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BALISTS’ FIELD CLUB.
CEROLEPIS. (Harley. )
APAGE 240.)
, fn Part, by J. E. Lee, Esq., and Dr. Bull.
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TRANSACTIONS
WOOLHOPE
NATURALISTS’ FIELD CLUB.
(ESTABLISHED MDCCCLLI.)
Cy 1868
“ Hore on—Hopr EVER,”
HEREFORD :
PRINTED AT THE “‘ TIMES” els MAYLORD STREET,
MDCCCLXI
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
° —DiGe—-
THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE YEAR 1868.
OFFICERS, MEMBERS, AND RULES.
THE HAMPTON COURT MEETING ......sseceeeereseeeeecoseeerrseenensssneneneees pages
The Silurian Fossils at Wicton, by Dr. Bull, 3.—The Cornstones of
Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, by Dr. M‘Cullough, 8.—The
Mole Cricket, 16.—The Japan Silkworm, 18.—The Camp of
Risbury, by Flavell Edmunds, Esq., 19,—The Species of Hyles-
inus, by Dr. Chapman, 26.
THE CRUMLIN VIADUCT AND PONTYPOOL MEETING «seseeeeeterssersees pages
The South Wales Coal Field, by G. P. Bevan, Esq., F.G.S., 35.—
Mr. Adams’ Fossils, 46.—Microscopic Lamp, 47.—The Flight of
Birds, by Jas. Rankin, Esq., M.A., 48.—Mason Wasps and their
Parasitic Bees, by Elmes Y. Steele, Esq., 60.
THE PENWYLLT AND ScWD HEN RHYD MEETING «--...----+eeeeeeeereees pages
The Geology of the District, by the Rev. W. S. Symonds, F.G.5.,
&c., 68.—The Elm Tree in Herefordshire, by Dr. Bull, 80.
THe LupLow MEETING FOR TITTERSTONE CLEE FILL, 80. ..0..0 0000s pages
Geological Address on the Titterstone Clee Hill, by the Rev. J. D.
Latouche, F.G.S., 102.—The Reproduction and Development of
Animals, by the Rev. W. Houghtcn, M.A, F.L.S., 113.—The
Lucerne Dodder, 122.—Our Native Food-producing Plants, by
Thos, Blashill, Esq., V.P., 123.—The Air Bladder of Fishes, by
John Lloyd, Esq., 133.-—Palzeontological Notes from Woolhope,
by the Rev. P. B. Brodie, F.G.8., 144.—Notes on the Onny
River Section, by J. W. Salter, Esq., F.G.S., 148.
THE HEREFORD MEETING FOR WOOLHOPE «sess sssteseeesrerers
British Snakes, by the Rev. Thos. Phillipps, M.A., 158.—A Botanical
Stroll, by Mr. B. M. Watkins, 164.—Herefordskire Roman
Roads, by James Davis, Esq., 168.—Jasminum revolutum varie-
gatum, 173.—Geology of the Usk District, by J. W. Salter, Esq.,
¥.G.S., 174.—Pterygotus taurinus, 178.—Xylophagous Beetles,
by Dr. Chapman, 180.
pages i,-viii.
1-31
32-64
65-97
98-152
seses esses pages 153-183
THE FORAY AMONG THE FUNGUSES, FROM HEREFORD seecececeecseeeees Pages 184-225
Edible Funguses. at the Royal Horticultural Society, by Dr. Bull,
193.—Illustrations of Edible Funguses of Herefordshire, by Dr.
Bull, 196.—Why we should not eat Funguses, by the Rev. J. D.
Latouche, 204.—Spores of Fungi, by Worthington G. Smith,
Esq., F.L.S., 210.—Fairy Rings and their Fungi, by Edwin Lees,
Esq., F.L.S., 211.
[The Annual Meeting
TABLE OF CONTENTS, CONTINUED.
WHE CANN UAT: MRR TING Stee pert otc. ones ced entae tty shee sods boc nans cn .. pages 226-276
Meteorology for 1868 and Tables, by E. J. Isbell, Esq., 228.—Fossils,
illustrated, 239.—New and rare Fungi, by Worthington G. Smith,
Esq., illustrated, 245,—Early Wild Flowers of 1869, by Messrs.
Southall and Watkins, 247.—Alluvial Deposits of Rivers, by the
Rev. J. D. Latouche, F.G.S., 249.—The Remarkable Trees of
Whitfield, 255.—Serjeant Hoskyns, 257 and 272.—Herefordshire
Forges, 270,
FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE CLUB FOR 1868.
List OF OFFICERS AND THE FIELD-DAYS APPOINTED FOR 1869.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Caphaladpin ASterolepis!ieicic.c. os cccescrcc csencecescrvesea.careecniae act irmee FRONTISPIECE,
Wharton. : siren as, Seneca ean Cena acet ratte tccce tyre To FACE PAGE uk
Hylesinus and its Wood Sculpturings, with description...... BETWEEN PAGES 26-27
Odynerus Spinipes, with description ..............ecceseeeceeeee - 7 60-61
MhewKarlpracre meen ar sssehecesten et ctacesetccastestsaeacetesutecteces ets To FACE PAGE 80
Grotesque Wych Elms ................ KR Ree eee pertecta: na Ag 82
The Holm Lacey Elm... Rico heatoncceahartes ine caoccnscacvetae inn 5 86
Phe Wreval ell *22s5s2. cate ateteeece sate Bead ttesdecteve este aeauetietes 45 90
Sketch in colours of Cuscuta Hassiaca ........ecceceecceeeeene teens yr 122
Forms of Swimming Bladders\.......cccsecsscvccnossscevcnssescaceecsce 5 140
Sketch in colours of Agaricus Gambosus ..... Miecusvanstedsaacnaet A 197
Ditto Coprinus Comatus.......ccccecccereeees cadaaeee = 200
Ditto Agaricus Rubescens ...ss0...seeeeee aaeezeuehe 3 Hh 202
Spores of Fungi ...........0008 Ran tvcueeeacekes se Mewvesccanes Spaaaassteniee "5 210
Forms of Fairy Rings......... evadsapeacsice waeeiteave SNS FO 1c? CERES - oH 224
Fossil Sketches—No. 4 Stylonurus Symondsii....... Seavcudedecte ” 239
Ditto No. 5 Homalonotus Johannis .........+ joni “5 241
Ditto No. 6H. Delphinocephalus& H. Bens 9 242
Sketch in colours of Lactarius Controversus .......s..sseeeeseeee "9 245
Ditto Agaricus (Entoloma) J a, out a
grophorus Calyptreformis ....... Recap eeeten atone see ” 246
The Cedar of Lebanon, Whitfield ......s0csssccseceseessnrseeeetens op 255
The Maidenhair Tree n Renee e eS uecece soctacrersunmeanes a8 264
The Silver Fir * Reese hcciasho rics ackiohiteeePREee ” 267
“OFFICERS FOR THE YEAR
1868.
President:
DR. M’CULLOUGH, Abergavenny.
Vice-Presidents:
Caanpos Wren Hosxyns, Esq., M.P., Harewood, Ross.
Rev. H. Coorzr Kry, M.A., Stretton Rectory, Hereford.
James Rankin, Esq-, M.A., Bryngwyn, Hereford.
T. Buasnit, Esq., 10, Old Jewry Chambers, London.
Central Committee:
Dr. Butt, Hereford.
Trmorsy Curtey, Esq., C.E., F.G.S., Hereford.
Joun Lioyp, Esq., Huntington Court, Hereford.
Honorary Secretary:
Rey. Gzorce H. Cornewatt, Moccas Rectory, Hereford,
Treasurer and Assistant-Secretary:
Mr, A, Txomson, King Street, Hereford.
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LIST OF HONORARY MEMBERS.
Sir W. Jardine, Bart., F.R.S., &c., &c., Jardine Hall, Dumfriesshire.
Sir Charles Lyell, Bart., M.A., F.R.S., &c., London.
_ Sir Roderick J. Murchison, Bart., F.R.S., &c., 16, Belgrave Square, London.
George Bentham, Esq., President of the Linnean Society, &c., London.
Rey. P. B. Brodie, M.A., F.G.S., Rowington Vicarage, Warwick.
J. E. Davies, Esq., F.G.S., London.
Flavell Edmunds, Esq., Hereford.
W. Henry Fitton, Esq., M.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., &c.
Dr. H. B. Geinitz, Professor of Geology, &c., Dresden.
Edwin Lees, Esq., F.L.S., F.G.S., &c., &c., Worcester.
Professor John Lindley, Ph. D., F.R.S., &c., London.
R. M. Lingwood, Esq., F.G.S., &c., Cowley House, Exeter.
Professor W. Melville, Queen’s College, Galway, Ireland.
Professor John Phillips, F.R.S., F.G.8., St. Mary’s Lodge, York.
Rev. W. H. Purchas, Falkner Street, Gloucester.
J. W. Salter, Esq., F.G.S., &c., London.
Rev. Professor A. Sedgwick, B.D., F.R.S., &c., University, Cambridge.
Sir W. V. Guise, Bart., F.G.S., &c., Elmore Court, Gloucester, President of the
Cotteswold Naturalists’ Field Club.
W. H. Paine, Esq., Stroud, Honorary Secretary of the Cotteswold Naturalists’
; Field Club.
Rey. W. 8S. Symonds, F.G.S., Pendock Rectory, Tewkesbury, President of the
Malvern Naturalists’ Field Club.
Rey. R. P. Hill, Brocmesberrow Rectory, Ledbury, Hon. Secretary.
The President of the Warwickshire Naturalists’ Field Club.
The President and Hon. Secretary of the Oswestry and Welshpool Naturalists’
Field Club.
The President, Curator, and Hon. Secretary of the Dudley and Midland
Geological and Scientific Society and Field Club.
The President and Hon. Secretary of the Severn Valley Field Club.
The President and Hon. Secretary of the Caradoc Field Club, Shropshire.
The President and Hon. Secretary of the Worcestershire Naturalist Club.
OBR DAN AR Y
MEMBERS,
1868.
Adams, W., Esq.
Allen, B. Haigh, Esq.
Arkwright, J. H., Esq.
Armitage, Arthur, Esq.
Banks, R. W., Esq.
Banks, Wm., Esq.
Bayliss, Mr. Philip, (dec.)
Beavan, Rev. T. M.
Blashill, Thomas, Esq.
Bodenham, C. De la Barre, Esq.
Bonnor, W. J., Esq.
Broughton, F., Esq.
Bull, H..G., Esq., M.D.
Cam, Thomas, Esq.
Capel, Rev. Bury.
Capper, Rev. D. P.
Capper, R. H., Esq.
Clark, Rev. Samuel
Clive, G., Esq., M.P.
Cocking, G., Esq.
Collins, J. S., Esq.
Colvin, Colonel, C.B.
Cornewall, Rev. Sir G. H., Bart.
Crouch, Rev. J. F., B.D.
Curley, T., Esq., C.E., F.G.S.
Davies, Isaac, Esq., C.E.
Davies, James, Esq.
Davies, Rev. James, M.A,
Dixon, Rev. R., M.A.
Downing, Mr. J. B.
Du Buisson, Rev. E., M.A.
Dumbleton, H., Esq.
Eld, Rev. F. J., M.A.
Evans, E. M., Esq.
Feilden, Lieutenant-Colonel.
Fowle, Rev. W. C., M.A.
Fowler, J. T. Owen, Esq.
Garrold, T. W., Esq.
Gray, Rev. Arthur, M.A.
Greenhow, R. Esq.
Hanbury, Rev. J. Capel, M.A.
Harrison, D. R., Esq.
Hereford, Viscount.
Hereford, Richard, Esq.
Hereford, Captain.
Hereford, Rev. R., M.A.
Hernaman, Rev. J. W. D., M.A.
Hill, Rev. H. T, M.A.
Hoskyns, Chandos Wren, Esq., M.P.
Husbands, E. T., Esq.
Isbell, E. J., Esq.
Jenkins, H, J., Esq.
Jones, Machen, Rev. J. Edward.
Jones, Thomas, Rev. W., M.A.
Jukes, Rev. J. H., M.A.
Key, Rev. H. Cooper, M.A,
Lane, Mr. Theophilus.
Lee, John Edward, Esq., F.G.8., &c.
Lightbody, R., Esq.
Llanwarne, Thos., Esq.
Lloyd, Mr. Jas. W.
Lloyd, John, Esq.
Martin, C. G. Esq.
M‘Cullough, D. M., Esq., M.D.
Merewether, Rev. F,, B.C.L.
Morris, J. G., Esq.
Newton, M., Esq.
Owen, Evan, Esq.
Owen, Rev. E. J.
Palin, Rev. Edward.
Pateshall, Evan, Esq.
Phillipps, Rev. Thos., M. A.
Phillips, Mr. Wm.
Phillott, Rev. H. W., M.A,
Pitt, Mr. John H,
Poole, Rev. Wm., M.A.
Purchas, Alfred, Esq.
Rankin, James, Esq.
Raven, Rev. John.
Reaveley, Rev. F, Fenwick, 8.C.L,
Salwey, Humphrey, Esq.
Scudamore, Colonel,
Shellard, O., Esq.
Smith, Rev. C., M.A.
Smith, J. E., Esq.
Southall, Mr. H.
Stanhope, Rev. B. L 8., M.A.
Stanhope, Rev. W. P. 8., M.A.
Steele, Elmes Y., Esq.
Stillingfleet, Rev. H. J. W., M.A.
Styles, R. H. P., Esq.
Thirwall, Rev. T. J.
Thompson, Mr. Arthur.
Tweed, Rev. H. W., M.A.
Vaughan, Jas., Esq.
Weare, Rev. T. W., M.A.
West, Rev. Thos., M.A,
Westropp, Rev. C. J., B A.
Williams, Captain.
With, Mr. G.
Wood, J. H., Esq.
Woodhouse, Rev. Thos., M.A.
Wynne, N. 8., Esq.
NEW MEMBERS ELECTED DURING THE YEAR
1868.
HONORARY MEMBER,
G, Phillips Bevan, Esq., F.G.S., 4, Suffolk Square, Cheltenham,
7 ORDINARY MEMBERS,
Adams, Mr. Thomas. Kempson, F. R., Esq.
Andrews, Mr. John. Lambe, John, Esq.
Aston, William, Esq. Merriman, J. Jones, Esq,
Bowen, J. Mortimer, Esq. Robinson, Rev. C. J., M,A,
Bowen, Wm., Esq. Rosher, Lilburn, Esq.
Clive, Rev. Archer, M.A. Salwey, Alfred, Esq.
Cooke, W. H., Esq., Q.C. Smith, Rev. J. Gregory, M.A,
George, Rev. D. J., B.A, Smith, R. Vassar, Esq.
Herbert, J. M., Esq. Turner, Thos., Esq.
Hutchinson, Arthur, Esq. Warner, W. H., Esq.
Hutchinson, E. S., Esq. Williams, Thos, Edward, Esq.
Jones, Rev. A, G., B.A.
RULES
OF THE
WOOLHOPE NATURALISTS’ FIELD CLUB.
I—That a Society be formed under the name of the
* Woornore Nartourauists’ Freip Civus,”’ for the practical study, in
all its branches, of the Natural History of Herefordshire and the
districts immediately adjacent.
I.—That the Club consist of Ordinary Members, with such
Honorary Members.as may be admitted from time to time; from
whom a President, four Vice-Presidents, a Central Committee,
Treasurer, and Honorary Secretary be appointed at the Annual
Meeting to be held at Hereford in the early part of each year.
The President and Vice-Presidents to change annually.
If1.—The Central Committee shall consist of three members,
resident in the city or in its immediate vicinity, with the President
Vice-Presidents, and Honorary Secretary ex-officio. It shall be
empowered to appoint an Assistant Secretary; and its duties shall
be to make all the necessary arrangements for the meetings of the
year, and take the management of the Club during the intervals of
the meetings.
IV.—That the members of the Club shall hold not less than
three Field Meetings during the year, inthe most interesting localities
for investigating the natural history of the district. That the days
‘
and places of such regular meetings be selected at the Annual
Meeting, and that ten clear days’ notice of each be communicated
to the Members by a circular from the Secretary ; but that the
Central Committee be empowered, upon urgent occasions, to alter
the days of such regular Field Meetiegs, and also to fix special or
extra Field Meetings during the year.
V.—That an Entrance Fee of Ten Shillings shall be paid by
all Members on election, and that the Annual Subscription be Ten
Shillings, payable on the Ist of January in each year, to the
Treasurer, or Assistant Secretary. Hach Member may have the
privilege of introducing a friend on any of the field days of the
Club.
Vl1.—That the Reports of the several meetings, and all the
papers read to the Club during the year, be forwarded to the
Hereford Times newspaper for publication as ordinary news, and
that the type be re-set in octavo at the expense of the Club, to form
- (with such additions as may be deemed advisable) the Transactions
of: the Club.
VIL.—That the cost of any lithographic or other illustrations
be defrayed by the author of the paper for which they may be
required, unless the subject has been taken up at the request of the
Club, and in that case the cost of such illustration to be paid for
from the Club funds, must be specially sanctioned at one of the
general meetings. j
VIII.—That the President of the year arrange for an address
to be given in the field at each meeting, and for papers to be read
after dinner ; and that he be requested to favour the Club with an
address at the Annual Meeting, on the proceedings of the year,
together with such observations as he may deem conducive to the
welfare of the Club and the promotion of its objects.
IX —That all candidates for Membership shall be proposed
and seconded by existing Members, either verbally or in writing, at
any meeting of the Club, and shall be eligible to be ballotted for at
“the next meeting, provided there be Five Members present; one
black ball in TuReE to exclude.
X.—That Members finding rare or interesting specimens, or
observing any remarkable phenomenon relating to any branch of
Natural History, shall immediately forward a statement thereof to
the Hon. Secretary, or to any member of the Central Committee.
XI.—That the Club undertake the formation and publication
of correct lists of the various natural productions of the County of
Hereford, with such observations as their respective authors may
deem necessary.
XII.—That Members whose subscriptions shall remain for
three years in arrear after demand, be held to have withdrawn,
and their names shall accordingly be omitted from the list of
Members at the ensuing Annual Meeting.
XIII.—That the Assistant Secretary do send out circulars ten
days at least before the Annual Meeting, to all Members who have
not paid their subscription, and drawing the particular attention of
all those that may be affected by the operation of Rule XII, to
that Rule.
XIV.—That these Rules be printed annually with the Trans-
actions, for general distribution to the Members.
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WOOLHOPE NATURS
CEPHALASPIS ASW
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This Photograph is presented to the Cluj
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ROLEPIS. ( Harley.)
7B 240.)
n part, by J. F. Lee, Esq., and Dr. Bull.
ADDRESS OF THE RETIRING PRESIDENT,
(DR. M‘CULLOUGH,)
READ AT THE ANNUAL MEETING, MONDAY, MARCH 1s1, 1869.
ENTLEMEN,—I am now, at the termination of my period of office, required
by the rules to address you on the proceedings of the year. I shall not,
however, attempt to enter into the details of our meetings, which have already
been reported very fully, but shall pass shortly in review the various subjects
which have been brought before us in the different branches of Natural History. .
Geology, I think, claims the first place, both from the name of our club
and from our traditions. Whilst it must always occupy a large share of our
attention, we may congratulate ourselves that it does not predominate as for-
merly, not, I hope, that we cultivate this corner of our field less, but that tha
others have been less neglected. To appreciate Nature thoroughly it must be
studied as a whole, and however wonderful the records of a dead world may
be—and none but those who study them can imagine how wonderful they are—
they are even surpassed in interest by the phenomena of the living world, which
are passing hourly before our eyes.
Beginning with the oldest formation which we have investigated, the
Silurian, we commenced the season at Wicton, in the hope of finding a new
exposure of that formation, but although we found undoubted Silurian fossils,
they were not in situ, and our attention was happily called to a subject of great
interest, and one which, perhaps, more than any other requires working out in
our district, that of the superficial deposits, In a district such as this, attention
ll.
is naturally drawn to the older formations, but we must not forget that com-
paratively recent deposits overlie our old rocks whose history demands inves-
tigation, and I trust some of our members may be induced to study them.
Our attention was next directed to the Silurian formations by Mr. La Touche, in
his able address from the Titterstone Clee, from which he pointed out their
relation to the Cambrian rocks in the distance and the coal measures under
our feet. To Mr. Salter we are especially indebted. His ‘‘ Notes on the Onny
river section,” and his paper on ‘‘Some new points in the geology of the Usk
district” are valuable contributions to Silurian geology, and those who attended
the meeting at Woolhope know how much his lucid description of the fossils
contributed to the interest and success of the day. The Rev. P. B. Brodie has
given us his very suggestive Palsontological notes, and I trust that what he
says of the exposure of Downton sandstone at Purton, where he found abundant
remains of Pterygotus and Eurypterus will not be lost sight of. I am convinced
that this and the lower portion of the Old Red Sandstone around the Woolhope
district will yield a rich harvest to the diligent geologist, and I may remind
you that both crustacean and plant remains were found in the latter at Nash
Tump during the few minutes halt on our way to Sollar’s Hope. Whilst working
in the lower Old Red Sandstone at Ewyas Harold, in company with Mr. Salter, I
was fortunate enough to add the Pterygotus Taurinus to our fossils. This
quarry is at no great distance from Rowlstone, where another unique fossil, the
Stylonurus Symondsii, figured in our transactions for this year, was found. I may
observe that in Siluria it is erroneously stated that Rowlestone is in Brecknockshire
and near Hay, whereas it is in Herefordshire 13 miles south-east of Hay. In the
quarry from which the Stylonurus was obtained I found during the last summer
Cephalaspis and Parka decipiens, and am therefore disposed to place it consider-
ably lower in the Old Red than the zone apparently allotted to it by Murchison,
I believe there is still much to do in determining the horizons of the fossils of
the Lower Old Red and their relations to the different beds of Cornstones, and
I trust something more may be done in this matter during the ensuing season.
To those who are working at this subject the publication during the past year
by the Palzontographical Society, of the first part of Mr. E. Ray Lankester’s
monograph on the Cephalaspidz will afford much assistance, and I hope the
remainder will soon follow. As it may confuse some of our members who are
not familiar with the strata, I may point out that he erroneously places the
Ludlow bone bed above the Downton sandstone. The same mistake is made
by Lyell, Elements 6th ed., pp. 106 and 548. The middle portion of the Old
Red continues as heretofore very barren in thig district, the only thing found
in it during the year so far as I know being some traces of plants, and the
almost equally barren upper part has only yielded a small portion of fish remains,
possibly a part of a scale of Holoptychius which I found in the yellowish
sandstone beneath the mountain limestone near Gilwern. Without wishing to
over estimate the importance of fossil remains, and whilst I would caution you
against hunting after fossils merely as fossils, yet I would remind you that they
:
:
iii.
are the chief means by which we are enabled to disentangle the often complex
web of geological succession and correlate the deposits in one district or country
with their equivalents in time in another.
Passing up to the carboniferous system we twice visited portions of the
South Wales coal field. At Pontypool we had a most able address from a former
President of this Society, Mr. G. Phillips Bevan, who has done so much in
investigating this coal field. We had the pleasure of meeting there the Cardiff
Naturalists’ Society, under the presidency of Mr. Adams, to whom we are much
indebted for showing us his beautiful collection of coal measure fossils, Our
second visit was to the northern part of the field at Penwyllt, where we could
see as ina diagram the Old Red of the Breconshire mountains, the Mountain
Limestone, and the Millstone Grit, dipping under the coal measures. The
Rev. W. 8. Symonds, to whom we have been so often indebted, kindly gave us
the field address, and I need not remind you how comprehensive and suggestive
it was, and how well it illustrated the great changes which were recorded in
the hills and valleys around us. Our subsequent visit to the beautiful water-
fall of the Scwd Hen Rhyd, and the demonstration which it afforded to the
merest tyro in geology of the mode in which the valley of the Llech had
been and is being eroded, showed us that the present state of the earth’s
surface is by no means a final one, but that important and inevitable changes
are now going on slowly it may be but surely. These changes are again brought
before us to-day by Mr. La Touche in his paper on the Alluvial Deposit of
Rivers—a subject the investigation of which may enable us to form some reliable
estimate of the rapidity of the disintegration which different parts of the earth’s
surface are now undergoing.
