset Natural
History and Antiquarian Field Club have contained much in the
way of folk-lore, with the exception, if I remember rightly, of a
paper on " Sorcery and Witchcraft " from the ever vigorous pen
of the President of the Society, which is to be found in Vol. V.
20 DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS.
This is, perhaps, not to be wondered at when we consider its
constitution, and the objects more especially for which the Society
was formed. Nor could it, amongst the more solid and valuable
articles that have filled its pages, well have found place for those
isolated scraps of folk-lore which I would venture to suggest are so
pre-eminently suited for the pages of that new aspirant for our
favour and support, the Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries, a
periodical which, from its artistic merits and interesting contents,
has already received a hearty welcome and support from many
members of our own society. There seems to be no reason, however,
why the Dorset Field Club should not include in its " Proceedings "
articles on the subject of folk-lore of a greater length and a more
solid character, perhaps, than are suited for the pages of its younger
contemporary ; and it is with that object, and in the hope that my
example may be followed by others, that I have compiled the
folloAving paper, which appeals both to the natural history and to
the antiquarian side of my readers.
I may say at once that it would be impossible in contributions of
this nature, not to find that certain words and expressions, though
considered at first as peculiar to one, appertain in reality to several
counties ; for the boundaries of our country folk-speech know no
geographical limits. Were only such words to be inserted that are
shown upon inspection to belong to one individual county and no
other, a vast number of undoubted provincialisms would be un-
chronicled altogether, and the loss to the student of comparative
folk-lore would in consequence be very great.
Again, if this is to be done at all, it must be done soon, or it will
be too late. Year by year, under the civilising influence of com-
pulsory education and the unsympathetic attitude of the Board
Schools, our country folk are becoming, if not ashamed at least
more shy of confessing to those popular superstitions and
quaint old customs that once awed and delighted our ancestors ;
and it would not be difficult, I think, to prophesy that before
many years have passed the antiquary and the lover of folk-
lore alike may look in vain for the survival amongst us of
DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS. 21
aught that appertains to superstition, legend, or custom. The
harvest has long been ready to hand, and it only remains for us to
gather it in ; there will be no seed for any future harvest, of that
we may be sure. In the hope, then, as I have said, that my
example may be followed by folk-lorists of other counties, I now
append a list of Natural History Folk-speech from a Dorsetshire
source, for the compilation of which I am principally indebted to
the late Eev. W. Barnes's Glossary of the Dorset Dialect, published
for the Philological Society in 1863, and his recent additions to
it published from time to time in the Dorset County Chronicle,
and which have doubtless found their way into the last edition of
the Glossary that was published just before the death of the
Dorset poet in 1886; the late Mr. Pulman's Book of the Axe;
and other more private sources, including my own collection
of words. To this I have added an account of any superstitions
(from a Dorsetshire source) that may be known to bear reference to
any object of natural history contained in the subjoined list of pro-
vincialisms, together with those which concern other objects of
natural history whose local names I have not yet been able to gather.
This arrangement, though, perhaps, not one to be approved of by
the scientists of the Folk-lore Society, will, nevertheless, I trust,
commend itself to the possibly less exacting members of the Dorset
Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, if only for the
advantage it will afford with regard to simplicity of reference.
I may, perhaps, call the attention of those of our readers who may
be meditating a contribution from a Somersetshire source, to a list
of Avords in the dialect of that county published in Notes and
Queries (5th series, viii., 358), in which several of the names there
given belong also to Dorset. This may only be expected, perhaps,
from two counties that not only are contiguous but whose dialect
would appear to bear more resemblance to each other than either
of the neighbouring counties of Devon and Cornwall.*
* I would take this opportunity, if I may be allowed, to appeal to
all those who are interested in the subject of Dorsetshire folk-lore for
contributions, either by way of addition to the particular subject of this
paper, or generally with reference to any superstitious, legends, or customs,
22 DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS.
Adder : It is said that if any auimal or man has been bitten by
an adder the best remedy that can be used is the fat taken from the
adder that has caused the injury. There seems to be a fancy that
the pest that has caused the injury contains in itself also the remedy.
If you dream of adders or snakes it is a sign that you have
enemies who are trying to do you some secret mischief ; the same
meaning is attached to dreaming of bees and wasps.
Air-mouse : The bat (see Here-mouse).
Aller : The alder tree (alnus glutinosa.)
Ash-candles : The seed vessels of the ash tree. The properties
of the ash, whether for the purposes of charms or divinations are
widely known.
In Dorset the belief was widespread that if a young maiden ash
(i.e., not polled) were split and a ruptured child drawn through it,
the latter would become cured. The late Mr. Barnes stated that he
had known of two trees through which children had been so drawn.
[See Gilbert White's Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne
as to this.]
Some people, believing the ash to be dioecious (that is to say,
the male and female flowers were found on different trees),
select what they suppose to be a female ash for a male patient and
vice versa. But I have the authority of our worthy President for
saying that although some members of the ash family are dioecious,
it is not the case with the common ash, which is undoubtedly
polygamous. Further, as the tree to be selected must be a sapling,
and therefore not old enough to bear fruit, its sex, if different,
could not be ascertained.
The ash is also considered as throwing some light upon the
probable success or otherwise of the corn crops, as the following
couplet would tend to show :
" As ash do coaly
Wheat do lowly."
that obtain in the county. Any such assistance would be particularly
valuable to me in my contemplated work on Dorsetshire Folk-lore, and would
be most gratefully received.
DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS. 23
That is, as the bud of the ash blackens, so in proportion will the
wheat be light or heavy in ear.
The ash, in conjunction with the oak (which see post), is a very
favourite test, according as one or the other is the first to put forth
its leaves, as to what kind of weather may be expected during the
ensuing season :
" If the ash is before the oak,
Then there'll be a very great smoke ;
If the oak is before the ash,
Then there'll be a very great splash."
And variants of this are common. The use of ash twigs, in
place of hazel, as " divining rods " for purposes of finding water,
is not unknown.
Asker : The water eft or newt.
Bammy ; A new-born lamb.
Barley-bird : The wry-neck.
Barrow-pig : A hog ; not a sow.
Beacon-weed : The plant goose-foot (clienopodium.)
Bearg : A wild boar.
Bedwine : The traveller's joy (clematis vitalba).
Beetle-head (Bioeitle-liead) : The bull-head, or miller's thumb ;
bunch-head (coitus gobio). Also the tadpole.
Bennets : The stems and flower-head of grass (agrostis).
Biddle (Bittle) : A beetle : the tool.
It is commonly supposed that if you kill a black-beetle (or a fly)
twenty of them will come to the funeral. No doubt this belief
may be attributed to the fact that no matter how many blackbeetles
or flies you may destroy there is apparently no diminution whatever
in their numbers.
Billy : (i.) a bull (ii.) a bundle (fr. billet).
A bullock's heart was a favourite charm in Dorset for warding off
the malignant influence of witches. A few years ago, upon a house
at Hawkchurch being vacated by its tenant, an obstruction was
found in one of the chimneys, which, on being removed, was found
to consist of a bullock's heart, into which was stuck a quantity of
24 DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS.
the prickles of the white thorn, some nails, pins, and other things.
The object of the obstruction was considered to have been to prevent
the access of witches to the house by means of the chimney ! The
same precaution is sometimes used to keep fairies out.
Bird : If a bird, and more particularly if a robin, happens to
come into a house, it is looked upon as an omen of death a sign
that some one in that house will shortly die. A bird tapping at
the window is a very ominous sign.
Bird-pears : Haws ; the fruit of the hawthorn. (See Hails).
Bird's-eyes : The flowers of the speedwell ( veronica chavioedrys).
Black Bob : The cockroach (blatta orientalis).
Black Jack: The caterpillar of the turnip-fly (athalia spinamm).
Bloody-warriors : The garden wall-flower, so called from the
blood-like tinges on its corolla (cheiranthus clieiri).
Blover : The black pollack.
Botherum : The yellow ox-eye ; com marigold (chrysanthemum
segetum.)
Boy's love : The herb southernwood * (artemisia abrotanum).
Box : If a sprig of box in ftoioer be brought indoors, death
will soon cross the threshold.
Broad-grass : The common red clover (trifolium pratense).
Broad-weed : The cow parsnip.
Brown-shell-nut : A kind of brown-rinded apple.
Bryanstone-Buck : The stag-beetle (lucanus cervus), so called
from being often found in the neighbourhood of Bryanston.
Bumble-Bunnen : A sea-fish ; the smaller kind of Conner.
Butter-and-eggs : The yellow toad-flax ; so called from the
yellow and white of its corolla (linaria vulgaris.) See Eggs-and-
bacon.
Butter-daisy : The great white ox-eye (chrysanthemum leucan-
themuni).
Button (Button-craicler) : The wood-louse.
Cammick : The plant restharrow (ononis arvensis).
* It is somewhat curious that this herb is called "old man" in several
other counties.
DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS. 25
Cat : A cat that is born in May is generally said to bring
snakes into the house.
If you want your cat to be a good "jiiouser" you should get
some one to give you one ; a cat that is bought is never good for
much.
Cattle : If cattle during wet and miserable weather are seen
feeding at the top of a hill, it is considered to be a sign that the
weather will soon clear up.
Cavings : The husks of barley.
Cox-head : The dry head of the wild carrot or other umbel
(see Kecks).
Clieat : "Wild oats, or oats which, from lack of soil or food, or
other cause, have degenerated into the wild form. The bearded
darnell (lolium temulentum).
J. E. Taylor in Half-hours in the Green Lanes (4th ed : 1877,
p. 275), says that the bearded darnel (lolium temulentum), so called
from its long awns, is supposed by some writers to be the " tares "
to which the Saviour alluded in His parable of the tares and wheat.
The seeds of this species have a very peculiar intoxicating effect.
When malted with barley the ale produced from the mixture
produces speedy drunkenness, and if they are ground up with
bread com, the bread, if eaten hot, produces a similar effect.
Smith in his Bible Plants states that even death has been caused
by eating bread containing darnel. Its poisonous properties were
well known to Theophrastus and other Greek writers, and Gerard,
in his Herbal, says "The bread wherein darnel is, eaten hot,
causeth drunkenness ;" hence in some books it is called " drunken
darnell." It is also said to cause blindness. The attribution of
poisonous properties to the bearded darnel is not mere folk-lore.
Linnseus says that the seeds baked in bread are hurtful, and, if
malted with barley, produce giddiness. Bentley suggests that this
may be due to the seeds becoming ergotized, as the effects described
closely resemble those of the common ergot. (Upon this subject
see Notes and Queries, 7th s., vii., 46, 198).
Cheese-eater : The tomtit J so called from its cry.
26 DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AtfD SUPERSTITIONS.
Clieeses : Tlie inner shell or pod of the mallow ; so called
by children who eat them, and liken them to a miniature " blue
vinny."
Cheffon : The chaffinch.
Chibble (dtibbol) : A young onion (Marsh wood).
Cleden (Clydent) : Goose-grass (galium aparine) ; called also
cleavers, clavers, or clivers, from their cleaving to anything.
Clock : A door-beetle ; a clinger.
Clote : The yellow water-lily (nuphar luted).
Cock : A cock crowing at the door is a sign of coming visitors.
If a cock crows in the afternoon, according to some, it foretells a
death in the family of its owner, or as others say, it signifies that
sickness in the place will shortly follow. An old woman once said :
" If the cock crows after twelve o'clock noon her is doing it to
bring I bad news, or John may be bad ageau. I can't a-bear to
hear 'en."
Cockle (cuckle) : The burr of the burdock (arctium lappa).
(See Cookoo).
Collie : The blackbird.
Colt : It is generally believed that colts born in May have an
awkward trick of lying down in water as you ride through.
Comfrey (sympltytum officinale) : " Is a capital cure, but I don't
know what for or in what form. A salve, I think (presumably for
sores), but you must take care to use the red-flowered sort for men
and the white for women." (Mr. H. J. Moule, in the Folk-lore
Journal y vol. vi., p. 116, and Conf. Black's Folk Medicine, pp. 108
et seq.)
Conners : Ground-fish ; rife by shores with a rocky bottom.
Conker : The ripe fruit of the wild rose ; the single or " canker"
rose.
Coocli : Couch-grass, quitch-grass ; creeping wheat grass (triticum
repens).
Copse (cops) : A thick head of sprouts or shoots or tufts of
grass.
Coiimli Jack : The Cornish chough (corous graculus).
DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS. 27
Cows-and- Calves : Lords and ladies ; the barren and fertile
flowers of the cuckoo-pint (arum maculatum).
Cow-white : A customary payment in lieu of tithe-milk of a
cow, is called in some parts of West Dorset " cow- white money,"
or simply "cow-white." (Hutchins, 2nd Ed., 1796).
Crannick : A root of furze or stool of a furze bush.
Crewel : The cowslip (primula, verts).
Christen : A small kind of plum.
Crow-garlic : Allium vineale.
Crow-shell : The fresh-water mussel shell (unio), so called
because the crows take them from the water, and, having eaten
their contents, leave them in the meadows.
Crumplen : A small apple, crumpled from defective or con-
strained growth.
Cuckoo : The wild burr and burdock (arctium lappa). (See
Cockle.)
Cuckoo-flower : The lady's-smock or bitter-cress (cardamine
pratensis), on which cuckoo-spittle is often found.
Cuckoo-spittle : The frothy nidus of the cicada spumaria,
attributed to the spitting of the cuckoo.
Cuckoo' s-bread : "Wood-sorrel (oxalis acetosella).
Culver : The wood-pigeon or ring-dove.
In connection with pigeons may be mentioned the common
superstition, by no means confined to Dorset, that pigeons' feathers
should always be thrown away, and never on any account used
for stuffing beds or pillows, for it is believed that persons cannot
die peacefully if lying upon them. This accounts for the not
uncommon occurrence in olden time of a poor lingering mortal
being lifted on to the floor in order that he may not die so hard !*
Apropos of a person dying hard, it was sometimes the practice in
the neighbourhood of Whatcombe for those in attendance on the
dying person to observe which way the planks of the floor lay, and
* It is, moreover, a Hindoo and Mahomedan custom to lay a dying man
on the floor. ConJ. Henderson's Folk-lore of the Northern Counties, p. 60,
and Gregor's Folk-lore of North-east of Scotland, p. 206.
28 DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS.
if they happened to be cross- ways with the bed they turned the
person round so that he would go with the boards.
Cups-and-Saucers : The leaves of the navel-wort (cotyledon
umbilicus) ; found in profusion in the crevices of old walls.
Cut : Cutty (Cutty-icren) : The kitty-wren (troglodytes vulgaris).
It is considered a sign of good luck if a " cutty " or " cuddy "
builds in your hayrick, though if it is heard to sing or cry very
much it is held to be a sign of rain.
In conjunction with the robin, the wren is always looked upon
with affection, and treated as a friend by the poor, who often
repeat the following verses :
" If 'twere not for the robin and the wran,
A spider would overcome a man."
Again, the particular providence which is supposed to watch over
them is testified by the lines often heard :
" The robin and the wren,
Are God Almighty's cock and hen,"
to which are sometimes added
" The martin and the swallow,
Are God Almighty's bow and arrow."
[See note to " Reddick."~\ I trust but of this I am not certain
that the barbarous custom of " hunting the wren " at Christmas-
tide was never popular in Dorset.
Daffidowndilly : The daffodil (narcissus pseudo-narcissus).
You should always take care when daffodils or Lent lilies are
brought into the house for the first time in the season that they
should consist of a good quantity, for otherwise something would
be sure to go wrong with your poultry.
DeviVs cow : A flat kind of beetle.
Devil's snujf-box : The puff-balL
Deic-berr^y : A large kind of blackberry.
Die-dapper : A dabchick.
Dill-cup : The butter cup (ranunculus bulbosus).
Disli-waslier : The water- wagtail. (See Polly-Wash-Dish).
Dock : The plant ruinex. Children rub dock leaves on their
DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS. 29
skin as an antidote to the stinging of a nettle, singing " Out
nettle, in clock."
Dog : The howling of a dog by night, or before the house door,
is looked upon as an omen or sign of death.
Dorset being an agricultural, and particularly a dairy -farming
county, perhaps the following somewhat repulsive recipe or charm
for a cool hand in butter-making may be of interest to some of my
readers : Take a young dog or puppy, cut it open, and put your
hand and arm inside whilst the animal is still warm.
Droopinq-Bell-of- Sodom : The snake-lily (fritillaria meleagris).
Dumble-dore : The humble-bee.
In most counties the bee is considered as a peculiarly apt subject
of augury for good or ill. In Dorset it is believed that if a young
" dumble-dore" or humble-bee comes inside the house it denotes the
arrival of a stranger during the day. You must not, however,
drive it out, or it will bring you ill luck, for such an. act is looked
upon as driving out a friend. But it is at the time of swarming
that bees become particular objects of veneration and often of
alarm. For instance, if a swarm of bees take possession of a roof
of a house it portends death to the owner of it. Again, if the
swarm settles on a dead branch of a tree or shrub, or pitches upon
dead wood, it is looked upon as a sign of death. It is, moreover,
considered very unlucky to " pot " a swarm of bees after nightfall.
The period at which the swarming should take place, in order to
be of value to the owner, is shown by the following lines :
" A swarm of bees in May
Is worth a load of hay.
A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spoon.
A swarm of bees in July
Is not Avorth a fly.
To dream of bees or wasps is looked upon as a sign that you have
enemies who are trying to do you some secret mischief.
Duncli-neUle : The dead nettle (lamium purpureum).
Dunnick : The hedge-sparrow.
30 DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS.
Dun-piddle : The kite or moor-buzzard.
Ea'cor : An acorn (lamium).
Ea#s : An earthworm.
Eygs-and- bacon : The flowers of the bird's-foot trefoil ; the
field snap-dragon or toad-flax (linaria vulgaris), also called Tom^
Thumb's fingers and thumbs. See butter-and-eggs.
Eltrot : (Eltroof) : The stalk and umbel of the wild parsley
(anthriscus sylvestris). .
Ever-gross : (Every-grass) : A species of grass or rye-grass (lolium
jierenne).
Evet : An eft ; an ewt, or a newt. [Xote in 1886 Glossary ,
p. 62. The Saxon is efete, nearest to which is the Dorset evet ; but
newt seems to be a blunder of taking an-ewt for a-neict and putting
the n of the article on to the name. The sister Teutonic tongues
show no such shape. Ewt may be a shortening of ewet.~\
Fareioell-Summer: The dwarf Michaelmas daisy (aster trijwliiim).
Fire-tail : The redstart.
Flesh-flij : The blow-fly (miisca vomitoria).
For the superstition obtaining as to the killing of flies or black-
beetles, see note to Biddle.
Flook (Fluke) : A worm (distoma liepaticd) found in the livers
of " coafched" sheep ; the plaice.
Foresters (Forest-flies) : Horse-flies.
Freemarten : The female calf of a twin, of which the other is a
bull. It is always said to be barren. [Xote in Glossary, p. 56.
" When twin calves are born they may be both perfect bull or
perfect cow calves. When one is a bull calf and the other is a
cow calf the latter in general will not breed from malformation of
the genital organs. Mayo's Physiology, 4th ed., p. 390."]
Frith : Brushwood.
Frog-hopper ; The whole of the genus cicada or tettigonia of
Linnaeus is often so-called.
Frog's-meat : The leaves of the wake-robin (arum maculatum).
Gapnwuth : The goat-sucker or night-jar.
Gawky : The cuckoo : pronounced gookoo in Dorset.
DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS. 31
It is commonly believed that whatever you happen to be doing
when you first hear the cuckoo you will be mostly doing during the
year. It is also important when and where you hear it, for if it is
after Old Midsummer Day, or you happen to be in a churchyard,
you won't live the year out. That Midsummer is an unusually
late period to hear the cuckoo, we may gather from the following
lines, which Avere repeated by an old woman, who has recently
died, in the village of Symondsbury, aged nearly 90 :
" Cuckoo is here (heard T) in April,
Cuckoo is here in May,
Cuckoo here on Midsummer's Eve,
But not on Midsummer's Day."
With this we may compare a local variant of the better known
rhyme :
" In April
He comes ;
In May
He sings all day ;
In June
He changes his tune ;
In July
He prepares to fly ;
In August
Go he must."
Giddy-gander : The early purple orchis (orchis mascuJa) and the
green-winged meadow-orchis (orchis mono) and other common
species of orchis are so called in the Vale of Blackmore. (See
Single-castle). An ointment of a bright delicate green colour used
to be made from the large butterfly-orchis (orchis bifolia) and
applied to ulcers.
Gil-cup (Gilty-cup) : The butter-cup (ranunculus bulbosus), so-
called from the gold-like gloss of its petals.
Gipsy-rose : The lilac field-flower (knautia arvensis) ; the
scabiosa atropurpurea.
God Almighty's Cow : The lady-bird (cocinella s&ptem punctata).
32 DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS.
[Note in Glossary, p. 58. " Children will often catch this
insect, and, as Howitt says, children do in Germany, put it on the
tip of a finger repeating :
" Leady-bird ! leady-bird ! vlee away hwome ;
Your house is a-vire, your childern wull burn."]*
The number of spots on a lady-bird's wing is sometimes taken to
foretell the price of wheat, each spot representing a shilling per
bushel, and so on.
Golden-chain : The laburnum (cytisus laburnum).
Golden-drop : A variety of wheat.
Goose : It is generally believed that if geese fly up hill it
foretells fine weather. If they fly down hill the reverse may be
expected.
Grab : The crab-apple.
Grabstock : A young crab-tree, or the cutting of one.
Grammer-greygle : The blue-bell, or rather the wild hyacinth
(hyacinthus non scriptus).
Gribble : A young crab-tree or black thorn ; or a knotty
walking stick made of it.
Hails (Hayels) : Haws ; the fruit of the hawthorn (see Bird-
pears).
Hairy-palmer : A caterpillar. Also the palmer-worm.
Hame (Haulm) : The hollow stalks of plants (e.g., bean-hame ;
peais-hame ; teatys-hame).
Hart-berry : The whortle-berry ; bilbery (vaccinium).
Harvest-man : The crane-fly or daddy-long-legs (tipula oleracea).
Hasketts : Hazel and maple bushes ; brushwood.
Hassock (Hassick) : A tuft of sedge.
Hav : The spikelet of the oat (avena saliva).
Haves (Heps) : The fruit of the wild rose the dog-rose (rosa
canina) and other species.
Hay-maiden : A wild flower or plant of the mint tribe ; ground
ivy (glecoma Jiederacea), used for making a medicinal liquor called
" hay-maiden tea."
* Conf. Spanish version there given.
DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS. 33
Hei.ire-nut : Bunium ftexuosum. Hares are fond of its green
leaves. Boys eat its roots or nuts in the spring.
In Notes and Queries (6th series, iv., 406, 457) two correspon-
dents give evidence from a Dorsetshire source of the belief in the
efficacy of a dose of hare's brains as a means of soothing trouble-
some infants, At another reference (xi., 306) is an account of a
rabbit's brains having been given to a child at Lyme Regis with the
same object. It is a common belief in Dorset that an old witch
often takes the form of a hare and haunts the downs and hills at
night, being only visible at the dead of night, and that nothing will
take effect against her but a silver bullet. (See The Haunted Hare
one of the " Songs of Dorset," contained in a collection of poems
called The Olden and Modern Times, by the Eev. W. Smith-
Marriott, published in 1855).
Helrut (Helroot) : The herb Alexander (smyrnium oliisatrum)
[Portland] (1 heal-root).
Hen : It is considered unlucky to set a hen upon an even
number of eggs. I have been told it used to be considered in Dorset
that the proper (though to my notion somewhat barbarous) way
of " setting a hen " was to put its head under the right wing and
swing it round till it fell asleep (!) before placing it on the eggs !
Upon this subject I have received the following note from the
late Rev. W. K. Kendall, Vicar of East Lulworth, to whom I am
indebted for several interesting items of folk-lore :
" In setting eggs under a broody hen the country people believe
it best to set an uneven number, as 9, 11, 15, &c., and many also
are careful to set them during the increase of the moon. These
fancies are as old as Columella, who says (viii., 5) 'Numerus
ovorum quae subjiciuntur impar observatur nee semper idem. . .
Semper autem cum supponuntur ova considerari debet, ut luna
crescente a decima usque ad quintam decimam id fiat. ' ' It is to
be observed that in Columella's time (early part of first century of
Christian era) it was not sufficient that the moon should be merely
waxing ; it must have been nearly full. I am not aware that that
restriction obtairs in Dorset, either in the setting of hens or with
34 DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS.
regard to the similar superstition attaching to the slaughter of pigs
(see Mallocks).
Hoils (lies) : The beard or aAvns of barley (see Spiles).
Holrod (Olrod): The cowslip (primula verts) [Swanage] (Conf.
Helrut.
Honible : A duck.
It is a subject of common belief that ducks hatched in May are
more liable to sprawl than those hatched at any other time of the year.
Hume-screech : The missel-thrush (see Stone-thrush.)
Honey-zuck : The honey-suckle (lonicera periclymenum).
Hoop : The bullfinch (see Micope).
Horse : The belief that the character and quality of a horse
can be gauged by the number of white legs or "stockings" he
possesses is too widely spread for me ever to imagine that the
following version is even confined to Dorset :
" If you have a horse with/cw white legs,
Keep him not a day ;
If you have a horse with three white legs,
Send him far away ;
If you have a horse with ttco white legs,
Sell him to a friend ;
If you have a horse with one white leg,
Keep him to the end."
[Conf. : A "Warwickshire version :
" One white foot, buy him ;
Ttco white feet, try him ;
Three white feet, no go ;
Four white feet, give him [to] the crow."]
lloss-adder : l
Hoss-stinger
I may mention here that, as a rule, the country folk are right as
regards the natural attributes which their provincial names imply,
but in this case it is a misnomer ; for the dragon-fly, however
uncanny an object it may be to handle, is not provided by nature
with the means to earn the name here given to it,
[The dragon-fly (libelluld).
r : )
DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS. 3o
ffoss-tongue : The hart's-tongue fern (scolopendrium vulgare).
Hud (Hood] : The hull or legume.
Ingle-dog : An earthworm (Marshwood).
Jack-in-the-Green : The polyanthus (primula variabilis).
Jilloffer : The gilliflower or stocks (the cheiranthus cheiri and
matthiola incana).
Jobbler : The wheatear.
Keiif : The waste of short straws, &c., in threshing (? chaff).
Kecks (Kex) : The dead stalk of hemlock or cow-parsley (see
C ax-head).
Keys : The seed vessels of the sycamore and maple.
Kid : A pod or legume (e.g., a bean-kid ; a pea-kid).
Kiss-me-quick : The red valerian (valeriana ntbra) ; called in
other counties Pretty Betsy.
Kitty-coot : Tne water-rail (see SJcitty).
Knap : The yet unopened floAver-head of the potato and some
other plants.
Lag-wood : The large sticks from the head of a tree ripped of
bark. The smaller ones are called " rundlewood," q.v.
Lam'* grass : Spring grass ; early grass, as distinguished from
eegrass.
Lavers (Lerers : Livers) : The great yellow flag or its leaves
(Iris pseudacorus).
Leadi/s-cusltion : The thrift (armeria vulgaris) [Portland].
Life-of-man : See Moses-in-the-bulmsJies.
Lily : If there are six blossoms on most of the spikes of the
white garden-lily (candidiim) the price of wheat will be six shillings
per bushel ; and so forth. The same calculation is made from the
number of spots on the lady-bird's wings.
Loup : A kind of sea-louse, somewhat like a wood-louse, which,
in warm summer weather, eats the bait which fishermen set in
lobster pots. The late Rev. Canon Bingham is my authority for
the statement that nine lice (not wood-lice, but the ordinary species)
eaten upon a piece of bread and butter is a sovereign remedy for
jaundice, and he further stated that upon enquiry he found that
36 DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS.
such a recipe was generally known and practised in certain parts of
Dorsetshire.
Madders (Mathers) : The stinking camomile (anthemis cotula).
Maypie : The belief that the appearance of the magpie, accord-
ing as it is seen alone or accompanied by others of its species, has
an influence in the course of human events is common to many
countries. The form best known to me as obtaining in Dorset is
the following :
One sign of anger,
Two sign of mirth,
Three sign of wedding,
Four sign of birth.
And some will add :
" Five heaven, six hell,
Seven the deil's ain sell."
But this last line savours too strongly of a Scottish accent to
please Wessex ears.
It is believed in some parts of Dorset that if a magpie remain
over a man in the plough field all day he will be sure to die.
Mullocks : Pigs.
You should never eat pig's brains (or, as some say, pig's marrow)
as it makes you tell all you know.
Some people are very particular as to what time of the moon
their pigs are slaughtered for market, as it is believed that if they
are killed during the waxing of the moon the carcases will gain in
weight, but that the reverse will be the case if it be done when the
moon is waning. Conf. note to Hen.
Marten : A heifer that will not breed (see Freemarten).
May-balls : The balk of white flowers which characterise the
cultivated variety of the Guelder rose. Also called Snow-balls.
Medden : Same as madders, q.v.
Medden-tree : A tree not polled. [Xote Additional Glossary :
" It is an axiom here that none but a plant raised from a seed
and never cut off will produce decent timber. The idea of
' maiden ' is no doubt this : that the plant has never produced
DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS. 37
anything by way of offspring ; thus a polling, or such cutting off,
results in the production of several shoots or stems, and if only
one of these be allowed to grow yet it never becomes good timber."]
Mearijs tears : The spotted liverwort (pulmonaria).
[Note in Additional Glossary : "At Osmington, and, no doubt,
at other places in our county, there is a survival of a sweet, simple,
old-world piece of folk-lore about the spotted liver-wort. The
cottagers like to have it in their gardens, and call it 'Mary's
Tears.' The legend is that the spots on the leaves are the marks of
the tears shed by St. Mary after the crucifixion. Further, and this
to me is a quite unknown tradition, her eyes were as blue as the
fully opened flowers, and by weeping the eyelids became as red as
the buds."]
Another form of this legend is given by Mr. H. J. Moule in the
Folk-lore Journal, vol. vi., p. 118, as follows : " There stood by
the ?ross His mother. Now, there grew on Mount Calvary a
green-leaved plant with flowers of deep azure blue, but the buds
were red. St. Mary's eyes were blue as the flowers, but with
weeping her eyelids were as red as the buds. And, as she wept,
her tears fell on the leaves and spotted them. And spotted they
have been from generation to generation ever since, and the plant
is grown in cottage gardens, and its name is " Mary's Tears." But
books call it Pulmonaria."
Since this paper was read before the recent Field Club meeting
at Dorchester, I have received the following note from a lady who
spent her childhood in North Dorset, and to whom I am indebted
for several interesting items of plant-lore, &c. in which she says :
" It is not correct to call this plant Liver-wort that is Hepatica ;
it should be called Lung-wort. I have heard it called Faith, Hope,
and Charity. The flowers are first red, then lilac, then blue. Pro-
bably the name ' Mary's Tears ' was originally applied to the larger
kind Pulmonaria angustifolia which has handsome and con-
spicuously spotted leaves."
Meat-ware, : Potatoes ; pulse ; and other farinaceons food.
Meoze (Mesh) : Moss.
38 DOUSETSHIHE FOLK-SPEECH AM) SUPERSTITIONS.
Merry : The wil I cherry (cerasus sylvestris).
Miller (Millard) : A large white moth, such as the puss-moth
ta vinuld) and the pale tussock-moth (phalwna, pwlibumhi).
[Note in the Glossary, p. 70 : " Children catch these moths or
"millers," and, having interrogated them on their taking of toll,
make them plead guilty and condemn them in these lines :
' Millery, millery, dousty poll !
How many zacks hast thee a-stole 1
Vowr an' twenty, an' a peck.
Hang the miller up by 's neck.' "
Milk-maids : The white campion (lychnis vespei'tina).
Mock : The butt or stump of a tree. [See Moot.]
Money-Spider : The arauna scenica.
If you take a money-spider by the thread that it hangs from and
swing it three times round your head without throwing it off, and
then put it in your pocket, it is believed it will soon bring you
money.
Moot : The butt of a felled tree ; the bottom of its trunk and
its roots. [See Mock.']
More : The top root of a flower or small plant ; the single root
of a tree.
Moses-in-tlie-bulrushes : The spider-wort (Tradescantia virginica).
Also called Life-of-man.
Mote '. A stalk of corn or grass [e.g., a straw-mote. See
Stramote.]
Mouel : The field-mouse (mus sylvaticus).
Mourning-ividoio : The cultivated variety of the dark scabious
(scabiosa atropurpurea).
Mutton-tops or chops : The young tops or shoots of the goose-
foot (chenojJodiiim) sometimes boiled in the spring for food.
Micope : The bullfinch (see Hoop).
Nessel-tripe : The most weakly or last-born of a brood of fowls,
the fare of pigs, or a family of children.
Nettle : The pharmacopeia contained in the country lore of
most districts provides for the alleviation or cure .of the effects of a
DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS. 39
sting from this obnoxious plant. The following lines show Avhat
in Dorset is considered the proper time for getting rid of the plant
altogether :
" Cut nettles in June,
They come again soon
Cut them in July,
They're sure to die."
Nirrup : A donkey.
The three stripes found on a donkey are believed to denote the
three strokes given by Balaam to his ass.
Nut : Double or twin-nuts are often carried in the pocket as a
specific for toothache.
Oak : The aid of the oak tree is sometimes invoked as a
charm against tooth-ache. The proceeding is as follows : Go to a
young oak-tree, cut a slit in the tree, cut off a bit of your hair, put
it under the rind, put your hand up to the tree, and say, " This I
bequeath to the oak-tree, in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."
For the use of the oak, in conjunction with the ash, as an augury
of the weather, see note to Ash-candles.
Odrod : See ffolrod.
Old-man' s-beard : The mare's tail (hippuris vulgaris).
Old-man' s-beard : The seed-vessels of the wild clematis (vitalba).
Or gin : The herb pennyroyal (mentha pulegium).
Pane : A parsnip.
Pimrose : The first r is always omitted in proper Dorset
pronunciation. The same superstition that prevails with regard
to bringing daffodils into the house, obtains with primroses also.
See Daffidowndilly.
Piss-a-bed : The dandelion (taraxacum dens-leonis) ; more
especially the narrow dandelion (leontodon taraxacum} said to be
very diuretic ; whence its name in Dorset as in France (pissenJit).
Pitcher : A wild plant ; a pollard willow.
Plant : When a plant is primed or cut, you must take care
that the turnings or cuttings are never put in the fire, but are
40 DORSETSHIRE POLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS.
thrown away ; otherwise the plant will never thrive. I am told
that this custom should be particularly enforced in the case of
Christmastide decorations, which should never be burnt after they
are taken down, on pain of the most terrible disasters following
upon the infringement of the rule.
Polly-wash-disli : The water- wag-tail. [See Dish-washer.]
Pommice (Pummice : Pummy) : The dry substance of apples
after the juice is pressed out of them in the cider-press. Pheasants
are particularly fond of " apple-pommice," and a few heaps spread
in a copse have been very effectual in preventing wild birds from
straying out of bounds.
Rams'-claws : The stalks and stalk-roots of the creeping crow-
foot.
Ramsons : The broad-leaved garlic (allium ursinum).
Reddick (Ruddock) : The robin red-breast.
The robin, no less than the wren, has always been looked upon
by country-folk with affection and regard. The sweet and pretty
legend that the red plumage of his breast was owing to the fact
that it was a robin that wounded itself by pressing against the
thorns that composed our Saviour's crown made it an object of
veneration to many, so that we cannot wonder that it forms a
conspicuous subject for augury.
If a robin comes into a house it is looked upon as an omen of
death ; and I have heard it said that if the " sighing " of a robin is
noticed near a house it foretells illness or death to some one of its
inmates. It is extremely unlucky for any one to kill a robin ; and
it used to be said to children that if they ever took robins'
eggs from a nest their little fingers would be sure to grow
crooked.
[For the connection of the robin with the wren see note to
cutty.]
Red-roughs : Scarlet runners ; French beans.
Red-sojer (or soldier) : The scarlet burnet-moth.
Red-weed : The poppy (papaver rlioeas).
Rere-mouse : A bat (see Air-mouse).
DORSETSHIRE tfOLK-SPEECfl AND SUPERSTITIONS. 41
Rice : Brushwood.
Robinlwod : The red campion (lychnis dioica) and the ragged-
robin (lychnis fos cuculi).
Roman Jasmine : The syringa or mock-orange flower.
Rattle-penny : The yellow rattle (rhinantlms cristagalli). See
Shackle-boxes.
Rouets : Tufts of rough grass.
Rough-leaf: A true leaf of a plant, in distinction from its
seed-leaves or cotyledons.
Rundle-icood : The small sticks from the head of a tree ripped
of bark. The larger ones are called " lagwood," q.v.'
Screeches : SAvifts.
Shackle-boxes : The seed-vessels of the yellow rattle (rhinanthus
cristagalli). See Rattle-penny.
Shepherdess : The yellow wag-tail.
Shroiccrop : The shrew-mouse. [Note in Glossary : " The folk-
lore of Dorset is that if a shrew-mouse run over a man's foot it will
make him lame. Hence, in Hampshire, it is called the "over-runner."
Again in the Additional Glossary he says : " It may not seem
clear what a shrew-mouse has in common with a woman shrew.
The shrew-mouse gives a shrill shreaking (sic) sound, and I believe
the shrew is so-called from her shrill shreaking (sic) voice in
scolding."]
Silgreen : The house-leek (semper vivum tectorum). Its leaves
are thought to be cooling and are used with cream for the blood.
Single-castle : The orchis morio and mascula (Portland). (See
Giddy-gander).
Sires : Garlic (allium schcenoprasum) used as a pot-herb.
Skimps : The inner skin or husk of flax used for fuel in drying
it.
Skitty : The water-rail (see Kitty-coot).
Skiver-icood : The spindle-tree (euonymus Europoea) of which
skewers are made.
Snags : The fruit of a species of black-thorn, smaller than sloes
(prunus spinosa).
42 DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS.
The sloe is used in some parts as a charm against the recurrence
of or a cure for warts ; when to obtain the wished-for result the
following process is particularly to be observed : Go to a sloe-bush
unseen ; bite off a part of a growing sloe, leaving the portion with
the stone in it on the bush ; rub the wait with the part bitten off,
and throw it over your head or shoulder.
Snail : The following lines are often used by children in the
endeavour to charm snails out of their holes :
" Snail, snail, come out of your hole,
Or else I'll beat you so black as a coal."
Snake : It is believed that a snake can always be stopped, or
diverted from your path, if you repeat the following verse : " Let
God arise, and let his enemies be scattered." It is believed by
some people that a snake-skin worn in the hat or bonnet is a remedy
for head-ache. (See note to Adder.)
Snake-flower : The wind-flower (anemone nemorosa.)
Snalter (snorter) : The wheatcar [see Jobbfer] (Portland).
Snow-balls : See May-balls.
Sojer (sojerfloK-er) : The soldier-flower (pyroclirosa rubens or
orchis militaris). Also the insect soldier.
Sjiears : The stems of the reed (arundo pltragmites) sometimes
employed instead of lattice to hold plaster.
Spik (spike) : The lavender plant (lavendula spiea).
Sjnles : The beard or awns of barley. [See Hoils.]
Squid : The sea-parrot.
Stare : The starling.
Stone-thrush : The missel-thrush (turdus viscivortis). [See
Home-screech.]
Storm-cock : Another name for the missel thrush.
Stout : The gad-fly or cow-fly (tabanus bovinus).
Striimote : A stalk of straw or grass [see M<ite.~\
Straicen : A " straw ing " of potatoes is the set of potatoes or
stalks growing from one mother tuber.
Stubberrt : An early kind of apple.
If an apple tree blossoms out of season e.g., in the autumn, it
DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS. 43
is regarded as a sign that one of the owner's family will die before
very long. Upon this subject the late Rev. Canon Bingham made
the following communication to Notes awl Queries (4th series, x.,
408) :
" Remarking an apple blossom a few days ago " (month of
November) " on one of my trees I pointed it out as a curiosity to
a Dorset labourer. " Ah ! sir, he said, " 'tis lucky no women folk
be here to see that," and upon my asking the reason he replied,
"Because they'd be sure to think that somebody were a-going
to die."
An apple-pip is often used by girls as a test of their lover's
fidelity. If, on putting it on the fire, it burst with the heat she is
assured of his affection, but if it is consumed in silence she may
know he is false.
Sicallow-2)ear : A tiny wild pear ; so called because it can be
taken whole at a swallow.