The Animal Kingdom has engaged a large share of our attention, and has
enlisted several new workers in our ranks, Mr. Rankin’s lucid and able paper
on the means of flight of birds brought before us a subject of daily interest,
and has probably led many of us to observe with more knowledge and conse-
quently with more pleasure the movements of a class of animals which more
than any other adds beauty to a landscape. The Rev. Thomas Phillipps in
his paper on Snakes directed our attention to the most prominent characteristics
of our few British species of this order of reptiles. It is to be regretted that
the dread inspired by these graceful creatures leads to the constant destruction
even of the harmless species. The Fishes were brought before us in Mr, Lloyd’s
very instructive paper on their swim bladders, which I am sure contained matter
new to most of us. Many interesting points remain to be cleared up, especially
regarding the migratory species of this class of the animal kingdom, and there
could be no fitter work for this society. I hope we may have further contribu-
tions from the author of this paper on a subject which he has so many oppor-
tunities of studying.
Entomology has been much more cultivated than formerly. Mr. Steele’s
paper on Mason Wasps illustrated a marvellous history of insect life, and Dr.
iv.
Chapman in his papers on Hylesinus and other wood-feeding beetles not only
added to our knowledge but made a valuable contribution to science. If these
papers have induced any of you to watch the habits of the insect world Iam
sure you will feel grateful for having your attention directed to so interesting
® field of observation. For myself I know that during the past summer
watching these creatures has been the occupation of many a pleasant and
instructive hour.
Mr. Houghton in his paper on the reproduction and developement of
animals discussed various questions, which are of surpassing interest at the
present time, from the light they throw on the changes and gradations which may
be traced in different organs, and between different classes of animals. I may
advert to a further subject which has long been disputed but which seems
to be rapidly gaining adherents, namely, the spontaneous origin of some of the
lowest forms of animal life.
The productions of the vegetable world, existing as they do everywhere
in boundless profusion and in forms almost infinitely varied, have necessarily
engaged our attention on many occasions. We saw them in their grandest and
most enduring form in the magnificent oaks and other trees at Hampton Court
and Holme Lacy. Not the least valuable of our work is placing on record the
measurement of such giants, and directing attention to their most valuable
varieties and the conditions most favourable to their growth. Dr. Bull’s paper
on the Elm tree in Herefordshire will also, I trust, have a lasting influence, by
directing attention toa crying want, that of planting avenues of trees in and
near our towns,
Two plants have been added to the flora of the county, the Alyssum
Calycinum and the Cuscuta Hassiaca. The latter is of great interest, and has
been figured for our transactions. Mr. Lingen, who some years ago brought
before the club an interesting variation or reversion in the laburnum, sent us
a still more remarkable specimen produced by budding the Jasminum revolutum
with a variegated form of Jasminum officinale. This is so interesting with regard
to the variation of species that I would suggest it asa subject for further ex-
periment and investigation. Mr. Blashill’s able and exhaustive paper on our
native food-producing plants, though showing how many good things are of
native growth, must have made us feel how meagre our bill of fare would be if
limited to native productions. Mr. B. M. Watkins’s botanical stroll shows how
much remains to be done in making complete lists of the plants in the different
districts of the county, as published in our Transactions for 1866.
The most noteworthy event of the year is the impetus which has been
given to the study and, I may add, the eating of Funguses. Dr. Bull’s illus-
trations of Edible Funguses in the transactions of the previous year prepared
the way, and his success at the South Kensington Exhibition, which we all felt
as a feather in the cap of the society, in addition to the plumes which decorated
his own, gave an ecldt to our Foray amongst the Funguses, which contributed
Vv.
no little to its success. Reflecting, as I often have done, on the difficulty of
accomplishing much in the way of field work at one of our meetings, where we
sometimes perhaps try to do too many things, the amount of work done at
this meeting, when one object only was kept in view, impressed me very much ;
and it seems worth considering whether we might not occasionally follow the
same plan with advantage, and when favourable opportunities occur, limit our-
selves for the day to a single pursuit. Not only have we increased our own
knowledge of Funguses, but we have had the pleasure of adding two which are
new to Britain. I believe much remains to be done in this department, and
that many species, new not only to Britain but probahly to science, remain to
be described. Mr. Lees’ paper on Fairy Rings formed a fitting adjunct to our
meeting, However we may differ from him as to the sufficiency of his theory to
account for all the phenomena, we could not but admire the industry and ability
which he brought to bear on it.
The great obstacle to Fungus eating is want of knowledge of the edible
species, and though our illustrations do much to supply that knowledge, our
meetings do more. The actual inspection of specimens, especially if they are
afterwards cooked and eaten, gives a confidence not otherwise to be obtained.
It may be doubted whether many of the species will ever be common articles
of diet in this country, still it is desirable to keep attention directed to
what is not only good but highly nutritious. Liebig, in a recent paper, says:
“Fungi contain, wonderful to say, the same nutritive salts, and also in nearly
the same proportion as meat.” This is perhaps not so strange, when we reflect
that Fungi grow in general on matter which has been previously organised,
that they are a step further, as it were, from the inanimate world. It is rea-
sonable to expect that the Fistulina Hepatica, which feeds on the oak, should
attain a more complex constitution than the oak itself, which has to elaborate
its juices from unorganised matter. In other respects, too, and probably as a
result of this organised food, they resemble animals rather than plants, that is,
absorbing oxygen and giving out carbonic acid under the influence of light.
I cannot leave this subject without expressing our deep obligations to Mr,
Worthington G. Smith, both for his invaluable assistance at our Foray and the
beautiful illustrations you have seen to-day.
With regard to the zrial portion of our domain we have again to thank
Mr. Isbell for his elaborate meteorological reports. Those who know with what
care his observations are made, will know how to value them as they deserve,
We are also indebted to him for the careful and interesting measurement
of heights by the barometer.
Though Archeology does not come strictly within our province, it is some-
times convenient to examine such objects as exist in the districts visited. In
this department Mr. Flavell Edmunds and Mr, James Davies gave us able papers
‘on Risbury Camp and on asupposed Roman road from Bravinium to Circutio. The
antiquities of the Clee hills were discussed by Mr. La Touche, and Mr. Havergal
vi.
reported the steps which had been taken with regard to the publication of the
Mappa Mundi.
Having glanced at what we have done or attempted to do, I may add a few
words as to what are and ought to be the objects of a society such as ours. I would
say in the first place, that we do not aspire to enlighten the world at large, or even
as the first object to advance science. If in the course of our work we can add a
grain here and there to the ever-accumulating mass of human knowledge, it is
well; but do not let us regard that as our object, which I take to be, in the first
place, the increasing our own knowledge by mutual instruction, and secondly,
encouraging like pursuits in those with whom we are brought in contact. It is
one at least of the great objects of man’s life to cultivate and develope all his
powers, and not to narrow and dwarf his mind by too close an adherence to a
single pursuit, or the cultivation of one branch of knowledge. What a field
the study of natural objects affords for the cultivation and development of
these powers. Professor Gairdner who joined us in one of our excursions, in
speaking in a recent address of the study of Natural History, says: ‘‘ It trains
at once the mind and the senses, and through the most wholesome and delightful
observations of detail it leads up to the most profound generalizations and the
most far reaching theories.” Another good observer, Dr. Acland says: ‘‘I have
known some narrow minded naturalists and scientific men, but I never knew
a working man in any profession who superadding a branch of natural history to
his real work, was either narrow or self sufficient.” If the study of natural
objects is so valuable to the busy, and to the active mind which seeks relaxation
in change of pursuit, what a boon it is or ought to be to the idle who scarcely
know how to pass the tedious hours. To those, too, who find their chief plea-
sure in the active pursuits and amusements of country life, it would add mental
enjoyment to the pleasures of physical existence.
The power or habit of accurate observation is painfully rare, and I know of
no better means of cultivating this power than the pursuit of natural history.
It would be curious, and I fear humiliating, if it could be ascertained how many
people, say in a county or town, believe in the last toad which has been discovered
in coal or some equally credible marvel, people who would consider the story of
the sleeping beauty in the enchanted castle as fit only for the nursery. Part of
this credulity arises no doubt from want of knowledge, say of the age of coal,
and of the phenomena of life which cannot be carried on without change, but
a great deal of it arises from not giving adequate importance to accurate observa-
tion, good faith in the observer being considered sufficient. It has been well
observed that a man can see no more than he knows. Not only does knowledge
enable us to see more but to see with greater pleasure. He who looks on the sun
or moon merely as sources of light and heat cannot appreciate creation so well
as he who knows the movements of these bodies, and so far as our knowledge
goes their structure and composition, and much as we admired a blue sky before,
is our admiration not of a higher kind now that the recent researches of Pro-
.
fessor Tyndall enable us to understand why it is blue. The pleasure derived
by him who looks on a mountain as a rounded or rugged eminence is very different
from that of him who knows why it is rounded or rugged. A swollen turbid
river and flooded valleys are striking to any observer, but how much more in-
teresting are they when we can see in them the powers which are grinding down
our hills and building up film by film new structures, Again, beauty and design
are often visible where the ordinary observer sees only what is repulsive. The
changes involved in the decay of animal and vegetable substances, for instance,
are at first sight seldom pleasing and very often they are disagreeable, yet we
find engaged as active agents in these changes hordes of animals and plants each
with a structure and economy marvellously adapted to the end in view. Further,
if we reflect on what a dreary world we would soon have if these animals
and plants did not aid in removing and converting what has ceased to live, we
may see in these operations the sources from which the face of nature is renewed
and presented to us ever fresh and young.
Having ventured to say so much as to our objects and the spirit in which
we should pursue them, I may pass on to our future work. Not long ago a highly
esteemed member suggested that if we went on publishing a volume every year
we would soon exhaust the district and leave nothing to be done, A little reflection
will show there is no risk of this. Our field embraces both the organic and
the inorganic worlds, the life and changes of the present and the records of
the life and changes of the past ; and when we have investigated these, so far as
our unassisted powers enable us, we may call the microscope to our aid, and find
new and almost boundless worlds spread before us. Every field, I might say
every foot of ground reveals to the careful observer objects of interest, and even
the sting of a nettle exhibits phenomena which carry instruction to the wisest.
I have said that we should not look on the advance of science as our object, still
we should keep it in view, and by doing so we shall probably succeed best in that
cultivation and development of our own minds of which I have already spoken.
There is work to be done which can only be performed properly by those who
reside on the spot. By carefully watching the quarries of the old red sandstone,
for instance, fossils might be saved from destruction which would help to
elucidate the Devonian system. Our lists of animals and plants should be made
more complete, and the almost unworked field of Entomology requires to be cultiva-
ted, whilst the continued observation of periodic phenomena, such as those pub-
‘lished by Mr. Lingwood in No. 4 of our transactions, would afford valuable
and interesting information. The dates of blooming of our flowers, of the ripen-
ing of our fruits, or of the arrival and departure of our migratory birds, besides
the interest of the facts themselves, may throw light on any supposed cyclical
or other changes in the seasons,
The publication of Mr. Darwin’s great work on the Variation of Ani-
mals and Plants under Domestication, has been the most important event
of the year to naturalists. Whatever opinions we may entertain as to the theory
of development and the principle of natural selection, there can be no doubt as
viii,
to the great interest and value of the enormous mass of facts he has accumu-
lated, and we should endeavour to imitate the conscientious care with which
he makes and records observations. Whilst changes such as those he points out
are occurring among living things, constant changes are also going on in the
inorganic world. On the one hand we see our high grounds being disintegrated
and carried down lower and lower, and recent explorations have shown that far
away in the deep sea new and interesting formations are taking place; while on
the other hand, recent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions show that the subter-
ranean forces which may upheave these formations into new continents are still
active.
It is to be hoped that the time is passing away when the investigation
of the wonders of creation can be regarded otherwise than as a means of
increasing our reverence for the Creator. Some who know least of his works
seem to have still a vague dread of such pursuits. An old writer says: “‘The
wisdom of God receives small honour from those vulgar heads that rudely
stare about, and with a gross rusticity admire his works, those highly magnify-
ing him whose judicious inquiry into his acts and deliberate research into his
creatures return the duty of a devout and learned admiration.” The more
comprehensive the view we take of nature the more we see the analogy and
mutual dependence in the different parts of creation, and the more we recog-
nise the evidence of one creative mind which fitted every part to every other
part. The operations of a universe are necessary for the existence of the
smallest animal or plant, and these, however small, play their parts in the work
of the universe,
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~ HEREFORD FOR HAMPTON COURT ESTATE
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, May Sten, 1484.
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. = the year of the Woothoye Clad t plage om
wes wary: snotecaicl. Tt wee pleasant in prospect, an enjv; ‘ovate day,
bedi it a bright recollection. There is slways» freshuees aod
pe ar twit sf in the Spring meeting, vegetation is full of life, flowara
y scattered every side, the grass tints are lovely, the foliage has
p ne a beauty of youth, and it is impossible to resist the exhiles ating influence
everythin wom yon ‘
a 1 ae “Ong matren’ now may give ms more
Phan fifty years of reaaga ; t
¥ . @urminds drink in at every pore
ay Orne spirit of the Season.
a hii of the Ofub loft the train at the Ford Bridge Station and
» felis, there was & general cheerfulness which showed they did act
RA tony wees resistance we the day's enjoyment. A om sall adrance
ln godiont mamden of Whartos brags j
Ms 5. Meredith, ite present cocupant. The
pete Rat, wiee of Gho at
D> eaters, ons. quently Sowrh
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roma it Fedele ey gr cry 30 Wharton, yet
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5 LWA iva, Slim Stax. conse tate
The Woolhope Haturalists’ Sield Glub.
HEREFORD FOR HAMPTON COURT ESTATE.
May 22np, 1868.
The first meeting for the year of the Woolhope Club took place on
Friday, and was very successful. It was pleasant in prospect, an enjoyable day,
and has left behind it a bright recollection. There is always a freshness and
pleasure peculiar to itself in the Spring meeting, vegetation is full of life, flowers
are thickly scattered on every side, the grass tints are lovely, the foliage has
all the beauty of youth, and it is impossible to resist the exhilarating influence
of everything around you.
“‘One moment now may give us more
Than fifty years of reason ;
Our minds drink in at every pore
The spirit of the Season.”
As the members of the Club left the train at the Ford Bridge Station and
entered the fields, there was a general cheerfulness which showed they did not
wish to make any undue resistance to the day’s enjoyment. A small advance
guard had already inspected the ancient mansion of Wharton, where they had
been very kindly received by Mr. J. Meredith, its present occupant. The man-
sion is interesting as one of the few pure examples of the style of the end of
the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century, commonly known as Jacobean,
of which the Coningsby hospitals, in Hereford, are a notable example. It isa
stone building, in excellent preservation. "Wharton, anciently Waeg-faru-tun—
the town by the side of the water way—is further noticeable as one of the few
houses which retain, in a modified form, their ancient names, and illustrate
the true meaning of the word tun, i.¢., a single house with a fortification of some
kind round it There has never been a village or even a parish of Wharton, yet
it remains a genuine town in the true sense of the word. The occurrence of the
A
2
word Stoke, in the name of the adjoining parish, shows that palisaded fortifica-
tions were in use in the district, and would seem to suggest that Wharton was
fortified in like manner, #.¢., by a ditch and a mound, with a row of stakes
on the top of it. Wharton gave a title to the ancient family of the Dukes of
Wharton, which lapsed temp. Geo. I.
The route lay directly up the hill towards Wicton, through some pleasant
fields. The botanists were directed to look out for the Adder’s-tongue fern
(Ophioglossum vulgatum), and the Moonwort (Botrichium lunare) ; the first was
quickly found, but the latter was not met with. It grows, nevertheless, in this
district. There is half a meadow full of it in the parish of Humber, and it was
also said to grow on the side of the same hill in the park. The Listera ovata
grew everywhere. The Orchis morio, mascula, and maculata were in abundance,
and the green frog orchis (Habenaria viridis) was also gathered. A small portion
of a ring of the St. George’s mushroom (Agaricus gambosus), which figured on
the programme as destined for a distinguished part of the day’s proceedings,
was found, but the long dry weather kept back the crop that would otherwise
have been present. A large specimen of the Horse mushroom (Agaricus arvensis)
was also gathered which was somewhat remarkable, so early in the year.
The Club, however, did not give much time to botanising; it had come with
the especial object of enquiring into the appearance of certain brachiopod lime-
stone fossils that had put in an appearance here in the most unexpected
manner—and on to the Wicton fields they went, over hedge and ditch. The
Woolhope Club is necessarily Silurian to the back-bone, and the news of the
discovery had aroused its liveliest energies. With business-like activity it pushed
on to a lane, where, looking and searching amongst the stones, a few pieces of
undoubted limestone with fossils were picked up, and afterwards entered a large
field where some diggings had been made. Two large square holes had been dug
down some six or seven feet until water was reached, and a pile of stones by
each of them of the same character of those in the lane, showed the place from
whence the fossils had been taken out.
Whilst the hammers of the gentlemen present were hard at work on the
stones dug out of the holes, R. D. Harrison, Esq., read the account of the
recent earthquake at the Sandwich Islands, which has just appeared in the
newspapers. After which the President called upon Dr, Bull to give them some
explanation of
A
i
;
3
THE DISCOVERY OF SILURIAN FOSSILS AT WICTON.
By Dr. BULL,
Dr. But said the President’s request reminded him a little of his old
hospital days, when the Clinical Professor would pick out one of the pupils, and
not always the most attentive, and say, ‘‘ Now, sir, be good enough to examine
this case, and let us know what is the matter.” There was no help for the
student but to make the best of it he could before the whole class, and he sup-
posed he must be equally obedient now in face of the many excellent geologists
around him.
The discovery of these fossils was made in this way. Some little time
since Mr. Arkwright observed amongst the broken stones in the lane they had
just left, several pieces of fossiliferous limestone, and on enquiring from his
bailiff where, they had come from, he was told that all the stones broken in the
lane had been turned out of the bottom of a four foot drain carried across the
field they were nowin. It happily occurred to Mr. Arkwright that it would be .
an object of great interest to the Woolhope Club to examine the locality in
which they were found, and if possible to explain their appearance there, The
club gladly seized the opportunity and fixed their very first meeting for the
“purpose of doing’ so, and Mr. Arkwright has very kindly had these two large
holes for exploration, dug specially for this visit.
Now, as you see, these holes tell the same tale as the drain. At four feet
from the surface you come to a layer of stones of different characters and sizes,
and on breaking up some of these stones from each hole you find the same fossils
that Mr. Arkwright found in the lane. It might very possibly have happened
that the Silurian rocks which we know to be below this round-backed hill of
Old Red Sandstone on which we stand, had been thrust up nearly to the surface,
in a similar way to the dome at Hagley Park ; but it is not so, the rocks are not
in situ here, for all these stones, as you see, are loosely deposited, and are
all more or less water worn. Indeed, standing as we do now on this high
ground and looking at the very gradual slopes, the rounded contour of ail the
hills around us, there is nothing to lead one for a moment to suspect the
presence of any upcast of Silurian rocks. They all present the graduated inclines
of the Old Red Sandstone, made steep here and there, perhaps by a protecting
belt of Cornstone. We have nothing to do here on the surface, with the direct
effects of volcanic action, or Vulcanicity, and we must look rather for the
explanation of any facts that may come under our observation to-day to those
gradual changes, produced by the action of causes now in operation, carried
on for lengthened periods of time.
Tf you examine these stones carefully as they appear broken up in the
lane, and as you break them yourselves, you will find a very great variety—
Sandstones of different kinds and colours, Cornstones of all hues, and fossiliferous
A2
4
limestones of varied character. There are no igneous rocks amongst them—
no Basalt or Greenstone ; nor are there any fragments of the higher rocks,
the Conglomerate or the Mountain Limestone which formerly overlaid the Old
Red Sandstone ; they are all, so to speak, pieces from the rocks of the district,
and they are all more or less waterworn.
The slope at the hill on which they are found has, you observe, a
northern aspect, precisely similar to the Common examined last year at
Llandrindod, and singularly enough higher up in this field, there lies upon the
surface, a large block of limestone which involuntarily suggested the idea of a
boulder, but the President said, ‘“‘no!” It was a non-fossiliferous rock so far as
we examined it, and there was nothing about it, but its situation, to show that
it did not belong to the immediate district. So the question of boulders ice-
transported is not to be entertained here as it was there, although the current
here, as there, has been from the north.
These stones, in short, are a drift of rocks worn almost to pebbles from
the rolling action of water, and it is a drift of a peculiarly interesting character,
for it tells its own tale. No one acquainted with the Silurian rocks in this
district can look at this fossil, formed as it is by a conglomeration of the shells
of Pentamerus Knightii, without saying at once that it comes either from the
limestone rocks at Aymestry or from those at View Edge beyond Ludlow, where
the Aymestry Limestone is also almost entirely composed of this fossil; for
though the Aymestry Limestone was to be found at Woolhope and elsewhere, he
did not think it possible to find this shell in such masses anywhere nearer than
those two places, and since Aymestry is much the nearest of the two, we may
consider that to be their source. The other fossil limestones are Upper Ludlow,
and contain Orthis elegantula, a Strophomena, and some other shells too much
injured to name, and several small fragments of an Orthoceras, which were
beaten out just now. Now Aymestry lies about nine miles, as the crow flies,
due North from the hill on which we stand, and if we suppose that these stones
have been rolled down the valley now occupied by the Lug they would have
to travel about twelve miles perhaps to arrive on this spot.
We come then to the conclusion that this drift of rocks, lying on the
North slope of this hill, has been deposited here by a strong current of water,
after the Silurian rocks were thrown up, and after the ground here had taken
its present form.
The leading geologists for some time past, leaving the fixed rocks, have
been calling loudly upon us to examine the drifts and the gravel beds, and very
interesting they certainly are, but he could not help hoping that they would soon
come a little nearer still to the surface, and give us some information with
reference to the formation of the deep clay loam which so often occupies the
hills of Herefordshire. Here we are now standing on a tolerably high hill, so
high, indeed, that Egdon Hill, which you see in the distance, apparently not
much aboye us, is supposed by the natives in these parts, to be the highest
ee cts
i)
ground in the county. He confessed this sounded to him very doubtful indeed,
but it is very difficult to judge accurately of the height of the general surface
in an elevated district, and he trusted Mr. Isbell, ‘‘our own meteorologist,’
would beso kind as to ascertain this for us in the course of the summer.
It is however, unquestionably, very high ground, and yet if you look into
those holes, you will see four feet of clay loam, above the drift of stones, and
there is no saying how much below them, before you reach the rock. It has
something of the character of the cold ungenial clay derived from the decom-
position of the primitive rocks—from the felspar of the Trap—not so rich for
agricultural purposes hy any means as its owner might desire. We work upon
the surface like moles to turn it to the best purposes—and by the way, when
Mr. Talpa himself does speak out about clay, he does so in such a lively,
agreeable, cheerful, scientific, instructive way, that it isa pleasure to hear him.