In some parts of Dorset the same superstitions which obtain as
to the blossoming of apple trees out of season applies also to pear
trees, when such an unusual occurrence presages trouble or death.
Tarvatch : A species of tare (ervum) that grows among the
corn and in wet weather weighs it down.
Tissty-tosty : A co \vslip-ball, consisting of the blossoms of
cowslips tied in a globular form:
The following lines are repeated by children while playing with
it:
" Tissty-tossty, tell me true,
Who shall I be married to 1 "
The names of A, B, C, (fee., &c., are mentioned until the ball
drops. And again :
" Tissty-tossty, four-and-foarty,
How many years shall I live hearty ? "
The numbers one, two, three, four, &c., &c., are called out until
the ball drops as before.
Toad's-meat : Toadstool ; fungus.
The idea that the toad is capable of exercising the most malign
44 DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AKD SUPERSTITIONS.
influence over persons is firmly rooted amongst the superstitious of
most countries. In Dorset it is believed that if a toad should once
seize a person nothing will make it loosen its hold except boiling
water be poured upon it. It is considered very unlucky if a toad goes
over your foot. Whenever you see a toad you should always spit or
throw a stone at it, in order to ward off any evil effects the sight of it
would otherwise cause you. The idea here of spitting as a preven-
tive of ill may have something to do with the power the toad is
said to possess of spitting its " swelter'd venom " at those who
happen to annoy it. I have heard more than one curious story of
the baneful effects which this "spitting" has supposed to have
caused.
The belief that a toad, or portions of a toad, worn in a bag, are
of great efficacy as a charm or preventivB against evil, is prevalent
in many parts of Dorset ; and not long ago, a " cunning man " or
witch-doctor, used to hold an annual levee in the neighbourhood
of Stalbridge, when he sold out to crowds that thronged round him
the legs torn from a living toad and placed in a bag, which was
worn round the neck of the patient, and counted a sovereign
remedy for scrofula and the " overlooked." It was called " Toad
Fair."
In the recently published Life of William Barnes, by his
daughter Mrs. Baxter (p. 155), is an account of a quack who lived
at Lydlinch, and who professed to cure the king's evil or scrofula
by means of a charm consisting of a toad seAved up in a small bag,
which was to be worn round the neck. It was, however, only
beneficial in the beginning of May at a particular phase of the moon.
In Roberta's History of Lyme Regis (1834), p. 261, the author
states that toads that had gained access to a cellar or house were
ejected with the greatest care, and no injury was offered, because
these were regarded as being used as familiars by witches, with
veneration or awe.
Tom Thumb's finger s-and-ihumbs : See Eygs-and-bacon.
Undei-grimnd-kitty-cat-tceaver : Query, the same as " under-
ground jobbler," q.v. (Marshwood).
DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS. 45
Underground-roses : The double pink (hepatica triloba).
Vanner : The kestrel hawk ; probably so-called from the way it
appears to " fan " the air when hovering.
Vedre : The weasel.
Vedry's head : The fossil echinus the galerites castanea and
some other such kinds.
Vedry's heart : The fossil echinus (spatanguis coranquinum)
common in the chalk and other formations in Dorset, and thought
to be the heads or hearts of fairies.
Veary-rings : The rings of fungi so often seen in the grass
of our downs, Avhich are said to have come from the dancing of
fairies.
[Note in Glossary, p. 96 : " The belief in fairies, one of the
most poetical and beautiful of superstitions, still lingers in the
"West Toadstools, or swams (our forefathers' word for
the Latin fungi), are called fairy-stools, or, in Devon, pixy-stools ;
for as they enrich the soil and bring the fairy-ring by rotting down
after they have seeded outward from its centre, so that the ring of
actual fungi is outside of the fairy-ring, it was natural for those who
believed the ring to be brought by the dancing of fairies to
guess that the fungi were stools upon which they sat down when
tired."]
Wag-wanton : Quaking-grass (briza).
Want : A mole.
Wasps : To dream of wasps or bees is looked upon as a sign
that you have enemies who are trying to do you some secret
mischief.
Wehhnut : A walnut.
Wheat : It is said that you ought on first eating anything
made of new wheat to fill your mouth full, and then you will not
want for anything during the year.
White-rock : The arabis verna-alpida.
Winter-pick : A kind of large sloe.
Withy-wind:- The large white convolvulus (cont'oh'ulussepiuni).
Withy-hanger : The bird tree-creeper.
46
DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS.
Woodcutter :\
>The wood-pigeon or ring-dove see Culver.]
Wood-quest : J
Woodicex : Tlie plant dyer's green-weed (genista tinctoria).
Yeat-smasher : The wheatear [see Jollier.]
J. S. UDAL.
Inner Temple,
February, 1889.
on jtotanu (chieflg (geographical),
By the Rev. R. P. MURRAY, M.A., P.L.S.
ERY little, probably, now remains to be done for
Dorset botany, so far as mere list-making is
concerned (I am referring only to phanerogams).
We already possess our President's "Flora of
Dorset," and we are looking forward to a second
and corrected edition. But let no one tbink that
the work is done when the list has been made, or that the interest
is exhausted. Rather, it is just beginning. Merely to know the
Latin name of a plant is a small thing ; to be cognisant of its
present geographical distribution is not much ; and these things can
be learnt from the "manuals" and "Floras" which have lately
become so numerous. They are our grammars and our dictionaries.
They are indispensable, no doubt, in enabling us to read our
particular volume of the Book of Nature, but let us not mistake
them for the book itself.
Let us assume, then, that we possess a competent elementary
knowledge of the botany of our immediate neighbourhood ; in
other words, that we know what materials are at our command
with which to try and penetrate into some of Nature's secrets.
"What can we do 1 I would answer : Study structure and environ-
ment, and study history. For plants and animals have their
48 NOTES ON BOTANY.
history as well as people and nations. It is a history which is
harder to read, because it runs back into an antiquity to which the
oldest records of our own race are as nothing ; but, on the other
hand, the records (such of them as are left) do not lie to us ; they
have no party bias, and there are no forged documents.
To-day I should like to lay before you a few thoughts which
occur to me in connection with the later history of some of our
rarer plants. How do we come to possess them 1 We all know
that the Flora of Britain is a derivative one. That means that our
plants came to us as immigrants from other lands, and cannot claim
to be avr6x6ov(s. And they came so recently (as geologists
reckon time) that there has not yet been time enough for them to
be differentiated into new species, distinct from those found on the
Continent. To this there are very few exceptions. Among the
fruticose Rubi a few British forms are as yet unknown elsewhere.
The most marked of these is R. longitltyrsiger, Lees \R. pyramidalis,
Bab. non. Kalt.], which is found plentifully in many places in
Wales and the south-western counties of England, and should be
looked for in the western districts of this county. But it mat/ also
grow in Brittany, a province whose brambles require a very careful
examination in connection with Damnonian forms ; and, again, it is
in some of its states very close to R. Bellardi, Weihe, a well known
Continental form.
Then we have another bramble widely distributed over this
country (and also found in Hants), which, though referred by
Professor Babington to R. melanoxylon, P. J. Mull., is stated by
Focke to be quite distinct from that plant, and unknown on the
Continent. Very curiously, he professes himself unable to distin-
guish it from R. fongitliyrsiger, which seems strange to those who
know it in the fresh state. Perhaps one more bramble may be
noticed viz., R. Lindleianus, Lees. This is a well-marked and
very widely distributed form in Britain, but was quite unknown on
the Continent until very lately, when it was found in a single
locality in Northern Germany. It is, however, possible that the
form may have had there an independent origin, which is my reason
NOTES ON BOTANY. 49
for mentioning it in this connexion. At any rate, we have here a
very interesting question. It has generally been held that all
individuals of the same species possess a common ancestry, the
chances against the same form being independently evolved in two
or more places being supposed to be indefinitely small. But why
should not the same parent-species under similar or nearly identical
conditions vary in the same way at more than one time ? Long
ago (if I remember aright) Professor Mivart argued in favour of
this conclusion in the case of certain freshwater fishes, and, after
all, the question of probability may be answered in more than one
way. Xo doubt the chances are very small, yet from an indefinitely
large number of opportunities the most unlikely results may be
expected, though rarely.
In Hieracium it seems not unlikely that Mr. F. J. Hanbury's
Scottish researches may result in the establishment of some
endemic forms ; but neither Hiemcia nor Rubi can claim undoubted
specific rank. Both genera (at least those sections with which we
are concerned) would seem to be at present in a most unstable
condition. Sub-species abound, but sharply defined species can
hardly be found.
There is still one plant, which may possibly claim a purely
British origin. I mean Arabis ciliata, R. Br., a very rare species
found in Clare and Galway, and also reported formerly from
Pembrokeshire. I do not know it all well, but it seems to me
fairly distinct from any form of the common A. sagittata, D.C.,
and also from the continental A. alpestris, Schleich., with which it
has sometimes been identified. Yet Hooker does not consider it
more than a sub-species of A. sagittata. It will now, I think, be
acknowledged, that our endemic forms are, to say the least, very
limited in number and somewhat doubtful in quality.
Returning to the main question, it is well known that the late
Edward Forbes considered our existing Flora as being composed of
five distinct elements. What we may call our ordinary Flora is
markedly Germanic in its type i.e., our common plants are
identical with species indigenous to Germany and the neighbouring
50 NOTES OX BOTANY.
parts of Europe. But our higher mountain summits yield us a
very interesting group of plants, which are not Germanic, but
Scandinavian in their extra-Britannic distribution.- These Scandi-
navian species would come next to the Germanic in point of
number. There were still, in Forbes' opinion, three small
assemblages to be accounted for, one of these being situated in the
south-east of England (Kent), another in the south-west of England
and the south-east of Ireland, and the third in the south-west of
Ireland.
How are we to account for these facts ; this particular grouping
of plants within our area? The question is one of wonderful
interest, and I think that it has not yet found an altogether satis-
factory solution. Forbes' theory was ingenious, and I may,
perhaps, be allowed to refresh your memories by a brief resum/i.
The great mass of the British Flora, as well as of the pulmo-
niferous mollusca, being Germanic, Forbes shewed that it had
migrated from the Continent during the post-pliocene period, after
the bed of the glacial sea had been elevated so as to form a land-
passage between England and the Continent. Naturally the species
of this type are most numerous in our eastern counties, and thin
out gradually as we proceed westward.
But though the migration of plants and animals over the great
Germanic plain accounted for the major part of our British species,
there was still a considerable Flora, and a portion of our Fauna,
which could not be traced to such a source, seeing that they are
inhabitants, not of the ancient west of Europe, but of Scandinavia.
These Alpine species could not have found their way to us after the
Germanic forms, for their areas had then become isolated on
mountain ranges. Geological evidence clearly showed that the
central and northern parts of the British Isles, along with the
Germanic plain, had at one time been covered with an Arctic Fauna
and Flora. This was the glacial period, when an intense cold
prevailed over central and northern Europe. During a part of this
era Forbes maintained that our mountains rose above the sea as
scattered islets, having a northern vegetation, and that as the land
NOTES ON BOTANY. 51
rose, and these islets became isolated mountain tops, the Alpine
plants remained only on the high ground, while the Germanic Flora
spread itself over the lower plains and valleys, and dispossessed
the Arctic forms as the climate grew milder.
Then still remained three limited assemblages of plants and
animals, all derived from continental regions south of the great
Germanic group. The Kentish and Devon Flora (with the latter of
which we in Dorset are most intimately associated), according to
Forbes, must have migrated (probably at two periods anterior to the
Germanic migration) from the north-west and west of France,
across a tract of land now destroyed. But, perhaps, the most
remarkable of all the Floras is that characteristic of the south-west
of Ireland. The peculiar plants of this region were found to be
identical with species either confined to, or abundant in, Spain and
Portugal. No marine currents could account for their transmission,
nor could they have been conveyed as seeds through the air. The
hypothesis which Forbes proposed was that at a period greatly
earlier (post-miocene) than that of the origin of any of the other
Floras there existed a tract of land between Ireland and the
Peninsula, across which the Spanish vegetation crept towards the
north-west.
Now, we need not concern ourselves with the Germanic or
Scandinavian sections of our Flora. The theory which I have
mentioned seems to account very well for this part of the question.
Xor need we quarrel with the suggestion that the so-called Kentish
and Devon Floras came to us from France. But I do not at all
believe in any former land connexion between Ireland and the
Spanish Peninsula. The soundings are too deep to admit of any
such possibility. The special plants of Killarney and the west of
of Ireland must, as it seems to me, have reached us by the same
route as the special plants of Dorset, and Devon, and Cornwall
i.e., along the west coast of France. Why some of these are now
confined (within our area) to Ireland, and some to the south-west of
England; and why some are absent from western France is a
problem which I can only commend to the attention of students,
~rl NOTES ON BOTANY.
without attempting to give any solution of my own. Perhaps the
competition of other species which already occupied the ground
was too keen to allow of the new comers establishing themselves in
more than a very few localities ; perhaps, on the extreme verge of
their possible climatal extension northwards, they could find but
few suitable stations.
But whatever may be the causes which may account for the
present very scattered distribution of the rare plants which give a
special character to our south-western (and to parts of the Irish)
Flora, I should be disposed to think that their arrival within our
own area took place at a more recent date than that suggested by
Professor Forbes, and probably coincided in point of time with the
last period of elevation. I think that none of these southern forms
could have survived in our latitude during any part of the true
glacial epoch, and that our oldest colonists are not those from Spain,
but the northern forms which are now for the most part to be
found only on the summits of Scottish mountains. Two plants
there are, of American origin, which may have reached us earlier.
I refer to Spiranthes Romanzoviana, Cham. [Co. Cork], and
Eiiocaulon septangular - e, With. [Western Ireland and Skye.]
But these were probably accidentally introduced, perhaps by the
agency of birds, so that we have no clue as regards time in their case.
As typical instances of plants which have reached us from
Western France or the Pyrenees, I may mention
Helianthemum ffuttatum, Mill., from Anglesea and Cork.
polifolium, Mill., Somerset and Devon.
Linum augustifolium, Huds.
Ulex : All our forms.
Trifolium Molinerii, Balb, T. Bocconi, Savi, T. strictum, L.,
from the Lizard.
Lotus augustissimus, L., and L. liispidus, Desf.
Ornitliopus ebracteatus, Brot.
Saxifraga umbrosa, L., and its allied forms from the west of
Ireland.
Umbilicus pendulinus, D.C.
NOTES ON BOTANY. 53
Physospermum aquiliyifolium, Koch., from Cornwall.
Bupleurum anstatum, Bart.
Diotis maritima, Cass.
Lobelia urens, L., Devon and Cornwall.
Arbutus Unedo, L., Killarney.
Erica ciliaris, L., E. vagans, L., and E. Mediterranea, L.
Bartsia viscosa, L.
Pinguicula grandiflora, Lam., and P. lusitanica, L.
Thesium linopliyllum, L.
. Euphorbia Peplis, L., E. Hiberna, L.. E. pilosa, L., E. Port-
landica, L.
Romulea Columnar, S. and M. Dawlish Warren.
Simithis bicolor, Kanth. Bournemouth (now, I fear, extinct)
and Kerry.
Juncus pycjnmuSi Kich., and /. capitatus, Weigel. Cornwall.
Cyperus longus, L.
Mibora Verna, P.B., Anglesea.
Oynodon Dadylon, P., Dorset and Cornwall.
Bromus madritensis, L.
Adiantum Capilhis-Veneris, L.
Several of these plants possess for us the special interest of
growing within our own area ; most of them are confined to the
Mediterranean region and to the Atlantic seaboard, and it has been
a great pleasure to me when abroad for my summer holiday to
study them, either on the western coast of France or further south
in Portugal. How many thousands or tens of thousands of years
must have passed since the sea forced its way through the straits
of Dover, and so finally separated the British and Continenal
stocks, we cannot tell, but the period must have been vast. Yet
how slight, or altogether imperceptible, the differences which time
has caused ! Hardly a variety is known, even in such a plant as
Ophrys apifera, Huds., though from its structure it seems to present
almost insuperable difficulties even to an occasional cross with
another individual, so that any variation which might arise ought
to have every chance of preservation.
54 NOTES ON BOTANY.
On the other hand Rosa and the fruticose Ruli seem to be at
present in a most unstable condition. So, in its metropolis, is Ulex.
Here we have three forms ; from the Spanish Peninsula Nyman
enumerates 21, many of them, as I know to my cost, puzzling to
the last degree. Now, here in Dorset, we have a good chance of
studying one point in connection with this genus. Ulex Gallii,
Planch, is very abundant on our heath-lands. Often it is typical
enough, but frequently it gets very close to U. nanus, Forst,
from which I suppose it to have been derived. In northern
Portugal, I have observed typical U. narnis abundantly, but never
anything like U. Gallii. This (sec. Nyman) first appears in
northern Spain, then in north-western France, and finds its furthest
extension in England, and Ireland. We may conjecture, I think,
from this distribution, and from the instability of the form, that we
are looking, in U. Gallii, at the youngest, or one of the youngest,
members of the Gorse family.
I will only add, in conclusion, that in botany, as in other
subjects, it is very easy to ask questions but frequently very
difficult to answer them.
January, 1889.
By MORTON G. STUART, Esq., M.A., F.G.S.
UR custom of holding the annual business meet-
ing of the year at the County Museum at
Dorchester renders it difficult to find a suitable
object for an excursion in the afternoon. In
the case, however, of the Ridgway Fault
to-day, we have before us a geological problem
of considerable interest, which has affected to a very large
extent the chalk formation, which obtains so large a develop-
ment in the county, and consequently in the physical features
and scenery of the district. There is a further reason why
Ridgway Hill suggested itself as an object for an excursion
this afternoon. For some time past I have been trying to collect
materials for the description of the various features of the chalk
of Dorsetshire, and at Ridgway Hill I thought the opportunity
offered itself of noticing one of the most striking features of the
great chalk formation of the county. From here one of the finest
views of the surrounding country is obtainable. North and east-
wards the heath districts of Moreton and Wareham are visible,
resting on the Bagshot sands and gravels, reproducing the minor
escarpment lines, and characteristic scenery of the Hampshire and
London basins of the Tertiary age. Beyond the chalk downs spread
far and wide. Standing on the edge of Ridgway Hill and looking
56. TUB RIDGWAY FAULT.
southwards a second minor escarpment is visible parallel to the first,
formed by the harder beds of Kimmeridge clay. The steep and
coombe-shaped valleys are a feature of this district, bearing on
their sides, in various places, and especially near Bincombe, several
terraces clearly cut and parallel to each other, the indications of a
previous state of the cultivation of the soil. Further south lies
the low ground occupied by Lodmoor and the tract surrounding the
"Weymouth Backwater, which consists geologically of a remarkable
anticlinal axis formed of the various beds of the Forest marble,
Kimmeridge clay, Oxford clay, Portland sand and stone successively,
to which I shall refer more fully further on. Across the sea on
our right hand lies that curious physical problem of the Chesil
Beach, resting on its bed of Oxford clay, bounded beyond by the
steep cliff of the Isle of Portland. On our left we see the fine
coast line extending from Eingstead to White Xose Cliff, the
furthest point visible from our present position, giving an excellent
series of sections of Cornbrash, Gault clay, Greensand, Lower and
Upper Chalk.
The Bidgway Fault, which is so intimately connected with the
physical features of the district, extends for a distance of 15 miles
from east to west along the southern edge of the chalk ridge, and
is further complicated by a second cross fault cutting it, roughly
speaking, at right angles. In addition to this, three minor faults
are connected with the first mentioned fault, which run parallel
to it and at no great distance from it.
So great is the magnitude of the disturbance wrought by this
fracture, that the beds along the escarpment edge appear to have
been altered in position by several hundred feet. The result of
this is seen in a curious succession in the geological series on the
south side of Ridgway Hill, which attracted the attention of
geologists even in the early days of the history of the science.
The white chalk is so essentially a feature of the county of
Dorsetshire, that it is hardly necessary to allude to it. The white
cliffs, the wide and spreading downs, the antiquarian features of the
British tumuli, the Cerne Giant, and the equestrian figure of
THE RIDGWAY FAULT. 57
George III. of later date, the escarpments rising like a wall from
the lowlands of the vales dotted with white pits seen as landmarks
so easily from a distance ; these all owe their origin to the chalk,
whilst a glance at the geological map of England discloses the fact
that here, in the western portion of the county, the various ridges
of the chalk forming the Xorth Downs, the South Downs, and the
backbone of the Isle of Wight, and the Purbeck Hills converge into
a parent nucleus. Across the bay in the grand cliff of Whitenose,
too, we see the southernmost point in England, where the white
chalk stands as a cliff from the water's edge. Xearer the western
portion of the county, again, we are brought in contact with other
interesting problems in connection with the chalk, for the lower
beds have been gradually becoming thinner in the passage from the
eastern portion of the basin westwards, until at Bere Head the
upper chalk is found resting on the Upper Greensand, and the
lower chalk, from Mr. Whittaker's observations, is represented by
the Bere rock.
In the western and north-western portions of the county the
character, of, not the chalk itself it is true, but of beds closely
beneath the chalk, becomes very interesting. The Chloritic Marl
becomes extremely fossiliferous in the neighbourhood of Maiden
Bradley, Chardstock, and Minterne. Xear Chard the curious
tabular flints occur in the Greensand at the base of the chalk,
unlike anything of a silicious nature in this neighbourhood, of
which we saw some excellent examples at our meeting in that
district in July last year, and lastly we cannot omit from our
survey the curious and interesting character which the Greensand
assumes still further west at Blackdown. On such grounds as these
the chalk formation, and the beds immediately connected with it
below, become of special interest to the Dorsetshire naturalist.
Still, however, it is an undoubted fact that we have no account of
the Dorsetshire chalk as a whole ; the published memoirs of the
Geological Survey do not embrace our own county, and reports
which occur from time to time in the Quarterly Journal of the
Geological Society, and elsewhere, deal with special points only.
58 THE RIDGWAY FAULT.
Though it is not within the scope of the present subject to give
a list of the various contributions which have from time to time
been added to the common stock relating to the Chalk of Dorset, I
cannot help alluding to some of these which have a special
reference to the question, and which may enable us to estimate
more thoroughly the interest of the landscape before us. After
merely noticing the paper of J. F. Berger, written in 1811, we find
that one of the earliest of the published accounts of the
neighbouring geology was that of Webster, in the 4th volume of
the Geological Transactions for 1814. Here the author traces the
connection of the white chalk of the Needles with that of Handfast
Point and the Old Harry Rocks, and speculates on the probable
continuity of the chalk beneath the London Basin, though he says
that the deep wells of London have never reached the chalk itself.
He subsequently notices the existence of a bed of pipe clay in a
horizontal position on the north side of the chalk hills from
Handfast Point to Cerfe Castle, containing a thin bed of coal, which
he feels convinced is the same bed of coal originally continuous
with that of Alum Bay, to use his own words " That this
circumstance added to the quality of the clay, and its geognostic
position is sufficient to identify it." Further, he mentions that beds
of ferruginous sand^.and ironstone occur in both Dorset and Alum
Bay considerable rocks of it are seen about Studland, and the
Druidical monument called Agglestone, near that place, is a large
block of that material. These deductions are interesting to us,
but they are the more remarkable when we remember at what an
early date in the history of geological investigation they were made,
and yet how closely they correspond with the knowledge of to-day.
In the year 1814 but little progress had been made in the science,
and much that was kncwn had still to be unlearnt Plutonism
and catastrophy were the prevailing theories. William Smith's
geological map of England, which placed the British sedimentary
strata in an unvarying sequence, was not published until 1815.
Sir Charles Ly ell's classical works did not appear until 1830.
In the year 1835 Messrs. Buckland and de la Beche published
THE RIDGWAY FAULT. 59
their paper in the Transactions of the Geological Society on the
Geology of the Neighbourhood of Weymouth. They recognised
the importance of the district on the following grounds :
1. Its position near the south-western termination of several
principal formations of the island, including Tertiary strata, chalk,
greensand, Purbeck and Portland beds, oolitic formations, and Lias.
2. As exhibiting a coast section forming an interesting
comparison with the equivalent north-easterly terminations of the
same strata on the Yorkshire coast.
3. As affording remarkable examples of violent disturbances,
which have affected all these strata since their consolidation, and
which have operated so extensively in Purbeck and the Isle of
Wight and the "Weald of Kent and Sussex.
Further, they pointed out the existence of an anticlinal axis,
running in an east and west line near the sea, and denned the
limits of the Ridgway Fault as well as the existence of four other
faults of much smaller magnitude in the district. This, then, I
think we may consider as the classical contribution to the subject.
It was followed by two contributions to the Journal of the
Geological Society for the year 1848, by Mr. C. H. Weston, entitled
" The Geology of Ridgway, near Weymouth," and "Sub-escarpments
of the Ridgway Range near Weymouth and their Contemporaneous
Deposits in the Isle of Portland." Mr. Whittaker, in his paper in the
Geological Society's Journal for 1871, traced the gradual thinning
out of the Lower Chalk and Chalk Marl from the Isle of Wight
westwards, so that at Bere Head the Upper Chalk is found almost
resting on the Upper Greensand, separated only by the Bere rock,
the representative of the Lower Chalk. Mr. Osmond Fisher,
whose name is chiefly identified with investigations into mathe-
matical problems connected with geology though this evening at
Burlington House he is occupied with the description of the Fossil
Elephant lately found near Dewlish also contributed his share to
the elucidation of this district as we have seen from the model
of the Ridgway Fault constructed and placed by him in the County
Museum. He tells me that in a publication " Barnes' Guide to
60 THE RIDGWAY FAULT.
Dorchester " is a diagram of what he there saw when the railway
cutting was made, and he describes it as the best, and indeed the
only record of what was then to be seen. This work, I believe, is
now very rare, but the note is quoted in Damon's "Geology of
Weymouth." As a result of the fault a large exposure of the
Purbeck beds takes place at Ridgeway, and a full description of the
sections was published by the same author in the Transactions of
the Cambridge Philosophical Society for 1855. From the Ridg-
way sections of the Purlieck strata and at Swanage, Mr. Fisher
obtained a remarkable collection of insects, which are now
deposited in the "Woodwardian Museum at Cambridge. From
France, however, curiously enough, originates one of the most
complete accounts of the Dorsetshire chalk in a prize essay by M.
Barrois published in a memoir of the Societe du !N"ord, in which
the character of the various beds, and their thickness in the
different sections are laid down, and various zones are traced in the
white chalk, determined by their characteristic fossils. The
occurrence of these is established throughout the entire area with
great care, and, I believe, with equal accuracy, and the essay is a
testimony to the zeal of a foreigner working under difficulties in a
strange country.
I have now given a general sketch of the position of the subject,
and have endeavoured to describe the importance which, at so early
a date in the history of geological science, was attached to the
district in front of us by the investigators of the period. I will
now proceed to the more special aspect of the district namely, the
character of the Ridgway fault itself.
Webster, in his paper before mentioned, has already shewn that
the white chalk, as it is traced from the Isle of Wight to White
Xose Cliff, is often found to be quite vertical, but frequently dips
at a very high angle northwards. From White Xose to Bridport
the dip varies from 10 to 40 northwards ; whilst its mean
elevation along this ridge is estimated at about 500 feet. Damon
places its thickness at Blackdown, near Weymouth, at 800 feet.
The nnneralogical character of the chalk in this district and the
THE R1DGWAY FAULT. 61
organic remains which it contains offer nothing of special interest ;
the lower strata pass into beds of hard and rocky material, con-
taining some grains of green ^ilicate of iron, and throughout which
the flints of the upper beds become very rare. Messrs. Buckland
and de la Beche described the great Ridgway Fault as one of the
most curious and instructive they had ever seen, in consequence of
the variety of sections afforded along its course. They found
abundant evidence of slickensides in some of the sections examined
by them. The following description is taken in their own words
from the paper previously mentioned : " The Fault emerges from
the Chalk formation at Moignes Down Farm on the north side of
the Circus of Moignes Down, and brings the truncated lower ends
of strata of Portland stone against truncated upper ends of strata
of chalk, both dipping to the north. Here a valley of denudation
runs exactly along the line of fault, having its north side composed
of chalk and its south side entirely of Portland stone. The strata
have been raised on both sides of this fault, but raised unequally,
whence it results that on the north side the chalk rises to the fault,
whilst on the south side the Portland stone dips towards it, as if
plunging beneath the chalk ; whereas the Portland stone has been
elevated from its original position relatively, though not absolutely
much higher than the chalk. Yet, owing to the effect of denuda-
tion, no other results are visible than those of an ordinary valley
of denudation of horizontal chalk." Thus the authors proved this
to be an example of an upcast fault a rarer phenomenon than the
more ordinary faults with a downthrow. In this case it is the
strata on the south side which have been elevated relatively, and
which would otherwise have dipped beneath the chalk. The fault
extends about 15 miles in a due east and west line from Moignes
Down Farm to Abbotsbury, where it bends round towards the
north. "We have just noticed the section at Moignes Down. At
Button valley Portland sand forms the south side of the fault, and
greensand surmounted by chalk the north. At Upwey Portland
stone covered by Purbeck beds forms the south side and horizontal
chalk the north side. Near Portishani the fault deviates to the
62 THE RIDGWAY FAULT.
south-west for a short distance ; thence it extends in a direction
almost due north. Here we find the Kimmeridge clay brought
against the base of the chalk escarpment ; whilst at Ablx>tsbury
the Oxford clay is brought against the grcensand, it (the greensand)
resting on clay, and the two beds are themselves horizontal. Such
are the leading characters of the Ridgway Fault. Its existence,
and the sections quoted, cannot, I believe, in many places be
directly traced, since the railway cuttings have become much over-
grown with grass, and have obliterated some of the best sections.
But in the days when the line was cut and the tunnel bored, some
highly interesting facts must have been disclosed for the geologist.
Now we are able to infer the existence of the dislocation to
a large extent by the anomalous position of the beds disclosed by
any quarries, gravel pits, ditches, and roadside sections which may
occur.
Remarkable as the Ridgway Fault may appear to be, both from
the extent of country which it tiaverses and the magnitude of the
dislocations occasioned by it, it is rendered the more important from
the discovery by the Rev. Osmond Fisher of the cross fault, which
cuts the former almost at right angles, running in a north and
south direction up the valley by the side of the Weymouth and
Bridport Road. On the east side of this Mr. Fisher tells me he
found the Purbeck beds dipping northwards against the highly
inclined chalk, and on the west side the Purbeck beds rise to the
noith against the chalk, which dips at a high angle towards the
north. This fault, he says, runs towards Charminster, bringing the
Eocene beds against Maiden Castle and throwing out springs about
"NVhitwell, and forming the valley running towards Cerne.
Mr. Osmond Fisher made a further discovery in connection with
this fault which, perhaps, is the most curious and singular feature
of all. It was owing to the construction of the railway between
"VVeymouth and Dorchester, and the trial shafts which were sunk
for the tunnel, that excellent sections were exposed, and,
fortunately, an experienced observer was on the spot to watch them.
The account, with diagrams of the section, were published in a
THE RIDGWAY FAULT. 63
little work entitled " Barnes' Guide to Dorchester," which is now
out of print and difficult to obtain. The description of the section
is copied in Damon's " Geology of "Weymouth " at page 24. Mr.
Osmond Fisher, on sending me the pamphlet last week, suggested
that the section should be printed afresh in our " Proceedings," and
this proposal, I think, we ought to follow. He says : " The
singularity of the section consists in a portion of the Oxford clay
making its appearance between the Wealden Beds, and where the
fault cuts off the chalk." The writer, having opportunities of
watching the progress of the works, was aware of an Oolitic clay
appearing here so long ago as 1846 when the trial shafts were dug.
He then found a piece of a shell of a Trigonia in the clay from
the shaft ; but when the cutting commenced Gryphea dilatata
occurred in plenty, with portions of other fossils of the Oxford
clay, and he was convinced of the identity of it. Experienced
geologists, however, to whom he communicated the fact would
scarcely credit the tale ; but at last they were convinced by
personal inspection on the spot. Mr. Fisher suggests the following
solution to account for this curious phenomenon : " The Oxford
clay Avas, at the time of- the fault, in a more ductile state than the
intervening and more shaly Kimmeridge clay, and when the general
subsidence took place, which occasioned the fault, it may have been
squeezed up past the ends of the broken strata into the position
which it now occupies."
So AYeston, in his paper on the "Geology of Ridgway, near
Weymouth," in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society for
1848, says " The subterranean result of this state of things [i.e.,
elevation and subsidence] would be the fracture of the Oxford
Oolitic stratum and great pressure on the subjacent Oxford clay.
This would force up the Oxford clay from beneath through the
opening thus made, that is through the very place where we find it
between the chalk wall and the overturned upper surface of
Hastings sands."
Weston shews that the Oxford clay at Ridgway is clearly not
the Oxford clay stratum in its natural position, but a part of it
64 THE RIDGWAT FAULT.
raised above its own level by local pressure. In a note he gives
the following figures : " The finished line of railway cutting is
about 247 feet above the level of high floods at Weymouth, and
the shaft sunk from the surface to the level is about 50 feet.
Hence the Oxford clay at this spot inust be about 300 feet higher
than that near "VVeymouth."
The Osmington Fault runs also in an east and west direction,
parallel to the Ridgway Fault at the distance of about 1 J miles to
the south. Its western termination is visible at Hamcliff. At
Upton Hill horizontal chalk beds form the north side of the
dislocation, whilst subsided chalk, green sand, and Portland stone
form the south side of the fault. The Ringstead Bay Fault is of
very minor importance, and is of very local extent, in fact it is a
mere fracture in the section exposed in the cliffs, and has no effect
on the chalk formation itself, and though no doubt it may be
considered as resulting from the same cause which produced the
larger dislocations, its effect is to bring a subsided mass of
Portland sand and Portland stone into contact with the Kimmer-
idge clay.
The BotJienhampton Fault is a downcast fault occurring about
one mile south-east of Bridport. It was apparently first noticed by
Professor Sedgwick. It is of considerable depth, bringing the
Forest marble on its south side into contact with the superior Oolite
on the north side. The Forest marble dips at a considerable angle
towards the fault. Its course is east and west parallel to the
others, and in the eastern direction it continues to Shipton Gorge,
Litton Cheney, and Long Bredy.
The Bridport Fault is a downcast fault in the cliffs a mile to the
west of Bridport Harbour. The amount of disturbance caused by
it is great. On its north side are beds of superior Oolite based on
Lias ; on the south side are beds of Forest marble based on more
than 150 feet of grey clay, which are violently turned up when
they come in contact with the fault. The eastern extremity of
the fault presents a complicated double fracture.
We must now, before bringing this matter to a conclusion, say a
THE RIDGWAY FAULT. 65
few words about the anticlinal axis which lies before us between
the chalk escarpment and the sea, and which is in reality one of
the most important and instructive geological features of the whole
district. This axis passes from Weymouth Bay to the Chesil
Beach, and produces an arch-like disposition of the group of strata
composing the valley or low ground in front of us. Forming the
central line of this axis is the Forest marble, bearing on its
shoulders the Cornbrash, the Oxford Clay, the Oxford Oolite,
Kimmeridge Clay, Portland sand, and Portland stone in ascending
order. These, under the influence of denudation, have been
planed down, exposing the Forest marble in the centre ; therefore,
in traversing the district in a south-west and north-east line from
Portland Bill to Kidgway Hill, we find the strata repeat themselves
on either side of this axis with wonderful regularity, complicated
slightly, I admit, in one or two points by the occurrence of one or
two faults near the northern outcrop of the Cornbrash. The forces
producing this important anticlinal axis acted in a line continuous
with that extending through Purbeck and the Isle of Wight, and
parallel to the great axis of the Weald of Kent and Sussex. The
question presents itself When did these elevations take place, so
important in the configuration and landscape of the south of
England ? It appears, taking cognisance of all facts, that these
lines of elevation were produced subsequent to the deposition of
the London clay, if not, indeed, as there seems every reason to
believe, subsequently to the deposition of the newest Tertiaries of
the Isle of Wight.
Another axis of elevation in the south-west of England presents
itself to our minds that of the Mendip Hills, in Somersetshire,
which, running east and west, cuts that county, as it were, into two
halves, and this axis is parallel to our own of Ridgway. The
Mendip axis has long ago been shewn to be older than the depo-
sition of the New Red Sandstone ; but to Messrs. Buckland and
de la Beche it suggested a valuable example of M. E. de
Beaumont's theory, that lines of elevation on the earth's surface
have a strong tendency to run in parallel lines.
66 THE RIDGWAY FAULT.
It is difficult to leave this spot, so fertile with problems of
geological science, without noticing other features which surround
us on all sides. In Messrs. Buckland and de la Beche's surface
map two patches of Tertiary strata are noted as survivals of a
continuous bed which formerly covered the district. They arc
described as plastic clay, and are given, one at Ridgeway Hill and the
other between Bincombe and Came Down. On Saturday morning I
was shewn in the library of the Geological Society an object which
would be of much interest to us present at this spot to-day. It
was Buckland's pocket map of this district of South Dorset, in
which the strata were coloured in with his own hands in days when
published geological maps were unknown. When the shafts for
the tunnel were sunk Weston states that 60 feet of Tertiary strata
were passed through ; hence the Tertiary survivals are much more
important here than they were formerly supposed to be.
The Three little Circus-shaped valleys of Moignes Down,
Pox-well, and Sutton Pointz offer examples of what were formerly
termed valleys of elevation. They are of elongated oval shape,
resembling a Roman amphitheatre, in which the outcropping edges
of the strata would form the seats.
The terraced lines in the chalk valleys on the north side of
Ridgway escarpment are noticeable features, more clearly developed
here than in many other localities. In the chalk country traversed
by the railway between. Boulogne and Amiens these terraces are
very remarkable, the relics of a former era of cultivation.
Again, to the west, along a cart road, about half-a mile from the
Weymouth Road, Mr. Cunnington, of Dorchester, found a very
interesting interment in a half-demolished barrow a few years ago.
But nothing now remains that is of interest.
I have said nothing as to the origin of the word Ridgway :
That point must be left to one of the antiquarian members of our
party. I must now bring the subject to a conclusion, and you
probably will fully think the time has arrived for it. But there
are reasons why one should linger here and find it difficult to part.
The subject grows in breadth and importance as we become more
THE RIDGWAY FAULT. 67
conversant with it : the book of Nature may be read and re-read
many times before we comprehend its fullest teachings. And for a
field day the spot is almost unique, so much lies close at hand
beneath us, and this is again connected with so much beyond ;
with problems attaching to the physical features of the whole
southern districts of England indirectly, indeed, to the whole
world. One point we may carry away with us at any rate.
It is this ; with all these fractures of the earth no trace exists on the
surface to tell us what has occurred. The edges of this great fault
have been smoothed down, the gaps filled up by the agency of
denudation. This gives us an opportunity close at hand to
estimate the importance of this great geological factor. To read of
the removal from the surface of a district of so much solid matter,
by the agency of running water aided by variations of temper-
ature, may be a matter which may strike us or not according
to the mood we are in at the time. But the surface of the
ground traversed by a fault furnishes incontrovertible evidence.
Here, looking across the district, where we are told of the
existence, and where we could, if we chose, prove the
existence, of a great dislocation of the strata Ixmeath us, which has
brought the beds on one side several hundred feet higher, possibly
than they would otherwise have been ; when we see not one trace
of the catastrophy on the surface of the country, as we look super-
ficially across the landscape, we must recognise the importance of
that ceaseless agent of geological change denudation. And then,
again, we may consider what was the catastrophe which produced
this great dislocation 1 In the recorded instances of earthquakes
the areas affected have been vast, the devastation resulting appalling,
the loss of life terrific, but the influence on the earth's crust seems
comparatively slight. Instances have been recorded of the elevation
of large tracts of land some feet relatively to the sea, as in New
Zealand, by Sir Charles Lyell in the Principles of Geology,
and by Darwin in his Voyage of the Beagle of the land round
the Bay of Conception in Chiloe raised two or three feet, whilst
at the Island of St. Maria, 30 miles distant, the elevation was
68 THE RIDGWAY FAULT.
greater. So, too, in the great eruption of Krakatoa, in the Straits
of Sumla, in August, 1883, the most appalling results were produced
with which we are familiar in modern times. It appears that the
explosion, which resulted from an inrush of sea water into the
crater of the volcano during a period of great activity, rent the
crater of Krakatoa in two parts, of which one part remained,
whilst the other entirely disappeared, and that the spot, where one* 5
was the apex of a mountain, is now covered by the sea to a depth
of 164 fathoms.