But our object now is to ascertain how it comes upon these hills to enable us
One generally considers clay when pure as derived from the complete
isintegration of rocks and deposited in tolerably still water. Was all Hereford-
shire, once upon a time, one vast inland lake? And for how many ages must
it have continued so to have deposited so much clay, pure and free from stone,
as it oftenis? If you take your stand on the Malvern Hills and look on either
side, at the two counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire—they seem pretty
much on the same level—the Herefordshire side presents a more broken, pictu-
resque surface which makes it look higher even than the Worcestershire side,
but yet Geology tells us that it is full two miles lower—that is to say, that you
would have to dig down more than two miles on the Worcestershire side to
arrive at the same Old Red Sandstone which lies on the surface of Hereford-
shire. All the Mountain Limestone, the Millstone Grit, all the Coal measures,
&c., &c., (not to mention the New Red Sandstone, which may never have been
here,) whose thickness taken together amounts, at the very lowest geological
computation, to upwards of two miles, has been completely removed from the
surface of this county as compared with that of Worcestershire, and yet, after
all, it is pretty much on a level with its neighbour.
How has all this happened? Is it possible that when that great,—that
awful disturbance of the crust of the earth took place, which affected this
district so much ; when that great crack was produced, which threw up the
Plutonian rocks that form the chain of the Malvern Hills; is it possible that the
whole of those rocks were then broken up and swept away ? swept off so cleanly
that nota single particle, not even a single block of Mountain Limestone remains
in the district. Sir R. Murchison, in his last edition of his great work,
“ Siluria” brings forward the complete and entire denudation of the Woolhope
valley of elevation, as an unanswerable proof of the effect of strong currents
of water in removing every particle of débris and detritus, as opposed to its
gradual removal by the long continued action of existing causes ; and, if this is
6
so there, surely the argument would be all the stronger for the clean sweep by
violent force of all this enormous mass of solid matter from the whole surface
of the county without leaving a trace behind it,
It is evident, beyond all question, thatthe violence of the power which threw
up the Malvern Hills chiefly affected the district on the western side, and it
was the consideration of these circumstances, and the necessary conclusion that
the crust of the earth had been here thus much lessened in thickness, that
led Mr. Flavell Edmunds to give that theory of the Hereford earthquake
of 1863 in the Hereford Times,—an explanation that was copied into so many
newspapers, though the authority was acknowledged in so veryfew. Hereford-
shire was not the only county affected. If this county lostall the rocks above the
Old Red Sandstone, Worcestershire lost all above the New Red Sandstone.
The great denuding force became less and less severe in its effects as it ad-
vanced eastward, until you find the Lias, Oolites, Green-sand, and Chalk in
Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, and the Eastern counties. Might the upheaving
force have been at once exerted here to bring the Old Red Sandstone to the level
—a “fault” on a magnificent scale? Was the whole country then covered with
water, or did water at once wash off and supply the place of the removed rocks,
leaving the upheaval of the whole district to be effected by slow degrees over a
long period of time? Or have both causes of denudation, that by strong currents
of water, and that by the gradual effect of existing powers of disintegration, com-
bined together, with the gradual upheaval of the whole surface to produce
the present state of circumstances ?
The holes before us tell us nothing of this. They tell, doubtless, of
subaqueous formations. We have a layer of clay that indicates a period of
comparative rest under water—a layer of drift stones that proves the existence
of powerful currents to place them upon it on the side of this high hill; and
lastly, another period of rest to cover them with the layer of clay, which is still
four feet thick notwithstanding all the agencies at work—the frost and snow to
loosen it, and the rains to wash it off into the valleys below. Then, again, the
drifts and gravels left at varying levels all through the country, and the ice
boulders left on the mountain sides, all concur in proving a former subaqueous
period, and in pointing out that the upheaval must have been a work of slow and
gradual progress. It would be interesting to examine the surface soils on all
the other hills of the county, especially in the neighbourhood of the Malvern
hills. In short, I trust the geologists will soon come to the clays ; and now, Mr.
President, I have done the best I can with the drift, and have certainly drifted
myself very far out of my depth. Will any geologist present kindly favour
us with his views on the denudation of Herefordshire and the deposit of its
clays? (applause). :
J. E. LE, Esq., said it was far easier to ask such questions than to answer
them. The President thought there was no time to do so then if he could,
7
since they were due at Risbury camp in eight minutes, and had half-a-mile at
_least to get there. On went the Club straight for the camp, and crossing the
brook with its deep banks, telling of torrents now and again, taking the mill
stream at a flying leap and ascending the glacis towards the sally-port on the
western side, where the first five members that arrived there stretched themselves
on the grass and began the business of the meeting forthwith. The following
gentlemen having been proposed at the last meeting were successively elected :—
J. M. Herbert, Esq., Rocklands, Ross; E. S. Hutchinson, Esa., Longworth;
Arthur Hutchinson, Esq., Hagley Park; Rev. J. Gregory Smith, Tedstone
Delamere; Lilburn Rosher, Esq., Trewyn, Abergavenny; F. R. Kempson,
Esq., Hereford ; John Lambe, Esq., Hereford 3 Alfred Salwey, Esq., Moor Park,
Ludlow ; William Aston, Esq., Hereford ; John Lambe, Esq., Hereford; Rev.
A. G. Jones, Hereford; W. H. Warner, Esq., Ross; Rev. David George,
Trelough.
Five other gentlemen were next duly proposed and seconded as members.
The PRESIDENT then said that he had had a deputation from the Cardiff
Naturalists’ Society, with a request that they might be allowed to join our next
meeting at the Crumlin Viaduct. The Cardiff society was only just formed,
and Mr, Adams, the President, was a member of the Woolhope Club, This
reequest was at once very cordially agreed to, and it was left with the President
to obtain a list of the members of the Cardiff Society, that an invitation
might be sent to each of them.
By this time all the members had arrived, and the camp was
entered. From the northern corner of the entrenchment a brief description
was given of this most complete and interesting castrametation. It surpasses
all other Herefordshire camps, with the exception of the Beacon, in the
perfection of its lines, the extent of eight acres enclosed, andin the amount of
labour which had been expended upon the fortifications,—Mr. Flavell Edmunds
could not be present to read his paper in the field. It was read in the evening,
and it is only necessary therefore to say now, how much it was to be regretted that
this camp should have been so concealed, and spoilt, by the trees planted upon
and around it. If the whole camp had been left asa grazing pasture it would
have formed one of the most interesting places in the county, and would have had
visitors to it from all parts, notwithstanding the remoteness of the district in
which it is placed.
The approximate height of this spot was ascertained to be 160 feet above
the Ford-bridge Station by Mr. Lee’s aneroid barometer.
The whole of the party then went through the chief entrance on the
eastern side to the space of five acres inclosed by the surrounding ditch as an
exercise-ground or place d’armes, gathering as they went the Sacafraga
_ granulata, and the pretty columbine of the cottage garden, Aquilegia vulgaris.
Here was read the paper on
8
THE CORNSTONES OF HEREFORDSHIRE AND
MONMOUTHSHIRE.
By Dr. M‘CULLOUGH, Prusipent.
Although the Old Red Sandstone or Devonian System, as developed in
this and the adjoining counties, does not present those great masses of limestone
which characterise many other formations, yet lime is very generally distributed
throughout the various deposits forming that great system. Besides a consider-
able portion being present in many of its sandstones, and in its clays or marls,
it is often deposited as limestones, which are usually more or less impure from
admixture with other minerals, chiefly sand and clay. These limestones may
be divided into two classes. In the first, the lime is deposited in nodules or
concretions, the intervals between the nodules being filled up by matter less hard
and calcareous than the concretions themselves, so that the mass is easily
separated into its component nodules. In the second class, the cementing mate-
rial is often more calcareous than the particles cemented together, forming a
hard coherent band or stratum, after assuming somewhat the character of a
conglomerate. The former, or concretionary limestone, is well developed in this
neighbourhood, and excellent opportunities exist for examining it at the
numerous quarries where it is worked either for burning or for road stone. It
is found in beds of varying depth, the thickest which I have been able to examine
being from nine to ten feet. Sometimes these beds are immediately overlaid
by a stratum of sandstone, and sometimes they pass gradually into a bed of
superincumbent marl. Besides these great beds, concretionary limestones are
found in thinner bands of one or two feet imbedded in clay in the form of marl,
and frequently a single row or course of concretions is found imbedded in the
marl, much as a row of flint nodules is seen in chalk. Very often the beds
of marl contain numerous small limestone nodules distributed through them
without any apparent arrangement.
The second class is very different, and presents many varieties. Most of
them contain a greater mixture of other minerals than does the concretionary
form; the calcareous matrix cementing together not only calcareous nodules,
but also portions of sand and clay, and they vary in texture from a tolerably
compact and fine grained stone up to a rather coarse conglomerate. They
vary in thickness from an inch or less up to 14 or 15 feet, which is the greatest
depth I have observed. Many of them are very hard and durable, and are used
as coarse building stone, and some of them are valued as road stone. They
are quarried chiefly for the latter purpose, and to this the geologist owes many
opportunities of examining them.
I have said that these deposits, regarded as limestones, are more or less
impure. The degree of impurity, however, varies constantly, not only in
different beds, but in different nodules of the same bed, and even in different
9
parts of the same nodule, Though any analysis, therefore, can only apply
strictly to the particular specimen examined, either as regards the amount of
lime or the degree or kind of impurity, yet the following analyses give a fair
idea of the composition of the less impure varieties. Sir Henry De la Beche
(Mem. Geo, Survey) gives the following analysis of a Cornstone nodule :—
Carbonate of lime ...............e:eereeeeees 69°3
Peroxide, of BON ibis. ch. Gace. oes 22
Be ie hate cen a5 Sv genta naevus ee 19°5
ROSTSSTSS eek ee pope ca ces cps oponarscatatce ses 72
[ed take) ear wens fo RES Les Senin er 0-9
Traces of chlorides, sulphates, andloss 09
100.0
A specimen of burned lime from the quarry near Ford Bridge station was
examined for Mr, Arkwright, by Dr. Voelcker, with the following result :-—
Water of combination...............s..0 9.35
Oxides of iron and alumina ............ 6°06
Barts et ARE SE, ih acteee add hanes 52.42
WE aTICR IN ASL S cise ten sce wsde cd evaseatoness 173
ENTS. ae ee cere ee pe ee 0:24
RETOING ROLE sei cc och cs vedsngevacerceene 11.43
Insoluble siliceous matter .....,......... 18°77
100°00
Nearly three fourths of the carbonic acid had been expelled by burning. The
quantity of lime is equivalent to about 72 per cent. of carbonate of lime. Mr.
Arkwright has kindly placed in my hands three other analyses from different
quarries on the Hampton Court Estate. In these the quantity of carbonate
was found to be—the Sheepstye quarry, 60; Egdon Hill, 67 ; and Foxalls quarry
69 per cent.
In these thirteen specimens, which I now show you, from different beds
and from different parts of the country, and which you will see differ greatly
in character, I have found the proportion of carbonate of lime varying from
38 to 88 per cent.
In all the forms I think the lime was deposited from a chemical solution,
aided in the conglomerate varieties by mechanical action, and not as in some
formations by animal life. In the two classes, however, I believe the mode of
deposition was very different. The great beds of concretionary limestone in this
neighbourhood do not present any stratification or such irregularities in the
different portions of the beds as currents would be likely to produce. The
mineral matter mixed with the lime is in the form of an exceedingly fine mud,
such as would be held in suspension for some time, and slowly deposited in still
water. Ithink we may infer therefore that they were deposited as a limy mud
in a still sea bottom, the nodules being formed subsequently by a process of
crystallization, by which the carbonate of lime became aggregated in masses prior
_ to the consolidation of the deposit. The smaller bands, or rows of nodules, found
imbedded in marl, may be explained in the same way, sand aud clay containing a
10
considerable proportion of lime being deposited, a great portion of the lime
subsequently separating itself from the semi-fluid mass.
The conditions under which the other class were deposited must have been
widely different. Sometimes the beds may be traced for a considerable distance,
but generally they vary much in thickness and structure often even in a few
yards, and this variability seems to be in proportion to their approach to a
conglomerate form. They are often stratified, and frequently lenticular masses
of sandstone are intercalated in them in a way which only seems explicable by
currents acting in comparatively shallow water. The coarseness of the materials
often included favours the same view. They are not such as could be held in
suspension and deposited in deep water at a distance from shore. Many of them
evidently contain rolled pebbles derived from pre-existing rocks, and in some of
the beds I have found pebbles several inches in diameter, formed of an exceed-
ingly fine-grained limestone, not referrible to any known pre-existing rock.
The source of these pebbles is a fertile subject for speculation, and if organic
remains could be discovered in them it might throw much light on geological
records,
These deposits are called Cornstones, a name originating, I believe, in this
locality, and one which has been employed so loosely as to give rise to a good
deal of confusion. It is used not only to describe the deposits themselves, but
that division of the Old Red Sandstone in which they are believed especially to
occur. With regard to the distribution of the deposits themselves they are
traceable to within a very few feet of the tilestones or passage beds at the bottom
of the system, and so far as I have been able to examine the upper part of the
formation in our mountains, I have found in greater or less proportion both
forms of deposit which I have described, up to within perhaps 1,000 feet below
the carboniferous limestone.
By the Cornstone division, or series of the Old Red Sandstone, is usually
meant the lower division, though, as Murchison observes, the middle division
contains the greatest quantity of these deposits. It must be borne in mind,
however, that these divisions are by no means of a definite kind. If a definite
division is possible we must probably wait for it until the various parts of the
Devonian system are better understood.
After what I have said as to the distribution of the Cornstones, it will
be evident that their paleontology is almost equivalent to that of the entire Old
Red system, as the fossil remains are generally found either in the calcareous
beds, or in their immediate vicinity. I have never found anything in the
nodular deposits. You are probably aware that in some parts of the Old Red
Sandstone of Scotland, the calcareous nodules yield a rich harvest of fossils, the
organism apparently acting as a nucleus round which the lime was deposited.
I am not aware that anything of the kind has been observed in this district,
though it would be well to make repeated and careful examination of the nodules.
Our scanty fauna is found in the conglomerated Cornstones, and these are not
——— eo - i.
li
always fossiliferous. It is worthy of consideration whether the deep sea con-
ditions which I have suggested as the origin of the former, and the littoral
conditions which seem more probably to have given origin to the latter, help to
account for this difference.
I had intended entering into the palxentology of our Cornstones, but
think it is better to defer this to another occasion, when it may be possible to
discuss the subject more fully. For the present I have treated them merely as
deposits of lime, and in connection with this I may refer to the Springs of the
Old Red Sandstone being so often hard or calcareous. Water containing carbonic
acid has the power of dissolving one thousandth part of carbonate of lime. Rain
water contains this gas, and becomes further charged with it by passing through
decomposing vegetable matter. Then, as it percolates through the marls and
Cornstones, it becomes loaded with lime and issues forth again as a calcareous
spring. Some of the springs in this neighbourhood are highly charged with lime.
We shall pass in our walk to-day, at least three springs, in which the lime is so
abundant that it is copiously deposited on any object placed in them, thus
constituting what we commonly know as petrifying springs. From such springs
amongst our hills the lime is often deposited as Travertine, as the water trickles
over the rocks. On the contrary, the abundant spring which supplies the town
of Abergavenny arises in the upper part of the Sugar Loaf above the Cornstone,
where there is, perhaps, 500 feet or more of standstones, without either corn-
stones or marl, and the water is remarkably free from lime ; whilst on the other
hand, in the spring of the lower range of the Little Skirrid, which contains
both marls and cornstones, the water is abundantly charged with lime, and is
therefore very hard.
The Cornstones have played no unimportant part in giving the country its
present outlines of hills and valleys. Many of the bands are exceedingly hard
and tenacious, and much better fitted to resist denuding agencies than the
marls and most of the sandstones. That they helped to withstand the powers
which scooped out our valleys in the past there can be little doubt, and that
they resist the disintegrating influences of the present we may see in the
escarpments of the Black Mountains where, although the adjoining sandstones
have crumbled away, bands of Cornstone may be seen standing out sharp and
unaltered, and only tumbling down ultimately in large masses when they have
become undermined by the disintegration of the underlying strata. Their
greater durability is also shewn by the fact that although they form but a small
portion of a mountain the large masses of rock lying at its base are often
chiefly cornstones, most of the sandstones having disappeared. The same resist-
ing agency may be seen sometimes in the valleys where a river which has cut
down through the softer strata is long arrested by a band of cornstone.
12
Under the guidance of Mr. Arkwright, the club now went down by the
taill—mentioned as a source of income in “Domesday Book”—to the interesting
old bridge of three arches. Here, when striking into a lovely dingle along anarrow
path on its steep side, those who looked back got a most picturesque view of
the bridge, the old mill, the murmuring brook, and the stream of gentlemen
threading their way up the irregularities of the path. Over a broad weir the
road lay, and then for two miles down the side of a charming glen with water on
either hand.
A detour was made to visit some very fine old oaks—one of them, ‘‘Tho
Rabbit-pool Oak,” measuring 23ft, 4in. in circumference at five feet, whilst at
the ground level it spread out to 48ft. It is a hollow tree with an opening on
one side, which is gradually closing by the formation of new wood, and which
is now only from four to six inches wide at the lower part.
Then back again to the glen with the curious name the “ Hill Hole” glen
—possibly reached in this way: The Holywell brook joins the Humber brook
just below the northern corner of Risbury Camp, and is named from the Holy-
well of Pencombe and by a series of transmutations and corruptions which
tradition substantiates, though we won’t follow them ; the whole glen receives its
present singular appellation of ‘‘ Hill Hole.”
Crossing by the large pike pond and the old decoys, down through the deer
park, disturbing rabbits beyond number, admiring the grooping of the trees,
the gracefulness of the wych elms, and the views opening at every ateps the club
reached the fine old tree, ‘‘'The Gipsy Oak.”
A large specimen of the common fungus, the Polyporus Squamosus was
gathered by the way, some 18 inches broad, growing gracefully with an actual
stem of its own, from some decayed stump under the turf. This fungus, when
dried—cut in strips—and glued on pieces of wood, makes razor strops of the
’ highest virtue.
‘The Gipsy Oak” is a noble tree in full luxnriance, with a perfect bole
and fine spread of branches—some that nearly touched the ground have been
eropped by deer perchance, again and again, until they serve now in their death
for places to rub themselves against, or what is of higher import to give an
excellent picturesque effect to the tree itself. ‘‘'the Gipsy Oak,” at 5 feet
meusures 24 feet 1 inchin circumference ; but at 2 feet 4 inches from the ground,
its smallest girth, the measure is 22 feet 6 inches.
There was no time to linger to measure the other fine trees here, or to watch
the pheasants playing amidst the birch boughs lying before the hen coops, The
march was resumed, the mansion was in sight, aud was soon reached,
The members were most kindly led through the house by Mr. Arkwright to
the chapel, where a fine old painted window—noticeable not only for the richness
of its colours, but also for the subjection in which all the accessories are kept
—through passages filled with cases of well-stuffed birds and animals, through
—
"s.r
13
the family museum, where the objects of peculiar interest to the tastes of our
Club were far too numerous for any to be mentioned in this hurried sketch—
through the suite of rooms—the beautiful conservatory—on to the most striking
feature, perhaps, of the whole, the noble lawn—the magnificent stretch of
level ground on which the mansion stands—a broad alluvial valley of the Lug
whose richness was amply attested by some of the finest trees of their kind
in England.
Here is a cedar measuring 17ft. in girth at 6 inches from the ground,
above which point the trunk immediately divided, and at 5ft. from the ground
after giving off five large branches it still measures 14ft. 8in. in cireumference—
the boughs of this tree are much broken by the westerly winds; another
Cedar in perfection of vigour measures 15ft. 3in. in girth at 3ft. from the
ground ; two walnut trees measured 15ft. llin. and 14ft. 10in. respectively ;
a horse chestnut tree 15ft. 7in. ; a tulip-tree of very large size and peculiarly
graceful in its growth, and many other trees of great beauty and size which
time admitted not of measurement or description.
The charm of this lovely valley, increased as it was on the present occasion
to the utmost extent, by the very great kindness with which the members of the
Club were received, will ever remain a bright spot in the history of the Clubs
wanderings, to those members who had the good fortune to be there.
Crossing the Lug by the bridge from the grounds, Mr. Arkwright led
the way to one of those petrifying springs for which the adjacent hills are noted.
The water highly charged with lime gives off a portion of the carbonic acid gas
which holds the lime in solution, as it escapes from the earth, and thus an
immediate deposition of some of its lime takes place over any object it falls
upon. Here might be seen forming, both Stalactites and Stalagmites to unite in
course of time with such other and form a natural pillar. And here, too, was
a basket hanging, already considerably coated with the lime deposited on it,
Lime so deposited is called Travertine from being so common in the valley of the
Tiber. In the museum in the house, were birds nests and eggs, all stone-
coated by this spring.
Craw fish and small crabs make most beautiful objeets when nicely covered
with lime from springs of this kind, but they must be carefully watched so that
the lime is pretty equally deposited, since the beautiful curves of life require
to be represented by the stone covering. Craw fish, however, do not live in the:
Humber brook, or the Lug. It is too liable to inundations of muddy water to be
pleasant for them.
There is one pretty creature, however, that does flourish in the locality,
and that is that lively cheerful bird the Water Ousel, Cinclus aquaticus. It
was quite pleasant to hear that, there, in the very centre of the county, no less
than three nests were known of this year. One, when examined on May 12, sent
forth five young birds in a panic, who would not remain in their nest a minute
14
longer though returned again and again. And curious was it to see the instinct
of the young birds at once displayed. They had much less fear of the water than
they had of the intruder’s hand, and those who saw them not able to fly above
three or four yards alighting by preference in the stream below, and actually
trying to dive, could not hesitate to allow that power to the old birds which has
lately been so much called in question,
It was a lovely walk by the river side ; it was very pleasant through the
oak groves up the steep hill, with excellent views here and there of the mansion,
and the park stretching over the hill beyond.
In the wood some specimens of the birds nest orchis, Listera nidus avis,
were gathered, a plant so named from its clustering roots. In itself it is
only a pale brown flower stem without any leaves at all. Here, too, might
have been gathered the bee orchis, Ophrys apifera, if there had been time to
search for it, as in the Hill Hole glen might have been gathered the sweet
milk vetch, the Astragalus Glycyphyllus, and the foetid Hellebore, Helleborus
fetidus, but they were not. Here, also, on this very hill, in a little dingle on the
Dinmore side of Chancehill Wood,—but too far off for the route to-day—grows
wild that exquisite flower—
“Than whom the vernal gale
None fairer wakes, on bank, or spray,
Our England’s Lily of the May,
Our Lily of the Vale!”
The Convallaria majalis would be in flower too now! Not a hundred yards
from it grows a bed of the Great Water Horse-tail, Hyuisetum Telmateja, which
before autumn will be five or six feet high. Tall, graceful, and elegant, it
calls to mind a tropical forest in miniature.
The only wonder was that in so hurried a march, and so long a
one, that so much was gathered. One plant was collected by C. G. Martin,
Esq., new—absolutely new to the county. It was the Alyssum Calycinum,
the Large-calyxed Madwort, a ‘‘ Wandering plant ;” that is, a foreigner probably
introduced here and in many other counties of England with foreign clover, or
corn seed. The genus is called Alysswm from the Greek negative ‘‘a” and
“*\vooa,” canine madness—one of the many supposed remedies for this disorder.
Mr. Martin gathered it in a clover field on the descent of the hill, and it is not
known to have grown here before.
The Observatory was reached. An artificial ditch of unknown import was
passed on the hill, and soon those who pleased climbed to the top to enjoy the fine
view from it. Time got on, time! time! inexorable time! and a rapid descent
was made to Dinmore Station, whence the express train quickly carried all the
visitors off to Hereford.
The following gentlemen took part in the day’s proceedings :—Dr,
M’Cullough, the President ; Chandos Wren Hoskyns, Esq. ; James Rankin, Esq.;
znd T, Blashill, Esq., Vice-Presidents; John E, Lee, Esq., of Caerleon ;
————E———————— ee ee
15
John H. Arkwright, Esq. ; Elmes Y. Steele, Esq., Abergavenny ; Dr. Bull ; Rev.
J. Raven; John Lloyd, Esq., Huntington Court ; Rev. H. W. Phillott, and Mr.
George H. Phillott; Rev. W. C. Fowle, and Edward Haggard, Esq. ; John Price
Hamer, Esq. ; Flavell Edmunds, Esq. ; Rev. E. Du Buisson; Lilburn Rosher,
Esq. ; Rev. Thos. Phillipps; J. Griffith Morris, Esq.‘ Rev. J. H. Jukes; Rev.
Alfred Phillipps ; James Davies, Esq. ; Rev. J. C. Westropp; R. D. Harrison,
Esq. ; C. G. Martin, Esq.; Rev. Arthur Young, Tedstone Wafer; H. C. L.
Reader, Esq., Tedstone Delemere ; E. Cowtan, Esq. ; R. H. P. Styles, Esq.; C.
Henman, Esq., and Mr. T. Henman; H. C. Hurrey, Esq, ; Messrs. Jas. Lloyd,
of Kington, J. Pitt, of Freetown, John Andrews, of Bosbury, and A. Thompson.
The dinner took place shortly after four o’clock, and at the dinner table a
great feature was the appearance of adish of the true St. George’s mushroom, the
Agaricus gambosus. It was excellently cooked and served up as it should be,
“all hot.” There was enough for the majority to taste it—though nothing could
induce some of the guests to try it—all who did so, thought it excellent. It
was curious to hear the confidential communications that passed from one to the
other ‘‘I say, that’s uncommonly good,” as if they had tasted it only as a
matter of duty, and fully expected it to be quite the reverse. Requests for more
were made on all sides, and the dish was quickly emptied.
Dinner was scarcely over, when the President’s rap was heard, and the
business of the meeting again commenced. He was sure they all felt much
indebted to Mr. Arkwright for his kind reception of the Club. They had had a
delightful walk through the Hampton Court estate, through the mansion, and
through the grounds. It was only right to say that Mr. Arkwright most kindly
invited us all to luncheon as soon as he heard that the Club had decided to go
there. But as they knew, it was completely against the Club rules to accept any
such invitations, and that one was, therefore, at once positively declined by the
Central Committee. It was a very great pleasure and advantage to the Club to
be able to pass through an estate and make their own observations as they had
done to-day ; and perhaps there never was a day when more time was required,
for though they had had such a pleasant walk, the distance was too great to allow
of much work in Field science being done, and this it must always be borne in
mind is the real business of the Club.
He would now pass round for their examination some life-size lithographs
sent by Dr. Howden, of Montrose, of a splendid specimen of Pterygotus Anglicus,
found in the Lower Old Red Sandstone, at Carmyllie, Forfarshire. The original
is in the Montrose Museum, and is believed to be the most complete specimen
ever yet discovered.
Dr. BULL, on behalf of the Central Committee, said he had much pleasure
in telling them that the volume of transactions for last year, 1867, would be
ready for distribution to the members by their next meeting. The reason of
some little delay in its appearance was the very satisfactory one of the great
length and value of the papers read at the annual meeting in March.
16
He had now to propose an alteration in the day for their next field meeting,
when it was intended to visit the celebrated Crumlin Viaduct and Pontypool.
The day fixed was Thursday, June 18th, but the President would be unavoidably
prevented from attending on this day, and he had to propose therefore that it
be fixed for the next day, Friday, June 19th. The Cardiff Naturalist’s Field
Club were coming to meet us on that occasion, and it was very desirable that
our President should be with us. After some discussion this was agreed to. Dr.
Bull then said he had the pleasure to show them a living specimen of the
MOLE CRICKET, OR GRYLLOTALPA VULGARIS.
This creature is by far the most curious of all the British Orthopterous
insects. It was captured by Mr. Saunders, when running on the shingle by the
river Wye, near the Hole in the Wall, in the parish of How Caple. Mr. Saunders
at first sight thought it was a mouse running along, and he had some little
difficulty in taking it. He has kindly sent it here with the hope of obtaining
some information about it.
This very singular insect is, as you see, of a dark mouse or mole colour,
about two inches long. Its great peculiarity is the strength of its chest and the
shape of its fore feet, the latter very closely resemble the fore feet of the mole,
and not only in shape but also in the oblique way in which they set on. Again,
the hard and pointed chest and head, and the small protected eyes, give the
creature a mole-like appearance. The Mole Cricket burrows under ground like
the mole, and throws up ridges as it proceeds, but not hillocks, It frequents
the banks of streams, or ponds or moist meadows, and lives on roots and
vegetables. It is a terrible pest in a kitchen garden when a colony takes up its
abode there, for it quickly destroys whole beds of peas, cabbages, flowers, or
potatoes, since nothing green and juicy seems to come amiss to it.
The Mole Cricket forms her nest of a cell about the size of a small hen’s
egg, and deposits about 150 eggs in it. Itis closed on every side to protect it
from a certain voracious black beetle ever on the look out for such delicacies.
‘Nothing can exceed the care and assiduity of the Mole Cricket,” says a writer,
‘in the preservation of her young. Wherever a nest is situated, fortifications,
avenues, and entrenchments surroundit. There are also numerous winding bye
ways which lead to it, and a ditch encompasses the whole, which few insects
are capable of passing.” She keeps always on guard herself, and when the
marauding beetle enters the circumvallations, down she pounces on it and
quickly kills it.
The Mole Cricket is a night wanderer, andis then very active. ‘‘At night,”
says White, ‘“‘it makes long excursions as I have been convinced by finding
stragglers in the morning in improbable places.” When dug out during the day
it is slow and helpless, never attempting to use its wings. The love song of the
Mole Cricket may be heard on fine nights from the middle of April to the middle
17
of May. It is a dull, jarring, continuous chirp, and may be heard at some
distance—something between the continuous cry of the house cricket and the
fern owl.
Mr. Kirby says, “a Mole Cricket was brought to a friend of his, then
(1780) a curate in Cambridgeshire, by a farmer, who informed him that one of
his workmen seeing a Jack-o-Lantern, pursued it, and knocked down the
insect in question.” There seemed some doubt as to whether the Moie Cricket
is not sometimes luminous—from some of the authorities he had consulted—
but he (Dr. Bull) thought it could scarcely be the case or it would be more
generally known, and the singular insect more often found. So few people
here have seen it, that in all probability they are rare in this county, but Dr.
Bull knew of two localities where it certainly lived—one was in a bank by the
road side on the road leading to Burghill Portway, just beyond the little stream
which crosses the road. Here, he had several times tried to catch it in vain. He
heard them a quarter of a mile off and could get within a yard or two of the insect,
but, from the difficulty of making out the exact spot the sound proceeded from,
and the dulness of light, he could never get sight of it.
One Mole Cricket had been found in a manure heap in the yard of the gas
works in this city some years since, but he had never heard of another. He
should like to know whether any gentleman present could tell him whether the
insect, under any circumstances, became luminous.
ELMES Y. STEELE, Esq., thought not, or it would be better known.
FLAVELL EpMunDs, Esq., explained that the insect had been entrusted
to him on the condition of returning it to-morrow, so that there would not be
much opportunity of examining it with this view.
Dr. But said that Curtis, the naturalist, had suggested ‘‘ to those who
are fond of petting mice and such small gear” that they should get a family of
Mole Crickets, and observe their ways and manners. If Mr. Saunders could find
the place in the bank of the river from which this one had come, perhaps he
“might be able to getafew. It certainly would be a difficult prisoner to keep,
for it had powerful jaws, as well as claws, and bit through all sorts of roots that
came in the way of its burrowings with great ease. The Club were much
obliged to him for the opportunity of seeing the specimen he had lent them.
The love of the Mole Cricket for water reminded one gentleman of an
invaluable receipt—sure and safe—to remove a domestic nuisance that must be
very general, if the sale of poisonous wafers can pay for their advertisements.
We give it here entire, and since it is the fashion to specify numerically good
Suggestions, and Jest anyone should attempt to catalogue the bright ideas of the
Woolhope Club, we will call this one No, 10,101.
18
TO BANISH EFFECTUALLY FROM ANY PLACE BLACKBEETLES, COCKROACHES, OR
ORICKETS.
Keep it dry.
Yes, thatis all. It partakes of the simplicity of a great truth. Stop carefully
the leakage from the boiler tap; throw no slops into the purgatory ; and clean
the place by dry rubbing only, and the thirsty creatures will all disappear. The ,
absence of moisture is fatal to them.
Dr. Burt then read a paper on the St. George’s Mushroom, Agaricus
gumbosus, the edible fungus they had so favourably tested at dinner time, and
he exhibited a sketch of it in colours. On the proposition of the President it was
decided to have the sketch lithographed for the next volume of the transactions,
with the hope that the ladies will again be so kind as to colour them, This paper
will be published in full at some future time.
THE JAPAN SILKWORM—BOMBYX YAMA-MAI,
The PRESIDENT next showed a number of caterpillars sent by Dr. Chapman,
“That in their green shops weave the smooth-haired silk,”
the Bombyx Yama-Mii, a large silkworm from Japan. It is an oak feeder, and
will eat our English species. Dr. Wallace, of Colchester, has reared it on our
oak leaves for several seasons, but has not yet succeeded in naturalising it. Like
the mulberry silkworm, Bombyx Mori it passes the winter in aegg state. Bombyx
Cynthia the ailanthus silkworm (feeding on Ailanthus glandulosa), an allied
species, which Dr. Wallace has introduced from Northern India, passes the
winter in the pupa state. The silk of these species, is strong, but difficult to
wind on account of the peculiar form of the cocoon. The worms exhibited were
from eggs imported from Japan last winter by Dr. Wallace. They were in their
first, third, and fourth skins. The largest having cast its skin three times, and
being about to cast it a fourth time and assume its last skin, it was hatched on
April17. All the larve are a pellucid green colour, very much like that of the
leaves on which they feed. The smaller ones have three rows of tubercles on
either side studded with black hairs. Those in the third skin have the two first
rows of tubercles yellow ; the lower row below the spiracles, pale blue ; the hairs
fewer, long, and black; head and spiracles, brown. The largest one, nearly
three inches long, presents hardly any but the anterior tubercles, and they are
smaller than before, two of them, however, shine like silver. It has a few
scattered black and yellow hairs, head green. The division between the segments
are deep, giving a tubulated appearance, especially the anterior segments. A
yellow lateral line expands on this last segment, and includes a triangular olive
brown patch. The full-grown caterpillar is nearly five inches long, is smooth and
Jess hairy, and its head is green.
Here was read a most entertaining paper on
5
19
THE CAMP OF RISBURY.
By FLAVELL EDMUNDS, Esa.
Locum vallo fossaque munivit.—Cesar.
Vallo et fossi circumdedi, castrisque maximis sepsi.—Cicero.
Two miles E. of Ford Bridge station, on the Shrewsbury and Hereford
Railway, is situated the camp of Risbury. Lying apart from the chief modern
lines of communication through Herefordshire, it has been overlooked by most of
the topographers, or merely mentioned in the briefest of passing references, It
is, however, in itself well worthy of a careful examination by all who would
appreciate the history of the district, or who would clearly understand the
stormy process through which this once vexed border land gradually settled
down into the well ordered Herefordshire of our time. Although for the last
twelve or thirteen centuries, as it is now, a sparsely peopled tract of country,
there being no more parishes and villages in 1868 than there were in 1086, when
Domesday Survey was taken, the hilly plateau in the centre of which Risbury
camp stands was important in ancient times as part of the great chain of defences
which protected Herefordshire against invaders coming—as most of them did—
from the Eastward. A beacon fire on Risbury could be seen and answered from
Sutton Walls, and the signal sent successively from it to St. Ethelbert’s Camp,
Capler, Dinedor, Acornbury, and the Graig; while N.E. the warning flame
would be visible at Thornbury Camp, and 8.E. at Circutio (now Stretton
Grandison)—from whence the ‘‘ fiery message” could be sped to Wall Hills, near
Ledbury, and from thence to the great camp on the Herefordshire Beacon, To
the N. another line of camps consisting of Black-caer-dun, Eyton, Gorsey-hill
(Pudleston), and Cainham, communicated with the Dinas or fortified British
town of Ludlow, which could ‘“‘speed the message on” by Titterstone and Brown
Clee to the great camp on Caer Caradoc.
Although not equal in size to Dinedor or Acornbury, and far smaller than
the truly “‘ Great” Camp of Credenhill, Risbury Camp contains eight acres, and
‘may be ranked in the second class of the camps of the district. It seems to
have been intended only for use in actual war, having no pools or wells within
its enceinte. Still the comparatively advanced state of military art which it
shows, in the almost elaborate nature of its defences, proves that it was
accounted a position of greater importance than either its size or its con-
venience would imply.
The secret of the care bestowed on this spot is explained by a single fact :
it commanded the Roman road, yet used for the greater part of its extent,
which left the Magna and Circutio road where Shelwick toll-bar now stands,
passed N. by the Withergins bridge, Sutton, Bodenham moor, Risbury, Humber,
to the ford of the Hennor brook at the Street-ford (now Stretford), and thence
by Gorsey-hill camp to Cainham and Ludlow,
co 2
20
The position of Gorsey-hill camp is very similar to that of Risbury, and it
was evidently constructed with a like view to the Roman road, and with like
“ulterior objects.”
Our business at present, however, is with the S. part of the same hilly
plateau, and with its camp of defence at Risbury.
At one point this road descends into a dell, and is crossed by a shallow
brook, which, dividing into two, encloses a little ait (as the Saxons called a river
island), and is spanned by a tiny bridge of three arches, making up with the
wooded hills in the background a charming bit fora painter. In ancient times,
when the land was densely wooded, no doubt this brook was a river, and the ford
was a strategical point, at which an alert enemy might inflict serious loss upon
an army passing along the road. Ascend the brook by pursuing the dell to the
right, past the mill—itself an antiquity, and the representative of the mill from
which (as Domesday book says) the Norman lord received 10d. out of every four
shillings’ worth of corn ground—and you find the dell deepen and widen, and on
your right, rising to a height of 46ft., is the earthen rampart of Risbury camp.
Trace the brook, and you find that it forms the first line of defence against an
enemy posted upon the road, and this line is continued until you pass the N.
extremity of the camp, where the road stretching onward in a straight line
passes out of range. You leave the brook, and passingto the E. notice a broad
slope, then a terrace, next a ditch some 5ft. deep, then a second slope or glacis,
and then some 40 feet of steep hill-side. Resuming your course eastward, along
the lowest glacis, you observe the care and regularity with which the work is
executed, and the skill with which the natural advantages of the position are
made available. More than halfway down the E. side of the fortification, you
come upon the main entrance, which is defended by outworks extending for
nearly a hundred yards outward from the entrenchments, forming a noble
place d’armes. Passing onward, you find this elaborate triple line of entrench-
ment continued for some distance, until as the ground descends it becomes less
necessary, and then the entrenchment is merely double. Having passed round
the S. end of the camp, between it and the mill, you reach the W. entrance,
which is narrow, has no approaches, and is plainly designed merely as a sally-port
against an enemy on the opposite ridge, along which runs the Roman road,
Enter the camp, and you see at the first glance that it is a British work
from its oval form, analogous to that of the northernmost camp on the same
range, on the hill above Pudleston. Risbury, however, was evidently the work
ef Britons who were far advanced beyond the condition of the men who executed
the camp at Backbury, oreven that of Capler. Instead of leaving the summit
open, the men who made Risbury camp either raised a bank of earth all round
the edge of the precipice or cut down the area within, perhaps did both, thus
forming a ‘‘breastwork” or parapet of unusual magnitude, being from 5 to 8
feet high, affording a sure protection in days when as yet there were no mortars,
i
oe eee
21
and Congreve was not born to kill people under cover two miles off with his
death-dealing rockets.
Another peculiarity, which shows how closely the nature of the site was
studied by the old engineers, is the position of the entrances. They are exactly
opposite to each other, but they are not in the middle of the oval. The great
entrance on the east is exactly at that point where the high ground outside
makes the approach easiest, while the W. entrance is just at the part where the
approach is most difficult, thus plainly showing that the latter was on the side
from which the attack was expected.
From all these facts, in the absence of any historical record, I think we
may safely assign the formation of Risbury Camp to the same period which
produced the great circumvallation of the Herefordshire Beacon. My friend,
Mr. Edwin Lees, in his excellent lecture delivered on the spot, at the Club’s
meeting in May, 1867, showed convincingly that the entrenchments of the Here-
fordshire Beacon belonged to the end of the ninth or beginning of the tenth
century, which was the period of the completion of the Saxon conquest. On
a smaller scale, Risbury supplies all the same evidences of a comparatively
advanced state of civilisation, in the triple line of defence, the skilfully adapted
plan, the elevated rampart, and the position and construction of the chief
approach. My theory as to the late period at which Risbury Camp was formed
is strengthened by the fact that it has no British or Roman name. It may have
been captured soon after its formation, or at least the Britons were so completely
extirpated from the spot that its British name, if it had one, was soon forgotten
The Saxon names of all the neighbouring parishes show that the district was
at length entirely subdued and settled by the conquerors, Marston, Humber,
Hennor, Stoke,* Eyton, Ford, Docklow—are all proofs that the Saxon settled in
those places, driving out or reducing to thralls the native population, The name
of Black-caer-dun is the only trace of the Briton left on the E. side of the
Lugg for many miles ; and that, it will be seen, in the prefix ‘‘ Black,” shows
that the Saxon became dominant there also.
This arrangement of the defences illustrates a fact of history, which is
worth a passing reference. The so-called kingdom of Mercia is said to have
been founded by Crida in 586, buf it would appear that throughout the whole
three centuries which elapsed until the time of its absorption by Egbert into
the kingdom of Wessex, it really existed only in the valleys and champaign
country. Wulforton (now corruptly written Woofferton) seems to have been the
abode of Wulfor King of Mercia in 656, It is situated in the low country some
eight miles N. of Risbury. Even so late as 924, when the great Athelstan
stormed Malvern, and “‘drove the conquered Britons across the Wye,”+ the
* It should be remembered that the Roman word vallus, the etymon of the word
“wall,” meant originally a stake driven into the ground, e.g.: “‘Induere se acutissimis
vallis aut stimulis,”—Cesar. This was precisely the Saxon stoc or stoke.
t Chronicle of Brut; Sir F. Madden’s edition,
22
Herefordshire hills were held by British princes, who had on the whole held
their own against the Mercian kings, although no doubt occasionally reduced to
the condition of tributaries. After the destruction of the Romano-British city
of Magna, Caer-ffawydd was founded or enlarged, and became the Saxon city
of Fernlege, and Sutton Walls became the residence of the Mercian kings. These
facts imply the settlement of the vales of Wye and Lugg by Saxon chiefs or
thanes ; and the predominance of Saxon names in the lowland parishes shows
that the invaders completely overpowered the British element. The loftier hills,
however, such as Croft Ambury, Malvern, Dinmore, Fownhope, and Dinedor,
retain more or less purely their British names, which is merely saying that the
British population still held the hill country. Where the Romans had created
fortifications, they were no doubt still made available against the Saxons;
when the new exigencies demanded new camps, as at Risbury, they were formed.
Ever and anon, the dispossessed Britons, descending from their hills, would
make a foray upon the herds of a Saxon settler in the vales, and would retire
with their booty to their hill retreat. The nursery rhyme of “‘ Taffy” is a mere
condensation of the history of these Marches for many centuries :
Taffy was a Welshman,
Taffy was a thief.
Here is Saxon prejudice, abusing by wholesale the people whom Saxon invasion
had dispossessed.
Taffy came to my house,
And stole a leg of beef.
Here was the raid upon the Saxon’s homestead, and the capture of his cattle. ‘
By and bye, the visit would be repaid:
I went to Taffy’s house.
Taffy wasn’t at home.
He was too prudent to await his visitors when they came in inconveniently large
numbers; but whilst they were seeking for him he sometimes made a wide
detour, came down like a thunderbolt upon the homesteads which had been left
unguarded, and carried off all that remained of the herds which he had pre-
viously thinned :
Taffy came to my house,
And stole a marrow bone—
that is, all that was left worth taking. It is unnecessary to pursue the story, as
told in the ballad with the characteristic coarseness of mediceval times. The
substantial meaning is enough for our purpose. It teaches us how Taffy’s
retaliation hurried on the catastrophe. Probably, in all such cases, there would
be a grand gathering of the Saxon settlers, to which every man who was not a
‘*niddering,” or utterly worthless, would be summoned on pain of being harried
out of house and home by his compatriots; and then the hills would be sur-
rounded and stormed, and the troublesome hill-men captured for slaves or
slaughtered, Against such dire eventualities, the Britons would guard by the
formation or careful maintenance of camps like Risbury.
The natural question, why should the enemy be expected to approach
from the S, or West, is answered by two facts: the vale of Lugg, which lies to
23
the W., was settled by the Saxons, while Sutton, the seat of Saxon royalty,
lay to the S. The enemy might be expected to come along the Roman road,
because it was the only road through a wild district. The names indicate that
Herefordshire was a land of woods and pools, with here and there a few huts
in a “‘thwaite” or on a dock-covered bank, while devious by-paths concealed
rather than led to the chief’s “‘ palace” at the head of the dingle (Pen-cwm), or
on some quasi-island in the marshes, known to the Britons by the appellation
**ynys,” to the Saxons as an ‘‘eytun” or ‘‘marestun.”* The whole district
which lies E. of Risbury for some miles is still a wild and thinly peopled tract ;
and the occurrence of such words as Woodfield and Wootton (i.e. wood town), in
the names of the farms, shows that it was in Saxon times a woodland, with here
and there a cleared spot, in which the settler excavated a ditch and threw up
a@ mound round his house. A place so defended was called by the Saxons a tun,
and the word still survives with an extended meaning in the words ton and town.
The measurements of the area of the camp are—extreme length, 365 paces ;
interior breadth from entrance to entrance, 157 paces. From a line connecting
the entrances, the N. portion of the area extends 203 paces, the 8. portion 162
paces, the former being thus about one-fifth larger than the latter.
Although mentioned in Domesday Book in a similar manner to the
adjoining places which are still parishes, and set down on Camden’s map with
the usual mark indicating a church and a village, Risbury has no church, and
is not a parish, but is included in the parish of Stoke Prior.
The allusion in Domesday Book is as follows :—
Wills. de Scobies tent. Riseberie Robt de eo. Eduuin tenuit ibi ii hide in
ii car.i vill. iii bord. dnio sunt iiii servi. moliri de iiii sol. Vills. redd, x
dens. valv. xx sol. modo lx. solid.
Which I thus render:
William de Scobies holds Riseberie. Robert holds from the same. Edwin held
here 2 hides. In dominion there are 2 carucates of land, 1 villein, 3
bordars, 4 slaves. William receives 10 pence from 4 shillings’ worth of
corn to be ground. The value was 20 shillings the quarter; it is now
60 shillings.
The name, like those of all the neighbouring parishes, is purely Saxon.
It occurs in Domesday Book as ‘“‘ Riseberie,” and in a charter given in Dugdale’s
“*Monasticon” it assumes the medieval Latin disguise of ‘‘ Risebiria.” The
etymology is obvious: Rise, a hill, as in Highgate Rise, Clapham Rise, ete. ;
and bury, from burh, a fortification, The 4s, worth of corn mentioned was
probably a quarter.
The notice of Risbury in Domesday Book is curious, and has a special
interest to those of us who assisted at the formation of this club. Our
* Eyton and Marston.
24
lamented friend and founder was the late Mr. M. J. Scobie; and it is a
coincidence that in opening Domesday Book for the purpose of preparing an
essay for the meeting of this Club I should find that a Norman lord of the
same name held Risbury eight hundred years ago (applause).