In what way, then, was this great effect produced, which,
resulting in the upraising of the anticlinal axis of Weymouth,
Purbeck, and the Isle of Wight and parallel to it the axis of the
Weald comprised the fractures of the solid crust, of which the
Ridgway Fault is amongst the chief ?
In February last I made a visit to the Ridgway cutting,
accompanied by Mr. H. J. Moule. We walked from Upwey
station to the tunnel, and in this way approached it from the south.
The bold face of the chalk escarpment seen from this side is very
striking, and the outlying patch of Eocene sand and gravel on the
top of Ridgway Hill forms a very noticeable feature in the land-
scape. The materials composing this survival of the Eocene beds
have been extensively quarried for economic purposes, and the
steep yellow coloured sides of the gravel pits form a strong
contrast to the more undulating surface of the surrounding chalk.
The railway crosses Ridgway Hill by means of two tunnels with a
cutting between them, the short tunnel to the south and nearer
Weymouth, passing chiefly through Purbeck beds, whilst the
principal tunnel, nearer Dorchester, is excavate I through the
chalk. The sections lying between the two tunnels are now almost
obliterated owing to the growth of vegetation upon them, whilst
the dip of the beds can scarcely be estimated since the surface soil
has been washed down from above to such an extent as to render
the identification almost impossible. Clay appears to occupy a
large portion of the space, but intermingled with the beds of
clay there occur bands of sandy character, dipping towards
THE RlDGWAY PAtlLf. 69
the south, and making themselves apparent by their yellow colour,
by the paucity of vegetation growing upon them, and by beds of
samty ferruginous rock occurring amongst them. There seem to be
three principal beds of brown or yellow sand or sandy clay in the
sides of the cutting between the two tunnels, the rest of the
ground being occupied by stiff blue or brown clay, the distance
covered by the whole section being not more than 200 yards.
Thus, starting from the Purbeck beds at the northern mouth of
the south tunnel, we find
From 70 yards . . . Yellow sandy clay, forming a heavy
soil, with willows and boggy
plants growing upon it.
70 120 ,, ... Blue clay, covered with grass and
sedges.
120 150 ... Yellow sand. Blue clay, covered
with willows and brambles. Ked
and yellow sand,
150 170 ... Blue clay, with large nodular
lumps, covered with grass.
170 X. tunnel ... Chalk.
Of the three plans which illustrate this paper, two were drawn
by the Rev. Osmond Fisher for "Barnes' Guide to Dorchester,"
before mentioned, whilst the coloured ground plan is copied from
the model which was constructed by Mr. Fisher, and is now in the
County Museum at Dorchester. This drawing was made for me by
Mr. Moule, the Curator of the Museum, to whom I owe my best
thanks.
In conclusion it may be remarked that the solution offered by
the Rev. 0. Fisher to account for the curious position occupied by
the Oxford clay disclosed in these sections at the Ridgway tunnel
is not entirely unique. Thus Professor Ruskin, when writing on
the influences which have produced the present external forms of
the Stratified Alps of Savoy, says : " An important result of
denudation has been overlooked viz., when portions of a thick
bed have been removed, the weight of the remainder would squeeze
70 THE RIDGWAY FAULT.
and press the beds beneath into all kinds of anomalous positions,
like those of the floors of coal mines, termed by miners creeps."
The Ridgway Fault has evidently played a conspicuous part in the
production of the present landscape of the district, and this is
rather exceptional. It appears from observations that faults seldom
influence the present contour of the land's surface to any large
extent, though we might have naturally assumed the contrary.
Mr. Mellard Reade quotes the Great Craven Fault as one of the
few instances in Great Britain where this is the case. " Here," he
says, "in Giggleswich Scar, we have on one side mountain lime-
stone of several hundred feet in height, forming what I would call
a fault escarpment, worn back by denudation to so small an extent
that the great fault cuts the foot of the scar, and in the valley we
have millstone grit lying against the limestone." (See " Origin of
Mountain Ranges," p. 80). "As a rule," he continues, "the sides
of a fault are planed down so as to obliterate the fault as a feature
of the scenery." This leads him to conclude that, compared with
the numerous dislocations of the carboniferous strata, the Craven
Fault is of modern date. This gives additional interest to the
Ridgway Fault.
on a Jftinnte gook belonging to the
Corporation ot Dorchester.
By H. J. MOULB, M.A.
ITHOUT any saying of mine it is, doubtless, well
known to all here that there is curious reading in
most old minute books. From incidents that may
aspire to be called touches in the historical picture
of old England down to the former prices of petty
wares, our gatherings from these records have a
strange interest. It is always so, I think, when AVC get at facts
sideways from documents indited with no shadow of a thought of
history Avriting. But it is not easy to import the said interest into
a paper, for the points which arrest attention are mostly microscopic,
catching our notice by number rather than individual importance.
However, I must do my best. The minute book in question, C8 in
the catalogue, is a small unbound paper folio. In dignity of
appearance this and our other 17th century minute books are
altogether put into the shade by two grand ones which they have
at "Weymouth. But our shabby little volume is good reading in
some parts. It begins with July 15th, 1629, and ends with October
6th, 1637. I have culled bits under several heads :
1. A few Christian names have been noted as somewhat odd
e.g., of men, Patroclus, Troilus, [SJcipio, Angell, Allainort, Pasque,
72 NOTES ON A DORCHESTER MINUTE BOOK.
Reynaldo ; of women, Ibbert, "Windfrint, Thomasyn, Ursula,
Charitie, and Christian. These two last occur among names of
scolds, by the bye.
2. Mention of trades and handicrafts, tending to show the
greater distribution of them over the land, and their being shared
by more people in any one given place then than now in a word
proving that centralisation had begun but little, if at all, in the
17th century. It seems noteworthy that there was a bookseller
here as early as 1630, a bookbinder in 1637, and a plumber in
1633. About the same time there seem to have been here no less
than 18 " maulters." Here are callings, either for the most part of
Dorchester people, or of people coming here intending to work :
Broadweaver, inkleweaver, tucker, clothier, woolstreaker, feltmaker,
lacemaker, quishion (cushion) maker, seevier (sieve maker), parch-
ment maker, trussmaker, gunner, gunpowder maker, card maker,
tobacco pipe maker, pewterer, " glasscman," the last from Pottern.
3. Connected with the last section we may note the rules as to
change of abode 200 years ago. Firstly, no man might move into
a town without a certificate granted at his last abode, or without
evident means of support or a guarantee from a burgess of the town
he comes to that the incomer shall not lie a burden to the same.
Secondly, the new comer must become a freeman of the borough
or he cannot do commercial business there. A bargain where both
parties were non-freemen is worse than void. If I am of Weymouth,
come to Dorchester, and there buy goods of a Sherborne man, those
goods are "foreign bought and sold," and are forfeited to the
freemen of Dorchester. At fairs and markets, however, I suppose
that non-freemen might pay toll for a standing and then sell to all
comers during fair or market time. I give a few extracts showing
the jealousy against intruders, On April 26th, 1630, Jarvas Piper,
feltmaker, was sent to prison for 21 days for coming to Dorchester
without a " testimoniall." On May 17th, 1631, it is minuted that
Christopher Baker, twelve years a scholar of Trinity College,
Oxford, has wandered about for years getting aid from scholars and
ministers. Here " he went to the schoolmaster of the towne and
NOTES ON A DOUCIlESTER MINUTE BOOK. 73
Usher and so to Mr. White's house for relefe, but had none at all."
He was promptly sent back to Oxford, his birthplace. This
University vagrant was not unique. On May 23rd, 1634, Israel
Smith says he was of Magdalen College, Cambridge, which he left
"without a passe from the house," went to Paris, Flushing, and
thence to " Brighthemson." He asserts that he is a baronet's son of
Xosley, in Herefordshire. All this did not save him from being
" punished and sent away by passe to Xosley." " Punished"
means whipt, I think, for on March 27th, 1636, J. Guest,
" glasseman .... grey haired, of the age of Threescore
yeares," was whipped and sent from parish to parish to " Paternc
(Pottern) neere the Devizes." I do not see what was the fate of
another wanderer in March, 1637. This was Gulielmo Clarvillo,
a Florentine, professing to be an M.D. of Trinity College,
Cambridge, and also a member of the University of Padua.
The severest punishment for vagrancy noticed by me was on
January 1st, 1629-30, when a woman convicted of being a
" vagarant roague" was " burnt with R" on the left shoulder.
4. Punishments, a subject somewhat forestalled in Section 3.
Unceasing efforts were made against drunkenness. It almost seems
that to give a mug of beer to a friend, either in an alehouse or
even at home, made you indictable for " tippling." On September
18th, 1629, Nicholas Maunders, "for typling in his own howse"
with two widows, is " to be distrayned for 3s. 4d." On May 19th,
1630, Anthony Xew, ordering one cup of beer in an alehouse,
intending to give it there to H. King, they are fined 3s. 4d. each,
" or els to sit by the heeles." And note that the two fines would
then buy half a hogshead of best beer. Then, as to drunkenness
itself. On June 26th, 1632, Robert Foot, for being u severall
tymes drunke and wishing that fire and brimstone Avould fall on
this towne, it being sufficiently proud," was ordered to prison " to
be sett close to worke w'th out liberty of coming into the towue."
From this and another expression imprisonment seems usually
to have been alleviated by occasional outings. Again, on March
16th, 1631-2, Alice Cox, convicted of drunkenness, "forborne for
74 NOTES ON A DORCHESTER MINUTE
a week, being unfit then to be stocked and since was stocked."
The fine for drunkenness was 5s. Swearing was a crime strictly
punished. On January 12th, 1630-1, " J. Cobb, for swering and
corsing, is adjudged to pay 4s. or set by the hilles " (heels) four
hours. On May 29th, 1632, for two oaths, a man was "set in
stock ii seudall tymes iii hours at a tyme." Suchlike entries are
countless and the nature of the oath is almost always given. Only
once is it in the phrase which has earned us an ugly nickname
abroad. On January 9th, 1632-3, " W. Hardy, gentleman, dwelling
ewy where (so he said)" called the constables "a company of
dampnd creaturs " The next class of offence is not
indictable now. It woidd almost seem that so recently as the 17th
century the curfew conveyed a rule about " early to bed," not
lightly to be disregarded. On Xovember 28th, 1632, W. Sims,
found between eleven and twelve at night at Robert George's,
where he had supped and then " dranke two pipes of tobacco and
dranke some beere y t was left at supper" was committed to Sessions
to answer for his night walking.
Before passing on to another class or two of offences I give a
few bits just to show the kind of crimes recorded, and that
punishments, severe or lenient, promptly followed. On April 24th,
1634, Edith White, of Fordington, begged in Dorchester. Better
not. She was " whipped and sent to Fordington with a passe.''
On June 24th, 1634, three men were charged with making "a bonne
fire on Mdsomer Eve in a very dangrouse maner betweene the 2
dye houses and the furse rikcs at Glippath Bridge." On August
1st, 1634, Charity Robinson and another for stealing field beans
" were adjudged to be whipt and yt was doen accordingly." On
December 20th, 1634, a man was fined 6s. for drunkenness and
swearing, "but being very sorufill and submisse Mr. Maior Avas
pleased to give him back 3s." Witchcraft crops up. On January
27th, 1633-4, Richard Shory was summoned " for saying that John
Merefield was a witch and he having a moate in his hand and said
he had fetched it from the witches howse, and he put it into the
fire .... and said he would see if the witch would come,
NOTES ON A DORCHESTER MINUTE BOOK. 75
and thereupon went to the window to look for him as this ext
believeth . . ." Again, on July 28th, 1634, a woman says that
Margaret Adyn had given a cake to her daughter, who was never
well after. The woman "had a jelosy that Margerie had
bewitched her daughter." So " she fetched thatch of Margerie's
husband's howse and was burning it .... and the said
Margerie's husband came in the whiles and scolded at her for it."
This partly resembles a Koman spell. Another offence noted is
sleepiness among the watchmen. One bit irresistibly recalls the
immortal charge to the watch in " Much Ado about Nothing," Act
III., " I cannot see how sleeping should offend ; only have a care
that your bills be not stolen . . . ." says Dogberry. Now, on
August 21st, 1629, this very mishap came to pass. A watchman
dropped off to sleep, some graceless varlet stole his bill, and
actually pawned it for drink "had drunk threepence upo the
bill." A crime not heard of now, I think, was common here in the
17th century stealing corn from the fields. On August 30th,
1630, a girl is charged with taking " loading of a tithing pook of
barley" at Frome. "YV. Butler seems to have stolen wheat wholesale
at Waterston. He " caried xii. sheaves at each burden." This
seems to show, by-the-bye, that sheaves must have been then much
smaller than now. On August 16th, 1636, Renaldo Knapton,
gentleman, deposes to seeing a man steal a sheaf " out of a wheate
rike in Fordington Field." I note this partly in order to observe
that this uncommon Christian name re-appeared in the family 100
years after. St. Peter's treble was cast in the presence of Renaldo
Knapton in 1734.
I now touch on another class of crime not now exactly actionable.
Scolding was an unpleasantly risky habit in the 17th Century. On
January 29th, 1632-3, four women having "spent the most pt of
[two] daies in scolding .... It is ordered they shall be
plounced." And it was no make believe ducking. On May 23rd
1634, three scolds are ordered " to be plounced thrise apeice under
water this present afternoone which wasdone accordingly." Consider-
ing the January plouucing above the thoughtfulness of the following
76 NOTES ON A DORCHESTER MINUTE fcOOK.
is touching. On May 6th, 1361, " Mary Tuxberry, for scoulding
at the sergeants when they did goe a bout for mersements is ordered
to be plounced when the wether is warmer." The ducking was
done by means of the ducking stool, doubtless. Of other penal
apparatus the stocks are constantly mentioned, the Pillory, very
seldom. On November 8th, 1632, H. Kippin, of Kingwood,
" colier" (dealer in charcoal^ was to be pilloried for giving short
measure, but for some reason was let off. Again, there is a class of
indictments for playing games on Sunday, or unlawful games. On
March 9th, 1632-3, six young scapegraces spent several Sunday
hours at " Berratt's Hill," and (of all places) in a close of Master
White's at Frome, in playing nine holes and five holes. Their
faults were alike, their fates diverse. Two were " stocked," two
fined, two "whipped in hall." On October 12th, 1632, W. and
Nicholas Bankes were presented " for playing at unlawful games ;"
but were " spared till they offended againe, being it was but at
Corfe on Whitson Monday." To this day football is part of an
ancient chartered custom on Shrove Tuesday at Corfe Castle.
Perhaps that was the illegal game there on Whit Monday, 1632.
Some anxious mothers would, I think, vote for a law against it
now. But the milder game of fives seems also to have been
unlawful. Played it was, truly, against St. Peter's tower, but it
does not appear that it was the sacred locality that made the
unlawfulness. Nay, is not an interbuttress space of Eton Chapel
the model fives court at this present moment 1 " Keeles," which
I think was skittles, was illegal apparently, although on one
occasion played at the " Mill Hams" by Sir F. Ashley, a very
leading man in the borough and county.
Crimes and punishments have occupied us long, yet there
remains a class which it is impossible to omit viz., that comprising
cases connected with religion. On this head this and (I think)
other Dorchester minute books have been quoted by Mr. Roberts
in " Social Life in Southern England." But he has given only
a few passages out of many ; so I feel bound to take up this risky
subject. Please be assured that my strong wish is to exclude all
NOTES ON A DORCHESTER MINUTE BOOK. 77
bias from my notes. At the time under our view Puritanism
virtually, although not yet legally, was dominant here. Now I
am the last man lightly to condemn, or over exalt, the party of
which \vere Baxter and Bunyan, Peters and Barebones. Further,
is it not likely that if Ambrose had been rector of Trinity, and
Augustine of All Saints, they would have been snarled at as much as
were Master "White and Master Ben ? " Those are Papist laws"
"A Chard drunkard is more to be believed than a Dorchester
Puritan" such recriminations recall " I am of Paul and I of
Apollos." I now give a few bits showing how the 17th differed
from the 19th Century in the treatment of religious delinquencies.
On January 17th, 1629-30, Hugh Baker, for leaving church before
prayers were over, was put in the stocks for two hours. Excuses
were not lightly allowed. On February 26th, 1635-6, J. Gray was
fined Is. for absence from St. Peter's, although "he allegeth" that
he was visiting his sick mother at Monkton and went to church
there. On October 12th, 1632, Ursula Bull was fined Is. for
absence from church, although " she saith she was amending her
stockings." I fear that the Bull family were not exemplary, for
on February 4th, 1631-3, Elizabeth Bull was "charged ....
to be an ordinary dpter before prayers endd at All Sts." On
November 10th, 1634, J. Colleford, an absentee from church, and
with other faults, " is to be whipt in the hall psently in the view
of his Mr. or else his Mr. is to do yt himself there right." Here
follows a puzzling extract. On January 2nd, 1634-5, J. Hoskins
went out of church before the end of service and entered a
neighbour's house to warm himself. Then he went to " Broad Close"
to serve cattle, found a bull, put him into pound, baited him with a
dog, then went to church, but late. Now the odd thing is that the
very secular midday amusement is unnoticed, but John is fined Is.
for absence from church, where he had twice put in an appearance,
although short. The pleasing duty of noting and presenting
absentees appears to have rested on the churchwardens, who seem
to have been thought sometimes guilty of favouritism. On April
24th, 1632, Elias Fry told by Churchwarden Williams, of All
78 NOTES ON A DORCHESTER MINUTE BOOK.
Saints', that he was presented at Blamlfonl Court " for his sleeping
and disorderly behaviour " in church " awnswered yt .
the churchwardens could see him and such pore men to present
them, but could not see rich men to present them," finishing off
with a fine ringing of changes on the epithet " knave." He was
not the only disorderly one among tlnj compelled worshippers.
On October 7th, 1630, E. Miller, for playing in church is to be
corrected by his master, " and Constable Williams might see it well
done." On August 29th, 1631, it is deposed that " Jo Kay and
Nicholas Sims did play att All Sts.' in time of sermon and laughe,
and Sims did stick Kay a box on the ear and cary themselves very
unreverently .... for wh they were committed to prison."
On February 13th, 1631, two brothers confessed that they "boxed
3 or 4 blows" in All Saints." Out of church, too, a little rebellion
about compulsory worship occurred, and naturally took the form of
enmity to the incumbents. Master Ben, rector of All Saints', was
a worthy man, as I am assured by a friend who has studied the
Puritan epoch well. So blame of him must be taken " cum grano
salis." On May 5th, 1630, a man is accused of saying that Master
Ben did not preach through illness brought on " because he had no
more offering at Easter." Another " sayd Master Ben did rate or
rayl ... in his sermon," on a certain occasion. Again, on
May 4th, 1631, M, Martin is charged that he "brake into speche
of ministers and lawyers, that they had gotten all the riches of the
land .... and will not vouchsafe to spake to a pore man
that he would not " put off his hat unto Master Ben any
more "... that Master Ben " did not reade the Epistles nor
Gospels . . . and did not use to salut [his neighbours] wh his
hatt but look over them with a great p of eyes." On December
19th, 1629, Stephen Pressly "did very abruptly brake out into
speche " in a like tone. He doubted right to compel attendance at
church, would have the canons consulted, would by no means stay
beyond " Divine service" " would make good that Jo Downto, of
Fordington, would preach as well as Mr. Ben . . . ."
Then about Master White, He is an historical character, a man
NOTES ON A DORCHESTER MINUTE BOOK. 79
who for no slight reason, surely, earned in his day the title " the
Apostle of the West," and down to our day is the object among
some New England families of a cult almost like that of a Greek hero
town-founder. But backbiters spare none. On September 15th,
1630, Anne Samwayes is accused. She " did speak unseemly
words of Mr. White viz., that he did starve the country, and did
coyne with the divell for mony, and would be a merchant and
fearmer for his pfitt, and did send pvision to New England in a
color to convey to Spayne, and many other unseemly words for a
quarter of an-howre space." Oddly enough in this book we find
he did farm, and small blame. At least we read of two " closes "
(pasture fields), and of a hay-rick of his. And on August 26th,
1635, Nathaniel Bower, deposing about a collision Avith the watch,
speaks of " working with Mr. John White, clerke, helping in corne"
until midnight. On February 8th, 1630-1, Phillip Nycholls is
accused, partly by a Jesuit, a " Seminary," of very fierce criticism of
Master White's doctrine. Those curious indictments might be
added to, and other branches of the subject might be taken up,
especially scattered touches about emigration. But already this is
what the Scots call " an ower lang screed." It is so easy to run on
while conning these minutes and looking at the mind-pictures that
come and go at every other page almost. There's the good widow
before Master Mayor for absence from church, but excused in that
she was " bringing going " her late husband's apprentice boy to
Monkton ditch, on his way to Weymouth to take ship for New
England. There is the hot headed fellow longing for his crossbow
(how the word carries one back) to teach the constables due
distance. There are the fiddles and dancing, of all places, in the
grim precincts of the gaol. There's the thatched house just by in
High-street, and others up and down the place. Yes, but take it
all in all, a vastly more interesting, vastly more picturesque a place
it is that fancy shows us than sight shows us now. Trinity
Church, indeed, poor All Saints', poor; as rebuilt after the 1622
fire. But what houses, what gables, what outside galleries what
quaint variety in this old borough, whereof a hundred and fifty
80
NOTES ON A DORCHESTER MINUTE ROOK.
years after Madame D'Arblay said it was the most antique looking
she ever was in ! It is quite wrong an exploded error actum
laudarc tempus. Yet somehow I should dearly have liked to have
seen that long improved away Old Dorchester.
$Jrhnigcniu0, foith fUlatfon to ftotolithic
an,
By J. C. MANSEL-PLEYDELL, Esq.,
F.L.S., F.G.S.
HE Neolithic age to which Bos primigenius (Uiits)
belongs, equally with the Palaeolithic, succeeded
the latter in point of time ; between them a
considerable lengthened period intervened ; they
had nothing in common with each other, the break
was complete ; their implements differed, as did
most of the animals they hunted and upon which they fed, several
of which are extinct, while others have disappeared altogether
82 BOS PRIMIGENIUS.
from Europe, and now live cither in the Polar or in the Equatorial
regions, as the reindeer in the first case and the hippopotamus in
the other. Fragmentary as are the relics of the Palaeolithic age,
we are able to arrive at certain conclusions as to the condition of
man and his mode of lif/3 at that period. Although he had
attained to a certain amount of artistic perfection he was entirely
ignorant of the potter's art for no fragments of pottery have ever
been found in their cave dwellings. Fragments of bone, ivory,
horn, and stone exhibit outlined and even shaded sketches of
various animals, representing fish, seal, ox, ibex, red deer, Irish
elk, bison, horse, cave-bear, reindeer, and the mammoth ; of
these there are sculptures also. Pieces of iron-ore found with
their remains are supposed to have been used as pigments
for painting the body. Among the mammalia he encountered,
were the lion, hyaena, elephant, mammoth, hippopotamus, rhin-
oceros, bear, musk-sheep, glutton, reindeer, ibex, urus, bison,
and others. The character of Europe was very different then
than it is at the present day. The German Ocean was
an extensive plain, and England was joined to the Continent ;
vast herds passed over on migration from north to south.
The rivers had not then cut their channels so deeply as at
present ; they were much larger, and especially so in times of floods,
which inundated the caverns of the limestone districts with mud.
The coast of Europe did not extend much further west than
at present, and the influence of the Atlantic prevented strongly
contrasted seasons. The fauna and flora not only comprised
northern and temperate, but also well marked groups of southern
forms. France, Belgium, and Britain formed then a neutral zone,
the Mediterranean animals and plants got no farther northwards
than the Rhine, which formed no barrier, however, to the migration
from the north, which passed on to the south unimpeded. The Arctic
fox, Polar bear, lemming, and reindeer have \ieen met with in the
same caverns and river-gravels with the hippopotamus, lion, and
elephas antiquus in every stage of life. M. Lartel, speaking of the
district of Perigord, says among the antlers of reindeer which are
BOS PRIMIGENIUS. 83
still adhering to the frontal bones of skulls, broken open to get at
the brains, there were some not 15 days' old (with reindeer the
antlers begin to show at a much earlier date than in other
deer), and of every age of development, also remains of
skulls belonging to individuals that were shedding their horns.
Again, Dr. Nehring, speaking of some German deposits at
Westergeln, mentions very young examples of mammalia, jerboa
lagomys, rhinoceros, and several horses (wild). In the Brussels
Museum are preserved foetal skeletons of the mammoth and the
bears ; and, lastly, Dr. Woldrich mentions finding remains of
lemmings, arvicolse, and horses of all ages, which would preclude
the possibility of long migrations, and as these mammals bring
forth their young in warm weather they must have occupied the
country during the summer. We find animals and plants which
now live in different climatal zones living together in pleistocene
times. Mr. Howarth, after passing in review a series of facts in
connection with this subject, sums up by saying that Europe during
the Mammoth age was divided into three zones, differing in climate
and productions ; one comprising its northern parts, and Switzer-
land, covered with glaciers and practically sterile ; the second
comprising the uplands, with a climate probably similar to that of
the Oberlands, of the Urals, and of Centra] Sweden, largely
occupied by grassy prairies and pinewoods, and inhabited by
mammals and birds of high latitudes or mountain fells ; and, lastly,
the river valleys, sheltered and luxuriant, were filled with forests,
which in France and Western Germany were of a very diversified
character, many of the trees requiring a warm summer temperature.
In these forests, and near the rivers they shaded, lived the
mammoth and its more close companions, woolly rhinoceros,
glutton, &c., like itself denizens of the woods, and capable
of surviving some vicissitudes of food and climate. The
sea-bottom between the coast of Norfolk and Dunkirk teems with
the remains of Mammoth in a way which is not known in any
other part of Europe, and from the fresh character of the bones it
is shown that they lie where the animal died, Ireland was then
84 BOS PRIMIGENIUS.
joined to Scotland and the Isle of Man, so that the land was much
above its present level, and at least 30 fathoms higher. Not only
was the land of Europe generally higher, but the shores of the
North Sea and Atlantic were then washed by cold currents instead
of the warm Gulf Stream, which did not then reach the shores
of Britain or of Norway. Palaeolithic man dismembered the game
that they killed, and carried to their cave-homes only the choice
pieces, such as the head and limbs ; they valued the head for the
brain and tongue, and possibly for the teeth, the limbs for their
flesh and marrow. They were able to kill the elephant, rhinoceros,
lion, and bear, and could also capture the chamois and wild goat.
As many as 135 species of mammals have been catalogued as
contemporaneous in Europe and Northern Asia with the mammoth
and Palaeolithic man. They include nearly all the species now
inhabiting those countries, of which some, like the mammoth,
are extinct, others locally so that is, existing beyond the
European territory. Of the latter, some, like the musk-ox, have
retired to the extreme north, while others, like the hippopotamus
and hyaena, have retreated southward. The great subsidence of
land closed the Palaeolithic age, and with it disappeared several of
the large mammalia. The modern gravels, earths, and loess spread
over hill ard dale far above the reach of present floods must have
been brought about by an unusual action of masses of diluvial
water. "The loess, which Sir C. Lyell calls inundation-mud, is
the last and latest of all the great formations known to geology,
and covers a large part of Central Europe. The shells it contains
are terrestrial land-shells of damp woods, and morasses of a land-
surface which had been covered with this inundation-mud, the
result of a great depression and a re-emergence of the land
towards the close of the glacial epoch." Duke of Argyll, Con-
temporary Review. This inundation, flood, or deluge, which was
connected with the disappearance of man and many of the
large animals of that period, was followed by the appearance of
Neolithic man with modern animals, whose descendants still
survive. It extended up to very high levels all over the old
BOS PRlMlGBNIUS. 85
Continent from England to China, and apparently over Northern
America as well. Such a catastrophe occurring within the human
period may well be as Lenormant calls it in his " Beginnings of
History," the " most universal of all the traditions which concerns
the history of primitive humanity." Professor Prestwich, who is
one of our greatest English authorities on pleistocene geology,
places the close of the glacial period at a comparatively recent date,
and claims the authority of history with regard to the antiquity
of man.
The above cases of Palaeolithic man are European, and far
removed from Western Asia, the historical centre of the human
race. Hceckel, whose views on evolution are very extreme, traces
the affiliation of man from the regions of the Persian Gulf, the
shallow parts of which were dry land in the human period at the
close of the Pleistocene age, but he places the primitive abode of
man further south, supposed to be submerged under the Indian
Ocean ; but of which our fellow-countryman Wallace, also a strong
evolutionist, shows there is no good evidence. The Biblical
account assigns the seat of man to the neighbourhood of these
very regions the southern part of the Babylonian plain and within
reach of a mountain district abounding with mineral products. It has
already been shown that Palaeolithic man had no domestic animals
ami was dependent upon wild game for his food ; the Bovidae he en-
countered were the aurochs or bison, and urus ; the former being
now only found in the Lithuanian forests. The latter is supposed
to be the ancestor of the degenerate white cattle with red-tipped
ears of Chillingworth Park. The Cambridge Museum contains a
skull of one of these gigantic oxen in which a flint is deeply sunk
into the frontal bone, perhaps inflicted in a deadly combat with a
brave Palaeolithic man.
When we first meet Neolithic man we find him surrounded by a
group of animals differing in no respect from the present European
fauna. He excelled his predecessor in every respect except in art.
His relics have been met with in much greater abundance and over
a vastly wider area in Europe. The remains of Palaeolithic man
86 BOS PRIMIGENIUS.
are restricted to caves, and to a few alluvial deposits in France and
the South of England, in which they occur more or less numerous,
whereas the weapons, implements, and ornaments of Neolithic times
are found over the Continent of Europe. Professor Dawkins
admirably illustrates the marked distinction between the Palaeo-
lithic man of the gravels and caves, and a smaller race with
differently formed skulls which succeeded them in the later Stone-
age, after the great subsidence which -ushered in. the modern
Continental period. The latter ra?e he identifies with the Basques
and ancient Iberians a non-Aryan or Turanian people, who
once possessed the whole of Europe, including the civilized
Etruscans of Italy, and allied tribes occupying the British Isles.
This race, which was overthrown by the Celts and other invaders,
was doubtless the successor of Palaeolithic man, and constituted the
man of the Neolithic period. Light is now rapidly breaking in
upon this hitherto obscure subject. By the rediscovery of the tin-
mines in Tuscany the connection of the Etruscans with the intro-
duction of the Bronze age is established. The affinities of these
people with the Neolithic and Iberian races connect the Stone and
Bronze-ages in Europe, and explain their intermixture in some of
the lake-dwellings in Switzerland. These show a progressive phase
of civilisation in successive stages, through which the primitive
inhabitants of Switzerland passed from the Neolithic, through the
Bronze, into the Iron age. Professor Heer has shown that some
of the plants cultivated by the lake-dwellers are not indigenous,
but must have been introduced such as the Egyptian wheat
Tnticum turgidum and the six-rowed barley, Hordewn hexasticlion ;
also Silene cretica y a South European weed, which was probably
introduced accidentally. In the heaps of refuse are fouad remains
of wild animals which the lake-dwellers snared and hunted, such
as the wolf, beaver, elk, urus, bison, stag, roedeer, bear, &c. The
prehistoric period is characterised by the arrival of the domestic
animals in Europe under the care of man the dog, pig, horse,
horned-sheep, goat. Bos longifrous (which, like Neolithic man, was
small) and possibly also Bos primigenius reverted to a wild state
BOS PRIMIGENIUS. 87
like the horses aiid oxeii in America and Australia at the present
time, for their remains are frequently found in association with
animals undoubtedly wild.
The most important wild animals living in this country during
the prehistoric period were the urus, the subject of this memoir
(the gigantic skulls of which occur in the great bogs of England
and Scotland), the Irish elk, the moose (Cervus dices), and the
reindeer ; the two last are far more abundant in the northern
deposits of Britain than in the southern. The prehistoric fauna
is distinguished from that of the pleistocene not only by the
appearance of these mammalia, which were unknown in that
period, but by the absence of many species which were then
living. The cave-bear, woolly rhinoceros, and mammoth for
instance became extinct ; the musk-sheep, glutton, and lemming
took refuge in the regions of the north, Avhile the spotted
hyaena, hippopotamus, and felis caffer retired to the warm
regions of Africa, where they are still living. The few scattered
herds of wild white cattle which still exist in parks in England
and Scotland may be said to form a connecting link between the
wild animals which have become extinct in this country in historic
times, and those which may still be classed among our /era? naturce.
The weight of opinion favours the view that they are descended
from Bos primigenius, the contemporary of Palaeolithic man. No
discoveries have as yet been made leading to the supposition that
it had been domesticated in Britain in prehistoric times, while on
the other hand Bos longifrons had been generally subjugated and
used by man. It is now represented by the diminutive Welch and
Scotch cattle, whose absence from England is one of the sad proofs
of the ruthless extermination of the British by their Saxon
conquerors, from which the few who escaped found refuge in the
forests and fells of Wales and Scotland.
Among the relics from the Romano-British village at Woodcuts,
preserved in General Pitt-Rivers' museum near Rushmore is a
skull of Bos longifrons, to which urus was as superior in size and
strength as was Palaeolithic man to Neolithic. Although found
88 BOS PRIMIGENIUS.
in prehistoric remains there is every reason to suppose urus was
feral and had never come under the domestication of man as a pure
breed. The postglacial mammals of England, exclusive of those
which are indigenous, are the brown-bear, great Irish deer, elk,
reindeer, urus, long-fronted ox, aurochs or bison, otter, beaver,
wolf, wild cat, &c. Of these the brown-bear was a native of
England during, and probably for some time after, the Roman
occupation. The beaver had become scarce before the close of the
ninth century. The wolf was extirpated in the north of England
in the reign of Henry VIII. The reindeer, elk, and the great
Irish deer probably became extinct in England in days long
anterior to the Roman invasion.
The woodcut at the head of this memoir represents the skull of
Urus primigenius, presented to the County Museum by Walter
Fletcher, Esq. It was found in the year 1884, twelve feet below
the bed of the river, by the workmen when excavating for the
foundation of a new iron bridge at West Stour, over which the
main road from Sherborne to Shaftesbury passes. The skull was
associated with a large quantity of bones and trunks of trees,
principally Wych elm.
JKinietne : Its connection toith the (EhurchiUs
A PAPER READ ON THE LAWN AT MINTERNE
28TH JUNE, 1888,
By Rev. H. E. RAVENHILL, R.D., Vicar of
Buckland Newton cum Plush.
INTERNE was anciently in the parish of Cerne
Abhas. In Domesday Book it seems to have
been surveyed under the general name of Cernel.
The Manor very anciently belonged to the
Monastery of Cerne. Minterne Parva, in the
Parish of Buckland Newton, adjoining, belonged
to the Abbey of Glastonbury.
The boundary stone is in the ornamental water in Lord Digby's
park. Whether the Abbots of Cerne and Glastonbury ever met
in this beautiful dale, whether they fought over their respective
rights, whether they feasted together, or hunted together, our great
Dorset historian does not record, though he tells us the Abbot of
Glastonbury had a park, and, we suppose, with it a hunting seat,
on what is now the Castle Hill Estate.
The Manor of Minterne Magna belonged to Cerne Abbey till
the dissolution of Monasteries, when it passed to the Crown.
90 MINTEHNE.
5 Edward VI., 1552, the Manor was granted to the "Warden and
Scholars of Winchester College and their successors, to be held of
the King in Chief by Knight's service, value <13 6s. 8d.
The property mainly continued in possession of Winchester
College till 1864, when, after much negotiation and many diffi-
culties, the copyhold was enfranchised by Edward St. Vincent, 9th
Baron Digby, the present owner.
The Lessees of this Manor for several generations were the
family of the Churchills. Roger de Curcille came over with the
Conqueror. To pass on from the llth to the 16th or 17th century,
we have Roger Churchill, of Catherston, Dorset, marrying Jane,
widow of Nicholas Meggs, and daughter of William Peverel, of
Bradford.
They had a son Matthew, who married Alice Gould, daughter of
James Gould, of Dorchester.
Their son Jasper (also called of Bradford, which seems to imply
possession of some land at Bradford Peverel) married Elizabeth
Chaplet, of Herringstone.
Their son and heir, John Churchill, styled of Wootton Glan-
ville, studied law at the Middle Temple, and added to his estate.
We find him at Minterne. In 1642 he had a lease of Minterne
from the College of Winchester (Hutchings iv., 471, note). He
died in 1652 at the age of 73.
He was grandfather to the famous Duke of Maryborough. He
married Sarah Winston, daughter of Sir Henry Winston, of
Standish Court, in the County of Gloucester.
He was married a second time. His second wife, Mary Allen,
erected the monument to his memory in Minterne Church. He
left a son called Winston.
This Winston Churchill was born at Wootton Glanville, and at
16 years of age matriculated at St. John's, Oxford (8th April,
1636) ; on the death of his father he left Oxford without taking his
degree.
He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Drake, of Ashe, in
the County of Devon.
MINTERNB. 9l
He was so great a sufferer in the Royal cause that his wife lived
for some years at her father's seat at Ashe.
"Winston was in the battles of Lansdpwn and Roundeway, as
well as at the sieges of Taunton and Bristol, and was fined by
Parliament .4,446. He was M.P. for Wey mouth 1661, and on
the establishment of the Royal Society was chosen one of its
Fellows. In 1663 he was knighted.
He died 26th March, 1688, and was buried at St. Martiii's-in-
the-Fields. He was the author of the Divi Britannici, or History
of the Kings of this Island. Macaulay, vol. i., p. 457, speaks of
Winston Churchill as a poor cavalier knight who haunted White-
hall, and made himself ridiculous by publishing a dull and affected
folio, long forgotten, in praise of monarchy and monarchs.
Sir Winston Churchill had seven sons and two daughters. The
eldest daughter was the notorious Arabella Churchill, to whose
influence at Court is attributed by Lord Macaulay the Duke of
Marlborough's first promotion.
The other daughter, Ellen Churchill, died at the age of 25, and
is buried at Minterne.
In the 3rd edition of Hutchings a long note disputes the pedi-
gree of the Churchills given in the earlier editions, and says the
first of the Duke of Marlborough's family from whom we can trace
his descent with accuracy is John Churchill, his grandfather.
Charles, the third son of Sir Winston, inherited Minterne.
Why he did so is not clear.
The epitaph to the memory of Charles in Minterne Church
records that " he was made Page of Honour to Christian, King of
Denmark, when only 13. At 16 he was Gentleman of the Bed-
chamber to the renowned Prince George. His martial genius led
him to the wars, and his courage and conduct made him soon taken
notice of by this Prince. He was made Major-General of Foot
and Governor of Kinsale in Ireland by King William. He was
esteemed one of the first commanders of Foot in Europe. Queen
Anne made him Governor of the Tower of London and General-in-
Chief of Foot. He had a great and memorable share in the
92 MINTERNE.
Battle of Blenheim, after which, for his many services, he was
made Governor of Brussels, Colonel of the Coklstream Guards,
and Governor of the Island of Guernsey. He died much lamented
in 1714, aged 55. He resided the latter part of his life at
Minterne. This General Churchill married Mary, daughter and
sole heiress of James Gould, of Dorchester. He left no children.
Two years after his death Mrs. Churchill married Montague Earl
of Abingdon. She was left for the second time a widow.
In 1757 she was burnt to death in her Town house, at Dorchester,
which was burnt down.
Lady Abingdon probably resided a good deal at Minterne after
her second husband's death, as the staircase at the east end of the
house always went by the name of Lady Abingdon's staircase and
a clear cold spring in the shrubbery as Lady Abingdon's well. She
left the Minterne Estate at her death to one of her own relations,
Nicholas Gould, of Frome Belet, near Dorchester, who, dying
without issue 1760, it came to his elder brother, John Gould, of
Upwey, Esq., on whose death it devolved to his son James, who
sold it, in the year 1768, to the Hon. Robert Digby, brother to
Lord Digby and Admiral of the White.
There is an old map of the house and grounds in 1724, by which
the mansion appears to be as large, or larger, than at present.
Hutchings records that General Churchill (brother of the Duke of
Marlborough), who was in possession at the beginning of the last
century, almost wholly rebuilt the house. The plan of 1724
cannot well be made out. There were steps on the east front
leading down to terraces between the house and the Avater, which
seems only to have consisted of square fish ponds. To the right
or south of the terraces was an orchard and kitchen garden. The
principal front of the house must have faced, like many other old
places, to the north and east, as the stables, outhouses, and back
yard were on the south side, where is now the flower garden.