Mr. JoHN LLOYD said that when they were on the Herefordshire Beacon,
at Malvern Hills, they were told that the approach was on the westward side,
and that the eastward side was the strongest, because the attack was expected
from that side. Now they were told, in reference to Risbury, that the approach
was on the eastward side, because the attack was expected from the westward ;
but he thought they had not seen anything at the camp to establish that view,
and therefore, in arriving at the conclusion advanced by Mr. Edmunds the
point should be well weighed. The sally port was certainly on the westward.
side, and on that side the defences were very strong. He did not see why
the attack should be expected from the east in one case, and from the west in
the other.
Mr. EDMUNDS said that at Malvern the only road across the hills came
from the N.E. It was manifest, therefore, that an enemy, unless he came out of
Wales, must come that way: hence the strong part of the campwas against that
road. There was avery steep ascent, and triple fortifications confronted them
at the summit. So late as 924, in the time of Athelstan, Malvern was a waste
—a royal chase on one side, and an episcopal chase on the other—with only afew ~
huts scattered about. Even 200 years later, when that good man Aldwin, the
Monk of Worcester, proposed to go to Palestine as a missionary, and was wisely
told by his Bishop—the last Saxon bishop of Worcester—that he would find
plenty of heathens at home, he selected Malvern as the scene of his labours,
because it was a wild, savage spot, the few inhabitants of which were still ina
state of heathenism.
Mr. Luoyp: Mr. Lees argued that Malvern must be a British camp,
because it is strongest on the eastward side; you seem to say that Risbury
must be a British camp because it is strongest on the westward side.
Mr. Curtny, C.E., remarked that the earthworks at Risbury were
admirably constructed, and if they had to be executed at the present day, not-
withstanding all our facilities, would cost a very considerable sum.
Mr. Epmunps: At Malvern the enemy could come only from the N.E. ;
at Risbury he must have come from the opposite side, the eastern district being
a wild country, and then probably a trackless waste.
Mr. JAMES DaAvigs said he wished that Mr. Edmunds’s notes had been
read at the locus in quo, as he would then have been able to have pointed out to
the Club the supposed Roman road, running near Risbury. The subject of this
road was not altogether new to him (Mr, Davies), as many years ago Mr, Cherry,
25
of Buckland, had communicated with him upon a supposed Roman road, and
if Mr. Edmunds was identical with it it was a very important new theory
in connection with the Romano-British history of these parts, as this Roman
yoad was not mentioned in the Iters of Antoninus or Richard of Cirencester.
The only Roman roads mentioned in the Iters were those which connected Magna
Castra (at Kenchester) with Braviniwm, near Leintwardine, and Magna Castra
with Wigornia at Worcester, and Ariconium, near Ross ; but Mr. Cherry thought
that he had discovered a road connecting Bravinium with Ariconium, and the
course of it was similar to that sought to be traced out by Mr. Edmunds. It
may be followed on the ordnance map.
Mr. Epmunps remarked that he had examined the road all the way from
Shelwick bar, over the ancient Withergins (now Wergins) bridge, through
Sutton, Bodenham moor, past Risbury and Humber, to some distance beyond
Stretford; and on the map he had traced it further north to Stony Cross, Little
Hereford, and Ashford, to Ludlow. It was still in use all the way.
Mr. Luoyp : But it is very irregular.
Mr. Epmunps: That would arise from local circumstances.
Mr. Davies: The word Stretford no doubt indicates a Roman road.
There is, I admit, as Mr. Edmunds has said, a road running in an almost
straight line, a little to the westward of Risbury, which may be traced on the
map, and the theory of its beinga Roman road is a very interesting one; but I
am inclined to think it was a British trackway from the town of Ludlow to
Risbury. As to Risbury camp, I agree with Mr. Edmunds in the main, that it
was a small British station. The illustrations we have had of Magdala show
what a British station was, only instead of having stone walls for their pro-
tection, the British generally threw up embankments of earth.
The PRESIDENT: With regard to the theory of this being a Roman road,
Tam sure you will be of opinion that if Mr. Davies will undertake to investigate
it, good results will follow; and if Mr. Davies will do so, and report at a future
meeting, we shall be very much obliged to him.
Mr. Davies: Ishall be happy to do what I can, but it eannot be in better
hands than Mr. Edmunds’s.
The PRESIDENT: It is understood that a report will be made upon the
subject at the August meeting.
Dr. M’CutLoven then read for Dr, Chapman the following interesting
and valuable paper :—
26
ON THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF HYLESINUS
OCCURRING IN THIS DISTRICT.
By Dr. CHAPMAN, ABERGAVENNY.
The genus Hylesinus belongs to a family of the Rhkyncophora, or weevils,
named from it the HYLESINIDA, also called by some authors the XYLOPHAGA, and
classed as a distinct section.
The Hylesinidz have the head rounded and sunk in a deep socket in the
thorax ; the rostrum or snout so characteristic of the weevils is nearly obsolete ;
the autennz have a long basal joint, and are more or less clubbed at the ex-
tremity, and with never more than ten joints ; the mandibles are very strong and
prominent, though short; the extremity of the tibiz hooked, and the third
tarsal joint bilobed ; the larve are footless grubs, All the species are small,
black or dull brown in colour, cylindrical in shape, and especially rounded on the
upper surface,
It is a very natural group, all the species being very similar in appearance
and habits ; most of them pass their lives in the inner bark of trees, in which
some of them commit great devastations.
The species of Hylesinus are more rounded than those of the other genera
of the XYLOPHAGA. They possess autenne with an oval elongate club, and tibize
obsoletely spurred.
The perfect insect forms a burrow or gallery in the cambium layer of
the bark of recently fallen trees, along the sides of which the eggs are deposited ;
the larvee feed in the inner bark during the ensuing months, whilst it still
retains a modified vitality, and complete their metamorphosis in time to renew
the same cycle the ensuing year. The species of Hylesinus form their burrows
transversely to the fibres of the tree; most of the other genera of the family
form them parallel with them, The larvz, starting at right angles to the parent
burrow, form theirs in the reverse direction or nearly so, their increase in size
makes them diverge from each other and produces rather a fan-shaped marking.
Of the four species of Hylesinus which occur in England, one, Hylesinus
Oleiperda, which is like a little round dumpy Hylesinus crenatus, we will dismiss
at once, as I have not succeeded in meeting with it in this district, The two
species to which I have directed most attention, Hylesinus crenatus and
Hylesinus Frawini, are attached to the ash tree (Hraxinus excelsior). The
fourth species, Hylesinus vittatus, is attached to the elm tree, and is fairly
abundant in this district. It is difficult, however, to say of any species of the
XYLOPHAGA whether it is abundant or not, as, however difficult it may be to
find it, when found it is almost certain to be in some numbers. Thus, though
H. crenatus is a scarce species, I could have taken it last winter in almost
unlimited numbers. Hylesinus Fraxini is, nevertheless, an undoubtedly
abupdant species, At this season (May 22) it may be found on any recently
HYLESINUS AND ITS WOOD SCULPTURINGS.
1.—Hylesinus Fraxini, natural size.
a. 3 . magnified.
b. Fo oP . lateral view.
«.d.¢. Portion of a log of Ash in which H. Frawini has been
reared ; on one side the remains of the bark are removed, shewing
at c. the sculpturing of the surface of the wood, the horizontal
line being the parent gallery, the vertical lines the grooves cut by
the larve ; at d. the upper half only of the parent gallery is
removed, showing the row of eggshells along its lower side, these
retain the appearance of the fresh eggs except that they contam
only larval frass. At e. the undisturbed bark shews the exit
‘apertures of the young beetles.
jf. A transverse section (magnified) of a parent gallery ‘after the
‘larve are hatched; the young larva being developed in the egg
with its head towards the surface, leaves the shell from its upper
part, and as it proceeds, stuffs the shell behind it with frass.
A thin layer of parental frass covers the free surface of the
eggshell.
2.—Aylesinus crenatus.
a, ———. - magnified,
b. Section of Ash bark, with parent burrow of H.crenatus, shewing
the deep depressions for the eggs, and the irregular tracks of the
larve.
3.—fylesinus vitiatus.
a.
%. Bark of Elm, shewing parental and larval burrows of H. vitiatus,
about one-third larger than the natural size. The pup are indif-
ferently at either end of the short cylindrical larval burrows.
magnified.
8.
‘
'
WOOD sCULPTURING
an iy
ree G
[= ; VV
“+
appa Sikes fee S800n- BCU LPTURIBIGR _
_ at
Bi etns Game yas. aber “or ‘ 4 ish
hte.
} ru view. “ , ; ’
a highs ae Seok toh esky Sok while U2. Praceing Juan ee? = an
Seki) at teed tbe conmmins of the bark are removed, shewing™°"”
et & Ge etelpheing of the surface of the wood, the boriscwtall
jine belmg the parent gullery, the vartien! Jines the grooves cathy — r-
che larvae at de the upper half only of the parent..gallery ie. i .
removed, showing the row of eggshells along its lower sada, these ’
retain the appearance of the fresh eggs: except that they je@mtaiat:--
only isrval frase. At @ the undisturbed bark shews the exit >.
f A tesinavere section (magnified) of a parent gallery eftee Shas yee
uviit wre batched; the young larvs being developed im thi Og® wets 2
wich ita bend tonariy tho sertngs, loetos the ebell from its apper
port, tack ax It. yroctrnlah ato) the oball beitind. 16 with Qemete
& Wie lapee ot pemadel eee comme fle free surtede aif BRIS
ko teens crreniitys.
e, cintetene, —senmmm stepwified. a ;
4 Sarton of Ash bark, With parent bannew of Aerenatue, shewiig
Gor dep depressions for the eggs, and the trreguiar tracks of this
here ae:
~
Ne
tack
+. Bark of Bim, shewing parental and larval burrows of A. vittasiang) 2
abowt‘ one-third larger than the natural size. Tho pupa ane indi: ——
forcuthy at either end of the short cylindrical herwad Dyrdt
RRR
Sa (\
CL}N SA
HYLESINUS AND ITS WOOD SCULPTURINGS.
Torr
27
felled ash timber, busily engaged in oviposition. It is about two lines in length,
is clothed above with cincreous and fuscous scales, beneath with an ashy pile,
antenne ferruginous, with a large acuminated fuscous club, legs piceous, tarsi
ferruginous ; it is extremely variable in colour, being of different hues of
black, piceous, ferruginous, or testaceous, sometimes ochraceous, with the legs
and antenne paler; usually it is ferruginous, with irregular piceous markings.
H. Fraxini appears very decidedly to prefer recently fallen timber to the
growing tree; they will even attack wood that has been cut many months,
Early in May the perfect beetles are often to be seen swarming about fresh ash
logs; they arrive on the wing, and prefer the warm sunshine of the early
morning for their flight; they must often travel considerable distances. They
bore very rapidly, however, into the bark. The female commences the gallery
by boring obliquely towards the wood, usually in a slightly upward direction, in
large timber choosing the deepest part of a crevice of the bark; in younger
wood a knot or other irregularity determines the preference, so that, unless the
frass lies about the aperture, they are difficult to detect. Frass, I may explain,
is a term applied to any detritus caused by insects, and especially to the sawdust,
&c., made by wood-boring beetles. Usually before the female beetle has quite
buried itself in the bark, the male arrives, and is waiting to enter the burrow,
if not, the female bores down to the wood, and there awaits his coming ; and I
believe I have met with burrows uncompleted because the male insect did not
appear. I have satisfied myself that each pair of beetles first meet after the
female has commenced the burrow. In a few days the two beetles are to be
found rapidly extending the gallery in both directions from the aperture of
entry, close to the wood and usually slightly in it, and transversely to its fibres,
I suspect each of the beetles excavates a branch, but I have found no
means of observing them at work, as opening the gallery always stops them, and
itis possible that the female does the greater part of the excavation, as I have
always found her further from the aperture of entry when both were in the same
branch of the burrow ; the male is also oftener at its opening, and eggs are laid
along each as rapidly as it is formed, not unfrequently the branches of the
gallery are of very unequal length, so much so that sometimes there is practically
only one—possibly both beetles work together. Undoubtedly the greater part
of the excavated material is eaten; in captivity the beetles will live a long
time with fresh ash bark, without it they soon die. Most insects on their
escape from the pupal state contain their eggs ready to be laid and requiring only
fertilization, but in these, as in many of the more active Coleoptera, the eggs
are developed after attaining the perfect state. In the case of Hylesinus Fraxini
the female is often bulkier when the burrow is half completed than on entering
it, and the eggs laid by a single pair must often exceed in aggregate mass the
original bulk of the female beetle. The domestic habits and family relations
of these beetles deserve further attention. The following suggestive experiment
_ was made: A burrow was partially opened, some few eggs had been laid, each
p2
28
beetle was then blockaded by a bit of bark in a branch of the burrow, and for
each sufficient space was left for air and the discharge of frass. A week after
each beetle had eaten a narrower burrow just long enough to hold it, merely to
sustain life, contrasting with the wider burrow outside, but no more eggs had
been laid.
The eggs are laid along both sides of the burrows, usually at very regular
intervals, in little hollows dug out to receive them, leaving the gallery of full
size for the beetles within it. They are covered with a gummy material, which
soon gets a coating of the finer frass. These eggs being laid in rotation, form a
good series for observing the development of the larvze within the egg, the first
being often hatched and the young grub boring into the bark before the last is
laid. Their longest axis is perpendicular to the surface, and the young larve
are developed within the eggs with their heads toward it. The eggs
laid in one burrow vary from 15 to 40 or 50, or even 60 to 100. The
gallery is finished and the eggs laid in from ten to twenty days. During
the ejection of the frass, particles adhere by a gummy matter, and form an
operculum to the mouth of the burrow, leaving only a minute opening for frass,
which on the completion of the burrow is stopped up. Both beetles then usually
die in the burrow; the female always does so, The dead beetles may still be
found lying in the burrows after several years.
During the summer the larve are busily feeding in the bark. They are
straight, white, footless, fleshy grubs, with a distinct head and powerful
mandibles. In some of my specimens they are already (May 22) hatched. In the
autumn they assume the pupa state, and shortly the imago. The perfect beetles,
however, usually remain during the winter at the ends of the burrows formed
by the larvae, and emerge in spring to continue their ravages, leaving a very
distinct circular aperture ; on a sculptured piece of bark all the very obvious
holes are apertures of exit, those of entry being very obscure.
It often happens that the parent beetles have made their burrows so close
together that the supply of bark is quite inadequate to the wants of the larve,
so that their very abundance is its own remedy, and most of them perish. In
other instances the vitality of the bark ceases before the larve are full fed, the
tree having fallen too long when attacked, so that but a small proportion
usually comes to maturity.
I have remarked the preference of this species (Hylesinus Frawini) for
fallen timber, nevertheless they do occur on living trees. On almost any young
ash tree marks may be found shewing that a burrow had been formed and a
brood of Hylesinus Fraxini perfected, and that the tree is now exfoliating the
destroyed bark. Sometimes I think the growth and vigour of the trees appear
to have been decidedly checked by them; and though I have not met with an
example, I doubt not that trees are occasionally killed by this beetle. In other
instances trees with these marks appear to be uninjured. Where they are
injurious they may be extirpated by cutting down affected trees, stripping off
7 -%
29
and burning the bark, &c.; but as I suspect that it is the want of dying timber
which forces them to attack living trees, I would suggest that placing fresh logs,
during the spring months, in the neighbourhood of affected trees, as traps, and
destroying the beetles which come to them, would be more effectual.
Hylesinus crenatus, which is also an ash feeder, is larger than Hylesinus
Fraxini, three to four lines in length, and proportionately a stouter insect,
giving it a more rounded and less cylindrical appearance ; entirely black ; some
fine ferruginous hairs on the tibie and head ; thorax minutely pitted; elytra
with eleven rows of small tubercles, which give a rough appearance to the beetle.
Though widely distributed and abundant when it does occur, like the Xylophaga
it seems to be anything but generally common. I have found one tree which
owed its fall to its operations. The beetle had obviously been in possession
many years; it had commenced the attack near the foot of the tree, on one
side the bark was destroyed by it round more than half the circumference of
the tree, and to a height of 15 or 20 feet, the limbs above being dead. A zone
surrounding this contained the insect in all its stages, the remainder was still
unattacked. The portion of bark longest destroyed had fallen away, and the
wood beneath was in possession of Sinodendron Cylindricum and Dorcus
parallelopipedus, and was rapidly rotting. The tree was blown over in one of
the gales of last winter. I have also found Hylesinus crenatus sparingly in several
other trees, all pollarded or otherwise sickly. Unlike H. Frawini, H. Crenatus
takes two years to undergo its transformations, the larve assuming the pupal state
at the end of the second summer, so that at present full-grown larve and perfect
beetles are both to be met with. Felled timber would be unable to support this
long larval existence, Hylesinus crenatus accordingly is never met with except
in living trees, and while an affected tree continues alive I believe that none of
the beetles desert it for another. They economise it as much as possible, the
destroyed bark being more completely riddled and devoured by them than by any
other beetle of the family I am acquainted with ; the burrows of the larve are
much more irregular also, so that it is impossible to find one of those perfect maps
of their voyages (as in Hylesinus Fraxini) which have secured for these beetles
asa family the name of ‘“‘typographers.” Last winter the blown down tree I
have mentioned contained hundreds of the perfect insect ready to emerge on the
approach of spring, and but for the fall of the tree would have made their
burrows in it again, but now they have all left it, so that last week I had
difficulty in finding a specimen, H. Frawini, of which odd specimens only were to
be found during the winter, now on the contrary abounds init. The parent
galleries of H. crenatus are proportionally much shorter than those of H.
Fraxini, and more frequently consist of only one branch, the male and female
both enter the burrow as with H. Frawini, but the male usually leaves before the
gallery is quite completed. The eggs are fewer than with Fraxini, and laid in
a deeper cavity, and so thickly covered with a layer of frass as to require
looking for.
30
Hylesinus crenatus appears to be generally distributed in this district, but
is hardly likely to prove very destructive ; if found to he so, the tree on which
it has formed a settlement cannot be rescued without a process of barking—as
serious as the beetle. They are not likely to attack the neighbouring trees till
driven out of their strongholds, on the fall of an affected tree therefore, they
should be destroyed, or they will establish themselves in others. At the same
time I would entera protest against waging war with any species that is to be
regarded as scarce or local. .
Hylesinus vitiatus is about half the length of Hylesinus Fraxini, and very
similar in general appearance ; it is very prettily marked and rather variable ;
most specimens present a distinct dark spot towards the base of each elytron,
surrounded by a paler cinereous area; though feeding on elm it is much more
closely allied to Hylesinus Fraxini than Hylesinus crenatus is ; its habits are just
the same, it attacks fallen elm as Hylesinus Fraxini does the ash ; its burrows
are shorter, and the two branches are very uniformly of equal length, rarely
exceeding # of an inch long; the number of eggs laid are seldom as many as 20,
and being usually placed more widely apart than those of Hylesinus Fraxini ;
the burrows of the larve are nearly parallel, giving little of that fan form seen
in the burrows of that species. It appears much less common than Hylesinus
Fraxini, though I find their burrows abundantly in a piece of elm fallen about
the end of April. The operculum of frass which closes the mouth of the burrow
is more complete than in Hylesinus Fraxini. They complete their changes in
one year. I have been unable to find any evidence of their attacking living
trees so that from an economic point of view they must be regarded as very
unimportant,
The decay and destruction of fallen timber is much facilitated by these
beetles. They partially or wholly destroy the bark; their frass-filled burrows
absorb and retain much moisture, which is almost essential to decay, and usually
the bark is so much loosened that, after a longer or shorter time, it falls off.
This rarely takes place before the wood is much injured by the funguses, for
which the damp-destroyed bark has been the nidus and by the various subcortical
species of insects for.which the beetle-burrows have opened a way. The wood
is then easily attacked by the numerous wood-feeders, various Longicorns, and
Anobia, Sinodendron, &c., who soon complete its destruction. But the necessity
for a natural method of clearing the ground of dead and dying timber has so long
ceased in this country, that we have difficulty in regarding these insects as other
than noxious pests.
My thanks are due to the President, Dr. M’Cullough, for several of my
specimens, and to Mr. Rye, to whom I.owe the accuracy of the names of species,
[This excellent paper was admirably illustrated throughout by specimens
of all the different beetles themselves, and numerous pieces of bark and wood to
31
show their different modes of boring ; the parent burrows with the eggs arranged
along the sides; and the offspring burrows, made as the larve are hatched, at
right angles to the parent burrows. In some instances the living beetles were
at work and could be easily cut out. It was received with the great interest and
applause which the trouble and ability displayed upon it richly merited. }
Che GHoolhope Aaturalists’ Sield Club,
CRUMLIN BRIDGE AND PONTYPOOL:
JUNE 19TH, 1868,
A joint meeting of the Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club and the Cardiff
Naturalists’ Society took place on Friday, at Crumlin, in-the Ebbw Vale,
and passed off very successfully.
The Woolhope members having picked up their President at Abergavenny,
came in sight of the Blorenge, the great corner-stone of the South Wales coal
field. This fine bold hill consists of Old Red Sandstone at the base, and Car-
boniferous Limestone at the top with a slight covering of Millstone Grit. After
skirting Llanover hill to Pontypool Road station, the railway then strikes
suddenly into the Coal basin through a gorge of Coal measure Sandstone, and
passing the town of Pontypool, and the Crumlin ponds, quickly reaches the
celebrated iron bridge over which it passes ‘‘by order,” at a rate ‘‘ not exceeding
eight miles an hour.”
The members of the Woolhope Club were the first to arrive at the tryst'nz
place, and at once transacted the ordinary business of the meeting. The follow-
ing new members were elected :—John Jones Merriman, Esq., Kensington ; John
Mortimer Bowen, Esq., Chancefield, Talgarth; Thos. Edward Williams, Esq.,
Talgarth ; Mr. Thos. Adams, Marden Court ; and Mr. John Andrews, Bosbury ;
and some others were proposed. Still they had time to admire the fine view
of this remarkable Viaduct from the bank of the station before the Cardiff train
arrived. It soon did so, however, and then, under the guidance of G. Phillips
Bevan, Esq., the whole party went on to the bridge, then through a trap-door
to a boarded platform between the girders, and so crossed back again to the
other side, A train passed over as the passage was made, and the vibration it
caused was certainly very considerable. Mr. Bevan here pointed out the chief
features of the bridge—the lightness and strength of the open iron work, its
33
diagonal bracings, &c., &c.—and mentioned the great expense that had been
incurred two or three years since, on the recommendation of Captain Tyler,
the Government Inspector, to give it additional security.
The Crumlin Viaduct is one of those bold works that no description can
realise. It requires to be seen to be understood. A photograph will give its
likeness no doubt, but it gives no true representation of the effect it produces.
It must be felt as well as seen. Look from its highest point on the valley
beneath, and a lower world is there, with its works, its cottages, its own railroad,
its river, its canal, its ordinary roads, and its little dwarfed men and women
moving about here and there—
“The very crows that winged the midway air
Showed scarce so gross as beetles.”
And better than all, is the wooded dingle the viaduct crosses, winding prettily
away. Pictures, and facts, and figures, with regard to any work of real mag-
nitude, are fallacies. Nevertheless, there are those who cannot be happy without
facts and figures, so here they are, broadly given, and they ought to be correct,
too, for they are derived from a Guide Book in royal octavo,—
“* All gorgeous in crimson and gold.”
“The Crumlin bridge was designed by T. W. Kennard, Esq. It is formed of
open iron work, and supported by open cross-braced iron pillars. It consists
of ten spans of 150 feet each. Its height above the valley is 200 feet. The
length of iron work is 1,500 feet, and, including the masonry, 1,658 feet. The
_materials consumed were 2,479 tons 19 ewt. of iron, 31,294 cubic feet of wood,
and 51,361 cubic feet of masonry. It was three years and a-half building,
and was opened for traffic in 1857. It cost £62,000, or about £41 7s,
per foot.”
How very little all this really conveys! It would perhaps be more simple
to say that it is the third of a mile long, and could pass over Hereford
Cathedral with 30 feet to spare. And here we leave its statistics and will only
say this more of it, that the finest artistic view the visitors got was unques-
tionably from the stile on the road towards Llanhilleth hill. Here trees
conceal the station, the works, the houses, and all that is sordid; the bridge
is in full view, with its graceful curve, at the further end; its spider-web-like
lightness is seen to the greatest advantage; the base of the pillars is concealed ;
and from a slight haze in the broad valley the imagination may picture it as deep
as it pleases, and fancy it crosses a broad river, or even a small arm of the sea.
Leaving the valley, luxuriant in the ordinary ferns, the visitors are led
up the hill; higher and drier they find it, the further they go, and the more
dusty too.
The glorious summer weather that has brought out the treasures of Flora
" _ with such exuberance and precocity in the present season, might be supposed
3 to have offered extraordinary facilities to botanical exploration, and the invoca-
34
tion of the poet Thomson in his ‘Seasons,” for Summer to display itself in
“‘a shower of roses,” has not been made in vain this year ; though to see them
“‘wither and die” with unusual celerity has been the consequence of the
exceptional high temperature which has ruled supreme almost without a single
refreshing shower, the sad experience both of the botanist in the field, and the
rose cultivator in the garden. But on this occasion the route taken by the
united Clubs, chiefly for physical geological examination, was peculiarly unfa-
vourable to botanical hunting. The flowery vales were left behind, and barren
uplands in long and wearisome extent were trod, not rising high enough for
alpine beauty, and not even in their sterile wretchedness showing an inviting
bog, where the Sun-dew or a waving tuft of silken Eriophorum might hope to
rest and adorn the waste, Nothing appeared upon the arid moor but stunted
Scirpi and withered grasses, or the stiff and wiry Juncus squarrosus. Tt was
truly depressing to botanical zeal to tread these dry rusky wastes, and the only
relief to this dreary sameness of vegetation was a slight scattering of the lowly
milk-white flowers of Galiwm saxatile here and there ; or where a miserable hedge
did make an effort to maintain existence, a dwarf solitary Rosa villosa gladdened
the eye with its deep-red petals.
Collecting in a cluster on a high portion of this broad-topped hill, they
all stretched themselves on the tufts of bog-sedge and whortleberry, to listen to
the address; and whilst some followed the lecturer closely on the large map
brought by Mr, Adams, others opened papers with more perishable contents,
—
35
ADDRESS ON THE SOUTH WALES COAL FIELD.
By G. PHILLIPS BEVAN, Ese, F.G.S., &¢.
Gentlemen of the Woolhope and Cardiff Natural History Societies, —
From the point upon which we stand, viz., the Llanhilleth-hill, we should, if the
day was somewhat clearer than it is, have a view of a very considerable portion
of the South Wales coal field; and I have selected this point because it embraces
not only the coal basin itself, but a distant view of the hills that bound it. Such
a view is especially interesting to you as geologists, not merely from its scenic
beauty, but from the associations that it calls to the memory of past geological
eras. To the North we have the Old Red eminences of the Brecon Beacons, a
little to the East of which is the isolated limestone summit of Pen Carreg
Calch. Far to the East we see the Red Sandstone of Monmouthshire, beyond
which are the collieries of the Forest of Dean; and to the North of which the
Silurian district of Usk just comes within the view, the prolongation (though
interrupted) of that district of Woolhope from which we take our name. To
the South, on the other side of the Bristol Channel, are the limestone ranges of
the Mendip Hills, fading away into the Old Red of the Quantock Hills of North
Devon. Now what do these distant views suggest? Do they not call to mind
the days before denudation had carried away its thousands of feet of intervening
strata, and when the South Wales field was united with the Somerset, the
Forest of Dean, the Shropshire, the Staffordshire, the Lancashire, and the
Trish coal fields? Even if stratigraphical geology did not prove these facts, and
even if were not possible to construct horizontal sections to prove the continuity
of these basins, we have the lithological and palontologieal evidence to help us,
as for instance in Lancashire, where the bottom coal beds which are nearest what
is there called the Canister rock, are characterised by the same peculiarity of
fossil shell that we have in South Wales. If for no other reason, therefore, the
view that we now see is a grandly suggestive one, and one can scarcely help
re-constructing in one’s mind the original condition of those earboniferous shores
which we now see so broken up and isolated.
The external shape of the South Wales coal field may be considered as
pear-shaped, the broad end of the pear being at the eastern or Pontypool end
{close to where we are standing), from whence a gradual diminution of breadth
takes place westward as far as Carmarthenshire, which we may consider the
stalk of the pear. In its long axis this distance is from 60 to 70 miles, while
the greatest breadth of the field is from Hirwain to Cardiff, a distance of some
24 miles. The whole of the circumference, or nearly the whole, is surrounded
by a tolerably uniform belt of Mountain Limestone, which on all sides towards
the coal field is overlaid by an equally uniform bed of Millstone Grit; but
away from it overlooks the Red Sandstone valleys in remarkably fine escarp-
B2
36
ments. On the north and east sides the Limestone is continuous and persistent,
but on the south, beyond Caerphilly, it is considerably intercepted by inter-
vening patches of Permian and Lias deposits, Further west, at Swansea Bay,
the Limestone is wanting altogether, the coal beds of the Swansea district being
exposed on the shore and running under the bay ; but from Mumbles to Pem-
brokeshire the Limestone reappears in great force, forming the magnificent
coast-line for which Gower and Tenby are so celebrated. Nearly all the north
crop, which at the east end near Llangattoc is about 250 feet in thickness, is
extensively quarried for the various furnaces and iron works in the neighbour-
hood ; one reason indeed of their original establishment being the vicinity of this
Limestone, which is necessary as a flux in the smelting of iron ore.
Lying conformably on the Carboniferous Limestone, is a thin belt of
Millstone Grit, which, like the limestone, is thickest on the North and East
crops, and gradually diminishes Westward. On the South crop it is only a few
yards in breadth. Here (on the North crop) it is of some scenic importance, as
. it forms an extensive plateau from which the various rivers of the Coalfield take
their rise. The junction of the Millstone Grit with the Limestone is well seen
at the Trefil Quarries, where, indeed, great boulders of conglomerate (plum-
pudding stone) roll over the edges of the quarries and mix with the debris of
the Limestone. Commercially speaking, the Millstone Grit, which is of an
exceedingly hard quartzose character, is unimportant, it being only used for
hearth-stones and for sand employed by the moulders in the furnaces. To the
geologist it is interesting simply as an horizon, the fossil remains in it being
limited to a few indistinct Calamites and some annelid tracks,
We now arrive at the veritable Coalbeds, which in this case we see repose
conformably on the Millstone Grit in regular geologic succession. They do not
always do so— as for instance in South Staffordshire, where the Grit, Limestone,
and Old Red are absent, and the Coalbeds repose directly on the Silurian
Rocks, and in Cumberland, where they lie upon the Limestone, without the
interposition of the Grit. On the other hand, the Grit, which in South Wales
is regular, though only to a small extent, becomes in the North of England a
very important feature, and constitutes large Moorland districts. And now,
before we pass to the consideration of the Coalbeds themselves, I would briefly
direct your attenti_n to the physical conformation of the Coalfield, which to a
geologist is full of the most significant and interesting facts. At the point,
or I should rather say the line, where the Lower Coal Measures crop out on
the Millstone Grit there is a singular and uniform depression, or nick, which has
been taken advantage of on the North crop by the London and North Western
Railway to carry their line through Brynmawr and Beaufort to Tredegar,
eventually to be extended to Merthyr. Immediately to the South of this line
is seen a very singular series of terraced hills, rising suddenly to the height of
1,800 feet, or thereabouts, each hill being very nearly of the same height, and
presenting to the North the same kind of face, viz., a series of terraces or
ae
37
ancient sea-beaches. Between each one of these hills runs North and South a
deep valley, conveying the drainage of the Millstone Grit plateau to the sea,
and serving as an outlet to the shipping ports of the mineral treasures of the
Coal-hasin. The extraordinary feature of these valleys is their extreme regu-
larity and similarity, and apart from their mineral value, they are full of beauty.
The mountains rise on each side with great steepness, leaving at the bottom just
room for the river, which is usually fringed in the most charming manner with
wild overhanging woods. The native quiet and isolation of these valleys is
considerably spoilt by the railways which run up every one of them, but even
now there is sufficient beauty to attract the tourist, who, however, very seldom
penetrates these unknown districts. From Pontypool to Aberdare, parallel
valleys are exceedingly regular, those of the Afon, the Ebbw, the Sirhowy, and
the Rhymney converging to the port of Newport; the Taff, with its subsidiary
valley of the Cynon, the Dare, the Bargoed Taff, the Rhondda, and the Ely
finding their outlet at Cardiff. Westward the Ogmore and the Llynvi run down
to Porthcawl, the Neath and the Corrwg to Briton Ferry and Neath, the Tawe
to Swansea, the Lloughor to Llanelly, and the Gwendraeth to Kidwelly. How
then do we account for these valleys, and the general configuration of the Coal-
basin? I believe that the Coalfield was the subject of the following movements,
and although I am aware that my views may be objected to on several points,
Icannot come to any other conclusion, after many years’ study of the district.
I consider that the first great epoch was—
1.—The deposition of the Lower Beds (the basin being divided, as we shall
see further on, into Lower and Upper beds).
2.—Their subsidence—and so far the South Wales field has the same
geological history as any other Coal field.
3. —The occurrence of a great westerly force.
Many eminent geologists, including Sir Henry De la Beche, advocated
this theory, which certainly seems to me to account for a great deal of both
outward and inward formation of the Coal basin. Suppose we take a plain even
surface of clay or mud, enclose it in a box, and then apply an unequal pressure
at the side, what would be the result? Why, just such a crumpling up and
folding of strata as we see here before us. There will be miniature parallel hills
and valleys on the surface of the clay, just as there is in the Coal field. Sir H.
de la Beche considered that this force, whatever it was, had its greatest intensity
at some point in what is now St. George’s Channel, between Wales and
Treland. If we drop a stone into water we see that concentric waves are formed,
decreasing in intensity as the distance from the disturbance increases. Now,
this is just what we see in the Coalfield. In Pembrokeshire (which would be
the nearest point to the disturbance) we have the coal strata contorted and
disarranged ; we have the occurrence of Trap Rocks, the only point any where
near the coal field where they occur, and we have the concentrated anthracitic
tendency showing itself all over the Lower Measures ; this anthracitic character
38
gradually diminishing as we come eastward (away from the centre of dis-
turbance), and dieing out altogether as we approach the East Crop, near
Rhymney, where the coals become entirely bituminous. Now, geologists are
very much divided as to the cause of anthracite or stone coal. Some say that
the cause is chemical, and is still going on; but to this my answer is,—Why
should not the chemical agency be exerted over the whole of the field, instead
of gradually decreasing in the way that the anthracitic tendency does? and,
moreover, in the very districts of Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, where
the anthracitic character is strongest in the Lower Measures, the Upper Measure
Coals within two or three miles distance, are entirely bituminous. If it was a
chemical force still going on, how is it that force does not alter the Upper
Measures in the very same area as the Lower Measures? We find that this
same force had an equal effect in the other direction, viz., in Ireland, the coals
in the Kilkenny Basin being equally anthracitic with those of Pembrokeshire.
Does not this bear out the theory of a central and radiating disturbance ?
Whatever might have been the cause of this disturbance (and I am of
opinion that it was one of Plutonic agency), it seems to me that it took place
after the deposition of the Lower Measures, and before the deposition of the
Upper Measures, the character of which was consequently left untouched.
Another consequence of this force was not only to alter the configuration
of the basin interiorly and the character of the coals, but also to cause lesions or
fractures in the coals themselves. The results of these fractures were large
“ faults,” which we find running down and parallel with nearly every valley, as
though the formation of the valley and the fault were synchronous. These
faults contribute much to the main drainage of the valley, afterwards deepened
by the action of the surface rivers.
4.—The next great era was the deposit of the Upper Measures, which,
wherever they are found, seem to be but little or not at all affected by the main
or big faults of the Lower Measures.
5.—Then there ensued a gradual elevation of the whole basin, the effects
of which we see in the parallel terraces, or sea beaches on the hills of the North
Crop, each terrace marking a period of rest when the waves of the Permian
sea washed the bases of the Coal-measure hills.
6.—The last and perhaps most important change was denudation, which
has left the Coalfield mainly asitis now. The extent of this denudation may
be imagined when I tell you that Professor Ramsay estimated that 9000 feet
of Upper Coal Measures have been carried away, and that from the very district
on which we stand the whole of the Upper Measures have been swept away, with
the exception of a small area of coal which is called the Mynyddwslyn vein,
and which supplies the house coal of Newport and Cardiff. This little patch,
which is now nearly worked out, represents in the eastern portion of the field
this 9000 feet of Upper Measures. But westward beyond the Rhondda-valley,
39
the Upper Measures are found to increase in thickness towards Neath and
Swansea, where they are very valuable. Where all this coal has gone to I
would rather not speculate, except that we may reasonably suppose that it
has helped to form new strata of a subsequent geological era, Such then,
according to my notions, is the geological history of the South Wales Coalfield.
Let us now look briefly into the interior, from which so many fortunes
have been realized, and in which still more have been lost, for nothing is so
precarious as coal-mining, especially now-a-days, when in addition to the uncer-
tainties of the earth’s strata the colliery owner has to put up with the certainty
of colliers’ strikes and the destructive influence of trades’ unions. No matter
what is the state of affairs in the commercial world, no matter what capital he
has invested, no matter whether he is a good master or a bad master, he has to
encounter sooner or later the unreasoning and unreasonable hatred of delegates
and stump orators, who soon destroy in their listeners every sentiment of good
feeling between the employer and the employed, and every particle of gratitude.
The South Wales colliers have only just emerged from one of these clouds (by no
means the first), and if they ever stop to consider the consequences, they
might see them in the banishment of trade to other places, the stoppage of
collieries and works, and in the increase of the poor rates.
With regard to the interior of the Coalfield, I have already alluded to
the Upper Measures, or rather what remains of them in this district. They
consist of two veins of coal—the Mynyddslwyn vein and the Troedyrhiw vein ;
the latter the lowest in position, and separated from the other by some 250
yards of sandstone. These sandstones are a very important feature in the
outward appearance of the Coal-basin, as they form the long ranges separating
the parallel valleys, and which I have described as “‘ terraced” at the bend of
the North Crop. They are usually called Pennant Sandstones, and are hard
micaceous rocks, only good for roofing purposes. In some parts of the district
they become a white silicious conglomerate, and are then known as the Cock-
shoot Rocks, which form a useful horison to the mining engineer. But although
the Pennant Rocks in the east of the basin contain only these two seams of coal,
they soon thicken as they go westward, and become more valuable as to their
mineral contents; the Town-hill, near Swansea, which is of these beds, contain-
- ing 12 seams of coal, It has been the fashion with some geologists to speak of
the Pennant Rocks as the Middle Coal Measures, but it seems to be a useless
division, and tends to confusion. Some distance below the Troedyrhiw coal we
came upon the Old Man’s Coal and the Soap Vein, the uppermost beds of the
Lower Measures. Now, although from their association with the Ironstone
Measures, the Lower Cual Measures are very much more important and valuable
than the Upper Measures, I will not detain you with a seriatim descviption of
each seam, but will merely glance at the general arrangement of the strata and
their fossil remains, which, to us, is doubtless the most interesting part of the
subject. From the North Crop, where (as the name implies) the coals crop
40
out or come to the surface, the Lower Coal Measures dip to the south with great
regularity at an angle of four or five degrees. From the fact of their cropping
out here, and their being workable with comparative economy, and also from
their association with the iron ores, this district has become famous for its
extensive ironworks, such as Blaenafon, Nantyglo, Blaina, Abersychan, Ebbw
Vale, Rhymney, Dowlais, Cyfarthfa, Aberdare, and so on, all of which places
depended on the close vicinity of Coal, Iron-ore, and Limestone. But as time has
passed, circumstances have changed, and the railway system, which then was
unknown, has revolutionised the iron trade, as it has other things. The Welsh
Clayband or Argillaceous ore, upon which all the works depended, is, in many
places, nearly worked out, and the supply is, instead, kept up by foreign ores,
such as the Hematite from Cumberland, Oolitic ore from Northampton, Magnetic
ore from Elba, Spathose ore from Somersetshire, &c. ; the great demand enabling
the expensive item of carriage to be brought down to a price that enables
foreign ore to compete with native ore.
The Lower Coal Measures then are easily accessible at the North Crop,
but they gradually become deeper and more difficult to get at, and, at a distance
of six or seven miles, are practically inaccessible to the coal-owner from their
great depth. Perhaps when our experience in deep mining is improved, we
shall find means to work coal seams at a depth of 3,000 or 4,000 feet, but up
to this time the difficulties of obtaining respirable air and ventilation are insuper-
able. I believe myself that the coal-cutting machine will be one of the principal
agents in bringing about this state of things, but at present it seems asif the
age was not ripe for it; for the coal-masters, though confessing its ingenuity
and powers, seem shy of introducing it. I have no doubt but that the feeling of
the colliers will be generally against it, and in these days we have sufficient
storms in the mine atmosphere without rushing into others. Nevertheless, the
day will come, most assuredly, when machinery will compel the collier to acknow-
ledge a higher power than himself. Fortunately for the owners of mineral
property about the centre of the basin, we find some of the effects of the
great westerly force, in the shape of a large saddle. or anticlinal, that runs in
the long axis of the Coalfield from Newbridge in Monmouthshire to the Rhondda
Valley in Carmarthenshire. Its course underground is very fairly marked above
ground by a corresponding depression in the hills, of which the Great Western
Company have taken advantage to run their railway from Pontypool to Quaker’s
Yard. The practical value of this anticlinal is to render accessible the deep
measure coals that would otherwise be too far down to be worked, and conse-
quently at the Abercarn Collieries, a little to the South of the Newbridge
anticlinal, and at the Maesteg Works in Glamorganshire, the effects of it are
seen. Between this anticlinal on the South crop is another ‘‘roll” or saddle,
of much smaller dimensions. The South crop itself so far differs in its charac-
teristics from the North crop that the strata are at an extraordinarily steep
angle, from 30 to 40 degrees, as if they had been set up on edge.
41
I will close these remarks with a brief outline of the zones of life that
these Lower Measures exhibit, and I would observe that they are not merely
interesting as a geological study, but have their value as a means of identifying
the various seams. Unfortunately, almost every valley has its own nomenclature,
so that seams which are obviously the same are called by different names, very
much to the confusion of the practical geology of the district. My friend, Mr.
Adams, however (whom, by the way, I must congratulate on the strong force
of naturalists with which he has this day opened the campaign of the Cardiff
Society), with myself and one or two other observers, have succeeded, during
several years’ careful work, in proving the existence of certain special fossils
in their own special zones of coals, an account of which, together with illus-
trations, you may see in the Geological Survey, No. III., ‘Iron Ores of South
Wales.”
Commencing from above downwards we have—
Soap vein ; iron ore, containing ferns, worm burrow and shells, Anthracomya.
Black pins; iron. Ferns and shells, Anthracosia.
Elled coal. Very abundant in ferns, of which some 20 or 30 species have
been found. (See Geologist,) Vol. I. Page 124.
af
2.
3.
4. Big vein coal.
5. Big vein mine; iron. Shells, Anthracosia.
6. Three-quarter coal.
7. Three-quarter mine; iron. Shells, Anthracomya.
8. Bydylog coal.
a
Pin Will Shone mine; iron. Shells, Athyris planosulcata—the highest
known occurrence of this shell, which is a Mountain Limestone species,
10. Darren mine ; iron. Shells, Anthracosia, Myalina, &c.
11. Engine coal and mine; iron. Shells, Spirifer, Productus, &e.
12. Gloin goch Bach coal.
13. Yard coal.
14. Old coal.
15. Black band mine; iron. Shells, Anthracosia; fish, Rhizodus.
16. Spotted vein mine; iron. Crustacean tracks, Spirorbis carbonarius.
I7. Red vein mine; iron. Shells, Anthracosia, Modiola, Edmondia, &c.
18. Blue vein mine; iron, Shells, Myalina, Spirorbis.
19. Bottom vein coal.
20. Bottom vein mine; iron. Fishes, Megalichthys, Palconiscus, Amblypterus,
Helodus, &e.
21. Rosser veins; iron and coal.
This latter is a most interesting series, lying in a rock called the ‘‘ Fare-
well Rock,” close above the Millstone Grit. The obvious impossibility of finding
coal at a lower depth has given it this name. In the Rosser veins a very large
number of marine shells and fishes have been discovered, and I succeeded in
_ tracing the vein, with its fossil contents, through the whole of the North crop,
a distance of 60 or 70 miles.
42
No less than 33 species of shells, besides fish and encrinital remains,
have been identified in these beds,
In this very brief outline I have endeavoured to lay before you the most
salient points in the basin which we are now overlooking, and I sincerely trust
that the members of the Cardiff club will work out in their’ domain many
hitherto unravelled questions on the Coal Formation.
The address was listened to throughout with very great interest, and on
its conclusion the route was continued for Pontypool, A straight road, three
miles along the ridge of the hill, leads to the town—but there was an abundance
of dust upon it and a hedge on either side—so when a deep dingle appeared it
was irresistable, and down its sides they went. It proved to be the ‘‘Cwm-
ffrwdor” or the valley of the Coldbrook, and a charming valley it was, clothed
with underwood, with ever-changing views, and a brook with as pleasant a noise
as one would well wish to hear ona hot day. Its water, however, was not
drinkable, it was muddy itself, and coated the stones it ran over with iron
oxides,
The dingle was really beautifully leafy, and looked hopeful though
watered by a stream whose turbid current was not at all comparable to that of
Tlissus or the sparkling fountain described in such brilliant terms by Horace.
However, in this glen, and beside a stream once probably pure with mountain
freshness, there were seated several plants worthy of note, if not of the rarest
kind ; and the Ferns especially clustered there, suggestive of a descent from their
progenitors of the Carboniferous Limestone ; and here Polypodium Dryopteris
flourished in abundance, and the pretty Beech-fern (P. phegopteris) was almost
in equal plenty ; while Zustrca dilatata, and the elegant Lady-fern (Athyrium
filix-femina) grew in great beauty and luxuriance, as well as Blechnum boreale in
scattered tufts, There was also a variety of LD. dilatata, with recurved pinnules,
that excited some discussion and difference of opinion, and the fern-lovers took
the opportunity to fill their vasculums to repletion. A few other plants were
also noticed here among the bushes, as the Vaccinium myrtillus in young fruit,
Hypericum dubium, and a considerable quantity of the blue-flowered Jasione
montana. Brambles were already in flower close upon the footsteps of the
Roses, and some of the rarer ones met the view of the critical stucdent of Rubi.
These were Rubus suberectus, seldom seen but in sub-alpine places, R. ferox
and R. carpinifolius, while the Raspberry (2. Idwus) appeared to be quite
common. Some other general plants were perhaps rather too much in the
ascendant even here, as Orchis maculata and Carduus palustris. The rarest
plant gathered on this excursion was the umbelliferous Myrrhis odorata, which
Mr. E, Lees found growing in some quantity in a spot near the entrance of
Cwmffrwdor, and which is a plant mostly confined to ‘pastures in hilly
districts.”