The living rooms consisted, according to the inventory taken in
1768 (when Admiral Digby purchased the place), of common
parlour, &c., the tapestry parlour (the latter, perhaps, the same
MINTERNE. 93
then as now, for the tapestry fits the walls very well), and the blue
damask parlour. The present dining-room was probably what was
called the Great Hall, as it has a stone floor, and till 1832 or 1833
it had a wide open fireplace with dogs.
General Churchill is said to have enlarged and improved the
house very much. The tapestry in the drawing-room and two
north bedrooms was a present to him from the States of Holland,
when he was Governor of Brussels, as an acknowledgment for
services he had rendered there. The tapestry in the bedroom
(called the orange-room) has the Churchill coat of arms on it.
The fireplaces of this and the adjoining bedroom are in the angle
of the wall, a fashion which is said in Evelyn's Memoirs to have
prevailed in the year 1670.
The ceiling of the principal staircase was painted by Sir Jas.
Thornhil], and has the monogram M.C. at the corners. (Query,
for Mary Churchill ?) A handsome pier glass and glass table of
old Dutch manufacture have both the same monogram, and also the
Churchill crest. The glass on the table was cracked all across till
1864, when Lord Digby had a new one put in its place.
Tradition said that General Churchill had not been aware that
he held the property under the College of Winchester, and that
when he discovered that he Avas lessee only, not the proprietor, and
a large fine on the renewal of a life was asked by the College, he
dashed his sword with such violence on the table as to break the
glass.
The offices at Minterne in 1768, besides kitchen, laundry, still-
room, and servants' hall, contained a room called " The Warden's
Hall," perhaps the place where the warden of Winchester College
or his deputy settled the business of the estate at their annual
visit, which they had the right of doing every year, in the month
of May, during which visit they had also the right of going to the
cellar and taking out any wine they chose a privilege that so
annoyed the Hon. Admiral Digby that he and Mrs. Digby never
dined in company with the warden on these occasions, but had
their dinner upstairs by themselves.
94 MINTERNE.
According to an entry in the old journals the Minterne Estate in
1768 " was compact but naked, and the trees not thriving, the
house ill-contrived and ill situated."
The Admiral, however, set to work immediately improving the
place hy planting about the house and on the downs. After the
first year or two the trees grew well. The alterations were in
general carried out with taste, with the exception of the buildings,
in the matter of architecture. The Admiral had some very
peculiar crotchets. Anything like an angle was to be avoided if
possible. His corners were all rounded off, as may still be seen in
the churchyard and in the farmyard wall at I^CAV Barn.
The Admiral pulled down the stables and offices (which, by the
old plan, were on the south side of the house) and rebuilt them to
the west of it. He added to the house itself the greater part, if
not the whole, of the south front.
He also built in 1801 the tower at the west end of the church.
The alterations were all carried out under his own eye, and from
his own plans, by the village mason at that time, Dowdy by name,
which accounts for the Avails and workmanship being of the
roughest kind.
In 1836 the greater part of the passage at the back of the
library was the store closet, lighted at each end by round Avindows,
like the port holes of a vessel. This Avas altered a year or tAvo
afterwards by the second Admiral Digby. What is noAv (1888)
the entrance passage, Avith the storeroom adjoining, Avas all part of
the housekeeper's room, and on entering the hall door you had to
pass straight on under the stairs through a dark arcliAvay into the
stone passage beyond. There Avas a passage at each end of the
library, both throAvn into the room in 1866. In 1860 Lord Digby
very much enlarged the house.
Admiral the Hon. R. Digby Avas called the old Admiral to
distinguish him from his nepheAV, Admiral Sir Henry Digby. He
Avas the third son of EdAvard Digby and Charlotte Fox (daughter
of Sir Stephen Fox, and sister of the first Lord Ilchester and the
first Lord Holland).
MINTERNE. 95
Edward Digby never succeeded to the title, dying in 1746. His
son Edward became sixth Lord Digby in 1752 on the death of his
grandfather William, called " Good Lord Digby."
Edward Lord Digby was of a very amiable disposition and much
beloved in the family. In Burke's "Anecdotes of the Aristocracy "
he is said to have devoted his time to visiting prisoners in gaols.
He caught the fever, from which he died, in so doing. His death
took place at Balbyaville, the house of one of the tenants, near
Geashill, where he was staying for shooting.
There is a portrait of him at Minterne over the door into the
tapestry room, a copy of the picture at Melbury.
He was succeeded in the title by his brother Henry, who was
created Earl of Digby, and was father of the second and last earl,
and great uncle of the late Mr. W. G. D. "VVingfield Digby, of
CORRIGENDUM.
On page 95, line 14, for "great uncle " read " uncle. >:
In 1778 Kobert Digby commanded the " Ramillies," one of the
leading ships in the inconclusive action between Orvilliers and
Admiral Keppel in 1778.
In 1780 he was second in command in the battle off Cape St.
Vincent. He was made Admiral of the Red and appointed to the
care of Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence (afterwards
William IV.) on his entering the navy on board the Prince George
in 1770. A miniature of William IV. as a midshipman is in the
drawing-room at Minterne.
94 MINTERNE.
According to an entry in the old journals the Minterne Estate in
1768 " was compact but naked, and the trees not thriving, the
house ill-contrived and ill situated."
The Admiral, however, set to work immediately improving the
place by planting about the house and on the downs. After the
first year or two the trees grew well. The alterations were in
general carried out with taste, with the exception of the buildings,
in the matter of architecture. The Admiral had some very
peculiar crotchets. Anything like an angle was to be avoided if
possible. His corners were all rounded off, as may still be seen in
the churchyard and in the farmyard wall at Xew Barn.
The Admiral pulled down the stables and offices (which, by the
old plan, wei , ^ "! of the house) and rebuilt them to
the west of
not the who!
He also bi
The alteri
his own plai
which acco
roughest ki; -
In 1836
library was
like the p
afterwards
the entrance passage, AVII/H v.~ 'i
the housekeeper's room, and on entering the hall door you had to
pass straight on under the stairs through a dark archway into the
stone passage beyond. There was a passage at each end of the
library, both thrown into the room in 1866. In 1860 Lord Digby
very much enlarged the house.
Admiral the Hon. R. Digby was called the old Admiral to
distinguish him from his nephew, Admiral Sir Henry Digby. He
was the third son of Edward Digby and Charlotte Fox (daughter
of Sir Stephen Fox, and sister of the first Lord Ilchester and the
first Lord Holland).
MINTERNE. 95
Edward Digby never succeeded to the title, dying in 1746. His
son Edward became sixth Lord Digby in 1752 on the death of his
grandfather "William, called " Good Lord Digby."
Edward Lord Digby was of a very amiable disposition and much
beloved in the family. In Burke's " Anecdotes of the Aristocracy "
he is said to have devoted his time to visiting prisoners in gaols.
He caught the fever, from which he died, in so doing. His death
took place at Balbyaville, the house of one of the tenants, near
Geashill, where he was staying for shooting.
There is a portrait of him at Minterne over the door into the
tapestry room, a copy of the picture at Melbury.
He was succeeded in the title by his brother Henry, who was
created Earl of Digby, and was father of the second and last earl,
and great uncle of the late Mr. W. G. D. Wingfield Digby, of
Sherborne Castle.
Robert, the third son of Edward Digby and Charlotte Fox, was
born in 1732, and entered the navy in 1744.
In 1757 he was in command of the "Dunkirk" in the action off
Brest. In 1766 he appears to have been unemployed. His mother
was very anxious he should marry, as she says in a letter to him,
dated 28th October, 1766, "Have you seen nothing in all your
travels this year pretty enough to tempt you to take a wife V His
travels and visits continued through 1767 and 1768. In the
month of November that year he bought the Minterne Estate, but
does not seem to have regularly resided here till after his marriage
in 1784.
In 1778 Robert Digby commanded the " Ramillies," one of the
leading ships in the inconclusive action between Orvilliers and
Admiral Keppel in 1778.
In 1780 he was second in command in the battle off Cape St.
Vincent. He was made Admiral of the Red and appointed to the
care of Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence (afterwards
William IV.) on his entering the navy on board the Prince George
in 1770. A miniature of William IV. as a midshipman is in the
drawing-room at Minterne,
96 MINTERNE.
In 1784 Admiral Digby married Eleanor, widow of William
Jauncey, Esq., eldest daughter of the Hon. W. Elliott, the
Governor of Xew York. This Admiral Robert Digby died at
Minterne in 1814. He was at that time Senior Admiral in the
navy, which he entered in 1744.
He was succeeded at Minterne by his nephew, Admiral Sir
Henry Digby, son of the Dean of Durham, father of the present
Lord Digby by Jane Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Leicester
and widow of Viscount Andover. Sir Henry was born in 1770
and died in 1842. A brass to his memory in Minterne Church
records that he commanded H.M.S. "Africa" in the Rattle of
Trafalgar, that by his gallantry and daring he obtained the marked
approbation of Lord Nelson and the thanks of Parliament.
Minterne has found its Way into the pages of a modern popular
novel. I think our Dorset Field Club owes a thistle to Mr.
Shorthouse, the author of " John Inglesant," for having desecrated
this beautiful spot with a murder two centuries back.
I have to thank the Hon. Miss Digby for the loan of a MSS.
book kept at Minterne House, from which I have gathered the
greater part of the information supplied to you to-day about
Minterne and its connection with the Churchills and Digbys.
In the book I trace the handwriting of the late Lady Digby.
Those who had the privilege of her acquaintance must look back
upon it as one of the treasures of life. Her sweet spirit still
lingers around Minterne, particularly in the picturesque cottages
she was so fond of visiting in the days of her health, and in the
village Schoolroom, which was, I believe, her design, and which
you will pass on the road to Buckland.
fJitrish fUgistcr of gtacklnnb |tcfoton,
By Rev. C. H. MAYO, M.A., R.D., Vicar of Long Burton
with Holnest.
T the request of the Rev. H. E. Ravenhill, R.D.,
Vicar of Bucklaiul Newton with Plush, I have
written the following shprt paper, to draw the
attention of the Dorset Natural History and
Antiquarian Field Club, on the occasion of its
long looked for visit, to the valuable document in
his custody in the form of the first volume of the Parish Register.
This volume is a beautiful book, in excellent condition and
preservation, commencing on 16th January, 1568, and continued,
with but few exceptions, until the end of the year 1812. It is a
thick quarto, measuring Tins, by lljins., bound in rough brown
calf, containing no less than 594 paper pages, the margins ruled
throughout with red marginal lines. The leaves are in perfect
condition, though upon the re-binding of the book, at some date
not known, a few of them have been misplaced, and the margins
generally cut down. The various entries of baptism, marriage, and
burial are intermixed, being recorded one after the other as they
occurred, and from the beginning of the Register until 16th May,
1625, they are, with few exceptions, in Latin. After that date,
and until 22nd March, 1694-5, the entries are sometimes in Latin
and sometimes in English, according to the preference of the
98 BUCKLAND NEWTON PARISH REGISTER.
registrar or incumbent ; while from 1695 to 9th March, 1736-7,
Latin is regularly used, at which last-mentioned date English
obtains undisputed sway, and has not since been dethroned.
There is one unfortunate defect in this otherwise well-kept Register.
No entries occur between 29th June, 1625, and 9th February,
1653-4, except one in 1628. Xo reason can now be assigned for so
unfortunate a circumstance, for, though it is often the case that
registers were neglected during the civil war, this defect commences
at a much earlier date. The cause must be sought in some special
circumstance relating to the parish or incumbents, and it may be
observed that the period of non-registration synchronizes in the
main with the incumbencies of Charles Robson, inducted 22nd
April, 1624, and his successor, Thomas Ridout, who was buried
21st December, 1654. It should be noted that from 1754 a
separate Register has been kept for marriages, though a few of
them continued to be entered in he old volume. "With this
exception the book comprises all the genealogical particulars relat-
ing to the inhabitants of this extensive parish for a period of
nearly 250 years.
How Buckland XeAvton came to be possessed of a Register so
carefully ordered is explained by the fact that in 1574 was
instituted, as Vicar, John Phillipps, who had not long before
(10th February, 1573), been appointed a notary public by faculty
issued by Archbishop Parker. A copy of the document so appoint-
ing him, in which he is described as being of the Diocese of
Hereford, signed "\Yillrnus Larke ad facilitates Regis'arius," is
entered in the Buckland Register. He may be supposed to have
had some legal training or attainments to fit him for this office, and
if that is the case the effect is seen in the methodical way in which,
a few years later, he carried out the Constitution of Convocation in
the matter of Parochial Registers. In Burn's " History of Parish
Registers." 2nd edition, 1862, pages 22 and 23, it is set forth that
on 25th October, 1597, an important order was made by the
Archbishop, Bishops, and Clergy of the Province of Canterbury,
from which the following paragraph is taken : " Deinde ut libri
BUCKLANU NEWTON PARISH REGISTER. 99
ad hunc usum destinati, quo tutius reservari et ad posteritatis
memoriam propagari possint, ex pergamen sumptibus parochianorum
in posterum conficiantur : lisque non modo ex veteribus libris
cartaceis transumpta noinina eorum qui regnante Serenissima
Domina nostra, Elizabetha, aut baptismatis aqua abluti, aut inatri-
moniis copulati, aut ecclesiastics sepulturie beneficio affecti sint,
suo ordine sumptibus parochianorum inscribantur, sed eorum etiam
qui in posterum baptizati, vel matrimonio conjunct!, vel sepulti
fuerint."
John Phillipps without delay set about carrying out this injunc-
tion in his own parish, and it is noticeable how much of the
phraseology of the original order is reproduced in the title of the
Buckland Xewton Register, which runs as follows :
"REGISTRVM SI-
VE DIARIVM NOMINVM EO-
RVAI CONFECTVM, QVI BAPTIZATI,
ac matrimonio coniuncti, & sepulti fuerunt, infra parae-
chiam de BVCKLLAND, in Comitatu DORSET, a decimo sex-
to die mensis lamiarij, Anno Dom. iuxta computationem Ecclesice
Anglicanse : 1568. qu6 in posterum ad posteritatis memoriam pro-
paqari possint, diligenter examinatum, tranmmptum, $ foleliter scrip-
tum per Ion ANN EM PHILLIPPS, Clericum, Notariumqz Publicum,
Vicarium Ecclesiie parocliicdis de BUCKLLAND priedictte ; Anno
Dom. 1598. Reyniqz Illustrissimce in Cliristo Principis ac Do-
mince nostrce, Domince Elizabethce Dei gratia, Anglice,
Francue, and Hibernice Regime, fidei defensoris, &c.
Qiiadragesimo primo : ex veteribus libris car-
taceis prcemissorum, liucusqz factis fy re-
servatis, ac in posterum conser-
vandis"
It is remarkable that this title is printed.
100 UUCKLAND NEWTON PARISH REGISTER.
"NVith all his care John Phillipps did not literally obey the
injunction in a most important particular viz., in regard to the
order that the new books should be of parchment. One other
order was, however, scrupulously fulfilled viz., " Postquam autem
paginam aliquam integram multorum nominum inscriptio comple-
verit, turn ministri, turn gardianorum ipsius parochaei subscriptionib'
volumus cam communiri;" and so, until 1624, occurs the yearly
addition of the names of the Vicar and Churchwardens, " testibus
de veritate prsemissorum."
Turning now to the general contents of this interesting volume,
I will endeavour to point out what are the chief matters of value
which it presents to our notice. It would be tedious to dwell on
the present occasion upon the lists of baptisms, marriages, and
burials, invaluable as they are to the genealogical student, which
constitute the larger portion of a parish register, and it will be
sufficient to mention that the volume before us is rich in entries of
the Arnolds, Sacheverells, Barneses, Tawswells, Dunnings, Foys,
the ancestors of John Locke, the philosopher, and others, who held
property here during the period covered by the Register. Many
of these are already printed in the third edition of Hutchins'
"History of Dorset."
The Benefice of Buckland Xewton is a Vicarage, and the Great
Tithes were, for a considerable period, in the hands of the Dean
and Chapter of Wells. How the profits of the tithes were realized
by the owner becomes apparent by the following entry : 1573,
March 27th, " William Bond generosus, firmarius Rectorie de
Buckland," was buried. So the tithes were farmed or rented by a
gentleman, a leaseholder, as Hutchins' history tells us, who resided
on the spot, and made a living out of them, beyond what he paid to
the appropriates The name of Robert Hide, armiger, " firmarius
Rectorie de Buckland," occurs in 1597.
Under the year 1603 is entered in the Register a document of
some historical interest, being
"i&hc trCW topic Of a proclamacon solemnelie and publiquelie
proclaimed at the high crosse in Dorchester the xxixth day of
BUCKLAND NEWTON PARISH REGISTER. 101
March Anno dni 1603 by John Rogers Esquier then high Sheeriffe
of the Countie of Dorset.
ffflfJtfWttCh X$ $t fc&ttt pleased almightie god to call to his
mercie owt of this transitorie life, our sou'aigne Ladie the high and
mightie prince Elizabeth, late Queene of England ffraunce and
Ireland, by Whose death, and dissolution, the Imperiall crowne of
theese Realmes aforesaid, are nowe absolutelie, whollie, and solelie,
come to the high & mightie prince James the sixt King of
Scotland, Who is lineally and lawfullye decended from the bodie
of Margaret daughter to the high and renowned Prince, Henry the
Seventh King of England ffraunce and Ireland, his great Grand-
father, the same Ladie Margaret being lawfully begotten of
Elizabeth daughter to King Edward the fowerth, by which happie
conjunction both the howses of Yorke and Lancaster were vnited
to the Joy vnspeakeable of this Kingdome, formerlie rent, and
torne, by the long dissention of bloodie and rivill Wars, the same
Ladie Margaret being also the eldest sister of King Henrie the
eight of famous memorie, King of England aforesaid.
We thmf0W the :C0Wte Spirituall and Temperall of this
Realme, being heare assembled, vnited, and assisted with those of
her late Maiesties privie councell, and with great numbers of other
principall gentlemen of qualitie in the Kingdome, with the Lord
Maior Aldermen, and Citizens of London, And a multitude of other
good Subiects and Comons of this Realme, thirsting nowe after
nothing soe much, as to make it knowen to all psons who it is that
by la we, by lineall succession, and vndoubted right, is nowe become
the onelie sou'aigne Lord and King of theese Imperiall Crownes,
to the intent that by vertu of his power, Wistdome, and godlie
Courage, all things may bee p'vided for, and exectited, which may
prevent or resist eyther forein attempts, or populer disorder, tending
to the breach of the perfect peace, or to the preiudice of his
majesties future quiet, doe nowe hereby with one full voyce and
consent of tongue, and hart, publish and proclayme, that the
high and mightie Prince James the sixt King of Scotland is
nowe by the death of our late sou'aigne Queeue of England of
102 BUCKLAND NEWTON PARISH REGISTER.
famous memorie become also our onelie lawfull, lineall, and
rightfull liege lord James the first King of England, ffraunce and
Ireland, defender of the faith to whom as to our onelie Just prince,
adorned (besides his vndoubted right) with all the rarest guiftes,
of mynd and lx>die, to the infinite comfort of all his people, and
Subiectes, that shall live vnder him, We do acknowledge all faith,
and constant obedience, with all hartie and humble affections both
dureing our naturall lives for our selves, and in the behalfe of our
posteritie, hereby protesting and denounceing to all psons whatsoeu',
that in this iust and lawfull acte of ours, we are resolved by the
favor of gods holie assistance, and in the zeale of our owne
conscience (warranted by certayne knowledge) of his manifest and
vndoubted right (as hath benne said before) to maynetayne and
vphold his maiesties pson, and estate, as our onelie vndoxibted
Sou'aigne Lord and King, with the sacrifice of our lives, landes,
goods, frindes and adherentes, against all power force or practise
that shall goe abowt by word or deede, to interrupt, contradict, or
impugne his iust claimes, his entrie into his Kingdome or any pte
thereof at his good pleasure, or disobey such Riall directions as
shall come from him. To all which we are resolved onelie to yeld
our selves vntill the last droppe of our bloodes be spent for his
service, Hereby Willing and commaunding in the name of our
Soveraigne Lord James the first King of all the foresaid Kingdoms
all the late Livetenaunts deputie Livetenaunts Sherriffes, Justices,
and all Maiors Bayliffes Cunstables, Headboroughes, and all other
officers and ministers whatsoeu' that they bee aiding, and assisting
from tyme to tyme in all things that are or shalbc necessarie for
the preventing, resisting, and suppressing of any disorderlie
assemblies or other vnlawfull acte, or attempt, eyther in woord or
deede against the publique peace of the Realme, or any way
p'iudicial to the right, honor, state, or person of our onelie
vndoubted and deere lord, and sou'aigne that nowe is, James
the first King of all the said Kingdoms, as they will avoyd
the perill of his maiesties heavie indignation, and their owne
vtter ruine and confusion, beseching god to blesse his maiestie
BUCKLAND NEWTON PARISH REGISTER. 103
and his Royall posteritie with long and happie yeres to Raigne
over vs.
fop
10.
'iiun.i'rtou
(5.
of
Imprinted at London by Robert Barker Printer to our late
Soveraigne Ladie Queene Elizabeth, March xxiiij Anno Dni,
1602."
This was the actual day of the Queen's death, and the proclama-
tion was made at Dorchester five days after.
In the year 1625 we arrive at the unfortunate hiatus which has
been already mentioned, which continued until 9th February,
1653-4, when an entry informs us that "This booke [was] scene
and allowed to be continued A Register booke for the pishe of
Buckland Newton, by me, John Arnold," the third day of Aprill
1654. It was at this time that Parliament directed that Registrars
should be chosen by every parish, to be approved of and sworn by
104 BUCKLAND NEWTON PARISH REGISTER.
a justice of the peace, for registering births and burials. "William
Summerset was acting in this capacity at Buckland in 1655, and an
attempt was then made to remedy in some instances the neglect of
former years, and it is recorded : " Whereas And for as much as
divers Children borne and Baptized within this parish of Buckland
Newton haue been omitted to be Regestred. And now I beinge
truely Informed by theyre parents of the tyme of thier baptisme :
haue nowe heere Regestred Each mans Chyldren (heerin) Altogether,
And haue destinctly noted the daye And yeare of the Baptisme of
Each one of them : Accordinge as I haue been Informed by theyr
parents." This memorandum immediately follows the date, 14th
January, 1655-6, and the earliest of these retrospective entries
reaches back to the birth of Margarett, daughter of William
Holland, 15th January, 1643. After two pages the Register
resumes its usual course. Shortly afterwards another registrar was
appointed. " The 16 day of May 1656, William Dauis of
Buckland Newton was sworne Register of the said Parrishe of
Buckland before vs, (vpon a Certificate of the said Parrishes
receaued the day abouesaid.) Jo. Fitz James, Walt. Foy."
'In those days marriages were performed by justices of peace, of
which the following entry gives a specimen : " The Contract and
purpose of marryage betweene John Watts and Edith Lane both
of the pish of Buckland Newton : was published in the sayd
parish Church three severall Lords dayes viz. 1. August ye 24th,
2. August 31st, 3. September the 14th, and noe exception taken
agaynst the sayd publication. And the sayd John and Edith were
marryed att Midlton by John Squibb of Whitchurch P^sq. the
seventh daye of October 1656."
Yet even then, and with precautions of this kind, things did not
always go well, for on 29th October, 1655, John Rol>erts, of
Buckland Newton, practicioner of Chirurgery, and Salina Bryce
of Broade Sidlinge, daughter of Ela Bryce of Buckland Newton,
widow, were married by John Arnold Esq., J.P. in the presence of
t c William Summerset, Register," and the same couple afjain
married 5th June, 1656, by John Squibb of Whitchurch Esq.,
BUCKLAND NEWTON PARISH REGISTER. 105
J.P., the witnesses then being William Bryce of Buckland Newton,
William Bolter of Beer Regis, Robertt Squibb of Whitchurch, and
William Coker Jun. of fframpton, Gentlemen. Soon after this
date viz., between October and December, 1658, a note has been
made by the Lay Registrar, which shakes our confidence a little in
the exactitude of every entry. " Here is to bee noted that here
followinge ar regestred seuerall psons births and buryalls accordinge
to the just tymes thereof but not all in order as they were borne
or buryed : (or marryed) by Reason that I Came not to the
knowledge of it the parish being spacious and my selfe not able by
Reason of sicknes to enquire after it and soe to doe it orderly."
This memorandum shews the mistake of Parliament in making any
person, other than the minister who performed the rite, the keeper
or registrar of the record.
One entry in the Register during the Commonwealth period
descends more into particulars than is usually the case. " Katherin
Sacheverell of Buckland wid., was buryed Julij the twenty-thyrd,
1657. Shee was about the age of 86 yeares and leeued in this
pish about 40 yeares in which tyme (by the mercy of god) shee
was one that loued and followed the word of God, and was a pyous
and Charytable woman : & in her Conversation vnblameable And
in her last End Comfortable in her god and savyour with whome
shee now doth leeue in glory." This lady was married to John
Cheverell gent., (as the name \vas often written) 12th September,
1616, as Katherine White of Stratton. Her husband is probably
identical Avith the John Sacheverell, the great-great-grandfather of
the famous Henry Sacheverell, D.D.
After the Restoration it is satisfactory to see that Church
Discipline was still maintained among the unruly parishioners of
Buckland. On May 3rd, 1674, Mr. William Aarnold and Jone
Lane were excommunicated in Buckland Church. On the 16th of
the same month Martha Lane, the reputed " dafter " of Thomas
Trew, of Clinger, was baptised, and a few days afterwards viz.,
on May 31st, "Thomas Trew bore Penance in Church."
Mr. William Arnold appears to have been incorrigible, for on
106 BUCKLAND NEWTON PARISH REGISTER.
4th October, 1685, he was again excommunicated. It speaks well,
however, for the state of Buckland at this period that these are the
only entries of the kind which occur in the Kegister.
There are various entries scattered through this Register relating
to benefactions and other parochial matters, with which there is no
occasion to detain you. One curious memorandum should, how-
ever, be noticed, as it shews the singularly cumbersome, and one
would suppose unsatisfactory, plan on which small details of parish
business were discharged. Buckland Churchyard was fenced in
former times, as recently, until 1877 by wooden rails ; and
instead of the repair of these rails being carried out by a common
rate upon the parishioners specified numbers of rails were assigned
to the various holdings or tenements, the owners of which were
responsible for their being kept in order. Thus " A List of the
Churchyard Rails from the West Gate Northward to the North-
east wicket," which is not dated, but evidently belongs to the
latter part of the 18th century, enumerates 25 churchyard rails,
the repair of which was distributed among the owners or occupiers
of 20 holdings. A more extended list in the Burial Register,
1813-1865, adds the persons responsible for the rails on the south
of the churchyard, as well as from the west gate northwards,
giving, in all, 32 holdings. This list is principally taken from the
churchwardens' book of 1760.
Other matters, interesting from the point of view of the
parochial historian, might easily be added to the foregoing pages.
But the limited time at the disposal of the Field Club to-day
forbids my saying more. I hope the sight of this precious volume,
which the present custodian prizes so highly, will impress the
members with a keen sense of the value of the treasures stowed
away in many an iron register chest.
Vd X 1889
n
|iitre British
By the Rev. O. PICKARD-CAMBRIDGE, M.A., P.R.S.,
&c., &c.
Plate A.
(READ FEBRUARY 13iH, 1889).
EARLY three years have passed since my last
communication to you on spiders. During that
period rheumatism and lumbago have very much
hindered the long-sustained stooping process so
absolutely essential to success in working out the
spicier population among moss and other herbage
in swamps and such like situations. I have, however, done a
little myself, and have received much help from my sons, and
especially from my nephew, Frederick 0. P. Cambridge, whose
skilful pencil has been more than once employed to illustrate
entomology in former volumes of our "Proceedings." A new
spider-student has also sprung up (not, I am sorry to say, in our
own county, though not far outside it) in Dr. Blackmore, of
Salisbury. From him I have received, among numerous other
spiders, two fine new additions to the British List Prostliesima
rustica (Sim) and Coelotes pdbulator (Sim). The former of these was
found, though very rarely, in Dr. Blackmore's own garden in Salis-
bury ; the latter under pieces of rock and stone near Alderbury.
Dr. Blackmore sent nie several females of this spider the year
108 NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS.
before last ; but though suspecting them to be different from our
ordinary species, Ccelotes atropos (\Valck.), the absence of the male
prevented my forming a reliable opinion upon it. The season
for the males was evidently past, and Dr. Blackmore, having in the
month of July obtained some recently hatched young, resolved to
try and rear them, hoping thus to obtain in due time both sexes.
The young spiders fed fairly, and made tolerable progress; but
winter coming on both feeding and growth stopped, and I heard no
more of them until the following May, when Dr. Blackmore,
having gone to Alderbury at my suggestion, in hopes of finding both
sexes in the adult state, wrote to me that he feared he was again
too late for the males, as he found females already adult and some
of them with egg-cocoons, while some that he left there the previous
summer just hatched were still not half grown; and as for those Avhich
he had been endeavouring to rear they had made but little progress
and were no more advanced than the others, whence he concluded
this spider required at least two years to become full grown. Ten
days later, however, Dr. Blackmore wrote again to tell me that his
brood had made a sudden start, and were now rapidly approaching
maturity. There was nothing to account for this sudden groAvth,
neither change nor extra abundance of food. Their progress
received no check after this, and in a very short time the final
moult took place, and three fine adult males, besides several
females, rewarded Dr. Blackmore's pains. From these I have been
able to identify it with Codotes pabulator (Sim), found not un-
f requently in the Alpine regions of France, but not before recorded
in Britain. The long-continued stagnation of growth noticed above
and the subsequent start and rapid progress to maturity is interest-
ing ; but it is known to occur in respect to other spiders also, as well
(I believe) as in animals of widely different groups. I am not
aware that any account can be given of this, further than that it is
an economic fact in the creature's life-history, though of course
during winter we should not in any case expect very rapid growth.
One of the males bred by Dr. Blackmore lived until last month,
when it died from accidental neglect, being then nearly two years old.
NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS. 109
Another interesting discovery, made last May, by my nephew
and myself, was of numerous examples of both sexes of a curious
Saltidd (or jumping spider) Hyctia Nivoyi (Luc) among grass
and water weeds in a large bog on Bloxworth Heath. These
examples enabled me to prove that the Salticus promptus (Bl.) (Spid.
Dors. p. 560) is not the young of Hyctia Nivoyi, as thought by
Mons. Simon, but quite a distinct species. The true Hyctia Nivoyi
(Luc) is, therefore, now recorded for the first time as British. Its
elongated and flattened form will easily distinguish it from any
other yet found in Britain. It has, moreover, the curious faculty
of being able to run backwards as quickly as forwards. A jumper
in the true sense of the word it certainly is not. The discovery of
this spider in abundance at Bloxworth, where, though I have been
collecting for so many years, I have never met with it before, is
remarkable, and should teach us never to be too confident that we
have done all that there is to be done in even our best worked
localities, nor to be content to leave a single spot unsearched. This
spider is probably very local, and on the exact spot where we found
it I had not before worked. I have also received from Folkestone
(where they were found by Colonel Le Grice, an energetic recruit
in the study of spiders) examples of another very fine and distinct
Saltidd Pellenes tripunctatus (Walck.) This is indeed a jumper,
not only in name but in fact ; its leaps being from 18 inches to
2 feet in extent. It has its abode among rough stones and chalk
knobs on the cliffs near the shore, and it is a conspicuous object,
loving sunshine, and ourjld to be found along our Lulworth and
Purbeck coast. This is its first record as a British spider, though
it is not rare in many localities on the Continent. I have also to
record as new to Britain Enoplognatlta caricis" (Fickert), found
by my nephew at Hyde, near Bloxworth. This is a spider of
much interest, its generic characters being of so mixed a kind that
it has been placed by different -authors in five or six different
recognised genera, and is now, finally I think, placed in a genus
formed by an Italian araneologist, Syr. Pietro Pavesi, specially for
the reception of this and some others of its congeners. My
110 NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS.
nephew also, last October, found an adult male of Wakkenaera
capita (Westr.), at Whitenose, on the coast between Wey mouth
and Lulworth. This is the first recorded British example of a most
curiously formed spider. Another of the same group, and new to
science, Walckentiera interject a (Cambr.), was sent to me almost at
the same time by Mr. F. M. Campbell, from Hoddesdon, Hertford-
shire, and by General Van Hasselt from Holland.
The only other spider which I have to record as new to science
is a Linyphia (or rather, belonging to the restricted genus Tmeticus
(Menge), examples of which have been sent to me from
Southport, Lancashire, by a very diligent spider collector, Mr. Cecil
Wai-burton, of Christ's College, Cambridge. It is a fine and very
noteworthy species, though somewhat closely allied to Linyphia rufa
(Westr.) L. scopitjer Grube (a Northumbrian and Scotch species, first
found in Sweden by M. Westring). On this new spider I have
conferred the name of its discoverer Tmeticus Warburtonii.
Besides those already mentioned I have to record seven others as
found for the first time in our own county. Teyenaria Guyonii, the
true " Cardinal spider," sent to me from near Poole by the late Mr.
T. B. Kemp- Welch. This is our largest house spider. I have
found examples in old cupboards and such like places at Oxford,
with an expanse of legs measuring four inches or more in diameter.
We have a closely allied species in Dorset, abundant in cellars at
Weymouth and among rocks in Portland Tegenaria atrica
(C. Koch), if anything larger in the body than " the Cardinal," but
not so long-legged. The other spiders new to this county are
Neriene ayrestis (T>\.),NerienecIara(Cani\)r.),andNeriene Hutlncaiiii
(ibid). The female of this last spider was described by myself some
years ago as a distinct species N. foriniddbilis ; it was then
unknown to me as the female of the present species. These three,
as well as an example of Walclcenaera pratensis (Bl.), were found at
Hyde, by my nephew, who also with myself found two other spiders
(Salticids), near Bloxworth last spring, new to this county, Hasarius
arctiatus (Clk.) only found before at Lyndhurst, many years ago; and
Dendrypliantes liastaius (Clk.), a single example of which I received
XEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS. Ill
some years since from Norfolk, recording it in the " Proceedings "
of our Club, vol. vi., p. 1 (1885). We also have met with other
rare or local spiders in this county, during the last two or three
years, some of them having only occurred once or twice before, and
that many years ago. These are all noted by name, with particulars
of time and place of capture at the end of this paper.
I must not omit to notice also the occurrence of a curious
Clielifer (or false scorpion) found by my nephew at Hyde, CJtelifer
peculiaris (L. Koch), new to Britain, and of another, Cheiridiwn
museomm (Leach), "Book Scorpion," found by myself at Bloxworth.
The latter has got its trivial name from being met with in old
libraries and museums among damp and dusty old books. I had
previously received this species from Mr. C. W. Dale from
Glanvilles Wootton. In September last I found also a fine
Phalangid, or Harvestman, new to Dorset, among the ruins of
Corfe Castle Acantlioloplius spinosus (Bosc). This is our largest
known British species.
From the above outline of our spider work since my last
communication the following general results may be noted : Two
species new to science; eight neic to Britain; ten new to Dorset;
and 34 others either rare or local species, mostly found in this
county, besides the two Clieliferidce and the Phalangid.
The number of spiders now recorded as British is about 525,
while 380 or so of them have been met with in this county.
* DESCRIPTIONS AND NOTES ON NEW SPIDERS
POUND DURING 1886, 1887, AND 1888.
FAMILY DRASSID.E.
PROSTHESIMA RUSTICA (L. Koch.)
PL A, fig. 1.
Prostliesima rustica (L. Koch.), Zeitschrift des Ferdinandneums,
1872. p. 309. E. Simon, Les Arachnides de France, torn, iv., p. 93.
Adult male, length nearly 4 lines.
* Those spiders only are described at length which have not been already
described in " Spiders of Dorset."
112 NEW AXD RAKE BRITISH SPIDERS.
The whole of the fore part of this spider is yellowish red-brown.
The cepltdlothorax is clothed with a few long dark hairs and some
short pale pubescence. The legs are rather long 4, 1, 2, 3,
furnished with hairs, bristles, and (chiefly on those of the two
hinder pairs) with fine spines, and there is a thin scopula beneath
the tarsi. The colour of the abdomen is dull clay, with a
short reddish yellow-brown wedge-shaped coriaceous patch on the
front part of the upper side, and pretty thickly clothed with coarse
dark hairs, and its shape is somewhat cylindric-oval. In form and
general appearance P. rustica is of the ordinary type. The eyes are
all pale grey, almost of equal size, and closely grouped together in
two nearly parallel transverse lines of almost equal length. Those
of the anterior row are contiguous to each other ; the hind-central
pair are of irregular, somewhat oval, form, and also contiguous to each
other ; the laterals are near to them but not contiguous. The palpi
are moderate in length ; the radial is shorter than the cubital joint,
and has its outer extremity produced into a curved, tapering, sharp-
pointed apophysis, the joint directed upwards. The length of this
apophysis is about equal to the breadth of the joint at that part.
The digital joint is of moderate size, oval, pointed in front, and
suffused with brown. The palpal organs are rather prominent, but
compact, with corneous lobes and processes. The spinners are
rather long, those of the inferior pair strongest and cylindric, and
of a reddish yellow-brown hue. This spider is of great rarity on
the Continent of Europe, and may easily be distinguished from
others of this group by its reddish yellow-brown colouring, to
which there is no approach in any other British species known to
me. Dr. Blackmore has met with two adult males of it at
different times, one wandering at night in 1886, the other more
recently under an old board in his garden at Salisbury. A female
was also found, but it was, unfortunately, destroyed before it could
be forwarded to me.
FAM : AGELEXID.E.
TEGENARIA GUYONII (Guerin-Meneville).
Tegenaria Guyonii Cambr. "Spid. Dors." 473,
NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS. 113
Tegenaria domestica Bl : "Brit, and Irish Spid." p. 163, pi. xi.,
fig. 105.
An adult male of this spider was sent to me (some time before his
death) by the late Mr. T. B. Kemp- Welch, by whom it was found
between Bournemouth and Poole. This is its only record as yet
within the county of Dorset.
CCELOTES TABULATOR (Sim).
PI. A, fig. 2.
Codotes pabulator Sim., Arachnides de France, torn, ii,, p. 34.
Adult female, length 5 to 5 lines; male, 4J.
This spider is very nearly allied to Ccelotes atropos ( Walck.) (Spid.
Dors : p. 60), which it resembles closely in size and general
appearance. So far, however, as concerns the examples that I have
yet seen, it seems to be on the whole rather smaller. The colours,
though similar, are differently distributed ; in C. pabulator the
dark colouring of the abdomen is more diffused, leaving scarcely
any pattern visible excepting an indistinct pale longitudinal stripe
along the middle of the fore part and a series of more or less distinct
dull yellowish angular bars or chevrons on the hinder half. The
sides and under side are also less thickly marked and mottled with
black than the upper side. In all the examples I have seen of C.
atropos the pale stripe on the fore part of the upper side of the
abdomen is replaced by a well defined, long, tapering black stripe.
The palpi of the male also bear a close general resemblance to
those of C. atropos, but the apophysis on the outer side of the
cubital joint has the angular prominences on its upper side far less
strong and its termination rather more obliquely pointed.
Found by Dr. Blackmore, of Salisbury, underneath pieces of stone
near Alderbury, Wiltshire, and adults of both sexes were bred by
him from thence in June, 1888. The occurrence of this Alpine
species in this part of England is curious, Mons. Simon says that
it inhabits Alpine meadows at 1,800 metres height.
Dr. Blackmore tells me that the snare of this spider is rather
like, though smaller than that of Agelena labyrinthica, without the
external portion of the latter's snare, the tube extending some 8 or 9
114 NEW AND RARE RRITISH SPIDERS.
inches into the loose gravel or some natural crevice in the soil. It
generally divides into two passages, one of which appears to serve
as a kind of larder, and is encumbered with the cttbris of small
beetles and wood lice, upon which no doubt they feed. The other
passage ends in a rough sort of chamber, occupied by the female
spider, and its young. The egg-cocoon is lenticular, flat beneath,
convex above, and the eggs are enclosed in a fine close-textured
silk fabric, like thin white paper.
FAMILY THERIDIID^E.
GEN : ENOPLOGNATHA (Pav.)
The genus Enoplngnatlia corresponds to Drepanodtis (Menge), and
includes a portion of the genus Neriene (BL), with which it is
connected by strong affinities. It may, however, be distinguished
at once by the palpi of the female ending with a distinct claw. It
is also allied to Epeira, but may be recognised from that group by
the entire absence of spines from the legs, as well as by the form
of the maxillae. From Thendion, the possession by the male of a
stridulating organ at once separates it.
ENOPLOGNATHA CAUICIS (Fickert).
PL A, fig. 4.