Ot.
ie
a
43
Perhaps the most remarkable feature in the secluded Cwmffrwdor, and
which gave a most picturesque character to the dingle, was the numerous old
monstrous Beech trees that were seattered on its sides, scarcely indeed growing
there, for most of them were dead, or in the throes of decrepitude and decay
from whatever cause, while some rudely overthrown looked like huge pachyderms
of bye-gone ages left abandoned to rottenness and the gnawing tooth of time.
Many had lost their bark, others their branches, all were mutilated in some
degree ; and a visit to this deep glen by moonlight in the winter season might
assist the imaginative pencil of a Fuseli, or inspire descriptions of fright and
horror in a poet inclined to imitate some of the descriptions of Dante in his
Inferno.” Even Hood might have had some such narrow valley before his
view in one of his poems, where he says—
“Tt was a wild and solitary glen,
Made gloomy by the shade of beeches dark,
Whose up-turned roots like bones of bury’d men
Rose through the rotten soil for fear’s remark ;
A hundred horrid boles jagged and stark,
Struggled with crooked arms in hideous fray.”
and even now, in leafy June, and in the blaze of day, these bleached beeches,
some stretching their bare bony arms in mid air, and others partially invested
with ivy, had a spectral appearance it was impossible to avoid remarking. A fine
specimen of the red-backed shrike, Lanius collurio, was seated at the end of a
dead bough, and flew off as the members approached. On leaving this secluded
glen and entering upon the common ways of life, a feature that is more observ-
able in Monmouthshire than in most other counties was evident in the great
quantity of the common elder (Sambucus nigra), which, now in full flower,
covered the hedges with its sulphur-tinted umbels.
On either side of Cwmffrwdor was a steep tramway incline, where the
full waggons draw up the empty ones, and such natives as were seen had a black
_ and grimy aspect.
In passing over the hill J. Milward, Esq., of Cardiff, picked up a shrew
mouse, Sorex araneus, lying dead in the road, without apparent injury. It isa
curious fact, says Dr. Baird, that every autumn immense numbers of these
little creatures (the smallest of British mammals) are found dead on our foot-
paths and roads. The cause of this great mortality has not been sufficiently
explained. The harmless little animal has much interest attached to it. It is
very common, but is seldom to be seen in the daytime. It burrows in banks
amongst the roots of trees and in brushwood. It feeds on worms and grubs,
for the pursuit of which, among the close herbage and on the surface of the soil,
its long and thin-pointed snout is admirably adapted. Cats will kill them, as
was probably the case with our luckless littlé wight, but they won’t eat them,
though weasels, and hawks, and owls will greedily do so.
__ Then, too, there is the curious old superstition with reference to the
shrew mouse, that it seriously injured any cattle it crept over by the mere
touch of its body, producing paralysis and divers other ills, The remedy for
; ¥2
44
this was the leaves of a ‘‘Shrew-ash,” growing in consecrated ground. Gilbert
White, in his ‘‘ Selborne,” mentions a Shrew-ash which was regarded with great
veneration, growing ‘‘at the south corner of the plestor, or area near the church.”
“The Shrew-ash is made thus,” he says:—‘‘Into the body of the tree a hole
was bored with an auger, anda poor devoted shrew mouse was thrust in alive,
and plugged in, no doubt with several quaint incantations long since forgotten.”
The Cwm-firwdor joins lower down the ‘‘ Cwm-nant-ddu,” on the valley
of the black stream, and the brooks unite to form the Avon-llwyd, or the gray
river, which runs through Pontnewynydd and Pontypool.
At Pontnewynydd all the forges were out and the buildings deserted, and
but for the bold chimney which bears bravely its misfortune, the whole works
would look ruinous. Leaving the enormous mounds of shale thrown out from
the works in the Cwm-nant-ddu, and passing many rows of white-washed
cottages, Pontypool was soon reached. Here again the tin-plate works were
deserted, and that enormous steam-hammer, which formerly heat night and day
incessantly, was silent. How the night’s rest of the good people at Pontypool
must have been disturbed when it ceased to lull them to sleep! The town
seemed unusually quiet, which might have been due to the closed works, but
more probably to the time of day. The strong body of naturalists, however,
created some little sensation, and the wonder ran, what was it all about? A
welcome was ready at the ‘‘ Three Cranes,” and good preparation had been made
in the spacious room there. Whilst some few take a stroll in the beautiful park
of Pontypool, and others try to get rid of the dust, we will take the opportunity
of telling who they were.
The members of the Woolhope Club present were—Dr. M‘Cullough, the
president; the Rev. H. C. Key and Jas. Rankin, Esq., M.A., vice-presidents ;
Phillips Bevan, Esq., F.G.S., &c., and Edwin Lees, Esq., F.L.8., &c., honorary
members; John Edward Lee, Esq., F.G.S., &c., The Priory, Caerleon; R.
Lightbody, Esq., Ludlow; the Rev. Berkeley L. Stanhope; Elmes Y. Steele,
Esq., Abergavenny; Dr. Bull; Arthur Armitage, Esq.; the Rev. E. Du Buisson ;
T. Cam, Esq.; the Rev. F. Merewether; the Rev. HE. Malleson; the Rev. R. H.
Williams ; Wm. Aston, Esq.; the Rev. J. H. Jukes; J. Jancey, Esq.; the Rev.
T. West; C. H. Gardiner, Esq.; George Cocking, Esq., Ludlow ; D. R. Harrison,
Esq.; the Rev. J. E. Jones; John Lambe, Esq.; E. Cowtan, Esq.; C. G. Martin,
Esq.; Alfred Purchas, Esq.; Dr. Davies, Abersychan; T. G. Matthews, Esq.,
Ludlow; Edward Jones, Esq., Varteg; Mr. John Andrews; and Mr, Arthur
Thompson.
The Cardiff Naturalists’ Society was represented by the President, Wm.
Adams, Esq. ; Professor Gagliardi ; J. Millward, Esq.; the Rev. J. H. Protheroe;
Dr. Taylor, Cardiff ; Peter Price, Esq.; George Thomas, Esq.; the Rev. E. Cook ;
G. W. Penn, Esq.; George White, Esq.; the Rev. G. K. Meaby ; John Morgan,
Esq. ; R. W. Boyle, Esq. ; Charles Truscott, Esq.; Richard Hill, Esq.; and
Edward Brown, Esq., Mountain Ash,
45
The dinner took place punctually at three o’clock. It was scarcely over
when the president called upon
Etmes Y. STEELE, Esq., who rose to propose success and prosperity to
the Cardiff Naturalists’ Society, which had joined the Woolhope Club that day
for its inaugural meeting (applause). Mr. Adams, the president, was an old
member of the Woolhope Club, and he hoped, therefore, that he was not
presumptuous in supposing that the Cardiff Society was in some measure the
offspring of the Woolhope Club (hear, hear). However that might be, the Wool-
hope Club felt a great pleasure, indeed felt it an honour to meet the Cardiff
Society under these circumstances, and he hoped it was but the first of many
similar meetings (great applause). He felt sure he only expressed the unani-
mous feeling of the members of the Woolhope Club in giving a hearty welcome
to their brethren from Cardiff (applause). With his friend Mr. Adams for their
president, he did not fear that it had before it a long and useful and prosperous
career (applause).
Dr. Butt seconded the proposition very cordially. The Woolhope Club
was getting on in years, and it was very pleasant to see young societies formed
around it to stimulate each other in the pursuit of science. He did not rise
however with this object, for it was not necessary. He had been requested by
the president, and with the permission of several members present, he hada
proposition to make with reference to Mr. G. Phillips Bevan, who had given
them such an excellent address on the hill to-day. Mr. Bevan had changed his
residence, and had therefore resigned his membership, but the Woolhope Club
did not like to part with old friends, especially when they were so able
(laughter). Gratitude for past favours is always greatly increased when there
are hopes in the future (laughter), and he thought it better, therefore, boldly
to admit that by thus keeping him as a member they hoped he would occasionally
be induced to run down to our meetings as he had done that day (laughter).
He begged to propose Mr. Bevan as an honorary member of the Woolhope
Club (applause).
The PRESIDENT felt sure that, from the applause, he might at once regard
__ that proposition as carried by acclamation (applause) ; and as time was short, he
would now ask Mr. Adams to exhibit the beautiful collection of fossils he had so
kindly brought with him.
Wm. Apams, Esq., said that he must, in the first instance, thank them
very sincerely in his own name and that of the Cardiff Naturalist’s Society, for
_ the compliments paid to them. He thought that, as a young society, they could
not do better than make their first excursion with the Woolhope Club, which
had had so much experience and was managed so successfully. They were very
much indebted to them for receiving the Cardiff Club so kindly, and he could
_ only repeat Mr. Steele’s wish that they might meet on many other occasions
(applause).
46 .
Mr. Apams then proceeded to exhibit his collection of fossils, and #
beautiful and interesting collection of the fossils of the Coal-field they are.
It was from this collection, with those of Mz.
Mr. Salter wrote the article on ‘The Fossils of the South Wales Coal Field,”
which is published in the Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. ]
The following specimens amongst others were shown :—
Anthracosia acuta
Anthracomya subcentralis
-—— pumila
———_ Adamsii, n. sp.
modiolaris
Asterophyllites grandis
Bellerophon Urii
Diplodus
Athyris ambigua
Alethopteris (pecopteris)
heterophylla
Calamites canneeformis
Discites sulcatus
Fish remains
Fragments of fish bones and
scales
Headbones of fish
Ferns
“Jack”
Goniatites Listerii
Lepidodendron dichotomus
Sternbergii
obovatum
Lepidostrobus ornatus
Modiola
Myalina carinata
modiolaris
Megalichthys Hibberti
Ditto scales and teeth
Old Red fish (?)
Orthis resupinata
Michelini
Productus semireticulatus
scabriculus
cora
Héninghausi
Paleoniscus sp.
Pecopteris abbreviata
Psammodus porosus
Rhizodus Hibberti
Sphenopteris linearis
Bevan and some few others, that
Rosser veins, Dowlais ; Blue
vein and Old coal, Ebbw
Vale; ditto, Rhymney.
Wyndham pits, Ogmore valley ;
Black vein, Machen; # coal,
Victoria.
Ditto, ditto; } coal, Victoria.
Soap vein, Ebbw Vale.
Rosser veins, Ebbw Vale.
Ell coal, Beaufort.
Rosser vein, Ebbw Vale.
Blaena black band.
Fydylog coal, Beaufort.
Ell coal, Beaufort.
Black pins, Ebbw Vale; Pen-
nant rocks, Victoria.
Rosser veins, Rhymney.
Sirhowy No. 1 pit.
Bottom vein, Ebbw Vale.
Bottom vein, Gantre.
Coalbrock colliery, Llwchwr,
Black pins, Ebbw Vale.
Rosser veins, Rhymney.
Bottom vein, Ebbw Vale.
Ell coal, Ebbw Vale.
Bottom vein, Ebbw Vale.
Black pins, Ebbw Vale.
Black band.
Blue vein, Ebbw Vale.
Bottom vein, Ebbw Vale.
Bottom vein coal, Ebbw Vale;
Rosser vein, ditto.
Tounley colliery,
Gantre.
Durham ;
Rosser veins, Rhymney.
Rosser veins, Rhymney and
Ebbw Vale.
Pontypool; Blaendiare; Mea-
dow vein, Pontypool.
Rosser veins, Ebbw Vale.
Ell coal, Beaufort.
Bottom vein, Gantre pits,
Ebbw Vale.
Ell vein coal, Beaufort.
Capel Newydd.
Black band;
Ebbw Vale.
No. 6 coal, Prince of Wales pit,
Abercarn,
Bottom vein,
47
, Sphenopteris elegans
: arbe Northumberland.
Spirifer Urii Rosser veins, Rhymney.
: —-— striata Capel Newydd.
—— Capel Newydd.
. Sigillaria Ell vein coal, Beaufort.
Ulodendron minus Ditto, ditto.
Xenacanthus Bottom vein, Ebbw Vale.
ee
; Whilst these fossils were being examined, G. PHILLIPS BEVAN, Esq., said
that, in spite of the rules of the Woolhope Club, he must crave permission to
thank the members for their great kindness in electing him an honorary member.
He did so very sincerely, for he thought it an honour, and was very pleased to
belong still in this way to the club. After all he had not gone so very far off.
He hoped to remain at Cheltenham, and he could only say that it would give
him great pleasure at any time when he was able, to render any service to the
elub (applause).
NEW MICROSCOPIC LAMP.
Epmunp Brown, Esq., of Mountain Ash, then exhibited Collins
; Microscopic Lamp. It was just brought out, he said, and as he could testify
" was a most useful lamp, far surpassing any he had seen before. It was made
with Fiddian’s metallic lamp shade and chimney, and, indeed, its great novelty
consisted in its skilful adaptation to this invention. He had found its great
advantages to be—
1st. That it throws its light solely on the object to be examined.
2nd. That being made of copper it acts asa perfect shade, and protects
the eye from all extraneous light.
3rd. Being coated internally with a wash of plaster of Paris, it emits an
intense white light imitating closely the white cloud illumination so prized by
microscopists ; and 4th, being metallic and not liable to break there is a great
saving in the expense of glass chimneys.
He had no hesitation in saying from his experience with it that with these
qualities the lamp and shade is as good as can be made for perfect vision with
the microscope and a very great boon to all microscopists. To medical men
using the opthalmoscope and laryngoscope he could strongly recommend it as
a most useful illuminator, since only the ray of light coming from the lamp could
enter the eye or throat. He ought to add, the whole cost of a perfect lamp
with proper adjustments and reflector was 30s. ; the shade alone, which could
be fitted to any lamp, was 8s. 6d.
‘ In answer toa question, Mr. Brown said he burnt paraffin oil in it, and
certainly the light it emitted was very pure and white.
The PRESIDENT thanked Mr. Brown for calling their attention so ably
to such a useful lamp. Any one accustomed to work with the microscope must
at once be convinced of its great usefulness.
He then called upon Mr, Rankin to read his paper :—
48
ON THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS.
By JAMES RANKIN, Esa, M.A., Vick-PRESIDENT.
The following paper on the means of flight of birds, I propose to divide
into three sections :—
ist. The general structure of birds and the relation which it bears to
the purpose of flight.
2nd. The special structure of the wings of birds.
8rd. The mode of action in flight, and some of the specialities in form
of wings and feathers and manner of flight.
SECTION I1.—GENERAL STRUCTURE OF BIRDS.
Birds, as a class, are distinguished from other animals by the following
peculiarities :—‘‘ They are vertebrate animals, breathing atmospheric air by means
of lungs; with warm, red blood, and heart biventriculate and biauriculate, all
oviparous, covered with feathers, with bill rather prominent, naked, destitute of
teeth. Extremities, four: the anterior changed into wings, and almost always
adapted for flying.”
The above, I believe, is a sufficiently comprehensive definition of the class
Aves, for it points out how they differ from all other animals, except Fishes,
Reptiles, and Mammals, in the possession of backbones ; how they differ from
Fishes, in the possession of lungs ; how they differ from Reptiles in having warm
blood, and from Mammals in being oviparous.
The possession of wings and feathers, though, by far, the most striking
peculiarity of Birds, is not of so much classificatory value as might be supposed,
for, both among Mammals, Reptiles, and Fishes, are found animals which have
wings of some description, as, for instance, the Bats, the Pterodactyl, and the
Exocetus or fiying-fish, and also some birds have a very rudimentary condition
of wings.
As it is not intended, in this paper, to discuss the question of the
systematic position of Birds, I will only mention, in passing, that the morpho-
logical affinities of birds connect them more closely with the class of reptiles
proper (i.e., excluding the amphibia) than with any other vertebrates, for birds
and reptiles differ from amphibia and fishes, in the absence of bronchiz at all
periods of their existence, in having a well developed amnion and allantois, and
no parasphenoid bone in the skull, and they differ from mammals in having a
complex lower jaw, a quadrate bone, nucleated blood-corpuscles, and a single
occipital condyle.
Passing on to the consideration of the structure of birds, we find, with
regard to the skeleton, that it is extremely light, but that the texture of the
bones is firm and close, thereby combining lightness and strength, two important
49
points with respect to flight. The bones of the skull differ from those found
in the skulls of Mammals in the complexity of the lower jaw, and in its being
attached to the skull by the interposition of another bone called the quadrate-
bone, instead of being attached by a condyle.
The backbone of birds is remarkable from the anchylosis or union which
takes place in the lumbar and dorsal regions of the back, so that in birds the
neck and tail vertebre are the only moveable ones. This immobility of the
dorsal and lumbar vertebre is for the purpose of giving firmer and steadier
points of attachments to ribs, and to avoid the danger of dislocation during the
+ movement of the wings. The hip bones are long and thin, and the pubic bones
f do not join to form an arch as in mammals,
The thigh bones are short but very strong and cylindrical, especially in
those birds which run. The tibia or leg-bone is long, and the fibula is present as
a small fine bone which usually coalesces with the tibia.
The tarsus and metatarsus are represented by a single bone, which is very
various in length and shape in the different families of birds, and is one of the
most important members in classifying.
.
The toes vary from five to two, but there are usually four : three anterior
and one posterior. The number of bones in the toes (unlike mammals) vary
according to the position of the toe, the outermost toe having five bones, and
the innermost one bone, and the three intermediate toes having four, three, and
. = two bones respectively.
Passing on to notice the breast-bone or sternum, we find it assume very
much the shape of a boat, being convex outwards and of large size, and along
its median line is situated a projecting ridge called the keel, which ridge is
immensely developed in birds of powerful flight, but nearly absent in cursorial
birds, such as the ostrich, The breast bone extends beyond the thoracic cavity
and emhraces part of the abdominal also,
The ribs of birds present great peculiarities, for there are, as it were, two
sets of ribs, one a vertebral and the other a sternal set; these sets of ribs both
_ start in a posterior direction and join at an acute angle, and from the vertebral
- ribs, which are the longest and strongest, a bony appendage proceeds upwards
_ and backwards and overlaps the next rib behind, the whole apparatus of vertebra,
ribs, and sternum forming an elastic, though firmly knit, case for the internal
viscera.
It should be mentioned that some of the ribs, both anterior and posterior,
are not attached to the sternum.
_ The anterior members of birds, that is, the wings, are composed of bones .
which are homologous to the bones in the arm of man; they are the humerus
or the arm, the radius and ulna or fore-arm, the wrist or carpus, formed of two
‘small bones ; the metacarpus, of two tubular bones which have coalesced, and
50
two fingers and a thumb, one of which is very much larger than the other, and
consists of two or three joints.
I will not delay longer upon this part of the anatomy of birds, as in the
next section I shall have to describe the wing more particularly, and I will pass
on to notice that portion of the internal organisation of birds which is most
specially adapted to the requirements of flight,
INTERNAL ANATOMY.
With regard to the digestive organs I will only notice that birds possess
similar parts to mammals, but that the intestinal tube, from the gullet to the
pylorus, presents considerable diversities, there being present, generally speaking,
two enlargements of the cesophagus, one called the crop, and the other, which is
just above the gizzard, the proventriculus. In both of these receptacles the food
is mixed with juices which accelerate digestion.
The stomach: or gizzard, as it is called, is a very peculiar organ, and is,
in fact, a sort of grinding mill, where the food which enters it is ground down.
The eavity of the stomach is very small, and the muscles which surround it are
very large.
The intestines are variable in length, and do not present any marked
division into large and small intestines, They receive, as in mammals, the
secretions from the liver and the pancreas,
With the above brief notice I will pass on to the organs of respiration,
which as clearly as anything in nature, show the marks of a designing hand.
The lungs of birds are of a lengthened oval shape, and are firmly attached
to the dorsal surface of the thorax; they are not divided into lobes, and from
each lung proceeds a bronchial tube, which tubes unite together to form the
trachea, or wind pipe, and it is at the junction of the bronchial tubes that the
lower larynx, where the vocal sounds of birds are produced, is placed.
The main trunks of the bronchii after passing through the lungs open
into the cavity of the thorax, and admit the air freely all through the body, for
in birds there is no proper diaphragm, but the whole of the thoracico abdominal
cavity is divided into cells which communicate with each other, all of which are
freely permeated by the air, which therefore surrounds all the vital organs, and
penetrates in many cases into the interior of the bones and muscle,
The bones which are most commonly found hollow and pneumatic in birds,
are the humerus, or arm bone, the breast bone, and the cranial bones, Some-
times, however, the other bones are found so also.
The pneumatic bones receive their air from the air-sacs which are
connected with the lungs; but the cranial and facial bones receive their air partly
from the Eustachian tubes, partly from the tympanic cavity, and partly from
the nasal cavities which conducts it to spaces under the eyes, whence it pene-
trates further into the bones of the skull,
—
51
With regard to the uses of this pneumaticity of the bones the most
probable are the following :—
1st. The air, by penetrating all parts of the body, secures the perfect
oxygenization of the blood, a highly important matter for animals like birds,
’ which undergo violent muscular exertion.
2nd. The air becoming rarifed by the high temperature of the bird’s body,
the specific gravity of the bird is diminished, and less exertion required to
maintain its fight.
To this use I must again refer in No. 3 section.
3rd. From the inflation of the body the muscles are enabled to act with
firmer purchase and better leverage.
4th. It is from this arrangement of air-sacs that the singing birds are
enabled to prolong their notes.
SECTION 11.—STRUCTURE OF WING.
: There is nothing, I think, in the whole range of Zoology which more
forcibly illustrates the great truths of unity of design and adaptibility to special
purpose which pervade creation, than the wing of a bird.
For first let us briefly inquire what it is that a wing is required to do,
and then let us examine how the vertebrate anterior member is modified to
meet those requirements.
a” First then, a wing is the instrument by which a bird strikes the air and
raises itself from the ground and maintains itself in the air, and also is enabled
to progress.
: A wing then must be an instrument capable of producing by its strokes
an amount of resistance in the air, superior to the entire weight of the bird’s
body.
It must also be capable of producing progressive motion as well as upward
motion, and it must be most completely under the control of the bird to allow
of all those beautiful adjustments which no one can fail to notice and admire
in the flight of birds.
Looking now carefully at the wing we find that, as I mentioned before,
_ the internal structure of the bones and muscles are homologous to the fore-legs
or arms of Mammalia, that is the wing is composed of a humerus articulated
with the shoulder blades and clavicles or collar bones.
In birds, however, there is a further provision for the stability of the
wing in the shape of the coracoid process of the scapula, which assumes the
_mportance of a separate bone, and is firmly attached to the breast bone,
’ The clavicles also are modified and joined together, forming what is
usually called the “‘merry thought,” but which anatomists designate as the
‘urculum, This bone forms a sort of spring which prevents the wings pressing
@ 2
52
too tightly upon the chest, and it also affords surface of attachment to the
great pectoral muscle,
Next to the humerus come the two bones of the fore-arm, the Radius
and the Ulna, of which the Ulna is usually the strongest. These two bones
are homologous to our fore-arm bones, from the elbow to the wrist. At the
elbow of birds there is often found a little bone which is a sort of elbow cap or
arm pan,
Beyond these again we have the wrist or carpus, formed of two short
bones; the metacarpus of two tubular bones which have coalesced at both
extremities, and generally two fingers and a thumb; the thumb is usually
nothing but a thin stiliform process, and one finger is always very much larger
and longer than the other.
Tt will be noticed here by those who have paid any attention to Com-
parative Anatomy, that the modifications which I have mentioned above, are
such as frequently present themselves in the vertebrate series, and it will also
be noticed that those modifications consist of the coalescence of parts and never
by their transposition.
I will pass on to notice very briefly the muscular system by which these
bones are set in motion.
This is extremely similar to that observed in other vertebrate animals.
The great peculiarity of the muscular system of birds is the enormously
developed pectoral muscles; these muscles are well known to everybody in
the shape of a chicken’s breast. They often weigh more than all the other
muscles of the body put together. Although resembling one muscle, the mass
of flesh upon the breast is really divided into three different muscles.