Steatoda cartels Fickert, Zeitschr : f iir. Entom. Neuefolge, H. v.,
p. 29.
Enoplognatha caricis Fickert, Simon, Arachn : de France, 5, p.
188, exclude synonym.
Adult female, length 2| lines.
The cephalotJiorax, leys, palpi, and falces are of a yellow-brown
colour, the maxillae, labium, and sternum darker brown. The
abdomen is of a dull luteous yellow-brown, the greater part of the
upper side occupied by a large leaf-like pattern of black, bordered
with a white line ; the black is not regularly disposed over this
pattern, but is chiefly gathered into two large patches in front (one
on each side of the anterior extremity) and a large patch at the
posterior extremity ; the position of the dorsal vessel is indicated
by a white irregular line, enclosing an elongate red-brown marking
NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS. 115
just in advance of the middle of the abdomen. The whole surface
of the abdomen is covered thinly with longish coarse prominent
hairs.
The caput has its upper part furnished with coarse prominent
hairs. The normal converging grooves and indentations are
indicated by dusky lines ; the profile of the cephalothorax forms a
pretty regular curve ; the thoracic indentation is strong, and the
height of the clypeus is rather less than half that of the facial
space. The legs are slender, not very long, but well furnished with
hairs and bristles ; the, tibiae and metatarsi have numerous
erect ones along them. Their relative length is 1, 4, 2, 3.
The palpi terminate with a distinct, curved, pectinated claw.
The eyes are rather small, subequal, and form a rather narrow
oval transverse figure ; the four centrals form nearly a square, its
anterior side being rather shortest. Those of the posterior row are
separated by equal intervals and edged with black.
The genital aperture and process are simple and inconspicuous.
The falces are moderate in length and strength, straight and
vertical.
A single example of this distinct species was met with by
F. 0. P. Cambridge in a swamp at Hyde, near Blox worth, in May,
1888. The colours and pattern on the abdomen will distinguish it
at a glance from the two other British species, in which the
abdomen is of a uniform blackish hue, with (in one of them only)
some rather indistinct whitish spots. Vide Spid. Dors., p. 123.
This is the first record of E. cane is as a British spider. Mons.
Simon (Arachn ; do France, 5, 188), conjectures that Steatoda
Clarkii (Cambr.) may be a synonym of this species, but the eyes of
S. Clarkii are totally different, and the palpi have no terminal
claw.
GEN : TMETICUS (Menge).
(Linypltia Latr. ad partem).
PI. A, fig. 5.
Tmetieus Warlmrtonii sp. n.
Adult male, length rather over 1 \ lines ; adult female 2 lines.
110 NEW AND BARE BRITISH SPIDERS.
The whole of the fore part of this spider is of a dull orange
yellow-brown hue, and the abdomen of the female is dark leaden
brown with a longitudinal, pale, strongly dentated pattern on its
upper side, representing a coalition and development of the
usually (in this group) almost obsolete normal angulated lines or
chevrons, in conjunction with the elongated dorsal stripe. This
pattern is probably in many examples rather indistinct until the
spider is immersed in spirit of wine, and I do not trace it, except
very faintly, even in spirit, in the male. In this sex the colour of
the abdomen is nearly black. The cephalothorax has a blackish
marginal line, and the normal converging grooves are of a dusky
brownish hue.
The eyes are tolerably closely grouped together, and seated
on strongish black spots. Those of the posterior row are equi-
distant from each other and separated by an eye's diameter. The
clypeus is equal to rather over half the height of the facial space,
and only slightly concave or impressed.
The legs are tolerably long and moderately strong, furnished with
hairs and a very few fine spines, mostly on the tibiae. Relative
length Male, 1, 4, 2, 3 ; female, 4, 1, 2, 3.
The palpi of the male are tolerably long and strong. The
cubital joint is bent, enlarged toAvards its fore extremity and longer
than the radial, which is spreading in front ; its extremity is obtuse,
and furnished in front with numerous strong hairs. The digital
joint is large, its outer side considerably and angularly prominent,
and at its base is a long, strong, tapering, obtusely -pointed eminence,
furnished with a group of strong, straight, sharp-pointed, black
bristles, equal in strength throughout their length, directed
forwards and a little outwards in a straight line on the outer side
from its extremity downward. The longest of these bristles
are at the extremity of the eminence, and they decrease
gradually and regularly in length to the shortest. The palpal
organs are highly developed, prominent, and complex. Among
other processes are a long, very strong, semidiaphanous one,
curving backwards from the middle to the inner side, and a black,
NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS. 117
tapering, curved spine, nearer their extremity, on the inner side.
Also at their base on the outer side is a strong, somewhat curved,
triangular process, analogous to that found in the same position in
numerous other species of Linyphia (Latr), and the precise form
of which is usually an unfailing specific character. So here, again,
the form of this process differs from that of the closely allied
species mentioned below. The falces are rather long, powerful,
and prominent towards their base in front.
The genital process of the female is prominent, obtuse, straight,
and directed a very little backwards, being nearly vertical.
This spider is closely allied to Tmeticus scopiger (Grube)
(Linyphia rufa, Westr. and Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 550), and
resembles it in its general character and structure ; but it may be
easily distinguished by the rather larger size and closer grouping of
the eyes, the less height of the clypeus, and, especially in the male,
by the group of bristles at the end of the digital prominence of the
palpi. In the present spider these bristles are graduated in length
from the shortest to the longest ; black and single-jointed, whereas
they are of a pale hue, longer, but of equal length, and rather
enlarged and sub-divided at their points in T. scopiger, and the
prominence itself is less obtuse than in that species. The spider
itself is also rather smaller. The spines also on the legs in T.
scopiger are more numerous and stronger.
The abdominal pattern (of which I can find no trace in the many
females I have examined of T. scopiger), together with the short,
straight, genital process, will serve to render the female of T.
Warburtonii equally distinguishable. In T. scopiger this process
is bent in the middle, and then runs parallel with the under side of
the abdomen for the rest of its length.
Examples of both sexes were found among grass on the flats
among the sandhills near Southport, in Lancashire, in the late
summer time of 1887, by Mr. Cecil "\Varburton, of Christchurch,
Cambridge, and kindly sent to me for identification. It is an
exceedingly interesting species, being so very nearly allied to T.
scojriger, and yet so unmistakably distinct.
118 NEW AND HARE BRITISH SPIDERS.
NERIENE CLARA (Cambr.)
Neriene clam Cambr., " Spiders of Dorset," p. 492.
An adult female of this spider was found at Hyde by F. 0. P.
Cambridge in May, 1888. The male is not yet discovered. It
has only as yet been previously taken on the Cheviot Hills and
Orkney Islands, and I still believe it to be a good species. This is
therefore its first occurrence in Dorsetshire. On the inner side of
the falces of this spider is a series of transverse serrations,
correlated with a minute corneous point at the base on the inner
side of the humeral joints of the palpi, and conjectured to be a
stridulating apparatus, intended to produce call-notes, as it were,
between the sexes.
NERIENE AGRESTIS (Bl.)
Neriene agrestis Bl., Cambr., " Spid : Dors." 486.
An unusually richly coloured and well marked adult male of this
spider was found at Hyde, near Bloxworth, by F. 0. P. Cambridge,
in the spring of 1888. I had not before met with it in Dorset-
shire.
NERIENE HUTHWAITII (Cambr.)
Neriene Huthwaitii Cambr., " Spid. Dors." 436.
formidalrilis Cambr., Ibid, p. 135.
Numerous examples of both sexes of this fine species were found
in swamps at Hyde, and Morden Park, near Bloxworth, in June
and September, 1888, by myself and F. 0. P. Cambridge. Indi-
viduals of this species differ a good deal in size and depth of
colouring. It is now pretty certain that Neriene formiddbilis
(Cambr.) (I.e. supra) is the female of N. Hutlncaitii (Cambr.) It
was conjectured that it might be so, when the type of the former
was described many years ago, though it was then thought to be
distinct, as N. Huthwaitii had not then been discovered in Dorset,
atnd no male was found with or near N. formidabilis. In this
group, where the males of different species are easily distinguished
from each other, while the females are often exceedingly difficult to
distinguish, it is frequently a matter of much uncertainty to what
males, whose females are unknown, isolated females may belong,
NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS. 119
and, therefore, it is commonly safer to describe these latter as distinct
species, rather than to run the risk of allocating them at once to
the wrong males.
This is the fiist record of N. Hutliwaitii (Cambr.) in Dorset.
WALCKENAERA PRATENSIS (Bl.)
Walckendera pratensis Bl., " Brit, and Ir. Spiders," p. 306, pi.
xxi., fig. 222.
Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 502.
An adult male was found by F. 0. P. Cambridge at Hyde in
1888. This is its first record as a Dorset spider ; it had previously
only occurred in North Wales.
WALCKENAERA CAPITO (Westr.)
PL A, fig. 7.
Erigone capita Westr., " Aranese Suecicae," p. 213.
Walckendera capita Westr.. Simon, "Arachn. de France," torn,
v., p. 823.
Adult male, length 1^ lines.
Cephalothorax, falces, maxillae, labium, and sternum dark reddish-
brown, closely and finely striated with scratch-like marks. It is of
the usual oval form, but the caput is greatly elevated, the upper
extremity divided into two lobes, the anterior the largest, sur-
mounted with a patch of short hairs, and bearing the two lateral
pairs and fore central pair of eyes ; the hinder lobe springs by a
small neck from the occiput, and bends over forwards in an
enlarged oval form to the extremity of the anterior lobe, with
which it is nearly in contact, leaving a narrow elongate fissure or
space between the two ; near the fore extremity of the hinder lobe
are the hind-central pair of eyes, separated from each other by
about two diameters' interval. The eyes of each lateral pair are
contiguous, and seated on the sides near the extremity of the
anterior lobe ; and the fore-centrals, which are placed a little aboVfe
the line formed by the two lateral pairs, are near together, but
(apparently) not quite contiguous to each other, and are smallest of
the eight.
The legs are tolerably long, slender, bright yellow, tinged with
120 NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS.
red, furnished with hairs only ; on the tarsi, metatarsi, and tibiae
are a few very fine and erect hairs, the rest all oblique. I am not
sure, however, that these erect hairs are to be found on the tarsi
and metatarsi of the two hinder pairs.
The f dices are rather small, straight, vertical, and a little
prominent near the middle in front. Along each side is a series of
transverse serrations, probably part of a stridulating apparatus, the
stridulations being effected by the scraping across these serrse of a
sharp corneous edge or point on the inner side of the base of the
humeral joints of the palpi. I am not aware that stridulations
have ever been heard by any observer in small spiders, made by an
apparatus of this kind, but, at any rate, such an apparatus is
plainly visible in the males of many species, and sounds might
easily be caused by its working which, though inaudible to human
ears, would be quite recognizable by appropriate faculties in the
female spider. Mr. F. M. Campbell, in " Journal " of the Linnean
Society, 1880, vol. xv., pp. 152-155, has a paper on this very
interesting subject.
The palpi are rather long, similar in colour to the legs. The
cubital is much larger than the radial joint, of a very elongate-oval
form i.e., gradually lessening in size at the extremities. The
radial is broad, and its inner extremity is produced into a long,
tapering, curved, pointed apophysis, and with a group of strong
hairs at its outer extremity ; near together on the inside edge near
the base of the curve of the apophysis are two small black sharp
spines. The digital joints are rather large ; the palpal organs well
developed, complex, and with a black, filiform, tapering spine,
coiled in a circular form at their anterior extremity on the outer side.
The abdomen is oval, of a sooty black hue, shining, and thinly
clothed with hairs.
An adult male of this exceedingly rare spider was found under
a stone close to the shore at Whitenose, between Lulworth and
Weymouth, early in October, 1888, by F. O. P. Cambridge. It is
something like W. cucuUata (Wider), and, in fact, an example of
this last species was once mistaken for it by Dr. Thorell.
NEW AND RARE BRITISH SflDERS. 121
WALCKENAERA INTERJECTA (Cambr.)
PI. A, fig. 6.
Walckew'iera interjecta Cambr., Trans : Hertfordshire Nat :
Hist : Society 1888, vol. v., p. 18.
Adult male, length ^th of an inch.
Cephalothorax black-brown ; leys and palpi yellow ; digital joint
of palpus yellow-brown ; aMomen black.
The cephalotliorax has the caput slightly elevated towards
the ocular region, very much like that of W. Beckii (Cambr.) The
hind-central pair of eyes are about an eye's diameter from each
other, and placed transversely at the fore-margin of the elevation ;
the hind-lateral eye (on each side) is more than a diameter's interval
from each hind-central eye on its side ; and there is a long and
slightly-curved tapering indentation running backwards from
between the hind-central and hind-lateral eyes on each side. .The
height of the clypeus is about equal to half that of the facial space.
The digital joint of the palpus is large and has a small pointed
prominent lobe at the base on the inner side, and is largely and,
roundly prominent on the outer side. The palpal organs are rather
complex, and are furnished with three spines; one, slender, filiform
and of considerable length, issues from near their base on the outer
side, and coils freely round and over to the inner side, recurving
and ending in a very fine, free, hair-like point beneath its ex-
tremity ; another issnes from near the fore-end of the palpal organs,
and is circularly curved and sharp-pointed ; the third issxies from
near the base of the last, and is nearly straight, prominent, and
almost equal in size from its base to its sharp point. The radial
joint is short, about equal in length to the cubital ; it is broad,
obtuse, and, looked at from above and behind, somewhat semi-lunar
shaped ; its outer extremity is produced into a small, tapering,
sinuous, sharp-pointed spine, bent abruptly inwards just in front
of the anterior edge of the joint. Close beneath the base of this
spine is a very small thorn-like projection.
The legs are moderate in length and strength, not very unequal
in length 4, 1, 2, 3, and furnished with hairs only.
122 NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS.
The abdomen is oval, clothed thinly with fine short hairs.
The female is slightly larger than the male, but similar in
general form and colours. The caput, however, is less prominent,
being only very slightly rounded above, behind the ocular region.
The genital aperture is small, semi-circular, and placed at the
hinder extremity of a largish, nearly circular, rather prominent
area.
An adult male of this distinct little spider, new to science, was
found at Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire, by Mr. F. M. Campl>ell,
and kindly sent to me in 1887, and very shortly after I received an
example of each sex from Major-General A. W. M. Van Hasselt
from Holland. It is closely allied to Wcdckeniiera elegans (Cambr.),
a German species ; but it differs both in the form of the caput and
of the palpi and palpal organs.
FAM: SALTICID.E.
GENUS PELLENES (Sim.)
PELLENES TRIPUNCTATUS ("Walck. )
PI. A, fig. 9.
Attus tripundatus (Walck.), Ins. Apt. ii., p. 418.
crucigerus Walck., Ins : Apt : ii., p. 420.
Pellenes tripunctatus Sim, " Arachn. de France," torn, iii., p. 94.
Adult male, length 2| to 2| lines ; female 3 lines.
Ceplialothorax longer than broad, massive, roundish oval, rather
truncated in front, profile of the upper part curved, and sloping
over to the anterior eyes. The height of the clypeus is equal to
about half the diameter of one of the two large anterior eyes. The
hinder slope is steep and very slightly incurved. The colour of
the cephalothorax is black, clothed (but not densely) with rather
golden-yellowish adpressed hairs and, thinly, with some long
prominent dark ones. In front of the ocular area in the region of
the anterior row of eyes it is clothed with bright scarlet hairs, and
a well defined transverse stripe of shining white ones runs across
immediately above the falces and is continued in a more attenuated
form all round the margin on each side.
NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS. 123
The eyes form a large quadrate figure broader than long, and its
anterior shorter than its posterior side. The anterior TOAV is curved
(i.e., when looked at from above and behind). Its two central eyes
are nearly contiguous to each other ; its two laterals are very much
smaller and separated from the centrals by nearly a diameter's
interval. The small eyes of the middle row are nearer to the fore
laterals than to the eyes of the posterior row.
The legs are black to black-brown, with reddish tarsi and meta-
tarsi. The posterior half of the tibiae of the first pair are vivid
shining red. Their relative length is (male) 3, 1, 4, 2. Those of the
first pair are much the strongest. All are clothed with hairs some
along the fore sides being white, and the metatarsi are armed with
spines, though these are not similarly disposed on all the legs.
Each tarsus ends with a strong black claw tuft.
The palpi are moderately long, black, the fore part of the
humeral, and also the radial joints thickly clothed with shining
white hairs ; radial joint short with a rather longish obtusely-
pointed apophysis, directed forwards at its fore extremity on the
outer side. The digital joint is large, elongate-oval, with two
strong, sharp-pointed, slightly curved, corneous looking projections
in a linear direction, not far apart, near its base on the outer side.
The points of these projections are opposed to each other, and look
somewhat like a pair of short nippers. The palpal organs are
simple, consisting of a very large, prominent, roundish, or oblong-
oval, corneous bulb.
The abdomen is oval, slightly truncated before. Its colour on
the upper side is black to blackish-brown, clothed with hairs and
hairy pubescence. A longitudinal central white-haired stripe
bisects the upper side, broken into spots at its hinder part. This
band is divided transversely by an indistinct curved band of
yellowish hairs, traversing the upper part and sides, and again
midway between that and the spinners by a very conspicuous
parallel stripe of white hairs running through the third, from the end,
of the three white spots of the central stripe. The four large
patches formed by this pattern are jet black. The hairs clothing
124 NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS.
the sides and under side arc mixed yellowish and grey on a dark
yellowish-brown to blackish ground.
The female resembles the male in general characters and mark-
ings, but is altogether lightly coloured, though the white pattern on
the abdomen is less distinct, the hairs forming it being more of a
dull yellowish than white colour, and the sides of the abdomen
have several more or less distinct oblique black stripes. The palpi
are yellow, and the form of the genital aperture is very distinct and
characteristic. The relative length of the legs appears to differ
from that of the male, being 3, 4, 1, 2.
Adults of both sexes of this fine addition to our British spiders
were sent to me in June, 1888, by Colonel Le Grice, by whom they
were found at Folkestone in that month. It appears to be an
exceedingly active spider, and the extent of its leaps is wonderful.
It lives among stones and rubbly chalk near the shore, and comes
out during the hot sunshine. The very striking pattern on the
abdomen will serve to distinguish it a glance from all our other
British Salticids. It is common in many parts of France, Switzer-
land, and Germany.
GENUS HYCTIA (Sim.)
PL A, fig. 8.
HYCTIA NIVOYI (Luc.)
Hyctia Nivoyi Luc., " Explorations En Algerie," Araclmides,
p. 183, pi. 10, fig. 5.
(Simon), "Arachn. de France" iii., p. 20,
(exclude, however, Sdlticus promptus (Bl.), Euoplmjs prornpta
(Thor.), and Atttts pi'ninptus (Sim.) from synonyms there quoted).
Adult male, length from If to nearly 2| lines; female, -2 to
2 1 lines. Length of the cephalothorax in the male nearly equal to
that of the abdomen. In the female the abdomen is longer in
proportion.
Male. The cephalothorax is oblong-oval, truncated in front, of a
flattened form, with the hinder slope not very long, biit moderately
abrupt. The caput is black, dotted with reddish-golden squamose
hairs, with some white ones of the same nature, forming in fine
NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS. 125
uninjured examples three longitudinal broken lines, but often
appearing only as isolated spots, and sometimes absent, probably
through injury. The sides of the thorax are blackish-brown, and
the upper side of this part is reddish yellow-brown, with a central
longitudinal, more or less strongly marked, blackish line, often
dilated in the middle into a largish diffused spot.
The eyes form a square, occupying as nearly as possible half the
flattened upper area of the cephalothorax to the beginning of its
hinder slope. The anterior row is curved. The two central eyes
are nearly contiguous to each other, and touching the fore margin
of the caput. They are more than double the size of the laterals,
and all four are encircled with a rim of shining white, short, scale-
like hairs. Each minute eye of the second or middle row equally
divides the interval between the fore central eye and the eye, on
that side, of the posterior row, and is in a straight line with
them.
The legs are very unequal in length and strength 1, 4, 2, 3.
Those of the first pair are much the longest and of inordinate
strength, especially the femora and tibiae. These joints are deep
rich brown, the genua somewhat paler. The metatarsi and tarsi
are yellowish, the anterior half of the former dark brown. The
tibiae of the first pair are pretty thickly clothed with hairs, and
beneath them and the metatarsi are two (parallel) rows of strong
black spines, 4 pairs on the former and 3 on the latter ; beneath
the metatarsi of the second pair are three small spines in a longi-
tudinal row. The other legs are pale yellowish, thinly marked
with black spots and stripes, the latter only on the femora. All
the legs terminate with a small black claw tuft.
The palpi are short, of a yellow-brown hue, the radial and
digital joints black-brown. The radial is rather shorter than the
cubital joint, and furnished with strong bristly hairs. Its outer
extremity is prolonged into a strong, curved, slightly tapering, but
not sharply pointed, black, curved apophysis, as long, or longer,
than the greatest width of the joint. The digital joint is large,
clothed with short hairs ; the palpal organs simple, consisting of
120 NEW AND RARE HIUTISII SPIOKIiS.
one large rounded corneous lobe, very prominent, in a sub-conical
form, at its posterior part.
The falces are small, straight, vertical, and of a dark yellow-
brown colour.
The abdomen is elongate narrow-oval, and of a rather flattened
form. It is of a brownish-yellow colour, tinged with primrose-
yellow, and sometimes with a greenish hue along the sides and hinder
extremity of the upper part ; it is clothed with greyish and yellowish
hairs and a few short black erect ones on the upper side, which is
spotted and marked with black spots and lines, forming three
broken longitudinal lines, best defined on the fore half. The outer
margin is also furnished witli some white hairs, of which there
are some rather conspicuous patches, one or two on each side,
towards the hinder extremity, and a tuft just above the spinners.
The sides are closely striated with black longitudinal lines; the
under side is pale yellow, clothed with grey hairs, and has a black,
more or less well defined, line along each side and a black spot a
little in front of the spinners.
The female closely resembles the male in markings, but is
altogether paler in colours, and the black markings on the sides of
the abdomen are of a more spotty nature, and occasionally assume
the form of oblique lines. The' fore ley* are also less strong than
in the male.
Adults of both sexes of this very distinct and curious Salticid
were found in some abundance by my nephew and myself in Hyde
bog, near Blox worth, in May, 1888, by carefully gathering up the
dead grasses and moss and shaking it out over a cloth. They are
not very active and showed no jumping powers*, but could, when
approached with the finger, run as quickly backwards as forwards.
This spider has not before been recorded in Great Britain. The
spider given as H. Nivut/i (" Spid : Dors : p. 560) is quite distinct,
and must now resume its original name of //. (Salticus) prompta
* Mons. Simon, however, attributes great agility and leaping powers to
this spider when pursued. ( Vide 1. c. supra, p. 21),
NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS. 127
HYCTIA PROMPTA, Bl.
Salticus promptus Bl., " Brit, and Ir. Spiders" p. 59, pi. iii., fig. 32.
Hyctia Nivoyi Cambr : " Spiders of Dorset," p. 560.
This spider will now resume its position as a distinct species.
After an examination of the type specimen some years ago Mons :
Simon concluded that it was only an immature example of Hyctia
Nivoyi (Luc.), a spider I had then never seen ; but the capture, hy
myself and my nephew, Fredk. 0. P. Cambridge, of numerous
examples of it in all stages of growth at Bloxworth in May, 1888,
prove it to be quite distinct from Mr. Blackwall's Salticus promptus,
and, as I suspect, even of a different genus. It seems to me that
Salticus promptus is a Marpessa and very possibly the young of M.
pomatia AValck (S. Blackwallii Clark). However, as this is
uncertain, and Mons. Simon has a far wider acquaintance with
this group than myself, I have still for the present followed his
determination so far, at least, as the generic position of this
spider is concerned. The two species H. Nivoyi and H. promptus
differ entirely both in the cephalothorax and in the abdominal
pattern, as well as in the proportionate length and breadth of the
cephalothorax, which is shorter and less oblong than H. Nivoyi.
The thorax in H. promptus is marked witli distinct radiating lines,
and the abdomen has a central, elongated, tapering band on its
anterior half indicated by two rows of small black spots, and the
sides are marked with distinct oblique rows of black spots reaching
quite over to the middle of the upper side, where, however, they
may be taken to represent the normal angular lines or chevrons.
The spider itself is also of a much less elongate flattened form,
than H. Nivoyi.
GEN : HASARIUS (Sim.)
HASARIUS ARCUATUS (Clk.)
Ha*arius arcuatus Cambr., " Spiders Dors." p. 565.
I have found this spider in Hampshire, and have received it
from Wokingham, but never met with in Dorsetshire until last
June, when I and my nephew found it among dead herbage in a
swamp at Morden Park, near Bloxworth.
128 NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS.
GEN : DEXDRYPHAXTES (C. L. Koch.)
DENDRYPH ANTES HASTATUS (C. L. Koch.)
Dewlrypltantes Itastatus C. L. Koch, Canibr., " Proc : " Dors.
X. II. and- A. Field Club, vol. vi., p. 11.
An adult female was beaten off the lower boughs of a fir tiee in
Morden Park in June, 1888, by F. 0. P. Cambridge. The only
other British example recorded is that, noticed in " Proc." Dorset
Field Club (1. c., p. 1 and 11), of an adult male found near Xorwich
by Mr. James Edwards. This is its first record as a Dorset spider.
NOTES ON RARE OR LOCAL SPIDERS FOUND,
MOSTLY IN DORSETSHIRE, DURING
THE LAST THREE YEARS.
FAM: DYSDERID.E.
GEX : DYSDERA (Latr.)
Dysdera crocota C. Koch., Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 6.
Dr. Blackmore found this fine spider rather abundantly among
rubbly chalk in old chalk pits near Salisbury, in September,
1888, when both sexes were adult.
FAM : DRASSID^.
GEX : PROSTHESIMA (C. Koch.)
Prosthesima jiedestris C. L. Koch., Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p.
15, and " Proc." Dorset X. H. and Antiq. F. Club, vol. vi., p. 2.
I have received this distinct and local species from Colonel Le
Grice (Folkestone), in June, 1888, and also more recently from
Mr. T. R. Billings from the neighbourhood of Peckham.
Prosthesima LatreiUii C. L. Koch., Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p.
421.
I have met with this rare spider again a,t Bloxworth, and Dr.
Blackmore has sent it to me also from Salisbury in 1887.
Prosthesima lotirjipes L. Koch., Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 422.
An adult male on Bloxworth Heath in the summer of 1888.
This is the first I have seen since the year 1878,
NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS. 129
GEN : DRASSUS (Walck.)
D. stjlvestris (Bl., Cambr.), " Spid. Dors.," p. 460.
Drasstis infuscatus Westr. and Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 423,
and " Proc : Dors. N. H. and A. F. Club " vi., p. 2.
Adults of both sexes not rare among dead leaves in Berewood in
May and June, 1888.
Drassus troglodytes C. L. Koch., Cambr., "Spid. Dors.," p. 17.
Dr. Blackmore sent me an example of this spider, found near
Salisbury in 1888. It still continues to be a rare spider, though it
is very widely distributed, I have received single examples of it
from several other parts of England since the publication of
"Spiders of Dorset" in 1879.
GEN : LIOCRANUM (L. Koch.)
Liocranum domesticum Wider., Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 38.
Passing along St. Catherine Street, Salisbury, one day in April,
1886, I met with a fine adult male of this rare and local spider
crossing the pavement opposite the "White Hart" Hotel, and in
the same month in 1887 I found several immature examples of it
in a garden in the " Close." Dr. Blackmore has also sent it to me
from his own premises.
FAM : DICTYNID^E.
GEN : LETHIA (Menge).
Letlda albispiraculis Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 53.
I have found this spider again, in 1887 and 1888, near the Chesil
Beach, Portland, but very rarely, owing (for one reason) to the
extreme difficulty in seeing and capturing them among the loose
stones, pebbles, friable earth, and triturated seaweed, among which
they live. The male resembles the female in colours and markings,
being, however, often of a darker hue.
FAM: AGELENID.E.
GEN: TEGENARIA (Latr.)
Tegenaria cinerea Panz., Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 65.
Dr. Blackmore sent me an example of this spider from Salisbury
130 NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS.
in 1888, and another was found about the same time afWarmwell,
Dorset, by F. O. P. Cambridge. It is probably not so rare as it
might seem to be from its infrequent occurrence, its habitat being
in dark concealed corners, and old sewers, &c.
FAM: HAHNIHLE.
GEN : HAHNIA.
Ilalmia elegans Bl., Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 69.
The Genus Ilalmia has usually been included in the Family
Agelenidie, but the very characteristic position of the spinners
(between which and the normal position in the Ayelenidce there is
as yet no known connecting link) induces me to separate it in a
distinct Family.
Ilalmia eleyans occurred in abundance among moss and water
weeds at the edge of a pond on Bloxworth Heath at the end of
May and in June, 1888, but all were females.
FAM :
GEN : PHOLCOMMA (Thor.)
Pholcomma gibbum Westr., Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 82, pi.
iii., fig. 5.
This curious little spider was found frequently in bogs and
marshy spots at Hyde and Bloxworth in May, 1888.
GEN: THERIDION (Walck.)
THERIDION BLACKWALLII (Cambr.)
PI. A, fig. 3.
Theridion Blackicallii Cambr. (sub Euryopix), "Spid. Dors.,"
p. 481.
In 1888 I received an adult female of this spider, taken near
Cambridge by Mr. Cecil Warburton, of Ch. Coll., Cambridge.
GEN: CRUSTULINA (Menge).
CRUSTULINA STICTA (Cambr.)
Steatoda sticta Cambr. " Spid. Dors.," p. 97.
NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS. 131
I had not seen this pretty, and hitherto very rare, spider for
many years until the spring and early summer of 1888, when it
was found (both sexes in the adult state) in some abundance by
F. 0. P. Cambridge and myself in bogs and swamps at Bloxworth
and Hyde by shaking out dead grass, moss, and debris on a cloth.
GEN: LAS.EOLA (Sim.)
LAS^EOLA CORACINA (C. L. Koch.)
Theridion coracinum C. L. Koch., Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 98
(sub. Steatoda).
At the end of May, 1888, I met with an adult female of this
rare spider among grass in a swamp at Morden Park, near
Bloxworth.
GEN: THERIDIOSOMA (Cambr.)
Theridiosoma argenteolum Cambr., " Spid : Dors :" p. 428 and
572.
A very nearly adult male of this spider was found in a swamp,
Morden Park, on September 19th, 1888, a very unusual time
for it to be in this stage of growth, unless its final moult is delayed,
and the spider continues during winter in an undeveloped state
until the following May, when its usual time of becoming adult
arrives.
GEN : PEDANOSTETHUS (Sim.)
Pedanostetlms neglectiis Cambr. (sub. Neriene), " Spid. Dors.,"
p. 121.
An adult male was found by F. 0. P. Cambridge among moss at
Bloxworth at the end of August, 1888. This species and its near
ally, P. (Neriene) avida (Bl.), have terminal tarsal claws in the
female, shewing their affinity to Enoploynatlia (Drepanodus, Menge)
and their difference from the numerous other spiders with which
they have hitherto been linked in the Family Theridiidce. M.
Simon has therefore constituted for them the Genus Pedanostetlius
(" Arachn. de France," v. 195), the name Ctenium (Menge), formed
for P. livida in (1869), having been already used for a genus of
Lepidoptera by Panzer.
132 XEW AN'D RARE BRITISH SPIDERS.
GENUS HILAIRA (Sim.)
Ililaira uncata Cambr. (sub. Neriene), "Spid. Dors.," p. 433,
and "Proc."D. N. H. and A. Field Club, vol iv., p. 151.
On several occasions since the " Spiders of Dorset " was
published I have found both sexes of this spider in a swamp in
Morden Park ; and in September, 1888, it again occurred there
freely. The genus constituted for this and the next species, II.
excisa (Cambr.), appears to be a good one.
Ililaira excisa Cambr. (sub. Neriene), "Spid. Dors.," p. 487,
and "Proc." Dors. N. H. and A. Field Club, vol. iv., p. 149.
This spider also occurred abundantly in the Morden Park swamp
along with If. uncata (Cambr.) in September, 1888.
GEN : WALCKENAERA (Bl.)
Walckeniiera trifrons Cambr., "Spid. Dors.," p. 166.
This spider had not been met with in Dorsetshire since 1862 until
the spring of 1888, when numerous examples of both sexes were found
among grass, &c., in a bog at Bloxworth by F. 0. P. Cambridge.
Walckeniiera crassiceps Westr., Cambr., "Spid: Dors.," p. 151.
affinitata Cambr., I.e., p. 151.
Two adult males were found by sweeping among rushes and
other herbage on Bloxworth Heath in May, 1888, and another in
the Morden Park swamp at the beginning of October in the same
year by F. O. P. Cambridge.
Walckeniiera melanocepliala Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 596,
and "Proc." Dor. N. H. and A. F. Club, iv., p. 152.
An adult male and females of this rare and striking looking
species were found at Hyde on June 28th, 1888, by F. 0. P.
Cambridge.
GEN : LINYPHIA (Latr.) (ad partem).
Linypliia impigra Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 221 and 578.
circumcincta (Cambr.), I.e., p. 191.
Adults of both sexes found in abundance by F. 0. P. Cambridge
near Woolbridge in June, 1888, and also by myself in Morden
Park, but sparingly.
NEW AN T D RARE BRITISH SPIDERS. 133
GEN : LEPTYPHANTES (Sim.)
LEPTYPHANTES MISER (Cambr.)
Linyplda turbatrix Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 454.
misera Cambr., Ann. and Mag. N. H., 1882, p. 262.
Numerous examples of both sexes adult were found in a swamp
among grass, &c., by F. 0. P. Cambridge in May, 1888.
FAM : THOMISID.E.
GEN: XYSTICUS (C. Koch.)
Xysticus hictuosus Bl., Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 305.
Several adult males of this rare spider were found by shaking
dead leaves over a cloth at the end of May and beginning of June,
1888, in Berewood.
GEN : OXYPTILA (Sim.)
Oxyptila sanctuaria Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 319, and
" Proc." Dors. N. H. and A. F. Club, vi., p. 10.
In September, 1888, I found an adult male of this scarce species
in a swamp at Bloxworth. All that I had before found were in
dry situations.
GEN : .PHILODKOMUS.
PhiJodromus emanjinatus Schr., Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," 333.
An adult female was sent to me from Inverness by Mr. Baxter
in 1888.
GEN : THANATUS (C. Koch.)
THANATUS STRIATUS (C. Koch.)
Thanahis liirsittus Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 337.
Both sexes adult of this spider were found in abundance by
myself and F. 0. P. Cambridge in a bog on Bloxworth Heath in
June, 1888. It is certainly identical with Thanatus striatus
(Koch.)
FAM: LYCOSID/E.
GEN: PI RAT A (Sund.)
Pirata piscatoria Clk., Cambr., "Spid. Dors.," p. 351.
I have not, until towards the end of May, 1888, found the adult
males of this fine spider, when we met with both sexes of it in
134 NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS.
abundance along the edge of a pond on Bloxworth Heath diving in
the water and hiding among water weeds. The females I had
several years ago found here in August were, no doubt, some very
late individuals of the early summer brood.
GEN : LYCOSA (Latr.)
Lycosa Farrenii Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 546.
An immature example of this, as yet little known but very
distinct, spider was sent to me from the neighbourhood of
Cambridge in 1888 by Mr. Cecil Warburton. It would be
probably found more abundantly if worked for in the fenny district.
Lycosa arenicola Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 373.
This local spider was again found in abundance along the edge of
the Chesil Beach, Portland, at the beginning of June, 1888, and I
met with it also at the Fleet, near Chickerell, in August of that
year.
FAM : SALTICID^E.
GEN: PHLEGRA (Sim.)
Phleyra fasciata Hahn., Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 414.
After much searching only two or three examples of this well
marked spider were found on its old ground at Portland at the
beginning of June, 1888, and those were immature. The day was
rather stormy and cold, and this would probably prevent their
appearing, as they are sun-loving spiders.
GEN : MARPESSA (C. L. Koch.)
Marj)essa muscosa Clk., Cam.br., "Spid. Dors.," p. 554, and
"Proc." Dors. N. H. and'A. Field Club, vol. iv., p. 150.
Examples of this fine species were received from Folkestone
from Colonel Le Grice in 1888.
GEN : EUOPHRYS.
Euophrys cequipes Cambr., " Spid. Dors.," p. 404.
I met with this minute spider again, though very sparingly,
near the Chesil Beach, Portland, in June, 1887 and 1888.
NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS. 135
GEN : ATTUS.
Attus caricis "VVestr., Cambr,, "Spiel. Dors.," p. 563.
In the autumn of 1888 Dr. Blackmore Sent to me, alive, an imma-
ture male of this very rare spider. It was still living a short time
ago January, 1889 and I have every confidence that under Dr.
Blackmore's care it will in due time become adult. It was found
by him in a swampy place near Salisbury. This is only the second
recorded occurrence of this spider in Britain.
LIST OF SPIDERS ABOVE NOTED AND
DESCRIBED.
Dysdera crocota (C. L. Koch), p. 128
Prosthesima rustica (L. Koch.), p. Ill, pi. A, fig. 1
pedestris (C. L. Koch.), p. 128
Latreillii (C. L. Koch.), p. 128
., longipes (L. Koch.), p. 128
Dras&us sylvestris (Bl.), p. 129
troglodytes (C. L. Koch.), p. 129
Liocranum domesticum (Wider.), p. 129
Lethia albispiraculis (Cambr.), p. 129
Tegenaria Guyonii (Guer.-Men.), p. 112
cinerea (Panz.), p. 129
Coelotes pabulator (Sim.), p. 113, pi. A, fig. 2
Hahnia elegans (Bl.), p. 130
Pholcomma gibbum (Westr.), p. 130
Theridion Blackwallii (Cambr.), p. 130, pi. A, fig. 3
Crustulina sticta (Cambr.), p. 130
Lasseola coracina (C. L. Koch.), p. 131
Theridiosoma argenteolum (Cambr.), p. 131
Enoplognatha caricis (Fickert), p. 114, pi. A, fig. 4.
Pedanostethus neglectus (Cambr.), p. 131
Hilaira uncata (Cambr.), p. 132
excisa (Cambr.), p. 132
Tmeticus Warburtonii (sp. n.), p. 115, pi. A, fig. 5.
Neriene clara (Cambr.), p. 118
136 NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS.
Nerieue agrestis (Bl.), p. 118
Huthwaitii (Cambr.), p. 118
"VValckenaera pratensis (Bl.), p. 119
trifrons (Camhr.), p. 132
crassiceps ("Westr.), p. 132
melanocephala (Cambr.), p. 132
capito ("Westr.), p 119, pi. A, fig. 7.
interjecta (Canibr.), p. 121, pi. A, fig. 6.
Linyphia impigra (Cambr.), p. 132
Leptyphantes miser (Cambr.), p. 133
Xysticus luctuosus (BL), p. 133
Oxyptila sanctuaria (Cambr.), p. 133
Philodromus emarginatus (Schr.), p. 133
Thanatus striatus (C. L. Koch.), p. 133
Pirata piscatoria (Clk.), p. 133
Lycosa Farrenii (Cambr.), p. 134
arenicola (Cambr.), p. 134
Pellenes tripunctatus ("\Valck. ), p. 122, pi. A, fig. 9.
Phlegra fasciata (Hahn.), p. 134
Marpessa muscosa (Clk.), p. 134
Hyctia Nivoyi (Sim.), p. 124, pi. A, fig. 8.
prompta (BL), p. 127
Hasarius arcuatus (Clk.), p. 127
Dendryphantes hastatus (C. L. Koch.), p. 128
Euophrys sequipes (Cambr.), p. 134
Attus caricis ("Westr.), p. 135
EXPLANATION OF PLATE A.
Fig. 1. Prosthesima rustica L. Koch., a, male enlarged; b, eyes
from above and behind ; c, palpus of
male ; d, natural length of spider.
2. Ccelotes pabulator Sim., a, male enlarged ; b, spider in
profile without legs ; c, portion of
palpus, shewing form of apophysis
NEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS. 137
on cubital joint ; e, corresponding
portion of palpus of Coelotes atropos
Walck., shewing different form of
same apophysis in that species; d,
abdomen of C. atropos, shewing
difference from that of C. pabulator;
f, natural length of the latter
spider.
3. Theridion Blackicallii Cambr., a, spider (female), en-
larged ; b, ditto in profile without
legs ; c, profile without legs.
4. IBnoploffnatha caricis Fickert, a, spider (female) enlarged ;
b, ditto in profile without legs ; c,
digital joint of palpus ; d, natural
length.
5. Tmeticus Warburtonii sp. n., a, male enlarged ; b, female
ditto ; c, female in profile without
legs ; d, palpus of male ; d', portion
of ditto, shewing characteristic
bristles on prominence at base of
the digital joint ; j, A; portions of
palpus of Tmeticus scopiger Menge,
shewing difference in corresponding
bristles in that species ; a, abdomen
of T. scopiger (female) in profile,
shewing different form and direc-
tion of genital process from that of
T. Warburtonii ; e, nat. length of
T. Warburtonii (male} ; /, ditto of
female.
6. WalcJcenderainterjecta Cambr., o, male enlarged; b,
profile of cephalothorax without
legs ; c, palpus ; d, natural length.
7. Walckendera capita Westr., a, male enlarged ; b, profile
without legs; c, portion of caput
138 ttEW AND RARE BRITISH SPIDERS.
from above and behind, shewing
eminences and eyes ; d, ditto from
in front ; e, palpus ; /j natural
length.
8. Hyctia Nivoyi Luc., a, male enlarged ; b, female ditto ;
c, male in profile without legs; d,
male, natural length ; e, female
ditto.
9. Pellenes tripunctatus Walck., a, male enlarged ; I, profile
without legs ; c, natural length.
it JJefo British SEonn, JUhmt0
By FREDERICK O. P. CAMBRIDGE, B.A.
HE occurrence of any new form of animal life is
always interesting, more especially in such a well
worked and circumscribed area as that of Great
Britain. Nevertheless it seems somewhat difficult
to become very much elated over the discovery of
a new species of earthworm, because worms are
usually regarded as almost the lowest form in the scale of creation,
and are not remarkable either for diversity of form, beauty of
colouring, or for any particular intelligence displayed in the carrying
out of those functions which are necessary to their existence.
The late Mr. Charles Darwin has, however, given a much greater
interest to the study of the modest worm. In his work on earth-
worms and vegetable mould he has shown that the whole of the
surface soil of our earth has passed and is continually passing
through the bodies of earthworms. This one fact will prove how
important a factor the worm is in detei mining the conformation of
the surface of the earth.
So much for worms in general !
The discovery of that particular worm which has given occasion
to the writing of this paper was not due to a love of worms innate
140 NEW BRITISH WORM.
in the discoverer. Agreeably to the invitation of Dr. Benham, of
University College, London, published in the Field newspaper, we
forwarded parcels of worms for his inspection and determination.
Amongst these were some small worms, about an inch in length,
found beneath the stones of the gravelly bed of a stream at Hyde,
near Bloxworth. These proved to be of a different genus to the
ordinary earthworm, the genus and species not having, up till then,
been recorded as occurring in Great Britain. As Dr. Benham
wished to ascertain whether they were really aquatic worms or not,
we took some trouble in determining exactly where and under what
conditions this interesting worm occurred, with the result that the
worm was pronounced semi-aquatic. It always occurred below high
water mark, and seemed in no way inconvenienced when totally
submerged, as we often found them under the stones 3 or 4 inches
below the surface.
The name of this worm is " Allurus tetraedrus." The position
of the four pairs of bristles with which each segment is provided
and the position of the genital organs seem to be chief points to be
noticed in determining the genus and species. Another small
worm, " Allolobopliora Boeckii" was found in some abundance in
the wet bed of a marshy swamp at Morden Park. These, too, are
interesting from the fact that the bristles, instead of being arranged
in four pairs, are arranged as eight almost equidistant and single
bristles. Those of the ordinary worm, " Lumbricus terrestris," are
in four pairs, and confined to the ventral surface. Those of " Allurus
tetraedrus " are in four equidistant pairs, each pair forming the angle
of a square when viewed in transverse sections. (See diagrams.)
The aquatic worm, " Allurus tetraedrus" was found, soon after its
discovery in Dorsetshire, in a stream not far from London, and we
have just now, December 6th, found it also in Essex, living under
conditions similar to those under which they were discovered in
Dorsetshire.
Dr. Benham is about to publish a Monograph on British earth-
worms, and doubtless the new worm will be duly honoured with a
figure and description in that work.
NEW BRITISH WORM.
141
We must finish this short and imperfect sketch, expressing a
hope that we may some day be able to contribute for publication
something on worms more worthy of the Dorset Natural History
and Antiquarian Field Club than these few hurried lines. .
F. 0. P. C.
Broxted, Essex, December 7th, 1888.
ALLOLOBOPHOBA.
LUMBBICUS.
ALLURUS.
Transverse sections showing the disposition of the eight setae in the
three genera.
lantern lotoer, fiSimborne Jttinsttr.
By W. J. FLETCHER, P.R.I.B.A.
T our last meeting at Cerne I was asked by our
worthy Secretary to say a few words to you to-day
on any special point of interest connected with
this beautiful Minster. Accordingly I have
selected the central or Lantern Tower as being
the oldest and most interesting portion of the
church.
You are all probably well acquainted with the early history of
Wimborne Minster and the legend which tells us how Cuthberga,
daughter of Kenred, king of the "West Saxons, built an Abbey at
Wynburne in the early part of the eighth century. No part of the
present church can, however, have existed in that good lady's time.
Indeed, it seems doubtful if the Saxon Church occupied the same
site as our present Minster. The church seems to have originally
consisted of a Choir, witli probably an apsidal termination,
Transepts (about half their present length), Nave, and Tower.
The Choir had small Chapels on each side, and the Xave had
very narrow side Aisles. Before, however, I say anything about
the Lantern Tower, let me call your attention to one of the most
interesting features connected with the church viz., that the
architects and builders who succeeded each other at the various
LANTERN TOWER, WIMBORNE MINSTER. 143
periods in which the church has been erected made their work
subservient to the existing building, and altered the same as little
as possible. No masonry that could be retained was got rid of, and
everywhere they left behind them abundant proofs and evidences
of what the building was before. Some authorities give as a reason
for this the probable poverty of the establishment ; but, whatever
it was, we ought to feel very grateful to our forefathers for retain-
ing so much of the old structure in their altered plans, &c.
This fact strikes us on comparing the Lantern Tower with similar
towers built in the same style and about the same time York,
Lincoln, Winchester where, generally speaking, the Xorman work
in the upper parts of the towers has been altered, and transformed
into the style of architecture prevalent at some later period ; but in
this case we see the tower very much the same as when it was
built, six or seven hundred years ago.
Let me first call your attention to the lower compartment of the
tower, which, no doubt, formed part of the original church, with
its four massive piers and arches having two plain orders. The
piers have double shafts, supporting the central bold order, while
single shafts support the outer orders. The capitals and bases are
very plain ; but, taken as a whole, the piers and arches convey the
idea of strength and stability for which they were designed.
The Eastern and Western Arches are wider than those on the
North and South, arranged, no doubt, to allow as wide and extended
a view of the High Altar as possible. Although there is so much
difference in the width of these Arches, the springing and apex of
them all are cleverly arranged to begin and finish in exactly the
same plane. This has been effected by lowering the centres, from
which the wider arches are struck below the springing, and forming
what are called " depressed " arches, and by raising the centres of
the narrower ones above the springing, forming what are termed
" stilted " arches. The chancel being about 18 inches narrower than
the tower, the walls on each side are brought forward and take
the place of the column which should have supported the outer
order of the Arch at the East side.
144 LANTERN TOWER, WIMBORNE MINSTER.
Above the lower compartment of the tower thus described are
three other stories. The first of these is the Triforium or gallery
in the thickness of the wall. You will notice that each face of the
tower has two pointed relieving arches, and each of these encloses
4 circular-headed arches with shafts of Purbeck marble. The
capitals are rudely carved with ornamentations almost Classical in
character, and between each relieving arch are cleverly carved heads,
the one on the North side being particularly worthy of notice. The
triforium has openings on all four sides of the wall externally,
which formed the entrance over the flat wooden ceiling of the
Norman Church. The walls of the tower are about 4ft. Gin. thick
at this height.
Above this compartment comes the Clerestory with two windows
on each face with a similar Triforium or passage, which runs round
it. The windows have circular heads with a lancet-shaped relieving
arch between. The windows are widely splayed, and have detached
shafts at the angle of the jambs. At this stage the tower is beginning
to be more richly ornamented. The lancet-shaped arch is repeated
on the outside, as well as the shafts, showing plainly that it was
built at a later period than the lower compartments of the tower.
You will observe the detached columns running up the angles of
the second and third compartments supported on carved heads or
busts, broken by bands, and also the striking feature formed by the
staircase at the North-west angle of the tower.
The upper or third story of the tower is quite plain inside, where
it is hidden from view by the beams and ceiling of the compart-
ment below, but externally it is very beautiful, the masonry being
formed into anarcade, continued round the tower, which forms seven
pointed arches on each side, the mouldings of which are very rich
and fine. Of these seven arches five were originally open on each
side ; but all, except the centre one, have, from time to time, been
walled up to strengthen the tower.
A very bold corbel table completed the original work. At the
interior angles of this story are the squinches or broaches which
supported the spire.
LANTERN TOWER, WIMBORNE MINSTER. 145
The heavy Classic parapets and pinnacles which are now the
finish of this tower were erected in the year 1608 after the fall of
the spire.
Also note that the small arches which abut* against the tower
piers in the lower compartment are similar in character to the main
arches in tower, and that the ornamentation on the capitals of those
in the chancel has been worked at a much later date. The capitals
were originally the same as those in the tower arches.
We find by the old church accounts that the " Spyer " had for
many years been getting into a bad state of repair.
On page 168, A.D. 1565, we find entered: " Keparacyons of
the Spyer, Amounting to 15 10 9d, xxvij barres of iron way ing
Ixv pounds viijs vjd, vij boltes of iron xijd, Ixij barres weying
ccxxxij pounds xlviijs ivd, iv bushills of coals xd."
In 1530, page 78 : " Masons wages for poynting of the spere."
Church.
A PAPER READ BEFORE THE DORSET FIELD CLUB ON
JULY 25ra, 1888.
By the Rev. Sir TALBOT H. B. BAKER, Bart.
E stand in a church, the walls of which, for the
most part, and excepting the west end and the two
porches (which are palpably modern), date back
from our late Norman, or early Plantagenet, kings.
Let us note the significance of that fact. On
these walls have beaten the storms of, at the very
least, 700 years. The action of frost and thaw, of rain and sun-
shine, destructive of any stone but the hardest, especially when
rapidly alternating (as so constantly happens in our variable
climate), has been attempting their disintegration, either directly on
their surface, or indirectly, through whatever roofing may have
covered them, which, from disrepair, assuredly at times has let
damp into them. Ignorance or fanaticism might have been elements
in their destruction, or the taste or fancy of succeeding builders to
the great, the mostly unknown, architects of the Norman style.
The latter is a constant cause of the comparative paucity, indeed,
the rarity, of entire Norman churches. The Perpendicular archi-
tects were the chief offenders in this way. Take Winchester and
Gloucester Cathedral naves e.g., and see how their massive piers are
CANFORD CHURCH. 147
in the former instance carved, and in the latter cut in half to
be faced by Perpendicular work, and judge how the operations of
the older builders were interfered with by the more modern.
Then, as regards their chancels, the development of doctrine and
the elaboration of ritual connected with the Altar services during
the middle ages, necessitated more space. Thus, at that noble ruin,
Fountains Abbey, and at stately Durham Cathedral, the chancels
are of a later date, and enclose a far wider area than the original
Norman constructions. Then, lightning and fire have conspired to
demolish, at least, in part, as many of our more modern, so a
proportion of our Norman churches. Sherborne Abbey furnishes
a familiar example of the destructive work of fire, partially con-
suming a handsome Norman edifice. So when we find, as here, a
building, the greater part of which may be attributed to the
Norman period, as far as its walling is concerned, we are apt to
prize it as something precious and noteworthy.
I think there is conclusive evidence that the chancel, and portions
of its adjuncts, the tower, and the nave, with its aisles, are
Norman, but, I should say, not of the same period. In giving an
opinion on this point I feel considerable diffidence, as becomes an
amateur, who never has made a serious study of Church architec-
ture, and just knows enough about it to be aware how difficult it is
to discriminate between original work and later additions, and to
pronounce upon the characteristic mouldings of each style.
Hesitatingly, then, I would pronounce the chancel portion to be
of older date than the body of the church. The arches opening
out of the Sacrarium are very rude, springing from square piers,
and from the plainest possible imposts. And the same remark
applies to those connecting the chancel with its aisles. But the
arches between nave and aisles, and those which form the doorways,
are considerably enriched, not, however, with the ordinary Norman
mouldings of the later date the zigzag, the billet, the chevron of
which there is no specimen here, but with a deeply chamfered roll-
crease moulding, which is turned up at its terminations on the
arches, effectively. Now, the richer mouldings denote a later period
148 CANFORD CHURCH.
in Xorraan architecture, certainly. Hence I argue that the
chancel is earlier than the nave. But structurally it has undergone
more change. The arches to which I have alluded, at the extreme
east end, are similar. They must have communicated with im-
portant side chapels, of which the one on the north has entirely
disappeared, and the southern one has been replaced (as I conjecture)
by a later addition ; which, however, I am bound to say, on the
testimony of the venerable clerk, tradition points to as the oldest
part of the church, but in which I fail to see any Xorman work at
all. It is built of a whiter coloured stone for the most part, a stone
which must have come from a different quarry. It was long used
for a curious purpose as the Consistory Court of the Royal
Peculiar of Canford. The arch connecting it with the chancel aisle
proper seems to be of the Decorated period. And now as to these
chancel aisles, I judge that the north one existed from the first by
the presence of three corbels on the exterior of the centre chancel
wall. These are fixed 2 on a lower level, alxmt 7' from the floor,
and 1 about 2' above. If the latter did not serve to support the
strut of a roof, it and those below it were intended for some inside
and not outside ornament. As to the south chancel aisle being
part of the original structure, I would call attention to the
existence of one jamb, and half the top of a round arch in the
external face of the dividing wall between it and the centre chancel.
Assuming that this must have been the aperture of a window, it
points to this aisle being a later additior. On the other hand,
there is no evidence of any such addition in the face of the exterior
south wall. One feature in the interior north chancel main wall
perplexes me. It is a portion of a recess, which has the appearance
of the side and segment of a larger arch than any of the arches
below it. It is not in the position of a relieving arch.
Passing from the chancel to the nave, the first point of notice is
the opening in the arcade between the middle and south aisle of the
latter. This is the very commonly found door to the rood-loft, or
the narrow platform on the top of the screen which enclosed the
chancel, on which stood, in wood carving, the Crucifixion scene,
CAtfFORD CfiURCH. 149
This door, as so often happens, had been blocked up, and was re-
opened at the time of the restoration, a few years ago. A difficult
question is suggested by the sexfoil openings, a pair of which are old.
The western pair are imitations. That the earlier pair were meant
to admit light is what naturally occurs to the mind. But how, when
their bases are below the top of the arches which they stand
between, and when an early roof must have covered the entire
opening, is a great puzzle. Of the latter fact, proof is afforded by
the existence of a string-course on the east wall of the north aisle,
against the tower, which I interpret as shewing the original rake
of a lean-to roof, This, I repeat, must have run up above the top
of the sexfoil on that side. But many changes in the roofing of
aisles may have taken place in 700 years.
Hutching, in his first edition, speaks of the church thus :
"The whole fabric is very ancient, low, dark, and irregular."
His account of its darkness is true enough. The original
windows are very small, even for Norman work. There are
5 of these, 3 in the south and 2 in tlwj north aisle. They have
somewhat peculiar step or ridged splays to cast the light down-
wards. All but one have on the outside a rudimentary trefoil
heading, and all have a tendency to a top pointing, evincing the
lateness of the -work of this part of the church to my mind, and
its verging towards the transition into Early English. And
there is an undoubted Early English tendency in the mould-
ing of the south door, the trefoil heading of which, though
not so pointed as it would have been, later by a quarter
of a century or so, is a proof of the rising influence of that
style on those that built it. Yet the capitals of the pillars
in this and in the north door are, as are also those of the
massive nave piers, unquestionably Norman, and the mouldings
round the doors are similar to those which characterise the nave
arches. I call them the roll-crease mouldings, though I believe
hood mouldings is the more correct term. The two holes in the
walls on either side of the entrance by the south porch should be
noticed. They are evidently intended for the bolt which fastened
150 CANFORD CHURCH.
the door. Such an arrangement for hindering intrusion it could
scarcely have been for anything else is by no means common.
Still, other examples of it are found. The larger windows in the
aisles and in the Consistory Chapel are late Perpendicular, and we
owe the builders of that style some gratitude for letting in a good
deal of light upon their predecessors' work. They have the step
splay of the earlier windows. From the engraving in the 2nd
edition of Hutchins it would appear that the east window was then,
when he wrote, of the same character.
The font is octagonal. Its bowl and supporting columns are of
Purbeck marble, much worn. In shape it might be co-eval with
the church ; but the carving on its 8 sides suggests Decorated
work. There are some holes in its rim, which, perhaps, indicate
its once having had a pointed cover.
The north door has two detached pillars, with a band round the
centre of their shafts, but with the capitals carved with the typical
Norman ornament of the Church the truncated Acanthus. These
are of a fine, white stone, resembling Portland, if not actually
from those celebrated quarries. There are similar columns to the
north toM'er windows. The tower is in an uncommon position.
Norman towers were usually central, at the intersection of nave
and chancel, and transepts. Now and then, as at Exeter, they
stand at the termination of the transepts. This is constructed
between and in the line of the north aisles of chancel and nave.
The fraying by the bell ropes of the stone on the tops of the arches
on its north and south sides is remarkable. I suppose, at least,
that this is the cause of the deep furrows or notches that are cut in
those tops. There are 5 bells, but of no great age, dating, indeed,
only from the earlier half of last century. Mr. "Williams has
kindly furnished me with their inscriptions, which I will read after
I have given the description in the 3rd edition of Hutchins of the
exterior of the tower. I am obliged to be beholden for this to
other eyes and another pen, for I cannot attempt to penetrate, with
my extra short-sighted vision, the mass of ivy that clings to the
tower. "It consists of 4 stages, each slightly smaller than the
GANFORD CHURCH. 151
other. The upper stage has on the east a two-light original
window with a circular column, having a foliated capital in the
centre and at the angles. There are flat buttresses at the exterior
angles, which finish by a slope under a small string which marks
the first stage." The same e'dition of Hutchins contains an
account of sundry tombstones which once held brasses which were
in the church. At present I can point to but one. It is laid north
and south under the first step going up to the chancel, close to the
base of the pier on the south. Two other matrices are placed in
the same unorthodox position close beside the west wall of the
south porch outside the church. Every one must admire the
colour of the walls, due to the redness of the sandstone from quarries
in the heath district not far off. The south wall appears to have
given out early, to judge by the massive buttress which has been
reared to support it, and which has fulfilled that office, judging
by its looks, for many centuries.
Of the restoration work of ten years ago, I have only to draw
your attention to the mosaics by Salviati on the east wall. Neither
stall work nor pulpit has the substantiality of the work of the
mediaeval wood carver. Nothing is known as to whom the church
is dedicated. The Rector will be glad of any information on this
point.
BELLS AND BELFRY.
There are 5 bells, suitably hung for change ringing.
1. " Matt Wase Vic r 1739.
J Corben W. Wills C W."
" We are all cast and tuned right
By one founder William Knight "
2. " Lett love and friendship still abound
Whilst we do make a joyeful sound" 1739
152
CANFOUD CHURCH.
3. " Ring me steady in my place 1739
And I will answer with the base "
4. Vicar 1739 " I sound to bid the sick repent. Matt Wase
Willes C W " In hopes of life when breath is spent " J.
Corben, W.W
5. W. K B F 1739. " Let all well wishers rest in peace
That did our number first increase."
JOHN LEWIS WILLIAMS,
Canford Vicarage.
it JVvmorals of the
$l0xto0rth Church,
(WITH PLATE).
in
lovsct,
By JAMES SALTER, Esq., P.R.S., &c., &c., of
Basingfield, Hampshire.
11*1*11
WO achievements of armorial heraldry relating to
the Savage Family, painted on the walls of the
Manorial Pew in Bloxworth Church, were destroyed
many years ago to admit of the erection of mural
"^r^f^?" monuments of the Trenchard and Pickard
Families. It is, perhaps, more than possible that
those remaining may, sooner or later, be also " improved away."
Such a proceeding would be very deplorable, and the only way in
which its evil consequences can be mitigated is by an accurate
record of them by illustration, as well as by description, being
made and published.
The destruction of Family Memorials in the alterations, or the
so-called restorations, of our churches is a public calamity and a
grievous offence, for it not only obliterates an important part of the
histories of the families implicated, but it thereby violates so much
of our common national history.
An incalculable amount of harm has already been done in this
direction, and the only way, to prevent this species of destruction
from further obliterating evidence and history, will be a general
154 ARMORIALS OF THE SAVAGE FAMILY.
collection and publication of Church Armorials and other com-
memorative displays. Such a work has already been carried out
for the county of Hants by the late Mr. A. J. Jewers. The MS.
has been purchased by the British Museum, the library reference
thereto being " Egerton MS. 2364." Well would it be if similar
work had been done for every county in the Kingdom. Though
there may be difficulty in compiling such comprehensive records,
still, where armorial monuments are threatened with destruction, it
is always desirable to publish them in some suitable periodical and
with accurate figures, if possible. It is with such an object that I
have written this memoir.
The Armorials of the Savage Family in Bloxworth Church are
remarkable from the fact that they are painted on the wall itself
and not on any raised element of stone or marble. They appear to
have been executed at, or nearly the same time, and the escutcheons
may be described as late Jacobean in character. The name* of
Savage is very widely spread, and appeared in mediaeval times in
different parts of England very remote from each other. Such
scattered names may have arisen from the migration of family
branches dispersed from a common root ; or, more probably, the
name, which was very likely to develope, started from several
distinct centres.
Savage, of Rock-Savage, and of Clifton, co. Chester, appears to
have been the earliest and the most important of the name, and has
been formerly ennobled with an Earldom and a Viscounty, as well as
a Baronetcy, now all extinct. The arms borne by them were Argent,
6 lioncels rampant 3, 2, and 1, sable. These arms have been
claimed by Savage, of Bloxworth, and appear on the escutcheons I
am about to describe, and were accorded to them by that respectable
antiquary and genealogist, Hutchins, the author of the " History of
Dorset." But were they entitled to those arms 1 In other words,
were they descended, as claimed, from a sixth son of the House of
Savage, of Rock-Savage, co. Chester? The editor of the last
edition of the " History of Dorset " suggests that the connection of
the Bloxworth Savages with those of Cheshire is simply " ideal "
ARMORIALS OP THE SAVAGE FAMILY. 155
(vol. 1, p. 180), and he appears to have come to that conclusion
upon little more than negative grounds namely, that at an early
period there was a family of that name in Dorsetshire, from which
those of Bloxworth might probably have descended. In investi-
gating the family history and such evidence as bears upon it I must
confess that I had a latent wish to disprove the editor's suggestion ;
but evidence too conclusive compels me to come to the same opinion
as his. In the four earlier Heraldic Visitations of Dorsetshire (in the
years 1531, 1560, 1565, and 1574) no allusion is made to Savage of
Bloxworth. In the last visitation, however, that of 1633, there is
an authentic pedigree of five generations, extending from Richard
Savage (who was afterwards claimed to be the 6th son of the House
of Rock-Savage) to George Savage, then 3 months old (Harleian
MSS. 1153, 1166, 1451, and 1539). What adds immeasurably to
the value of this pedigree, as evidence of the then claims and
beliefs of the family as to their lineage, is the fact that it was
signed as authentic by George Savage, then living, the third
generation in the pedigree. This George Savage was grandson of
Richard Savage, of Piddle Hinton and Bloxworth ; yet he did not
claim that his grandfather was of the House of Rock-Savage,
neither did he assume, nor was he accorded, the armorial coat of
that ancient House, differenced for a sixth son. Presumably he
would have done this if he was so entitled, jS"o arms are prefixed
to the pedigree in the Visitation Book, and the inference is that the
Heralds (Henry St. George and Sampson Lennard) considered the
family non-arm iger. Xeither is it said in the pedigree that Richard
Savage is a sixth son of the Cheshire House, which the Heralds
would have recorded had there been proof. The inevitable con-
clusion is that at that time (1623) this idea was not entertained, or
that there was no evidence forthcoming to establish it. The Cheshire
pedigrees are blank upon the matter, and, as far as I can discover,
this supposed connection of Bloxworth and Rock-Savage is simply
based upon the statements in Hutchins's 1st edition, and which lie
doubtless derived from members of the family when he wrote his
history.
156 ARMORIALS OP THE SAVAGE FAMILY.
There was a family, named Savage, residing in Dorset-
shire long before Richard Savage appears on the scene. About
the year 1400 Alianora Govys brought in marriage to John
Savage the Manor and Advowson of Long Critchell, and, what
is more to the purpose, she also brought him an estate at
Knoll (Knowle) near Corfe Castle and about ten miles from
Bloxworth. The date is a century before the supposed migration
of Richard Savage from Cheshire to Dorsetshire, and the locality
is eminently suggestive of the source whence Savage, of Blox-
worth, was descended ; and I understand that a tradition has come
down to present times through the Trenchard and Pickard Families,
that the Savages built, or, rather, reconstructed, the roof of Blox-
worth Manor house, mainly out of timber from the ruins of Corfe
Castle, which also seems to add strength to this account of their local
origin. It was the custom of Henry VIII. after the dissolution to
bestow alienated Church property upon neighbouring gentry, and it
was from him that Richard and George Savage received Bloxworth,
which had belonged to the Abbey of Cerne.
Moreover, Richard Savage, the 6th son of Sir John Savage, of
Rock-Savage, was made a Freeman of the City of Chester in 1487,
sixty years before Richard Savage, of Piddle Hinton, was seized of
Bloxworth, a difference of date which makes the identity of the
two almost impossible ; and further, as the son of Richard Savage,
of Bloxworth, died in 1610 the father must have been a young man
when he received Bloxworth, and could not have been made a
Freeman of Chester in 1487.
Though it appears thus evident that the Savage family of Dorset-
shire did not come from Cheshire in the person of Richard Savage,
who heads the Bloxworth pedigree, still they may possibly have
been derived from that source in a more remote generation, and a
tradition to that effect may have remained in the family. However
that may be, they were certainly of antiquity and of gentle blood,
as shown by estate and alliances. The history of the family,
therefore, and the Armorials which they adopted, though probably
under some error, are matters of real and considerable interest.
ARMORIALS OF THE SAVAGE FAMILY.. 157
I will now proceed to describe and blazon the several achieve-
ments of the arms of Savage as they appear on the walls of
Bloxworth Church ; and I will assume provisionally, for the
purposes of description only, that Kichard Savage, who stands at
the head of the pedigree, was a sixth son of the House of Rock-Savage.
To make the descriptions clear and the references to persons
intelligible I have appended a pedigree of Bloxworth Savage, taken
from that of Hutchins, reduced in detail, but containing all
particulars bearing on my subject.
The arms of Savage, of Rock-Savage, were argent, six lioncels
rampant, 3, 2, and 1, sable. Crest : Out of a ducal coronet or, a
a lion's gamb erect sable.
A sixth son of the house would be entitled to these arms, with a
fleur-de-lys for difference during his father's life, and which he and
his descendants might adopt permanently, if he was able to set up
a house of his own as a distinct and self-supporting family branch.
This is what is assumed to have happened in the case of Richard
Savage, of Bloxworth, and at some time a fleur-de-lys gules has
been placed on the Savage coat for difference, as a permanent
charge. And so the coat is blazoned by Hutchins. In the
Armorials I am about to describe this difference appears in two
instances, while in four others the fleur-de-lys has been replaced by
a martlet (the difference for a fourth son) for no intelligible reason
and quite at variance with the lineage in the pedigree, a mistake
which could not have been made by a professional Herald, nor,
indeed, by any one possessing a moderate knowledge of armorials.
The first escutcheon I describe is that of the arms of George
Savage and Mary Astley, of Sherborne, impaled (fig. 1).
The Savage coat is correct, with a fleur-de-lys for difference. The
blazon of the Ashley coat is azure, a cinquefoil pierced ermine
within a bordure of the last. Here is a mistake ; as Mary Ashley
was an heiress her husband should have borne her arms over his
own on an escutcheon of pretence, and not have impaled them.
The second achievement consists of the impaled coats of "William
Savage and Joan Page, of Uxendon, co. Wilts. The Savage coat
158 ARMORIALS OF THE SAVAGE FAMILY.
is here again correctly differenced. For Page or, a fess dancette
between three martlets, within a bordure azure (fig. 2). Here is
another mistake : as William Savage's mother was an heiress ho
ought to have borne his father's and mother's arms quarterly,
impaling his wife's.
The third achievement is the most interesting of the set, consist-
ing of six quarterings and an escutcheon of pretence. This coat
belonged to Sir George Savage, son of the last named. It is
clearly an amateur display, containing serious heraldic errors. Sir
George adopts a martlet for difference instead of the fleur-de-lys,
though he was the eldest son of his father, who bore the
fleur-de-lys j and he quarters the arms of his mother, which he was
not entitled to do, as she was not an heiress. The first and sixth
quarters in Sir George's coat are those of Savage. The blazon of
the second is gules, a chief chequery argent and azure, with a
crescent or, for difference. From its position and from the
pedigree one would have expected the arms to be those of Willis ;
but that is not so. The arms are those of Hansted, of Worcester ;
but I have been unable to discover any connection between the two
families. Welsted, of Wimbornc, is the third quarter ; or, between
three leopard's faces argent, a chevron ermine. The chevron was
originally azure ; the ermine is either a mistake, or a difference for
a family branch.
The fourth and fifth quarters are those of Ashley and Page,
already blazoned.
The escutcheon of pretence is for Ann, daughter of Thomas
Bower, of Spettisbury ; or, a bend vair, cotticed sable. As Sir
George Savage bore this inescutcheon on the face of his shield he
treats his wife as an heiress ; and this is further borne out by his
son's armorials, in which Lady Savage's coat occupies the second
and third quarters. These arms (fig. 4) Savage quartering Bower,
have already been blazoned. The martlet is used instead of the
fleur-de-lys, and a label, of three points gules, is borne, showing
that Sir George Savage was living when this, his son William's
coat, was painted ; the said son being unmarried at the time.
ARMORIALS OF THE SAVAGE FAMILY. 159
There are two other coats of arms, one (fig. A) representing
the arms of Savage, with a martlet for difference and surrounded
with a profuse mantle, gules lined argent ; and another (fig. B)
the same coat impaling Bower. This latter marshalling is incon-
sistent with what has gone before. The coat can only mean that
of Sir George Savage; but here he treats his wife as though- not an
heiress, whereas in Armorials, figs. 3 and 4, both husband and son
treat her as an heiress.
Such are the Armorials of the Savage family in Bloxwoith
Church. They appear to me to have been executed at one time,
the date of the latest coat in the series. I think they are the
result of one inspiration, and I have no doubt they were executed
under the direction of Sir George Savage or his son William, or
both, and about the year 1670, a little earlier, or a little later.
In conclusion I would remark that Richard Savage, who heads the
accompanying pedigree, appears to have been of Piddle Hinton
before he was of Bloxworth, and he probably acquired property at
the former by his marriage with Agnes Willis, of that place. He
was doubtless of gentle birth, and was the representative in his
person of many good alliances in the county of Dorset. But he
was certainly not the sixth son of Sir John Savage, of Rock-
Savage, who must have been some 60 years of age at the time of
the birth of him of Dorset. The record, however, of the Armorials
of the Bloxworth family of Savage, as believed by them in later
generations, and as setting out their marriages from the time of
Henry VIII. to the Restoration, is worth preserving, and will save
from destruction part of the history of an old Dorset family.
160 ARMORIALS OF THE! SAVAGE FAMILY.
PEDIGREE OF SAVAGE OF BLOXWORTH IN RELATION TO THEIK
ARMORIALS.
Richard Savage, of Piddle Hinton =Agnes dau. of Willis, of
and Bloxworth. I Piddle Hinton.
William Savage, of Bloxworth d. 1610. =Petronel d. of Robert Welsted,
I of Wimborne Minster died
1602.
^____^^^^^^^__^^^^^^_ 3rd Quarter in Coat a,
George S., of Bloxworth living 1623. =Mary d. & h., of Gervase
Coat l. I Ashley of Sherbome d. 1623.
4th Quarter in Coat 3.
William S., of Bloxworth Sheriff 1640. =Joan d. of Richard Page of
Coat 2 . I Uxendon, co. Wilts.
5th Quarter in Coat 3.
George S., of Bloxworth Kt. 3 mo. old = Ann d. of Thomas Bower, of
Sep. 13, 1623. ob. 1683. I Spettisbury.
Coat 3 & B. Escutcheon of Pretence on Coat 3.
William Savage Esq., of Bloxworth.
Coat 4.
Proc.Dorfct .V.//.A A.F. CM, . VoL.X.
Prei" O.E Cainbri.<5jSe B A del* etpinx.
Mmtci-n. Bros . Chromo lith.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE.
Fig. 1. The Arms of Savage impaling those of Ashley.
,, 2. Savage impaling Page.
,, 3. Savage quartering Hansted, Welsted, Ashley, and Page ; and
bearing an Escutcheon of pretence for Bower.
,, 4. Savage quartering Bower. A label of three pendents for an
eldest son.
,, A. Arms, Crest, Mantle, and Motto of Savage.
,, B. Savage impaling Bower, Crest and Mantle.
|lotcs on t f*fo of the Jtsh rmnth) taken
on the hesil jftcnch.
By NELSON M. RICHARDSON, B.A.
URIXG the three years that I have been living near
Weymouth several interesting fish have come
under my notice which have been caught by the
fishermen on the Chesil Beach opposite to my
house, in the neighbourhood of the part which the
Field Club visited when it came to Weymouth
last August. I thought that a few notes on these fish might be
interesting, though, as I have never studied ichthyology, I fear that
my notes will be unscientific ones.
The Mackerel (Scomber scomber) is the staple fish of the Chesil
Beach, and is what the fishermen fish for. It is caught from May
onwards during the summer in considerable numbers, but has been
comparatively scarce for the last few years. All other fish may be
regarded as accidentally caught in the nets which are cast for
mackerel. One side of a long and comparatively narrow net is
fastened along a rope with corks at intervals, and one end of the
rope is held by the men on the beach whilst a boat takes the net
out to sea and drops it along a curved line a little way from the
land, bringing the other end of the rope on shore at a short
distance. Each end of the rope is then pulled by 8 or 10 men,
CHESIL BEACH FISH. 163
who walk along the beach for, perhaps, a quarter of a mile,
gradually hauling in the net, and eventually pulling it on shore
with the fish enclosed in it.
When a fish of any size is caught it is usually put on a waggon
which perambulates the neighbourhood and then proceeds to
Weymouth, and occasionally as far as Dorchester, if the fish
remains in good condition long enough and is attractive to the
public.
About a year ago a large sunfish ( ' OrtliagorisciLs mola) Avas caught
in the nets. It measured about six feet in length, and somewhat
more between the tips of the fins. This fish is of a most extra-
ordinary oval shape, nearly round, and has a habit of sunning
itself on the surface of the water, and from this habit or from its
round shape it derives its name. It is found occasionally on
various parts of the British coast. The fishermen said that there
was also a second sunfish, which they did not catch. The sunfish
was accompanied by two small black pilot fish (Naucrates ductor),
about 18 inches in length, of which only one was caught. Both
sunfish and pilot fish were sold to a naturalist in London, and
reached him safely about a week after their capture, after under-
going various adventures. In the course of their travels the
railway company attempted to deliver the sunfish at a small private
house in London, owing to a mistake of the fishermen, and on its
being refused admittance they took it back to Waterloo and sent a
telegram to Weymouth to say that its owner could not be found
and that they did not know what to do with it. The pilot fish
fetched 2, but the big sunfish only 30s. and its carriage to London,
which was about 2 more. I may here mention that the large
sunfish now in the British Museum was taken off the Chesil Beach
in June, 1846 ; it was 6ft. Sin. long.
As to the connection of the pilot fish and the large fish which
they accompany, the general belief amongst the Chesil Beach
fishermen seems to be that each large fish has five pilot fish, who
attend on him and direct him in finding food. When danger
approaches in the shape of another large fish, or when the pilot
164 CHESIL BEACH FISH.
fish feel tired and in want of rest, the fishermen's belief is that
they communicate their wishes to the big fish, who immediately
opens his mouth, upon which they all swim down his throat and
remain inside him until the danger is over. I think that some one
said that he had seen them do so, but I do not now remember who
it was.
Yarrcll states that the evidence as to the object with which the
pilot fish accompanies its large companion is contradictory, and says
that some have considered that the pilot fish directs the large fish
to its food ; others that it merely goes for what it can pick up of
the remains of the large fishes' dinner. He also says ("Yarrell's
British Fishes," edition 1836, vol. i., p. 150) " M. Geoffrey
relates an instance of two pilots that took great pains to direct a
shark towards a bait." On the other hand Colonel Hamilton
Smith has furnished an account of an opposite character, which is
thus related in Griffith's "Animal Kingdom, Fishes," vol. x., p.
636 " Captain Richards, R.N., during his last station in the
Mediterranean, saw on a fine day a blue shark which followed the
ship, attracted, perhaps, by a corpse which had been committed to
the waves. After some time a shark hook baited with pork was
flung out. The shark, attended by four pilot fish (Scomber ductor),
repeatedly approached the bait ; and every time that he did so one
of the pilots preceding him was distinctly seen from the taffrail of
the ship to run his snout against the side of the shark's head, to
turn it away. After stirne farther play the fish swam off in the
wake of the vessel, ,his dorsal fin being long distinctly visible above
the water. When he had gone, however, a considerable distance
he suddenly turned round, darted after the vessel, and before the
pilot fish could overtake him and interfere, snapped at the bait and
was taken. In hoisting him up one of the pilots was observed to
cling to his side until he was half above water, when it fell off.
All the pilot fishes then swam about awhile, as if in search of their
friend, with every apparent mark of anxiety and distress, and
afterwards darted suddenly down into the depths of the sea.
Colonel H. Smith has himself witnessed with intense curiosity an
CHESIL BEACH FISH. 1(55
event in all respects precisely similar." It has also been suggested
by Buckland that the parasites which are found on the large fish
form the food of the pilot fish which accompany them.
Pilot fish sometimes accompany ships during whole voyages, one
instance being related of two pilot fish joining a ship two days after
she left Alexandria and attending her until her arrival at Plymouth
80 days afterwards, where they were caught. I once myself saw a
small fish of some kind follow a baited hook put out from the
stern of a sailing ship in the Mediterranean for several days,
keeping its nose within a few inches of the hook all the time ; but
I did not see it attempt to eat the bait. It was calm weather, so
that the ship was only moving slowly.
The next fish in point of size that I have seen from the Chesil
Beach was a sturgeon (Accipenser Sturio), about six feet long,
which was taken round in the usual way for inspection in a cart.
It seemed to be very tenacious of life, and lived for hours after it
was taken from the water. It was defended by five rows of long
plates with projecting spines, and had a very hard and angular
appearance. The four filaments hanging down in front of its
mouth were very striking. The mouth itself was nearly round
and small, something like a short indiarubber pipe, surrounded by
thick swollen lips, and placed underneath and some way behind
the end of its snout, and was toothless. This fish was cut up and
sold in the neighbourhood, but I did not taste it. Yarrell says that
it is very rarely met with in the open sea, being generally taken at
the mouths of rivers, which it ascends to deposit its spawn. Small
specimens are also rare, and it is supposed that they go out to sea
when quite young, and do not return to the rivers until they are
ready to lay their eggs.
In "Nature," Jan. 1871, p. 171, A. Schultz mentions that a
peculiar phenomenon observed, especially in the Sturgeon, is a
kind of winter sleep. At the approach of cold weather it seeks
the deep parts of the river and remains there in a state of torpor,
during which time it secretes a viscid mucus, which forms a coating
over the entire body, called by the fishermen a "pelisse." During
166 CHESIL BEACH FISH.
this period it appears to eat nothing, the stomach being invariably
found to be empty.
Another fish, of wliich I have a small example preserved in
glycerine and water, is the lump fish (Cydopterus lumpus). This
little specimen was caught on the Chesil Beach and brought to me
alive in a bucket. It was of a most beautiful bluish green colour
and almost transparent, and covered with little bony tubercles. It
had a sucker on the under side of its body with which it could
hold on very firmly.
Another example of this species was also brought to me. It
was much larger, about 18in. long, and most hideous in appearance.
It had none of the beautiful hues of the small specimen, but was
greyish brown in colour. In shape, however, it resembled the
small one, and its tubercles and sucker were also similar. As I
saw that it was considered good to eat in fact, the Rev. J. G.
Wood says (Wood's " Nat. Hist. Fishes") that the lump fish is in
Scotland considered to be second only to the turbot I had a piece
cooked, but found it very watery and unpleasant. Yarrell does
not speak so highly of its edible qualities, though he says that it
is eaten in Scotland, but he adds that the beautiful colours and
firmness of flesh are lost for a time after spawning. I should say
that this specimen was at its worst.
In Day's " Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland " the following
extract from the "Berwick K H. F. Club," 1838, p. 174, occurs.
" Johustone remarks ' The paidle (lump fish) spawns towards the
end of March and in April. At that season the hen approaches
the shore and deposits her spawn among the rocks and seaweed
within low water mark, and immediately afterwards returns to
deeper water. The male then covers the spawn with his sperm,
and, according to the testimony of our fishermen, remains covering
it or near it until the ova are hatched. The young soon after
birth fix themselves to the sides and on the back of their male
parent, who sails thus loaded to deeper and more safe retreats.' "
Day also describes in great detail the gradual growth of the young
lump fish, and quotes an account of the intrepidity of the male in
CHESIL BEACH FISH. 167
defending its nest from the wolf fish, upon the neck of which it
first fastens by means of its sucker, and then inflicts a mortal
wound with its teeth.
I now come to the boar fish (Capros aper), which has excited a
good deal of attention on account of its very great beauty and its
former rarity on the British coasts.
As a rule I find that the fishermen take very little note of any-
thing except mackerel, but, as far as I can learn from them, the first
appearance of the boar fish on the Chesil Beach was four or five
years ago, when a very few were taken. They have been present
every year since that time more or less, but this year they were
exceedingly abundant during the early part of the season about
April and May, hundreds being often taken in one cast of the net.
They then became much rarer for a time, and about July appeared
again for a few weeks, but not in such abundance as at first.
Yarrcll, writing in 1836, speaks of only two British specimens of
this fish, one taken in Mounts Bay, the other procured from
Bridgwater Fish Market. It is a Mediterranean and West Atlantic
fish, occurring from France to Madeira. Bucklarid says, in his
" Xat. Hist, of British Fish," that ince its first appearance in
1825 in Mounts Bay it has gradually increased in abundance in
certain limited tracts. In 1841 at Falmouth, and in 1843 at
Plymouth, it appeared in numbers, and the fishermen state that
within the last few years it has swarmed to such an extent as
to have become a perfect pest, and that in many instances the
trawlers have been actually obliged to change their fishing ground
in order to get out of its way.
The boarfish is about 5| inches in length, 1\ inches in depth,
and | inch in thickness. The mouth is retractile, and can be pro-
jected forwards in the form of a tube, about fin. long. These fish
generally keep their mouths drawn back, but can shoot out and
draw them back very quickly, and some of them did this when
lying on the beach after being taken out of the water, and also
when alive in a tank. The colour of the body is bright scarlet on
the back, shading into a beautiful silvery white- underneath, some
168 CHESIL BEACH FISH.
l>cing darker than others. There is generally a trace of darker red
transverse bands on the sides, and the individuals which have these
liands most strongly marked are the handsomest. The eye is very
large and of a most beautiful golden red colour with a black centre.
When there were a good many boarfish in the net the herrings or
other fish which were taken with them seemed to be frightened of
them and came up first in the net, whereas the boarfish were found
at the end. The herrings were a good deal pricked by the sharp
spines of the boarfish, and it is just possible that the fishermen's
idea that the boarfish frighten away other fish maj have some
foundation, as the last season has been an exceedingly bad one for
mackerel ; in fact, the fishermen have not had a good season since
the boarfish appeared on the coast.
Thinking that the Brighton Aquarium might like some of these
fish, I wrote to the Manager, who seemed much pleased, and agreed
to buy some from the men and to send a tank for them. They
turned out, however, to be most delicate fish, for in spite of the
utmost care of the fishermen, who even transferred them direct
from the sea to a bucket of water and thence to the tank without
drawing them up on the lan at all, there were many deaths before
they reached the Aquarium. In the first attempt the tank was
taken in a cart which carries away the fish from the beach over a
very rough road, and this killed them all. In the second attempt
only three out of twelve arrived alive at Brighton, and of these
only one was well. In the third five out of nine were in excellent
health when the tank passed my house on its way to Weymouth
and the rest fairly well, but I have never been able to learn their
fate, though I have written twice to enquire. I should fear that
they had not been a success.
The last two fish that I propose to mention are small, but very
curious and interesting.
One is the lampern (Pefromyznnjluviatilis), of which a specimen
was brought to me alive. It is a little greyish brown fish, about
8 or 10 inches long, a good deal like an eel, and furnished on the
mouth with a sucker, with which it sticks firmly on to the side of
CHESIL BKACH FISH. 169
a basin, one's finger, or anything else. Wood says that it uses its
sucker in ascending rivers. It makes a dart up the river at a stone,
sticks to it, and rests for a short time, then makes another dart, and
so on.
Yarrell gives a most interesting account of the construction of
the nest of the lamprey, which is very like the lampern in shape,
but rather larger, and mottled on the hack. He says, quoting Sir
William Jardine (Yar. " Br. Fish," 1836, vol. ii., p. 451): "They
are not furnished with any elongation of the jaw afforded to most
of our freshwater fish to form the receiving furrows at this im-
portant season ; but the want is supplied by their sucker-like mouth,
by which they individually remove each stone. Their power is
immense. Stones of a very large size are transported, and a large
furrow is soon formed " (to receive the eggs). Couch says that the
lampern makes a nest in a similar way, but that several unite to
form a joint spawning bed. Yarrell says (p. 454) that he believes
that the lampern generally remains all the year in the river and
does not visit the sea ; but this specimen was taken off the Chesil
Beach, not near the mouth of any river.
The last fish is the great pipefish (Syngnathtis acus)^ which I
have not seen alive, but only know from having picked up a few
dried specimens on the Chesil Beach. Their shape is very curious,
like that of a thin eel about a foot long, with a long tubular mouth.
Their movements in a rock pool are said to be most graceful, and
they are also said to use their long noses for poking about in the
crevices of the rocks for food.
Yarrell says (ii., 329), after describing the male fish, which has a
pouch underneath near the tail : " M. Risso notices the great
attachment of the adult pipefish to their young, and this pouch
probably serves as a place of shelter to which the young ones
retreat in case of danger. I have been assured by fishermen that
if the young were shaken out of the pouch into the water over the
side of the boat they did not swim away, but when the parent fish
was held in the water in a favourable position the young would
again enter the pouch."
170 CHESIL BEACH FISH.
In conclusion I may mention that a green turtle (Cltebmia
viridis) was found floating in the West Bay near the Chesil Beach
by some fishermen. It was dead, and appeared to have been so
for some little time. Most probably it was conveyed by a ship
into British waters, but died before reaching land, and was thrown
overboard.
I venture to express a hope that the few notes on fish which I
have read may encourage some of our members who live by the sea
to take up by the subject in earnest. I feel sure that it will repay
their careful attention.
(Em0U00iUtVUS ricte&SOW, LYDEKKER (n. sp.) 1
SYN. Plesiosaurus plicatus,
By J. C. MANSBL-PLBYDELL, Esq.,
F.L.S.. F.G.S.
OWARDS the end of the Mesozoic age a remarkable
diminution of the huge reptiles which swarmed in
the seas of that period commenced, and at the
beginning of the succeeding age, Tertiary,
their annihilation was nearly complete, occasioned
by great physical changes, especially affecting the
relative positions of land and sea, the sea predominating largely
over the land in Europe. We pass from strata of considerable
uniformity and of immense thickness over large and extensive areas
to beds of a great variety of structure, from deep to shallow seas,
1 Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum
(Natural History), by R. Lydekker, Part ii., p. 240, 1889.
2 Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field
Club, vol. ix., p. 26, 1888.
172 CIMOL1OSAURUS RtCHARDSONI.
estuaries, and rivers. With one or two doubtful exceptions,
not a single Mesozoic species passed up into the Tertiary
strata ; the numbers of the new genera and species, greatly exceeding
those of the previous age. Western Europe at this period had four
considerable seas instead of one as now the Anglo-Parisian, the
Pyrennean, the Mediterranean, and one which covered the western
parts of France from Normandy to Nantes. As the chalk rose
above the sea and underwent extensive denudation, a material
diminution of temperature resulted, mainly through alterations of
the ocean currents, which occasioned a disastrous result upon
reptile life. During the deposition of the oolitic beds there was
a complete uniformity, for, although occasional subsidences
occurred, as shewn by the Oxford and Kimmeridge clays,
with evidences of tide-level and shore conditions, no great
or important break occurred. At the commencement of
the Cretaceous age, on the other hand, there was a gradual
submergence of land, accompanied by a considerable
extension of the sea-area. The marine beds of Punfield, near
Swanage, which rest upon the great fresh-water deposits of the
Hastings sands, are a good illustration of this initiatory change.
Its effects are remarkably shown in the Vale of Blackmore, where
there is a great overlap or covering over of the upper oolitic beds
by the chalk. The Hastings sands, Purbeck beds, and
Portland strata are hidden, causing an apparent unconfor-
mity of the beds, as if the Lower Greensand had succeeded the
Kimmeridge clay directly, without first covering over the
intervening beds. Another subsidence and consequent invasion of
the sea occurred during the deposition of the Upper Greensand,
which spread itself over the oolitic formations as it passed on
westwards, finally resting on the Trias of East Devon. These
changes materially affected the climate and temperature of those
parts which came under their influence, especially through the
alteration of ocean-currents. What would the climate of the greater
part of Europe be, if the Gulf Stream was stopped or deflected ?
The Atlantic would be deprived of one-fifth of the amount of heat
CIMOLIOSATJRUS RICHARDSONI. 173
it is now receiving in addition to what it has in virtue of the
temperature of space. The temperature would be lowered
to a condition of climate as severe as that of North Green-
land at the present day. If, again, the warm currents of tlie
North Pacific were to be stopped, the northern hemisphere would be
subjected to an entire glaciation. The fossils of the Palaeozoic age
seem to indicate a uniform mild or temperate condition of climate,
but not so in the succeeding Carboniferous age, which shows signs
of reaction. The late Mr. Godwin Austin found large angular
blocks in the carboniferous strata of France, which could only be
accounted for by referring their inclusion to the agency of ice-
carriage, by glacier or iceberg. Large blocks of granite are met
with in Scotland in the detrital beds of the coal-basins, which
Professor Geikie and other eminent geologists attribute to glacial
action. A large block of crystalline rock resembling granite was
found embedded in a pit of white chalk near Croydon, and with it
were other smaller boulders, all water-worn and composed of a
different kind of rock, together with a compact mass of silicious
sand derived from the waste of coast line of crystalline rocks, of
which there are none 'in the neighbourhood of Croydon. All had
sunk together without separating, and must have been firmly
held together both during the time that they were floating, and
whilst sinking to the bottom of the cretaceous sea. Independent
of seasonal changes, circulation between the surface and the sea-
depths is aided by the co-operation of heat and gravitation. The
Gulf of Mexico, which is not exposed to any cold supply of water
from the North Pole, is a perfect reservoir of heat ; further north,
close to the shore of Massachusetts, is a cold current running
southwards 60 or 80 miles wide. There are thus tAvo currents of
different temperatures running side by side in opposite directions
and only mingling where their edges impinge upon each other.
Again, the Gulf Stream divides itself into several channels, the
water of which is warm where the channels are deep, and cold in
the shallower channels, occasioned by the water, low in temperature,
rising from considerable depths over submarine elevated ridges.
174 CIMOLIOSAURUS RICHARDSONI.
We can now sec the influence ocean-currents had, as they have
now, upon determining the temperature of the glol>e, and the con-
sequent disastrous effect upon cold-blooded reptiles when
suddenly lowered. We have not time to dwell further upon this
part of the subject, nor to show that Europe had not at the
commencement of the Tertiary age its present continental
character, but an insular one, giving free access to the polar
currents without the counteracting exchange of warm equatorial
currents.
The nearly complete fossil before us belongs to that section of the
extinct reptilian class included in the Order Enaliasaurian or sea-
lizards, but subseqxiently divided by Sir Richard Owen, G.C.B.,
F.R.S., into the Ichthynpteryyia and Sauropterygia ; the former
represented by the genera Baptanodon Optlialmosatmis anil
Ichthyosaurus, the latter by several genera. Until the year
1841 Plesiosaurus was the only representative of this order in
Great Britain. At that date Sir Richard Owen removed from it
two species, Plesiosaurus yrandis and Plesiosaurus trochanteinus,
under a new genus Pliosaurus. The fossils of this genus were
first founded upon two limbs, one of which is preserved in the
British Museum, the other in our County Museum. It had an
enormous head, supported by a short neck, in which it approached
the great freshwater Saurians of the present day, with charac-
teristic vertebrae, having a tubercular rising in the centre of the
centrum, and resembling Plesiosaurus in its fin-bones and elon-
gated phalanges. Their vertical range was restricted to the middle
and upper oolites, whereas Plesiosaurus extended from the Rh retic l)eds
right through to the chalk. Plesiosaurus is characterised by a very
long neck and a short tail. The vertebrae are deeper and more
solid than those of Ichthyosaurus ; the neural arches are anchylosed
with strong outstretched transverse blades to strengthen the spinal
column and to sustain the strain upon it in shallow water ;
coast-lines, estuaries, and rivers probably being the usual resorts
of these monsters. Their remains have been found in the
Wealden freshwater deposits. Ichthyosaurus, on the other hand,
CIMOLIOSAURUS RICHARDSONI. 175
lived in the deep seas, visiting the land only occasionally.
It has a weak spinal column : the two faces of the centrum
nearly meet in the centre, and the neural arches are unanchy-
losed, in which respect it differs from Plesiosaurus. The humerus
and femur of some Plesiosauri e.g., Plesiosaurus Manselii have
a third bone in addition to the ulna and radius, and to the
tibia and fibula, which T. W. Hulke, Esq., F.R.S., names the
os intermedium, and places it between the ulna and radius,
tibia and fibula, the homologue of which is found in the front
and hind limbs of some living Saurians. A very interesting
morphological question arises as to the possibility of tracing the
homology of these bones and their relation to the carpal and tarsal
elements of the higher vertebrates. I have already referred to
this splendid Plesiosaurian specimen in my paper on
the fossil reptiles of Dorset, 'and expressed my opinion that it
might possibly turn out to be Plesiosaurus plicatus of Phillips.
I am now inclined to change my mind and to call it
Murceno,wints Leedsii Seeley, a subgenus of Plesiosaurus
characterised by its shoulder and pelvic girdles having
only one coraco-scapula and one obturator foramen, and by a
difference in the union of the neural arches, as well as by
distinct forms of the ulna and radius, tibia, and fibula.
Possibly these differences will not be held sufficient by Mr. Lydekker
to justify Professor Seeley's separation. This palaeon-
tologist is now engaged in tabulating and arranging the
fossil reptilian remains in the British Museum ; the
result of his labours on the Crocodilia and Deinosauria will
soon be before the public, as the volume is now in the printer's
hands, and Avill be doubtless as invaluable an addition to Palseon-
tological literature as are his five volumes upon the Fossil Mammalia
of our National Museum. The remains of this Plesiosaur were
found in a bed of Oxford clay in the neighbourhood of Weymouth
last winter, and through the indefatigable and intelligent industry
of Mr. and Mrs. Richardson, of " Montevideo," they have been
built up in their present satisfactory condition. The head is
176 CIMOLIOSAURUS RICHARUSOM.
missing, which is not surprising, as having only one articulation
with the neck, and that an exceedingly small one, it possibly
became detached before the carcase settled down in its grave of
clay ; that a considerable time elapsed previous to its being finally
covered over may be inferred by the aggregations of oyster shells
upon the vertebrae and bones, which could only have been attached
when the body was uncovered. The spinal column consists of
71 vertebrae, of which 31 are cervicals, 19 dorsals, 2 sacrals, and
19 caudals. The shoulder-girdle is nearly complete, consisting of
coracoids, scapulae, and pre-scapulae, two fore and one hind limb
(humerus and femur), small portions only of the pubes, the ischia
and ilia, radius, ulna, tibia, fibula, carpal, and metacarpal bones,
several phalanges, and ribs.
VERTEBRAE. The dorsal vertebras resemble the last two
cervicals, the centrum is rough, its height and length about equal,
and both shorter than the breadth. In the fore part of the dorsal
region the neural spines are inclined backwards, they then
become vertical, and afterwards incline forwards. The
neural-arches are not well preserved, only a few retaining their
transverse processes. The centra are altered in form to allow the
ribs to be raised on the neural arch ; their sides are compressed
with a foramen near the middle of some ; the neural spines
widen and are extremely compressed from side to side ; the
position of the transverse processes remain the same through-
out. The cervical and caudal vertebrae are characteristics of this
long-necked, short-tailed family, by the non-attachment of the ribs
to the sboulder-girdle of the former, and by the long chevron bones
of the latter.
PECTORAL GIRDLE. The coracoids have a short median
symphysis five inches long ; and diverge from their posterior
border, taking an outward diagonal direction, and terminating
by a convex sweep outwards into an extremely thin dilated
plate. The bones are thickest where the scapula and humerus
articulate, forming a transverse ridge or keel. This ridge is equally
marked on the dorsal as well as the ventral surface. Their width
CIMOLIOSAURUS RICHAHDSOXI. 177
immediately behind the articulation is 15 inches, the least width
across is 20 inches. The length of the scapular-articulation is three
inches, looking obliquely and forward, arid lies in front of the
ridge. The scapula consists of a plate which is anchylosed to
the coracoid, and from which a bone rises and ascends towards the
dorsal surface, making an angle of about 50 with the central plate.
This plate is Gin. long and 4in. broad. The inner margin, which is
thin and concave at the base, is a continuation of the curve of the
front border of the coracoid bone. There is no indication of
clavicle or inter-clavicle bones. The inner margin of the ascending
plate is concave, the outer straight. The coraco-scapular foramen,*
one of the differences upon which Professor Seeley forms his
genus Murcenosaurus, is not subdivided into two foramina, as is the
case with many of this family. This continuous foramen
is bounded laterally by the concave inner border of the scapula
and posteriorly by the anterior margin of the coracoid. It is 14in.
wide from side to side and 4in. from the anterior to the posterior
margins.
PELVIC BONES. The pubes are thin, a small portion only of
them is preserved, and there is no indication of the symphysis, this
part of the bone being unfortunately lost. The outer margins are
compressed from side to side, and are not so deep as those of the
coracoid. The length is 18f in. Both the ischia are well preserved.
Their length from the median line to the femoral margin is Sin. ;
breadth at distal end, 5|in. ; at proximal end, 8Jin. ; at the
narrowest part, 2in. The iliac bones are expanded at both
extremities, so as to extend over the upper part of the head of
the femur.
HUMERUH. The third part of the proximal end of the humerus
is cylyndrical and thick ; it then widens into a broad distal end,
shewing an articulate surface.
* It appears from a complete restoration now made by Mr. Richardson of
the pectoral girdle that the coraco-scapular foramen was divided by a
median bony bar as is now known to be the case in C, plicalus (Leedsii), of
which the original restoration was erroneous,
178
CIMOUOSAURUS RICHARDSON I.
Cimoliosaunts ricJiardsoni. Ventral aspect of part of the right
pectoral limb ^ nat. size ; h, humerus ; tr, trochanter of ditto ; r,
radius ; u, ulna ; ?', radiale ; i, intermedium ; ^t', ulnare.
The ulna and radius are short, the radial portion concave ; two
of the carpal bones are trigonal, the rest are polygonal.
FEMUR. The articular surface of the femur is deeply pitted
and tuberculate. The proximal end is constricted below the head
before it begins to expand. Both margins are nearly straight and
gradually flatten out into a broad distal end. Length If in.,
breadth 8in., 3f in. at the narrowest part of the shaft. The tibia
and fibula, and several of the carpal and phalangal bones, are well
preserved.
Since this paper was read last autumn before the members of
the Club, the Plesiosauridve have undergone a complete revision
under the experienced - and critical eye of Mr. Lydekker,
F.G.S., to whom I am indebted for his valuable assistance in the
classification of this saurian. He refers Mi. Richardson's saurian
to the genus Cimoliosaurus, which he distinguishes from Plesiosaums
on account of structural differences, especially in the shoulder-girdle,
which are of so marked a character as to require a generic distinction.
CIMOTJOSAURUS RICHARDSOXI. 179
He restricts PIe*io*aurtts proper to those whose scapulae do not
meet in the median line throughout their whole extent from the
upper to the lower margin, but diverge anteriorly about half-way
down. The scapulae are rod-like, small, and narrow, and Avidely
separated from each other, resting diagonally upon a long plate
(nmostemuni), which is wedged into the coracoid at its summit,
taking the place of the clavicle of mammalia and of some reptiles. The
anterior portion of each scapula lies at right angles to the dorsal
portion, which has a long projection. Cimoliosaurus, on the other
hand, has large, broad scapulae, which meet at the median line
throughout, and are in the same plane with the eoracoids, forming
with these one shield-like plate. The size and strength of the
scapulae do not require the supporting bone oinostemum of
Plesiosaurus. The dorsal plates, as with the Plesiosaurus, are at
right angles to the ventral, but differ in being short and narrow.
Mr. Lydekker, finding the fossil possesses all the characters refer-
able to Cimoliosaurus, gives it a place in that genus. It is,
however, specifically distinct from C. plicatus, Phil., the only other
known Oxford clay member of the family, and to which I referred
it in vol. ix. of " The Proceedings." Among the other distinc-
tive characters already described, the cervical vertebrae are shorter
with flatter, terminal faces, and about 31 in number instead of
44 as in plicatus. Mr. Lydekker names it Cimoliosaurus ricJiardsoni
after its fortunate discoverer. Plesiosaurus proper is restricted
to the Rhsetic and Liassic beds, while Gimoliosanrus extends
vertically from the Inferior Oolite to the Upper Chalk inclusive.
(Erosion of the Coast near Stemnouth
bn the JUtion of the ca.
By Mr. T. B. GROVES, F.C.S. (of Weymouth).
old adage says " The drop wears away the stone
not by the force but the frequency of its falling."
How much more destructive, then, must be the
action of the ever restless sea, whose motion is not
only continuous but often of enormous violence,
the effectiveness of which as a disintegrator is, as
a rule, increased immensely by the intermixture of sand and gravel ;
to say nothing of the purely chemical action it exerts on certain
rocks of a calcareous nature. The waste of the shore and the
consequent encroachment of the sea has been noticed in all ages,
but it was not until recent times that its vast importance was
recognised, and a systematic attempt made to ascertain the rate of
its progress and the modus operandi of the various forces which
bring about the result.
At the Southport meeting in 1883 of the British Association for
the Advancement of Science a recommendation was adopted by the
General Committee to appoint a committee, of which Messrs. Topley
and De Ranee were to be secretaries, " for the purpose of enquiring
into the rate of erosion of the sea coasta of England and Wales,
and the influence of the artificial abstraction of shingle and other
material in that action."
THE EROSION OF THE COAST. 181
At the Montreal meeting in 1884 this committee presented a
preliminary report, in which the importance of the subject and the
urgent need for enquiry were insisted on, and pointing out that the
problem could only be successfully attacked by many observers
working with a common purpose and upon some uniform plan. To
secure this unformity a formidable list of questions had been pre-
pared and circulated, and the co-operation of individuals and
societies solicited. The hon. sec. of the Dorset Field Club
promised, I believe, his aid, and under his direction I promised to
collect the facts and observations relating to this immediate neigh-
bourhood. I soon, however, repented of my rashness when I read
over the list in question. I found to my dismay that answers were
required to no less than 50 questions, arranged under 19 headings,
whilst a hint was thrown out that sketches illustrating the points
refeired to would make the answer more valuable-. It was evident
that the work was to be done thoroughly.
At the Aberdeen meeting in 1885 the first detailed report was
presented. It contained two general reports on the south-eastern
coast of England one on that part of the Sussex coast between
Langley Point and Beachy Head, one on the coast of East Kent,
and 20 particular reports of a variety of places, many of them on
the south coast. Four of these referred to Dorset, and included
Lyme Regis and Charmouth, Bridport Harbour, Christchurch to
Poole, and lastly, to my intense relief, \Yeymouth, whose reporter
was Mr. Bernard Henry "NYood ward, of 80, Petherton Road,
Highbury New Park, London. Mr. Woodward's report is in the
form of short answers to some of the questions formulated by the
committee ; but it would, I think, be more convenient if on this
occasion the questions and answers were combined so as to form a
continuous statement.
His report refers only to the coast north of the town of
"VVeymouth, which he describes as a shingly beach, bordering
alluvium, from about three furlongs north-east of St. John's
Church to the south of Jordan Hill. The cliffs at either end
of the shingle bank are of Oxford clay. The direction of the
182 THE EROSION OF THE COAST.
coast line is north-east and south-west, and the prevailing wind
south-west. The most important winds in raising high waves,
piling up shingle, and causing shingle to travel are the south and
south-east. He fails to give answers to questions six and seven
referring to tidal currents and the range of the tides, and passes on
to question eight, which he answers by stating that the area
covered l>y the tide is chiefly shingle, with peaty alluvium exposed
Ijy the mouth of a stream south of Jordan Hill. The tendency of
the shingle is, he states, to travel south-eastward and inland, the
road that borders the shingle having been put back 60 feet during
the last 30 years. The amount of shingle is diminishing, although
the carting of it away is no longer permitted. The groynes which
were erected to prevent the travelling of the shingle were wasted
away in 1883. Since then blocks of Portland stone have been
placed along the shore to protect the coast. The waste of the cliffs
of Oxford clay below Jordan Hill he attributed more to atmos-
pheric than marine agency, and points out that after a long dry
season great cracks and fissures are made in the clay ; then
autumnal rains or winter rains and frost act with great destructive
powers. To question 15 "Is the bareness of shingle at any of
these places due to artificial causes?" he gives no answer. As
regards the gain of land recovered from the sea, he points out
the probability of the shingle beach having dammed up an old
tidal estuary, now the alluvium of Lodmoor, and that further
south the chief part of Melcombe Regis is built on marine
sand and shingle, which has contracted the mouth of the river
Wey, and left a kind of Broad known as Radipole Lake or
the Backwater. The water in this is now artificially retained at
low tide by a weir.
This report so limited in scope is nevertheless somewhat meagre
with reference to what it professes to describe, and is, moreover, in
some respects inaccurate. Strangely enough it omits all mention
of the disturbance of old conditions caused by the building of the
Portland Breakwater, to which are undoubtedly to be ascribed the
denudation of the Preston beach, the tilling up of "VVeyuiouth Bay
THE EROSION OF THE COAST. 183
proper with sand, and the almost entire removal of that beautiful
stretch of sands known as Smallmouth.
Before, however, going any further either in criticising the report
or giving my own views of what has occurred in recent times with
respect to the foreshore near Weymouth, I should like to explain
that this paper is not offered in a dogmatic spirit, but rather as the
contribution of a layman, with no profession of knowledge in this
department of science, to the solution of problems which will, it is
feared, soon have to be seriously confronted, and mainly with the
view of exciting discussion, and so eliciting the opinions of persons
having special acquaintance with the subject.
In pre-Breakwater times the waters of Weymouth Bay were
agitated by all winds coming from between the north-east and
south-east points of the compass, but from the latter came by far
the most violent and destructive storms and the heaviest water.
For the Esplanade wall to be breached was no unfrequent
occurrence, the damage usually occurring on that part between the
opening to the sands and the top of Bond Street. The upper
section was rarely injured except on very special occasions, such as
the great November gale of 1824, and, perhaps, some others. But
no sooner had the Portland Breakwater made substantial progress
than its influence was felt in diverting the course of the waves
coming in with gales from the south-east; the heavy water fell
year by year higher up the Esplanade in a northerly direction, and
there, meeting with but feeble resistance, every year was signalized
by a breach in the Avail which cost the town several hundred
pounds to repair. The wall opposite Brunswick Terrace, Avhich,
though of weak construction, had, hitherto, being helped by the
beach in front of it, managed to hold its own, finally gave way, and
its reconstruction practically completed the renewal of the sea wall
of half the Esplanade.
The Breakwater still pushing forward, Greenhill appeared to be
threatened. A sea Avail Avas accordingly erected for its protection ;
Avhich was promptly knocked down Avithin tAvo years or so of its
construction, just in time, in fact, to save the pocket of the
184 THE EROSION OF THE COAST.
fortunate contractor. It was said that the wall was faulty both in
design and construction, and having been built out too far from the
land, the sea resented the encroachment in a summary fashion.
The wall was never rebuilt ; yet Grecnhill suffered no material
injury, as the heavy water soon passed on to the Preston beach,
where its influence was successfully withstood by the then abundant
accumulation of shingle. But when in course of time Jordan Gate
was reached no such effectual barrier was met with, and the erosion
of the coast line made rapid progress. It was feared that Preston
valley would be invaded by the waters ; consequently the Govern-
ment was appealed to, and at . its expense many thousand tons of
Portland stone in large blocks Avcre deposited on the shore to form
a protection, which purpose it has effectually served. The disturb-
ance of conditions did not, I believe, however, end there, for I had
it on good authority that, owing to Breakwater influence, several
hundreds of acres of land had fallen into the sea and been lost to
the owners of properties adjoining the north shore. However, I
will not pursue the subject further in this direction, but will, with
permission, occupy a short time in considering the causes and
probable effects of the denuding of Preston beach.
In stating that the tendency of the shingle is to travel in a
south-easterly direction, the reporter was, perhaps, misled by
information of what had been the case in pre-Breakwater times,
the tendency being now south-westerly i.e., in the direction of
Weymouth.
Before 1849, when the Portland Breakwater was commenced,
there was practically no permanent displacement of the shingle.
Should a south-easterly gale drive it towards Preston, the following
north-easter would return it to its original place and restore the
equilibrium ; but now not only is the south-easterly impetus
removed, but it has been partly converted by reflection from the
north shore into a force operating in the other direction; conse-
quently the movement is south-westerly only, and has so continued,
ever since the Portland Breakwater commenced to make its
disturbing influence felt in the deflection of the wind- waves, and of
THE EROSION OP THE COAST. 185
the tidal wave ; though the effect of the latter is probably limited
to the movement of sand only. At various times attempts were
made to stop the shingle by the erection of groynes, which were
generally short-lived owing to original faulty construction and
subsequent neglect. Of the groynes now on the beach one
remained for years in the absurd position of being entirely open at
the bottom. Xow that it is too late it has been repaired and
another erected to the south-west of it. This formidable structure
is some ten feet high, but then, on the other hand, it is some
60 feet too short on the sea side, and 20 feet on the land ! A
proof of its ridiculous inefficiency is afforded by the fact that at
the present time the shingle is at the same height on either side of
it, and that the Oxford clay is actually exposed in its immediate
vicinity.
We have, in fact, to face not the possibility but the probability
of the first heavy gale from the east breaking over, or, perhaps,
through, the beach, destroying the road, and with it the pipes
conveying the water supply of \Veymouth, and finally flooding
Lodmoor.
These unpleasant contingencies have recently been brought to
the notice of the Government, but the application for aid lias not,
I believe, met with a favourable response. Any effectual remedy
must necessarily be a costly one, and it rests with the civil
engineer to say Avhat it is to be. I will only venture one remark,
and that is in reference to the natural accretion of fresh shingle.
The only source (barring the carrying back bodily of what has
been displaced) of flint pebbles that can be relied upon is the small
yield furnished by the gradual disintegration of the chalk cliffs and
the liberation of flints embedded in them. This goes on at an
extremely slow rate, and it would probably require centuries to
restore the Preston beach to its old condition by this means. As
regards the movement of sand towards "Weymouth, it is thought
four or five feet in depth have been added during the last 20 years ;
it has, in fact, become an evil. The tide now recedes too far, and,
moreover, the condition of the sand at its southern end has
186
THE EROSION OF THE COAST.
deteriorated. I venture finally to suggest to the Corporation of
Weymouth that now has arrived the proper time for carrying out
an old suggestion viz., the taking in a large slice of the sands and
converting it in some Avay to public uses, as has been done on three
occasions at that Naples with which we have the audacity to
compare our modest seaport and watering-place.
THO. B. GROVES.
rrvc . i/cmset Jv.Jl.oc J\.r. (nn>. </ .\ . LOOJ.
?
ROOF.
CERNE ABBAS BARN
dunu
By H. J. MOULB, M.A.
EFORE saying anything else let me express my
thanks to Major-General Pitt-Rivers, R.A., the
Rev. Sir Talbot H. B. Baker, the Rev. H. D.
Gundry, Mr. Green, Surveyor on General Pitt-
Rivers' estate, and to Mr. Sprake, tenant of the
Barton Farm, for help of various kinds most
courteously afforded to me.
The grand Abbey-Barn at Cerne seems hardly to have had its due
name and fame among antiquaries. Whether looked at, however,
as a piece of almost unsurpassable masonry, or as a noble design, it
is one of the most noteworthy of Dorset mediaeval relics. All the
more grievous is the loss of the greater part of the fine open roof,
which fell a few years ago. The barn is now the property of
General Pitt-Rivers, who, as Government Inspector of Ancient
Monuments, naturally took much interest in the structure. The
General has shown me an extract from his estate journal, dated
September 27, 1886, in which it is directed that the roof was to be
replaced in deal in the same form as the old one, tiling it again
with the same stone as before. In the following year, having
inspected the repairs, he was much annoyed by finding that his
orders had not been carried out; and the existing roof is con-
structed on modern principles, with tie beams. He Avas, however,
188 CERNE ABBEY BARN.
in time to save the porches, which have been reproduced in exactly
the same lines as the old porches. And, outside, all that meets the
view is in accordance with the old state of the roof ; which now,
as formerly, is covered with " heling stones " or stone tiles. All
honour to the owner for delivering us from the eyesore of raw slate
on the old, time-stained walls.
The building now standing is of nine bays, each about 12ft. Gin.
long, giving the total length as a trifle over 1 1 2ft. But the barn
either has been, or was intended to be, much longer. At the north
end it is unfinished. There are there cheeks and springers of porch-
arches, like those of the two existing porches. It is almost certain
that to the north of the second porches there were, or were meant
to be, four bays, as is the existing plan at the south. Thus we
may add five bays, or 62ft. 6 in., to the length, making it 174ft. in
all. This is an enormous length for a barn, truly, yet more than
100ft. less than that of the gigantic barn at Abbotsbury. I ought
to say, however, that in a short notice of Cerne Abbas Barn in the
British Archaeological Association Journal for 1872, 200ft. is given
as the length ; but I do not see that any ground for this assertion
is mentioned. The width is 30ft. inside, about 35ft. outside. The
height of the walls to the eaves is 22ffc. The height of the gables
from the eave-level to the apex is 23ft. This gives a splendidly
lofty pitch, the triangle being nearly equilateral. The base is
about 34ft. or 35ft., and the sides more than 28ft. on the slope.
The central bay of the walls is occupied on the east and west sides
by a porch of singular, although, perhaps, undefinable, charm of
design. The western porch is capped by a rich and beautifully
carved finial. The arched doorways are bold and lofty enough for
a load of corn to go in easily. As at Abbotsbury, there is a small
side-door to the porches. The four southern bays were long ago
turned into the farm house a transformation much to be lamented
archseologically. Knocking through the door and window openings
is said to have cost almost as much as a new house -would have
done. The old* roof over this part remains, although nmch
* It is about to be repaired.
CERNB ABBEY BARN. 189
decayed. By the courtesy of Mr. Sprake, the tenant, I saw the
timbering, one truss of which is nearly open, in a loft or store-
room. Its construction, as far as I could make it out, seems
uncommon. From the wall-plates rise principal timbers, about
13ft. long only. Flat on the top of each pair of these lies a tie-
beam or collar. These three timbers are trussed by two struts or
braces from the middle of the collar, reaching to within a foot or
two of the base of the principals. These braces are straight above,
slightly curved below. The curved lines are continued by wall
struts, notched or joggled into the principals, and carried down to
the wall below. On the top of this lower truss rests another,
triangular one, completing the ridge of the roof. This upper truss
consists of two principals in continuation of those below. These
upper principals have curved struts resting on the collar, and
doubtless connected with a second collar above. But in my some-
what hasty inspection I could not satisfy myself perfectly about
this. The roof is ceiled at the level of the top of the .upper struts,
which makes the construction there rather hard to make out. The
roof, perhaps, looks as if, with the vast weight of heling stones, its
thrust must be too great. But the mediaevals knew what they were
about. The walls are so good in themselves, and so well buttressed,
that the thrust does not seem to have made them give an eighth of
an inch all these centuries past. The buttresses, in their general
design, are, perhaps, of a type more familiar in earlier style. They
run up most of their height without diminution, and have three
set-offs quite near the top.
I do not know of any evidence, or authoritative opinions, as to
the date of the barn. The roof timbers are unmoulded, and almost
all the stone work, where moulded at all, is plainly chamfered. Xo
argument can be thence derived, therefore. Judging, however, by
general contour, by pitch of roof, by style of finial, and by roll-
moulding of door label, I set the building down as Decorated, say
about 1350.
I now come to the masonry of Cerne Abbas Barn, better than
which, for laying and facing within and without, can hardly be
190 CERNK ABBEY BARN.
seen. It consists of three kinds of stone. First there is Oiilite, of
the Portland formation ; but doubtless from some nearer locality,
Portesham or Sutton Poyntz, perhaps. Then there is a consider-
able amount of Ham-hill sandstone, of which the buttresses, for
instance, are mainly built. Lastly, there is a quantity of black
flint, of which probably the whole core of the walls is formed, as
well as a great part of the facing. Thus in the charm of varied
colour the masonry is very delightful. But the feature to which I
would chiefly draw your attention is the wonderful squaring and
facing of the surface flints, in their thousands. It may be doubted
whether Sussex,* Norfolk, or any other county noted for flint
masonry, could show anything to beat that of Cerne Abbas Barn,
taking quality and quantity into account. I found that a square
foot of facing contains 25 flints, more or less. I estimated that
half of the vast wall space inside, and two-thirds outside, are so
faced. With these data, and the dimensions as above given, the
astonishing result comes out that 172,600 is the number of facing
flints in Cerne Abbas Barn. And the even, firm surface which
they present must be seen to be believed. Outside, the flints have,
of course, weathered as regards colour. But within they are still
very black. In places, as in the West porch, the flint, oolite, and
sandstone, with their black, light grey, and orange, are interspersed,
forming a delightful chord of colour.
Such is a slight sketch of Cerne Abbas Barn. I have been so
often asked respecting this and Abbotsbury Barn "What were
they originally 1 were they churches ? " that I ought, perhaps,
to say in a word that it may be taken as an absolute
certainty that they and all similar monastic buildings were
barns, and nothing but barns, in design and use. But what kind
of barns? Tithe barns is the received answer. I doubt it.
Buildings in the middle ages were vastly better than now, but roads
much worse. Now, remembering that, think of what Mr. Roberts
implies by calling this barn a Tithe Barn, as he does in the British
* It may be noted that flint dressing for masonry was a lost art in
Norfolk 200 years ago. See Evelyn's Diary, October 17, 1071.
CERNE ABBEY BARX. 191
Archaeological Association Journal of 1872. It is said in Hutchins,
and in my childhood I often heard it from my Cerne Abbas nurse,
that the barn before the house was established in part of it held all
the corn in straw off a farm of 800 acres. Therefore, it would
hold the tithe corn off 8,000 acres, more than 12 square miles.
Now, on an average, the Cerne Abbas valley may, I think, be set
down as a mile wide. If so, twelve square miles of it mean land
stretching six miles each way. We must suppose some of the
tithe corn to have been carted all that distance, on mediaeval
trackways, if the monks used as a tithe barn the building which
we see, and not also the five other bays which may have existed.
And, again, this estimate allows, what is at best most doubtful,
that all those twelve miles of valley were tithable to the Abbey.
It may be objected that I am forgetting the neighbouring downs,
most of which show plough marks. Not so ; but I submit that
the cropping there was only at long intervals the tithing from
them very small. It would probably only bring up the crop and
tithes of the down plus valley, in the middle ages, to the modern
amount from the valley alone. No ; with all diffidence I submit
that here and at Abbotsbury and other monastic barns we see the
store-houses not of tithe corn only, but also of the crop itself off
the home farms of the convents. The Benedictine rule enjoined
manual labour. I cannot but think that in that pleasant Cerne
Abbas Yale the fathers had a goodly farm in hand, and did a small
stroke of work on it while overseeing the lay brothers and others
making longer days, as less taken up with matins and vespers,
compline and lauds. Yes, when looking at that stately South
porch, I sometimes have seemed to see a rough picturesque wain
rolling in, high-loaded with ruddy wheat, its warm hue throwing
into strong relief a black frocked farmer monk, with pitchfork on
shoulder, going to help stow the corn from the Barton Farm tilled
by the retainers, lay brothers, and adscripti glebse, of the great
Benedictine House of Cerne Abbas.
of a <pcdcs of Spischnw
($ankcsidlfl) ncto to <>ticncc from
By NELSON M. RICHARDSON, B.A.
N T the 19th of July, 1887, Mrs. Richardson and I
each took at Portland a specimen of one of the
Pltycidce, which we did not recognise, and which
has turned out to be not only new to Britain but
also to science.
The evening was not a good one for moths. It
was very warm in spite of an east wind ; but it was difficult to
make the moths fly out of the bushes. One of .the specimens was
taken just as it was getting dark, and the other, I believe, about
the same time. I have no suggestion to make as to the food-plant,
as the herbage is very mixed in the part where the specimens
occurred ; my specimen was taken close to a large bed of nettles,
but there were many other plarts close by.
The season of 1888 has been a good one for many moths at
Portland, and Euzopltera cinerosella, a moth rather nearly allied to
the present species, has been common ; but, so far as I am aware,
no more specimens of the Episcltnia have been taken by any one,
and the species is still only known by the two original captures.
I first sent the moths (a male and female) to Mr. Stainton ; but
he returned them as being unknown to him, I then sent them to
NEW MOTH. 193
Mr. C. G. Barrett ; but he also failed to recognise them, telling me,
however, that they came near to Episclmia prodromella. He
kindly offered to send one of my specimens to M. Ragonot, at
Paris, who returned it saying that in his opinion it was new to
science.
The following description is taken almost entirely from the
female ; the male had been out for some time and was worn, but
did not appear to differ in the colouring of the wings from the
female. The expansion of the wings in the female is 1" 1'"; in
the male it is slightly less. The breadth of the fore-wings is
almost exactly one-third of the length. The costa in the male is
regularly curved ; in the female it is much curved at the base and
less so near the tip, whilst the intermediate portion is nearly
straight. The tip is blunt and the hind-margin convex.
The colour of the fore-wings is light cinereous grey, clouded with
dark grey, especially on the basal half of the wing. There is an
inconspicuous narrow light greyish-ochreous patch extending about
one-third of the way along the inner margin. The veins are
streaked with dark grey. Several dark grey lines cross the wing
from the costa to the inner margin ; but they are all very in-
distinct, and only traceable with difficulty owing to the wings being
clouded with the same colour. The most distinct are two lines, one
of which starts from the costa near the middle and runs towards the
anal angle as far as the centre of the wing, where it turns nearly at
right angles towards the base, and when at a short distance from
the inner margin turns again at right angles before it reaches it.
This line is double at the costa, and the two branches gradually
approach each other and meet on the inner margin. The other line
is one which runs from the costa near the tip, parallel to the hind
margin, to a point near the anal angle, where it turns sharply out-
wards to the anal angle. There are slight traces of two other lines,
one between the two above mentioned and one near the base ; but
it is difficult to follow their course owing to the clouding of the
wing.
A patch of the pale ground colour, less clouded than the rest,
194 NEW MOTH.
extends obliquely from the tip to the inner margin. The fringes
are of the pale ground colour, intersected by a dark grey line.
The hind-wings are very pale brownish-grey with a darker shade
close to the margin, the fringes still paler, almost white.
The head, palpi, thorax, and antennae are of the colour of the
fore-wings, the thorax being the most clouded with dark grey ; the
body like the hind-wings.
The antennae are about two-thirds of the length of the fore-
wings, and simple in both sexes, though in the male they are a
little thicker, and slightly curved at the base ; the palpi are rather
long (about f '"), porrected, rather ascending, thickly clothed with
scales, except the last joint, which is narrower and more naked;
eyes very dark grey.*
This moth is very distinct from any other British species ; but
comes very near to Episclmia prodromella^ H. S., E, illotella, Z.,
E. asteriscella, Mill., and E. asteris, Stdg. From E. illotella it may
be at once separated by its larger size and much longer palpi, other-
wise it is not unlike it in general appearance. M. Ragonot would
place it between E. illotella and E. astenscella. With regard to
E, prodromella, M. Ragonot says : " The fore-wings in that species
are narrower" (the ratio of the breadth to the length is 15 to
50, whereas in the Portland species it is 15 to 46) ; "the costa is
more distinctly arched ; there is a distinct discal spot, and the
hind- wings are pure white." In addition to this I may mention
that the angles formed by the line which begins near the middle of
the costa are in prodromella very acute, being little more than 45,
whereas in the Portland species they are nearly right angles, and
the light and dark parts of the wing are reversed in position.
Prodromella has also a pearly gloss, whereas the Portland species is
dull.
* NOTE. In the accompanying plate of the head of the female the
engraver has not quite correctly followed the drawing, so that in fig. 1, b,
female, the terminal joint of the palpi should be blunter and the end of
the 2nd joint more as in the male, and in fig. 1, V, female, the head
between the eyes should be broader and the scales on the neck half their
present width.
NEW MOTH. 195
Mr. Barrett kindly lent me specimens of E, illotella and E.
prodromella for comparison. Of E. asteriscella I have not seen a
specimen ; but M. Ragonot says : " The principal difference I find
between asteriscella and your insect is that the inner margin of
asteriscella is ochreous, as in illotella ; the thorax is pale reddish-
ochreous-grey ; the wings are slightly tinted with ochreous or pale
brownish, whilst in your insect the fore-wings are more elongated,
of a uniform cinereous-grey, clouded with dark grey ; the veins
streaked with blackish as in asteriscella ; the thorax concolorous.
The second line does not appear to be indented on the discal fold as
in astenscella. Asteriscella measures 22 to 23 mill., whilst the
English specimen measures 26 mill."
Of E. asteris M. Ragonot says nothing, except that its food-
plant is Aster tripolium, which does not, so far as I know, occur in
the neighbourhood where my specimens were taken.
I have named the new species Bankesiella after my friend
Mr. Eustace R. Bankes, of Corfe Castle, in recognition of his Avork
amongst the Micro lepidoptera of Portland and Purbeck.
Since the above paper was written I have taken two more
specimens of E. Bankesiella, both females, in very good condition,
in the same locality as the first two, one on June 29th, the other
on July 22nd, 1889. I am not aware that any others have yet
been taken by any one.
This species seems to be very constant in its size, colour, and
markings, the only variations from the above description being that
the light greyish-ochreous patch at the base of the inner margin
has sometimes a brickdust tinge, and is in some specimens narrower
and more ill-defined than in others, and that there is occasionally a
tendency to a small whitish spot just beyond this patch and near
the inner margin.
Fig. 7 represents Nepticula centifoliella, a species which, in this
country, seems to be very local and generally scarce where it occurs.
I found the larva feeding in the leaves of sweet briar at Portland,
and have bred both broods of the imago. An excellent life history
of this species will be found in Stainton's "Nat. Hist, of the
196
NEW MOTH.
Tineina," vol. vii., p. 204. It has only been found in Portland so
far as this county is concerned, and there seems entirely to take
the place of the generally very common N. anowalella, which I
have not observed at Portland, from which it is almost indis-
tinguishable in the larva state, though the moths are quite different,
anomalella having the fore-wings quite plain without any bar.
. V. // . d- . 1 /' Cfci. ^- -V /'''"'/
6a
H.M.Richardao-n. del*r etpinx*
"Mintern "Bros . htK.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE.
1. *Epischnia Bankesiella, Richardson, nov. spec., from Portland.
la. , , > , , j . ; head of male, magnified ; side
and back views.
16. ,, ,, , ,, ; head of female, magnified ;
side and back views.
2. Chauliodus Insecurellus, Stn., from Purbeck, p. 211.
3. Acrolepia Marcidella, Curt., from Purbeck, p. 209.
4. Crambus Alpinellus, Hub. , from Purbeck, p. 202.
5. Coleophora Flavaginella, Lienig, from Portland.
See Proc. Dors. Nat. Hist, and Antiq. F. Club viiL, p. 59.
5. Case made by the larva of C. Flavaginella.
6. Butalis Siccella, Zell. , from near Weymouth.
See Proc. Dors. Nat. Hist, and Antiq. F. Club ix., p. 118.
6a. Butalis Variella, Steph., from Bloxworth, in collection of Rev. O.
P. Cambridge, for comparison with the
preceding species.
7. Nepticula Centifoliella, Zell. , from Portland.
See remarks at end of preceding Paper on E. Bankesiella, p. 195.
8. Scoparia Dubitalis, Hub. , var. Purbeckensis, Bankes, from Pur-
beck, p. 202.
9. ,, ,, , ,, ., var. Ingratella, Zell., from Portland,
p. 202. In collection of Rev. O. P.
Cambridge.
10. ,, ,, , ,, ., unnamed variety, from Portland, in
collection of Rev. O. P. Cambridge,
for comparison witli the above.
11. Cosniopteryx Schmidiella, Frey., var. Obsoleta, Bankes, from
Purbeck, p. 211.
Her. ,, ,, , ,, , wing of typical specimen for
comparison.
* For description of this moth see preceding Paper, p. 192.
Jfkst uppUment to the " ICepiboptem of tlte
isle of fJxtrbeck."
By E. R. BANKBS, M.A., F.B.S.
INGE the publication in 1885 .(" Proceedings,"
vol. vi.) of the list of Lepicloptera observed in the
Isle of Purbeck up till that time, considerable and
most satisfactory progress has been made with the
work, and the result of recent researches has even
exceeded all expectation. Not only have numer-
ous fresh localities for species already recorded been noted, but
many new and rare insects have been captured, of which a
considerable number had not previously been observed in Dorset ;
and special attention must be drawn in passing to such great prizes
as Anosia Plexippus, Plusia Ni, Crambos Alpinellm, Eupcecilia
PaUidana, Diplodoma Maryinepunctella, Acrolepia Marcidella,
Cosmopteryx SchmicUeUa, CJutuliodus Insecurellus, Pteropliorus
Palmlum, and P. Spilodactylus.
In the former paper we enumerated 879 species of Lcpidoptera
as occurring in Purbeck, and in the following supplement we arc
very pleased to be able to give the names of 156 additional species
(exclusive of all local varieties and substituted species), thus bring-
ing up the total number to 1,035. If it be remembered that, at
198 LBPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK.
the present time, only 2,102 different kinds of butterflies and
moths are known to exist in the British Isles, the peculiar richness
of the insect fauna of Purbeck will be the more readily appreciated ;
and we much doubt whether any similar district of such very
limited area can boast of such an extensive list.
It should here be stated that both in the former List, as well as
in the present Supplement, the Kev. C. R. Digby and myself are
entirely responsible for all the records given ; for, unless otherwise
stated, the various captures have, in almost every instance, been
made by ourselves. This statement was not made in the original
preface because we assumed that it would be taken for granted ;
but such has not always been the case (vide " Entomologist," xix.,
p. 95).
N.B. Species marked thus * have not previously been recorded
from the county of Dorset.
DIURNI.
NYMPHALID^E.
LIMENITIS, F.
Limenitis Sibylla, L., Studland ; rare.
DANAIDJE.
ANOSIA, L.
*Anosia Plexippus, L., one specimen of this splendid North
American butterfly was taken atSwanage
by Mr. J.KMowlem on Aug. 19th, 1886
("Entomologist" xix. p. 247); and
another was captured at "VVhitecliff
Farm, near Swanage, by a labourer in
the beginning of September, in the
same year (vide the " Field," Oct. 2nd,
1886).
LYC.ENID/E.
THECLA, F.
Thecla Quercus, L., Rempstone.
LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OP PURBECK. 199
NOCTURNI.
SPHINGID.E.
CHLEROCAMPA, D.
Chserocampa Porcellus, L., Rempstone.
Elpenor, L., Corfe.
PROCRID.E.
PROCRIS, F.
Procris Statices, L., Corfe ; very local. Swanage ; found plenti-
fully by the Rev. G. C. Green, vicar of
Modbury, Devon, and recorded by him in
his "Natural History and Sport " p. 49.
LITHOSID^E.
LITHOSIA, F.
Lithosia Deplana, E., Studland.
,, Complana, L., Studland.
EUCHELID^E.
DEIOPEIA, Sa.
Deiopeia Pulchella, L., a fine specimen of this great rarity was
taken in a meadow at Swanage by Mr.
H. Stafford Gustard on Sept. 1st, 1871,
and recorded in the " Entomologist," V.,
p. 413. Although this species has been
previously included in the Purbeck list,
the above interesting record of its
occurrence had not then been observed.
GEOMETRY.
GEOMETRID.E.
GEOMETRA, B.
Geomctra Papilionaria, L., Littlesea birches.
EPHYRID^E.
EPHYRA, D.
*Ephyra Trilinearia, Bk., Studland.
ACIDALID.E.
ACIDALIA,, T.
Acidalia Interjectaria, B., common.
200 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK.
LARENTIID^E.
EMMELESIA, Ss.
Emmelesia Unifasciata, H., Studland ; at light.
EUPITHECIA, C.
Eupithecia Absynthiata, L., Kinimeridge coast ; the larvae abun-
dant on ragwort.
Subciliata, G., Corfe ; the larva may be beaten from
flowers of maple.
Dodoneata, G., Corfe ; one taken on May 18th, 1889.
CIDARIA, Tr.
Cidaria Picata, H., Studland.
DREPANUL^E.
DREPANULID.E.
PLATYPTERYX, Ls.
Platypteryx Lacertula, H., Studland ; the larva on birch.
PSEUDO-BOMBYCES.
NOTODONTID^E.
. PTILODONTIS, Ss.
Ptilodontis Palpiua, L., Corfo, Studland.
N C T U JE.
BOMBYCOID.E.
ACRONYCTA, Tr.
Acronycta Tridens, S.V., Corfe.
LEUCANID^E.
NONAGRIA, 0.
Nonagria Lutosa, H., Swanage coast; a few taken amongst
Arundo PJiragmites.
APAMIDJfi.
XYLOPHASIA, Ss.
Xylophasia Kurea, F., Corfe.
MAMESTRA, 0.
Maniestra Albicolon, H., SAvanage ; taken by Mr. E. D. Nevin-
son in 1885.
LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OP PURBECK. 201
NOCTUID.E.
AGROTIS, 0.
Agrotis Cursoria, Hf., a few specimens of either this, or a
closely allied but undetermined species,
have been taken at Studland by the
Rev. C. R. Digby.
TRIPILENA, 0.
Triphsena Fimbria, L., Studland.
NOCTUA, L.
Noctua Triangulum, Hf., Corfe ; at sugar.
ORTHOSID.E.
T^ENIOCAMPA, G.
Tseniocampa Populeti, F., Corfe ; one specimen taken at sallow
bloom.
XANTHIA, 0.
Xanthia Citrago, L., Rempstone ; one found, just after emer-
gence, drying its wings under a lime-tree.
COSMID.E.
TETHEA, 0.
*Tethea Subtusa, S.V., Corfe, bred from a larva found on black
poplar.
HADENID.E.
HECATERA, G.
Hecatera Serena, S. V., Corfe, Swanage ; scarce.
XYLINID.E.
CUCULLIA, Sk.
Cucullia Umbratica, L., Corfe, at light ; Studland.
PL US ID ^E.
PLUSIA, Tr.
*Plusia Ni, H., a beautiful specimen of this exceedingly rare
species was captured on the wing near Swanage
by Mr. E. D. Nevinson on the evening of
. Aug. 10th, 1885. It has been duly identified
by the authorities at the South Kensington
Museum.
202 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK.
PYRALIDES.
PYRALID^E.
PYRALIS, L.
Pyralis Glaucinalis, L., Studland.
SCOPARIID.E.
SCOPARIA, ffw.
Scoparia Cembrse, Hw., Corfe, Swanage.
var. Zclleri, Wk., Swanagc coast ; occasionally
met with.
Dubitalis, H.,
var. Ingratella, Zell., Swanage and Kimmer-
idgc coasts ; not uncommon,
var. Purbeckensis, Bankes, a few specimens
of this magnificent variety (which exactly
corresponds with the whitest form of
S. Mercurella var. Portlandica) have
been taken by myself on the Swanage
coast.
Scoparia Mercurella, L.,
var. Concinnella, Curt., Corfe.
CRAM BITES.
CRAMBIDjE.
CRAMBUS, F.
*Crambus Alpinellus, H., Studland ; one taken at light by the
Rev. C. R. Digby on Aug. 10th, 1888.
Selasellus, H., Studland, Corfe ; not uncommon in
bogs on the heath.
PHYCID.E.
PHYCIS, F.
*Phycis Adornatella, D., common amongst wild thyme on the
downs. This species is erroneously
recorded as P. Sulomatella in both the
" Lepidoptera of Purbeck" and the
"Lepidoptera of Dorset." The true
Sulomatella, Zell. (teste Mr. C. G.
LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE Of PURBECK. 203
Barrett), with whicli the above species
is continually being confounded, does
not, we believe, occur in this county.
Phycis Roborella, S.V., Rempstone ; bred from larva on oak.
ONCOCERA, Ss.
Oncocera Ahenclla, S.V., Swanage coast and downs.
TORTRICES.
TORTRICID.E.
PERONEA, C.
Peronea Ferrugana, S.V., Corfe.
PENTHINID.E.
PENTHINA, Tr.
Penthina Fuligana, Hb. ( = Ustulana, Haw.), Corfe ; two speci-
mens taken on June 29th, 1887. The
larva, which, until recently, was quite
Unknown, has lately been found by
Mr. G. TV. Bird feeding in the root-
stocks and leaves of bugle (Ajuga
reptans) in the spring.
SERICORID^E.
SERICORIS, Tr.
Sericoris Conchana, H., Studland, on the downs. Corfe.
SCIAPHILIDvE.
ERIOPSELA, G.
Eriopsela Fractifasciana, Hw., Swanage ; locally common on the
downs.
SCIAPHILA, Tr.
Sciaphila Perterana, G., Swanage coast ; not uncommon.
Hybridana, H., Studland.
GRAPHOLITHID^.
BACTRA, Ss.
Bactra Lanceolana, H., a fine large maritime form of this common
insect has been met with along the edges
of Poole Harbour among Scirptis mart'
timtis, in the stems of which the larva
204 LEPtDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECtf.
feeds. The male expands 8J 9 lines,
while the female measures 11 12 lines.
It is thought by some to be probably a
distinct species ; but no tangible distinc-
tion has been detected between the
imagines or the larvae, and the difference
in the food-plants would readily account
for the difference in the size of the moths.
It is noticeable, however, that in the
ordinary form the males are, perhaps, a
trifle larger than the females, whereas in
this handsome sea form the females are
by far the larger of the two.
GRAPHOLITHA, Tr.
Grapholitha Cinerana, Haw., Corfe ; scarce.
PHLCEODES, G.
Phlosodes Immundana, F.K., Corfe ; the first brood has been
bred sparingly from alder catkins.
SEMASIA, G.
Semasia lanthinana, D., Studland.
Wceberana, S.V., Corfe, Holme, Studland ; the larva is
not uncommon under the bark of
fruit trees.
COCCYX, Tr.
Coccyx Nanana, Tr., Corfe, Studland ; scarce.
RETINIA, G.
*Retinia Buoliana, S.V., Studland, Rempstonc ; the larva is
locally common in the shoots of young
Scotch firs, doing considerable damage
to them. N.B. This species is
erroneously recorded in our former
list as R. Pinicolana, with which it is
constantly confused, and which has
not yet been met with in Purbeck.
Pinivorana, Z., Studland, Kempstoiie.
LEPIDOPTERA OP THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 205
STIGMONOTA, G.
Stigmonota Regiana, Z., Corfe; the larvae and pupse found
under peeling bark of sycamore in the
spring.
* Roseticolana, Z., Corfe ; larvae in hips of wild rose.
DICRORAMPHA, G.
*Dicrorampha Saturnana, G., Kimmeridge coast.
* Senectana, G., Kimmeridge' coast ; one specimen,
which has been identified by Mr.
W. Warren as this rare species, was
taken by the author on June 16th,
1884.
Tanaceti, Wlk., Kimmeridge coast.
Consortana, Ss., Corfe ; bred from larvse in shoots
of ox-eye daisy.
CATOPTRIA, G.
*Catoptria Parvulana, Wlk., Swanage coast ; rare.
,, Cana, Hw., common on the downs and along the coast.
Tripoliana, Ba., Poole Harbour; the larvse in seed-
heads of Aster tripolium.
Expallidana, Hw., Kimmeridge coast, rare ; two speci-
mens taken on July 22nd, 1884.
* Citrana, H., Studland ; one taken in a bog on the
heath !
CONCHYLID^:.
LOBESIA, G.
*Lobesia Reliquana, H., Rempstone, Swanage coast ; scarce.
EUPCECILIA, Ss.
*Eupoecilia Nana, Hw., Studland, Rempstone ; common amongst
birch.
Hybridellana, H., Studland, Swanage coast ; rare.
Affinitana, Dg., Poole Harbour; not uncommon in
the saltmarshes.
Vectisana, Wsd., Poole Harbour; plentiful in the
saltmarshes.
206 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK.
*Eupcecilia Implicitana, H.S., Studland ; at light.
* Pallidana, Z., Studland ; very local. The larva was
first discovered by the Rev. C. R. Digby
in August, 1886, feeding in the seed-
heads of Jaaione montana.
ARGYROLEPIA, Ss.
Argyrolepia Baumanniana, S.V., Corfe ; not uncommon in one
very small rough field.
CONCHYLIS, Tr.
Conchylis Dilucidana, Ss., Swanage coast ; among wild parsnip.
T I N E JE.
PSYCHID^E.
PSYCHE, Br.
*Psyche Pullejla, Br., TVych ; the males have been met with
flying among rushes and grass in the hot
sunshine.
SOLENOBIA, Z.
Solenobia Triquetrella, H., cases, which, in all probability,
belong to this species, are common
on rocks and stones on the Swanage
coast; but, although numbers of
them have been collected, so far
nothing but the wingless females
have been bred.
TINEID.E,
DIPLODOMA, Z.
*Diplodoma Marginepunctella, Ss., Studland ; one example of
this scarce insect was taken
by myself on July 13th, 1888.
PHYGAS, Tr.
Phygas Birdella, C., Swanage coast, Corfe ; always occurs singly.
SCARDIA, Tr.
Scardia Carpinetella, G., Rempstone; scarce,
LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 207
TINEA, Sto.
Tinea Misella, Z., Corfe.
* Merdella, Z., Corfe.
LAMPRONIA, Z.
Lampronia Quaclripuuctella, F., Corfe, Studland, Swanage coast ;
not uncommon among wild and
cultivated roses.
INCURVARIA, Hw.
Incurvaria CEhlmanniella, H., Corfe.
NEMOPHORA, H,
Nemophora Metaxella, H., Corfe ; not uncommon in damp places
in woods.
ADELA, Lt.
Adela Fibulella, S.V., Swanage.
Sulzella, S.V., Ballard down.
YPONOMEUTHXE.
SWAMMERDAMIA, Stn.
Swammerdamia Spiniella, Hb., Corfe.
YPONOMEUTA, Lt.
Yponomeuta Cognatella, H., Corfe ; the larvae, which live gre-
gariously in loose silken webs, are
common on spindle.
PLUTELLID.E.
PTEROXIA, G.
Pteroxia Caudella, L., Corfe ; taken at sallow bloom after hyber-
nation.
GELECHID.E.
ENICOSTOMA, St.
Enicostoma Lobelia, S.V., Studland ; beaten out of sloe bushes.
* DEPRESSARIA, Hw.
Depressaria Atomella, S.V., Church Knowle, Swanage; bred
freely from larvae in shoots of
Genista tindoria.
Alstrsemeriella, L., Corfe; rare.
Vaccinella, H., Corfe ; rare,
208 IJ5PIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK.
Depressaria Capreolella, Z., Corfe, Swanage coast ; scarce.
Contcrminella, Z., Studland.
Ciliella, Stn., Corfe, Kimmeridge coast ; occasionally
met with.
Pulcherrimella, Stn., Corfe, Studland, Swanage ;
larva common on Buniwn
flexuosum.
Weirella, Stn., Corfe.
Ultimella, Stn., Swanage coast; scarce.
Discipunctella, H.S., Corfe ; scarce.
GELECHIA, Stn.
Gelechia Lentiginosella, Z., Church Knowle, Swanage coast ; the
larvse in shoots of Genista tinctoria.
* Velocella, Fisch., Studland ; one taken by the Rev. C.
R. Digby in July, 1889.
Artemisiella, Tr., Swanage coast ; occasionally taken on
the downs.
Affinella, Hw., Studland.
Lyellella, C., Corfe ; rare.
Distinctella, Z., Studland ; a few have been taken on
the heath.
Leucomelanella, Z., Swanage coast ; a few have been
bred from larvae in spun shoots of
Silene mantima.
* Instabilella, Dg. (Ocellatella, Stn.), Poole Harbour ; the
larva on Atriplex portulacoides.
Ocellatella, Dg. (non Stn.), Swanage coast; the larvae
in leaves and shoots of Beta rnaritima.
Albicapitella, Z., Studland ; only a few specimens have
occurred. N.B. In the previous list
of Purbeck Lepidoptera this species
was erroneously recorded as G.
Nanella, which has not as yet been
found in the county of Dorset.
LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 209
Gelechia Ligulella, Z., Stuclland ; bred from larvae on Lotus
major. Corfe.
,, Gemmella, L., Rempstone, Studlaud ; not common.
* Brizella, Ti., Wych, abundant amongst Statice armeria.
CHELARIA, Hw.
Chelaria Conscriptella, H., Corfe ; scarce.
MACROCHILA, Ss.
*Macrochila Marginella, F., Rempstone heath ; abundant on the
only few wild junipers that grow in
Purbeck.
BUTALIS, 2V.
*Butalis Fuscocuprella, Hw., Swanage coast ; not uncommon.
PANCALIA, Stn.
Pancalia Lewenhoekella, L., Ballard down.
GLYPHIPTERYGID.*:.
ACROLEPIA, C.
*Acrolepia Marcidella, C., Studland; a single hybernated indi-
vidual of this extremely rare species
was beaten out of an old hedge and
captured by the Kev. C. R. Digby on
June 24th, 1886. Of this insect,
which is altogether unknown on the
Continent, only 5 or 6 specimens had
been taken previously, and it has
never been met with except after
hybernation. The moth was identi-
fied by Mr. H. T. Stainton.
GLYPHIPTERYX, St.
*Glyphipteryx Cladiella, Stn., Studland, Corfe; occurring in
bogs on the heath. This is
probably only a variety of G.
Thrasonella.
* Schoenicolella, Stn., Corfe, Studland ; locally
common amongst Sch-oenus
nif/ncans.
210 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK.
TINAGMA, D.
Tinagma Sericiella, Hw., Corfe.
ARGYRESTHIID^E.
ARGYRESTHIA, Stn.
Argyresthia Semifuscella, Hw., Corfe, Studland.
Dilectella, Z., Rempstone heath ; amongst wild
juniper.
GRACILLARIID.E.
ORNIX, Z.
*Ornix Scoticella, Stn., Corfe ; not uncommon in orchards, the
larvae feeding in turned-down apple
leaves in the autumn.
COLEOPHORID^E.
COLEOPHORA, Z.
Coleophora Alcyonipennella, Kol., Corfe. Studland, at light.
,, Vibicella, H., Studland ; one worn example at light.
This specimen is referred to in a foot-
note in the previous list.
* Albidella, H.S., Studland ; the larva on sallow.
Hitherto confounded in Britain
with C. Anatipennella,
* Genistaecolella, Dbl., Rempstone heath ; larvae
locally plentiful on Genista
anglica.
Lineolella, Hw., Corfe; one bred from a larva on
Betonica officinalis.
* Adjunctella, Hodgn., Poolc Harbour; plentiful in the
saltmarshes amongst Juncus
Gerardi, in the seedheads of
which the larva; feed.
* Wilkinsonella, Sc., Corfe; one specimen bred from
birch.
ELACHISTID^.
BEDELLIA, Stn.
Bedellia Somulentella, Z., Studland, Swanage.
LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 211
COSMOPTERYX, Stn.
*Cosmopteryx Schmidiella, Frey., Corfe, very local ; the larvse
iu leaves of Vicia sepium. A
few examples of a peculiar
variety have been bred, in
which the central orange fascia
on the fore-wings is entirely
wanting. The only other
British locality known at
present for this species is near
Woi thing, in Sussex, where it
was found in the larval state
in 1886 by Mr. W. H. B.
Fletcher, who added it to the
British list.
CHAULIODUS, Tr.
Chauliodus Insecurella, Stn., Swanage coast, very local ; the
larva feeds on Thesium humi-
fusum. This species is double-
brooded ; but is terribly liable to
the attacks of ichneumon flies.
Illigerella, H., Studland ; taken by Mr. C. W. Dale.
LAVERNA, C.
Laverna Paludicolella, Dbl., Swanage coast ; not uncommon in
the larval state on Epilolnum
pcdustre.
* Rhamniella, Z., Rempstone ; the larva in shoots of buck-
thorn.
ANTISPILA, H.S.
Antispila Pfeifferella, F., Swanage coast.
EL AC HIST A, Stn.
Elachistu Albifrontella, II., Studland, Swanage.
Xigrella, H. (= Gregsonella, Stn.), Corfe, Studland;
not uncommon.
2l2 LBPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OP PUKBEClt.
Elachista Pcrplcxella, Stn. ( = Humiliella, Z.), Corfe ; bred
sparingly from larvtc in Aim
ccvspitosa.
Zonariella, Tengs., Corfe ; the larva mines the leaves of
Air a caqritosa.
* Scirpi, Stn., \Vych ; not uncommon in the saltmarshes
among beds of Juncus Gerardi, in which
the larva must almost certainly feed in
some localities, though it has not yet been
bred from that plant. It is, however,
known to feed in other places in Sciqius
maritiimis.
TISCHERIA, Z.
Tischeria Complanella, H., Corfe.
LITHOCOLLETID.E.
LITHOCOLLETIS, Z.
Lithocolletis Viminctella, Stn., Corfe ; bred from sallow.
Messaniella, Z., Corfe, Studland. N.B. In the
original Purbeck list (vol. vi.) the
words " on Ilex" which, by a
misprint, appear as " on Hex"
refer in reality to this species
(which was omitted by a printer's
error), instead of to L. Querci-
foliella, as there appears,
Alnifoliella, H., Corfe ; common among alders.
LYONETIID.E.
LYONETIA, H.
Lyonetia Clerckella, L.,
var. ^Ereclla, Tr., Norden.
BUCCULATRIX, Z.
Bucculatrix Aurimaculella, Stn., Corfe ; common amongst Cliry-
santhemum leucanthetmim.
LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 213
NEPTICULID.E.
NEPTICU^A, Z.
Kcpticula Atricapitella, Hw., Corfe ; bred from oak.
Oxyacanthclla, Db., Corfe ; bred from hawthorn.
* - Viscerella, Dg., Corfe ; the larva in elm leaves.
* Intimella, Z., Studland; a few have been swept off
sallows.
* Trimaculella, Hw., Corfe ; bred from poplar.
* Betnlicolella, Stn., Corfe ; bred from birch.
* Gratiosella, Stn., Corfe ; bred from hawthorn.
* Alnetella, Stn., Corfe ; bred sparingly from alder.
* Continuella, Stn., Corfe ; larva not uncommon in
birch leaves.
* Luteella, Stn., Corfe ; bred from birch.
[Dele " Xep. Ulniivorella, Frr., Studland," from Purbeck list.]
PTEROPHORI.
PTEROPHORID.E.
AGDISTES, H.
*Agdistes Bennetii, C., Wych ; one specimen taken amongst
Statice limonium.
PTEROPHORUS, Lt.
*Pterophorus Bertram i, Roessler, Corfe ; scarce.
Paludum, Z., Corfe, Studland ; scarce. It occurs
very sparingly in bogs on the heaths,
but all endeavours to discover the
larva, which is quite unknown, have
so far been unsuccessful.
* Spilodactylus, C., Swanagc coast ; very local ; the
larvae on Marrubium vulgare.
t on the fUtiirn* of
bscrbations on the Jflototving of plants nnb
of $irbs Mtb Insects
IN DORSET DURING 1888.
By M. G. STUART, Hon. Sec.
T the close of the year 1887 it was resolved that
an attempt should be made to collect annual
records from various localities in Dorsetshire on
the flowering of plants and first appearance of
certain birds and insects selected for observation.
For this purpose printed schedules were circidated
as an experiment amongst various persons interested in the subject.
At the end of the year twelve reports were sent in, of which many
were very fragmentary. The printed list contained 79 plants for
observation; of these 12 have been selected, and the observed
dates of flowering are printed opposite to them.
A large number of returns of rainfall for various localities in
Dorset have been furnished by members of the Field Club and
other friends of the Society. A printed table of these is given,
with a ten years' average for the locality in addition, where this
RETURNS OF RAINFALL, ETC., IN DORSET. * 215
has been sent in. Additional returns of rainfall have been made
for
Moreton Total for 1 888 ... 4(H 7
Bere Regis ... 33-88
WykeKegis ... 29'78
I regret there should be no return for Minterne, which is one of
the rainiest spots in the county. The late Rector, the Rev. H. Pix,
gives me the average of the last ten years as 44 '89 inches. It will
be seen that, although 1888 will be remembered as a very cold and
wet summer, the annual average rainfall was only reached at one
locality "NVhatcombe out of the six for which the average is
given. A striking point is the .quantity of rain recorded for
November. The highest rainfall in one day at "VYeymouth
occurred on November 12th, when l'66in. was registered.
Mr. H. Moule, at Dorchester, remarked that in the wintry spring
of 1888, whilst land plants seemed at an absolute standstill, there
appeared to be no delay in the growth of water plants. In streams
with ice upon them the Ranunculus penicillatus produced its long
shoots as freely, or nearly so, as in an ordinary spring.* Mr.
Eustace Bankes, writing from Corfe Castle, says the cold spring
and summer were succeeded " by probably the mildest autumn
and winter on record ; there was a most remarkable absence of
frost, and, as a natural consequence, a large amount of rain fell.
During the whole of November I think the thermometer only once
reached the freezing point. The results of this on all Vegetation
was most marked, and both garden and wild plants continued to
bloom in profusion. As an illustration of this it may be mentioned
that three observers gathered or noticed in the Isle of Purbeck
over 100 kinds of wild flowers (exclusive of all grasses, &c.) during
the month of December without any systematic search being made
for them ! "
The fullest series of observations have been made by Mr. H. N.
*Water plants are less susceptible to abnormal seasons than land plants,
as the temperature of water is never below 40, even when the surface is
covered over by a layer of ice,
216
RETURNS OF RAINFALL, ETC., IN DORSET.
Richardson, residing at Chickerell, near Wcymouth, Mr. Eustace
Bankes, Corfe Castle, and Dr. Curme, at Child Okeford, who has
compiled a most extensive number of notes on the flowering of
plants and appearances of lards in his immediate neighbourhood.
Other observers who have made returns are Mr. Mansel Pleydell,
at AVhatcombe, Mr. Galpin, at KeynstonCj near Blandford, Mr.
Moule, at Dorchester, and Mr. Penney, at Poole.
The returns for the first year can only be looked on as an
experiment, the success of which will depend entirely on the per-
manence with which the observations are carried on from year to
year and on the number who will be willing to take up the work
of recording observations.
M. G. STUART,
Hon. Sec.
OBSERVATION ON THE APPEARANCE OF BIRDS IN DORSET
DURING 1888.
o
o
Corfe
1
Child
i
Castle.
3
Okeford.
Poole.
g
s
M
<o
ti
Cuckoo
Apl. 23
Apl. 23
Apl. 22
Apl. 15
Apl/ 24
Apl. 10
Swallow
Apl. 18
Apl. 13
Apl. 14
Apl. 15
Apl. 14
Apl. 22
House Martin
Apl. 19
Apl. 25
Apl. 15
Swift
May 13
May 1
May 8
May 4
Apl. 29
Goatsucker..
May 9
May 7
May 1 1
May 17
Landrail
May 4
Apl. 27
May 8
May 6
Nightingale..
Apl. 30
Apl. 25
Apl. 27
May 3
May 1
Wheatear ...
Apl. 20
Apl. 26
Apl. 2
Mar. 28
Apl. 1
RETURNS OF RAINFALL, ETC., IN DORSET. 21 7
OBSERVATIONS ON THE FLOWERING OF PLANTS, 1888.
Child Okeford.
Corfe Castle.
Weymouth.
Ranunculus ficaria
(Lesser Celandine)
Mar. 13
Feb. 26
Mar. 12
Caltha palustris
(Marsh Marigold)
Apl. 14
Apl. 25
Apl. 20
Malva silvestris
(Common Mallow)
May 3
June 22
June 10
Geranium Robertianum
(Herb Robert)
May 20
May 15
Primus spinosa
(Black Thorn)
May 1
Apl. 27
Apl. 14
Tussilago farfara
(Coldsfoot)
Mar. 25
Mar. 15
Mar. 27
Primula Veris
(Cowslip)
Apl. 12 Apl. 16
Apl. 19
Salix caprea
(Common Sallow)
Mar. 16
Mar. 13
Narcissus pseudo Narcissus
(Daffodil)
Mar. 29
Mar. 27
Scilla nutans
(Wild Hyacinth)
May 5
Apl. 30
May 13
Crateegus Oxycantha
(Hawthorn)
May 24
May 26
May 21
Rosa Canina
(Hedge Rose)
June 13
June 23
June 26 '
OBSERVATIONS ON THE APPEARANCE OF INSECTS, 1888.
Weymouth.
Corfe Castle.
Whatcombe.
Cockchafer
May 21
June 4
Bloody Nosed Beetle
Apl. 19
Apl. 12
May 5
Glowworm
June 29
Wasp ...
May 7
May 8
May 19
White or Cabbage Butterfly...
Small Garden White Butterfly
May 17
May IS
May 9
May 7
May 4
Apl. 23
Orange tip Butterfly ...
Meadow Brown Butterfly ...
May 21
July 5
June I
July 6
May 4
218 RETURNS OF RAINFALL, ETC., IN DORSET.
RAINFALL RETURNS FOH DORSET DURING 1888.
2
J
i
o
1
j
"fi ;?
o
o a
i
*> a
3|
*H
"
j
-Q
T3
-* r*
|
2
s
a
-S
'f
S
B
PH
S
OO
'"3
^
i
t5 E 1
s
a
03
'
I*
\A
o
XI
3
January . .
1-65
1-27
1-68
2- 1
1-35
1-20
1-55
1-78
1-31
1-20
1-60
February .
0"'.'~
"75
0-73
0-09
tiO
1-01
75
85
1-71
1-93
0-07
March . .
3'4(>
3-49
4- 7
4-9
3-0-2
3-47
5-07
3-86
3-73
3'57
3-71
April . .
1-29
1-09
1-22
2-04
1-10
1-04
2-39
1-88
1-91
2-50
1-43
May
1-93
1-91
1-72
2-15
1 -t3
2-01
2-43
2-09
1-34
1-17
2-25
June
2-37
2-79
2-41
3-2t>
3-35
2-61
3"23
2-89
2-58
2-85
3-17
July
3-08
3-00
2-72
3-95
2-97
3-14
5-96
2-97
6-00
6-05
4-44
August . .
2-09
1-91
1-79
3-52
1-89
2-56
2'2ti
1-94
1-79
1-72
2-17
September
1-83
1-48
1-89
2-21
1-09
1-50
1-49
1-38
1-16
1-56
1*66
October . .
2-35
2-46
2-49
2-79
2-08
2-20
2-65
2-14
1-80
1-91
2-47
November
5-87
5 "98
5-47
5-17
7-21
6 "63
9-38
li "93
(i"7l!
6-87
7-74
December
203
2-31
1-67
2-93
2-08
2-42
3-70
3-
3-42
2-49
3D3
Total
28-87
28-44
27-72
38-41
28-97
29-79
40-86
31-71
33-53
33-82
34-3(5
Average
during the
last ten
years
30-10
41-004
38-42
32-917
33-81
35-029
X
DA
670
D69D6
v.10
Dorset Natural History and
Archaeological Society
Proceedings
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
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