The great pectoral is attached to the sternum or breast-bone at one end,
and at the other to the humerus or arm-bone, and its function is to depress or
pull down the wing.
It will be easily understood how important a muscle the pectoral is to birds
of prolonged or constant flight, for it is by the action of this muscle chiefly that
% bird is enabled to give those powerful and rapid strokes upon the air which are
sufficient to sustain it.
I would also call attention to the fact that the pectoral muscles being so
placed that the centre of the bird’s gravity is considerably below the line of the
outstretched wing, so that in flying a bird has no difficulty in keeping its position,
and has no inclination to topple backwards, This feat is sometimes performed by
the tumbler pigeon, but it is a work of some difficulty, and the bird almost
always requires the assistance of the wind,
The muscles which raise the wing are the deltoid and the second smaller
pectorals.
The deltoid muscle is attached to the shoulder-blade and to the top of
the humerus, and by its contraction raises the wing.
53
The lesser pectorals are situated beneath the great pectoral, and arise
from the base of the crest of the sternum; they pass upwards, and the tendon
by passing through the interspace between the clavicle, coracoid scapula, has the
direction of its force altered, and being inserted on the upper part of the
humerus, serves as an elevator of the wing.
This isa peculiarly beautiful contrivance, as it enables the mass of the
muscle to be kept low, and thereby the centre of gravity also—a point of great
importance in flight—and it also provides for the raising of the wing.
It is evident that the muscles used for raising the wing need not be so
strong as those employed in depressing it; forin the up stroke the wing is always
drawn in and the feathers overlap one another, so that a comparatively small
surface is presented to the resistance of the air. They must, however be capable
of intensely rapid action, as the up stroke must be repeated as often as the down
stroke, and in some birds this is very many timesin asecond. The other muscles
of the wing are the extensors and flexors of the fore arm and the fingers, by means
of which they are enabled to stretch out or draw in the wing.
With this brief review of the muscles of the wings, I will pass on to
notice the feathers. Birds are the only animals furnished with feathers, and no
covering could possibly be imagined which combined the needful qualities of
warmth, firmness, flexibility, lightness, and I may add beauty, more admirably
than feathers. A feather is composed of a quill which is prolonged into a shaft
which runs the whole length of the feather, and from each side of the shaft
proceed branches ; these branches are set on obliquely and point toward the end
of the feather ; from each of the branches fine rays set very close together
proceed, and on the side next to the shaft, small hairs turned so as to form hooks
overlap the rays of the next branch and hold it firmly together. It is these
minute hooklets which give the appearance of the vane of a feather sticking
together when it is attempted to separate it. The whole feather is composed
of a horny substance and is not vascular after the growth has taken place. It
must be carefully noticed that the wing feathers have the shaft placed not in the
middle of the vane, but considerably to the front, so that the stiff portion of the
feather is presented to the wind and the more flexible part is behind: the object
of this I will notice in the next section.
The feathers of the wing are divided into primaries and secondaries : the
primary feathers are much the longest and stiffest, and are the chief instruments
in flight ; they are situated on the fingers and hand or carpus ; the secondaries
are situated on the fore arm; they are much more numerous and also much more
irregular in number than the primaries; they are also more flexible. The
primary feathers are important aids in classification.
SECTION IIL.
Having now taken a brief view of those points in the structure of birds
which are peculiarly modified for the purpose of flight, and also having noticed
54
the structure of the wing, I will pass on now to consider the kind of action and
the mechanical laws which are called into play during flight.
The first requisite for flight is weight, that is, the action of gravity, which
pulls a bird to the ground.
It may seem a little strange, at first sight, that the law of gravity, which
birds in flying are using great exertion to overcome, should be actually indis-
pensable to flight, but if birds had not more weight than the air they could not
fly, for they would simply float in the air like a feather, and be at the mercy
of every current.
Thus we see that weight is necessary for flight in order to give the power
of directing the course of a bird, and to enable it to fly against the wind.
It is a mistake, however, to suppose that great weight is essential to flight,
for so long as the weight of the bird is greater than that of the air, the lighter
the better for sustained and continued flight, for it requires less force of wing to
raise and support a light bird than a heavy one, and it is to this end, as we have
already seen, that the bird’s body is made light by several beautiful contrivances.
I mention this as the Duke of Argyll, in his very interesting book the “‘ Reign
of Law,” in the Chapter on ‘‘Contrivance or Necessity,” seems to scout the idea
that the air-cells of birds have any function whatever in decreasing specific
gravity. Now although this is probably not the only function of the air-cells, as
I have already mentioned, yet it is most undoubtedly one of them, and I think
can hardly fail to strike everybody as a most beautiful contrivance for lessening
the weight of a bird, and at the same time not interfering with its muscular
power.
Having now seen that some degree of weight is necessary for flight, I will
pass on to consider the method by which that weight is raised, sustained, and
caused to progress in flight.
The instrument by which flight is accomplished is, as is well known, the
wing. I have already described the animal mechanism of the wing and will now
attempt to point out how it acts when employed in flight.
The wing, when in the act of flying, may be regarded as a lever of the first
kind ; that is to say, when the power and the weight are on different sides of the
fulcrum, but act in the same direction ; for in the case of a bird flying, the air
below the wing is the fulcrum, the body of the bird is the weight, and the power
is applied at the end of and along the wing.
It must be observed, however, that although in mechanics forces are
always regarded as being applied at definite points, yet in the case of a wing
the power is applied throughout the whole length of the wing decreasing from
the point of the wing inwards; likewise the fulcrum acts as the resisting force
all along the wing and not at any one particular point ; nevertheless for the sake
of clearly comprehending the principle the action of flight, it is quite allowable
to suppose all the force applied by the wing to be concentrated at the end, and
55
also that all the resisting force of the air, that ia the fulcrum, should be applied
at a point, which would be somewhere not very far from the end of the wing, for
the resistance of the air is necessarily much more intense near the tip of the
wing than near the body.
Thus we may say for sake of clearness that the action of a wing in flight
is the same as the action of a rigid rod placed across a bar, which is the fulcrum,
and which rod has a weight at one end and a power or force at the other end,
both of which pull or act in the same direction. Now it is a fact in mechanics
that the length of the lever from the fulcrum to the power multiplied into the
- power, must equal the length of the lever from the fulcrum to the weight
multiplied into the weight, to produce a balance or equipoise, and therefore
it is apparent that the shorter the arm of the lever next to the power the
greater must be the power in order to balance the weight. Now that is just the
case with a wing, for the fulcrum there is nearer to the end of the wing, or
where the power is applied, than to the body of the bird or the weight, and
therefore, as we have seen above, it will be necessary, to produce balance, that
the power should exceed the weight. In flight, however, more than balance is
required, for itis necessary that the body or weight should be lifted, therefore
it is evident that a much more intense force is needed.
From the foregoing arguments it may be concluded that the power or force
applied in the stroke of the wing is considerably greater than the weight of the
bird’s body.
We may sum up, therefore, the mechanical principle of the action of the
wing in flight, as that of a lever of the first kind, where power and weight are
acting in the same direction but on opposite sides of the fulcrum, the power being
applied to the shorter arm of the fulcrum, and therefore requiring to be con-
i siderably greater than the weight.
Before proceeding to notice the niceties of adjustment found in the wing,
_ and the methods in which progression, soaring, hovering, and other motions are
_ attained, I will just pause for a moment to point out that the wing, with
reference to the body, may be regarded as a lever of another kind. That is
a lever where the power and the weight are on the same side of the fulcrum
_ but act in opposite directions, and where the power is next to the fulcrum. This,
_ which is called the third kind of lever, is the class to which all bones and muscles
a belong, for in the case of the wing the fulcrum is the shoulder joint ; the power
is the muscle or tendon applied just over the joint, and the weight is either
‘the limb itself or some actual weight attached at the other extremity.
‘ In this kind of lever the power must always be in excess of the weight,
and therefore this kind is never used in mechanical operations for raising
weights, but inthe animal organisation it is the kind always found, because the
“fulcrum and the power are thus placed close together, and a great economy of
Space and compactness is gained,
56
I have made this special notice of this kind of lever, which is not in any
way peculiar to the wing or connected with the mechanical principles of flight,
because in the book which I have referred to already, in pages 158 and 159, the
Duke of Argyll speaks of the wing as an implement through which the vital
force (muscular I suppose) is exerted with immense mechanical advantage for
the purpose in view, viz., flight. Now we have seen that the wing in flight does
really act as a lever, but that it is a lever which places the power at a dis-
advantage, or in other words the power or vital force must be in excess of the
weight to be moved ; and again, if the Duke is referring the wing to the third
kind of lever, which I hardly think he can be doing, he has missed altogether
the principle of flight, for he has not got any fulcrum on which the lever may
act ; and indeed, throughout his argument, it seems to me that he misses the
great point of the air being the fulcrum.
I mention this because I think his use of the word mechanical is apt
to mislead, for according to the usual acceptation of the term, there is certainly
no mechanical advantage in the kind of lever to which the wing belongs; and
with regard to the third kind of lever to which bones and muscle belong, the
advantage is not mechanical, but merely convenience.
It is very necessary to bear in mind, when speaking of the principles of
flight, that the fulcrum is not altogether a fixed one, but is a compressible fluid
which endeavours to escape in every direction, and therefore it is apparent that
much of the force of the stroke of the wing is lost owing to the fulerum giving
way, so to speak ; for it is easy to see that the body of the bird is moved upward
a very short space in comparison with the space through which the wing moves.
The same thing is observable in rowing a boat, for the water which is, in
that case, the fulcrum, is to some extent displaced, and the boat does not move
through so great a portion of water as it would do if the oar acted against a fixed
and immoveable fulcrum,
This motion of the fulerum, allowing a corresponding motion to the wing
or lever, seems to give the idea that the body or weight is attached to the short
arm of the lever, whereas, as far as the mechanical principle is concerned, it is
attached to the long end.
I make these remarks because, although in flight the compressibility of
the air isa most important condition, yet no mechanical principle is involved
in it ; for in mechanics a moveable fulcrum would be a contradiction,
While speaking of the compressibilty of the air, I would call attention to
the concavity of the wing below and its convexity above ; this form confines the
air as much as possible, and allows the wing to act firmly upon it in the down
stroke before the air escapes; and in the up stroke the convex form of wing
allows the air to roll off with but comparatively little resistance.
This brings me to speak of the up-stroke ; here the mechanical principle
of the stroke is quite altered,
57
The air is no Jonger the fulcrum but the weight, the shoulder joint is
the fulcrum, and the deltoid and lesser pectorals are the power: this is a lever
of the third kind, where the power and the weight act in opposite directions but
on the same side of fulcrum, the power being inside, or next to the fulcrum.
It is to be noticed, also, that in the up stroke the feathers of the wing
fold over one another, and the arm bones are drawn in, so that a comparatively
small surface is presented to the air: this is very essential, for if it were not
so the bird would lose during the up stroke what it had gained in the down
stroke. ~ :
Having now looked into the laws of the strokes of the wing, I will briefly
direct attention to the manner in which progression is effected.
Birds, when flying straight forward horizontally, keep the body nearly
horizontal, and flap their wings nearly perpendicularly to the horizontal line.
When in that position the motion of the wings has the tendency to send
them forward as well as sustain them ; and the cause of this is a very beautiful
contrivance in the structure of the wing.
It will be remembered that I called attention to the fact that the shaft
of the wing feathers was not set in the centre of the vane, but considerably
forward. Now the whole wing is constructed on the same principle, namely,
that the ridge which meets the air is stiff and inflexible, and all the feathers
which cover the wing have their stiffer side presented to the wind, and their
more flexible portion turned backward. The effect of that is that the air, when
_ compressed by the down stroke of the wing, and trying to escape in every
_ direction, finds the ends of the feathers offer but little resistance to it, and it
therefore bends them up, and that resistance or force sends the bird on in a
horizontal position, The up stroke, also, must have some effect in this way too.
In proof of the above statements I would call attention to the position of
a bird when soaring or hovering, which is always more or less inclined to the
- horizon: the reason for the bird adopting this position is to alter the direction
of the force of the air upon the flexible ends of the feathers, so that it shall act
asa raising and not a propelling force.
# When there is a considerable breeze less inclination is necessary for the
resultant direction of the forces of the wind and the down stroke is upward.
Some birds rarely hover or soar except when there is a wind.
There is no motion which requires more complete command over the
wings, and greater muscular power, than soaring and hovering ; but, indeed, it
is quite impossible to watch any of the motions of a bird without being struck
with admiration at their ease and elegance, and with the perfect command which
birds have over their wings, being able to adjust them to the very nicest balance.
u
58
Time does not allow me to go into the subject of the varieties of wing
found among the feathered tribes, and therefore I will only make a few con-
cluding remarks upon the subject of flight.
In all birds of long sustained flight the wings are long and pointed, and
the primaries are set close together so that no air can escape between them.
The advantage of a long wing is simply that it is capable of «a longer and
therefore more powerful stroke than a short wing, and it offers more surface
for the support of the air. Types of the long wing are to be found in the Albatros,
the Swallow, and among the Hawk tribe.
Those birds which fly fast but seldom fly far have usually rounded wings
and much shorter wings; the rounded form is given by the first two or three
* of the primary feathers being shorter than those which follow them ; this is the
case amongst the gallinaceous birds, such as the Pheasant, Grouse, Partridge, &c.
This kind of wing requires very intense action and rapidity of stroke to
enable it to sustain the bird, as it cannot be worked to so much mechanical
advantage as the long wing, and the quills not being placed so closely together
the air escapes upwards.
I will only add a few words upon the mode of turning of a bird.
This is usually effected by the bird depressing the inside wing, so to speak,
and elevating the outside, and by so doing throwing the centre of gravity inside
or towards the direction in which the bird desires to turn, and by this means
overcoming the law of motion which urges it on ina straight line, and at the
same time presenting the wings to the air or wind like a sail and thus being
blown round ; this motion may frequently be noticed in the flight of the swallow.
If a bird merely requires to alter its course a little, the change in direction
is effected by simply altering the muscular force on one side of the body or the
other just as aman turns in walking; it is also not at all improbable that the
wings assist them in turning, although it is difficult to detect any difference
in the stroke of the two wings.
And now to conclude, I will just notice the tail-end of our subject. This
feature in birds has given rise to a good deal of discussion and difference of
opinion ; it used to be and still is very frequently given, as its function that hy
it the bird steers or turns itself; that this cannot be its chief use a moment’s
reflection will prove, for it is set on horizontally and not vertically as a rudder
should be.
This then cannot be its chief function, and its use probably is to balance
the bird, and it also is a great assistance in stopping a bird.
All hovering birds have fan-like tails, and all long-continued flyers have
well developed tails. It is very likely that the tail is a great assistance in
turning by enablivg a bird suddenly to stop, but undoubtedly the great function
of the tail is to add to the general stability and balance.
59
Having now briefly reviewed some of the principles of flight and also some
of the main features and adaptations of the feathered races, which enable them
to take advantage of those principles, I would venture to point out to those who
_ May not have had their attention already directed to it, that the whole range
of creation, and as I think, especially Comparative Anatomy affords endless
examples of creative wisdom and design, and that the more these subjects are
studied the more will the student be led to exclaim, ‘“‘O Lord, how manifold
are Thy works: in wisdom hast Thou.made them all”
The PRESIDENT gave the thanks of the Club to Mr. Rankin for his
excellent paper, amidst general applause; and called upon Mr. Steele to read
the following paper—
60
ON SOME SPECIES OF MASON WASPS AND THEIR
PARASITIC BEES.
By ELMES Y. STEELE, Esa
Gentlemen,—Obedient to the call of our President I rise to present a few
observations on the habits of some species of hymenopterous insects, belonging
to the families of the solitary earth-working wasps, and of the bee-like insects,
their parasites. I ought perhaps to apologise for bringing this subject before
you, because my limited acquaintance with Natural History gives me no
pretension to the title of an entomologist ; but asa field naturalist I have been
for the last few weeks past deeply interested in studying the operations of
these insects under the promptings of their marvellous instinct, and I have
thought that the page I have thus been reading might possess sufficient attraction
to gratify those members of our club who may not be already familiar with it.
Let me, then, introduce to your notice a sunny spot within a quarter of a mile
of Abergavenny, where lies an ash tree of about fifty years’ growth, prostrated
by one of last winter’s gales. This tree had been for about two years under the
keen observation of my friend, Dr. Chapman, who discovered that it was being
ravaged by a wood-boring beetle, Hylesinus crenatus, and that ere long it would
decay and fall to the ground. When this predicted event had come to pass it
became the prey of Hylesinus fraxini, and of many other insect wood-destroyers.
Dr. Chapman, whose interesting paper, read at our last meeting, was published
in the Hereford Times on the 13th inst., computes that up to the present time at
least forty species of, insects have found a lodgment and food within, or building
materials upon, this fallen trunk. It was whilst pursuing his hunting explora-
tions after beetles that my friend became aware of the fact that Odynerus
Spinipes, one of the solitary wasps had taken possession, not indeed of the tree
itself, but of the sandy clay which had been brought up with the roots when it
fell. This curious insect (Odynerus Murarias of Latreille, Vespa Muraria of
Linnzus) is called solitary because each female excavates a burrow in the soil,
wherein she forms cells for the lodgment of her eggs, and does so unaided by
other individuals of the species ; unlike, in this respect, to the tribe of wasps,
with which we are more familiar, who, as is well known, construct a complex
habitation, built up of woody fibres agglutinated together into a sort of paper, in
which operation they are associated, often in great numbers, and thence are
called social wasps. Odynerus Spinipes, if it be not social, is not, however,
unsociable, for. as in the instance I am relating, many individuals may congregate
on the same spot if the material and the situation be favourable. I need not
enter into a systematic description of her anatomy, for I have come provided with
the insect herself, which I will now pass round the table for your inspection.
You will find her set up in company with the other insects, to whose history I
propose to draw your attention. Well, then, this wasp, which is a burrowing
i
f
i
ODYNERUS SPINIPES.
A Colony of OpYNERUS SPINIPES, with the tubes of open filagree
work, where the wasps are still working, and the closed mouths
of completed burrows. , i
GEOG Ga
ch Bim at ene Oe dohine.
ae ed by eduinkees “LP,
83
The Wych elm and its varieties are not, therefore, suited generally to
Herefordshire. Though in some situations, as at Aymestry, in the Cusop dingles,
Titley, and other places they grow luxuriantly, scatter their seed freely, and have
become naturalised. They are to be found in all directions through the county,
but not generally in a thriving condition. They live and grow in a stunted,
unkind manner that does not belong to their nature when placed in a congenial
soil, and they rarely attain any considerable size. Loudon does not give a single
reference to Herefordshire for any remarkable tree of this kind. There are,
however, fine specimens at Hampton Court, at Moorcourt, Brinsop, The Mynde
Park, Pengethly, Lystone, Titley, The Whitehouse, Croft Castle, Brampton
Bryan, and isolately in many other parts of the country; but still there are
scarcely any to be found of a size that could be called remarkable.
Weird-like superstitions attach to the Wych elm, or Wych hazel, as it is
generally called in connection with them. A spray of Wych hazel, with its fine
broad leaves, is at once a potent safeguard against witchcraft and a wand of
awful import in the hand of a witch. It was formerly used as a riding-switch,
to ensure good luck on the journey. Had Tam O’Shanter but possessed this, he
could not possibly have lost his horse’s tail! Forked branches of the Wych
elm, as of hazel, were used as divining-rods, and formed the virgula divinitoria
of the experts. Until quite recently, if not to this very day, not a rural churn
was made in the midland districts without a small hole being left in it for the
insertion of a bit of Wych elm wood, in order to insure the quick coming of the
butter.
[ Wote.—In the Mynde wood, at this time, a Wych Elm grows over a
haunted well, and has attained a high degree of respect. The belief is that
whenever it is cut down the owner of the estate will die. It was first
cut down by Mr. Symons’ grandfather ; he died shortly afterwards. The
boughs that grew up from the stool were cut down with the rest of the
wood by Mr. Symons’ father; he died within a fortnight. And only six
or seven years ago, when the underwood near it was cut down, it is a
positive fact that the timber dealer who bought the fallage died in a
few weeks! Even so, in these enlightened days, the giant Superstition
is but scotch’d, not slain ! ]
The Wych elm was used in ancient times, says Gerard, for making the
long bow, and is thus mentioned in several old English statutes. Boys in
Northamptonshire choose it now for this purpose, without being aware of such
ancient authority.
[ Wote.—The Act 3 Hen: VIII. c. 3 required every Bower ‘‘for
every Ewe bowe” to make “‘at the lest 11 bowes of Elme Wiche or
other wood of mean price ‘“‘under penalty of imprisonment, Ascham
in his Toxophilus, (p, 113) says ‘‘As for Brasell, Elme, Wych, and Ashe,
experience doth prove them to be but meane for bowes.” ]
L 2
84
“‘ The tall abounding elm that grows
In hedgerows up and down,
Tn field, and forest, copse, and park,
And in the peopled town,
With colonies of noisy rooks
That nestle on its crown.”
Hood.
The Ulinus campestris, the Common, Small-leaved, or English Elm, which
we all know so well—the tree which gives so much of its character to the English
landscape—the tree which has so thoroughly established itself here and been
so widely planted by Englishmen in other countries as to have gained for itself
the name of ‘‘ English,” is the chief object of the present paper, for to this
kind belong almost all the remarkable Elms in this county.
There is no record of its introduction into England. It has been known
from time immemorial in our plains and valleys, but in mountainous or
inaccessable districts—as throughout Wales—it is not a common tree. Old
Aubrey, in his ‘‘ History of Wiltshire,” says of it: ‘‘I never did see an elme
that grew spontaneously in a wood as oakes, ashes, beeches, &c., which con-
sideration made me reflect that they are exotique; but by whom were they
brought into this island? Not by the Saxons; for upon inquiry I am informed
that there are none in Saxony, nor in Denmarke, nor yet in France, spontaneous ;
but in Italy they are naturall, ¢.g., in Lombardie, &e. Wherefore I am induced
to believe that they were brought hither out of Italy by the Romans, who
were cultivators of their colonies. The Saxons understood not nor cared for such
improvements, nor yet had hardly leisure if they would.” The Roman officers
had luxuriant villas in England, and had time and opportunity to introduce
trees, &c., as the Vine, the Box, the Elm, and other plants.
Throughout England, and chiefly in the ancient Mercian counties, there
are no less than twenty-four places that have Saxon names taken from the
elm. Worcestershire offers some examples, as Elmley Lovett and Elmley
Castle, but it is remarkable that there is not a single instance in Herefordshire.
[ Wote.—It is a curious fact that the common English Elm is still
called by old people in Herefordshire ‘‘The Worcester Elm ;” another
straw which seems to show that the stream of civilization came from this
direction. ]
Bromfield, in his ‘‘ Flora of the Isle of Wight,” and some other botanists
have pointed out, as a remarkable fact in the natural history of the Elm, the
occasional irregularity of its blossoming; some years scarcely a single tree is to
be seen in blossom, at others every particle of spray is covered with flowers.
The elm flowered early and most exuberantly this year (1868), and from the
great heat and drought of the present summer, will probably do so again next
year,
Elliot says with reference to it asa sign of spring—
“When the elm blossoms o’er the brooding bird,
And wide and wild the plover’s wail is heard,”
es
;
.
85 .
The budding of the elm tree was noted warily in days gone by, when garden
calendars were less plentiful. The old rhymes tell us—
“‘ When the elmen leaf is as big as a farding,
*Tis time to sow kidney-beans in the garding.
When the elmen leaf is as big as a penny,
You must sow kidney-beans if you aim to have any.”
And so too the farmer took it as a sign of the season :—
** When the elmen leaf is as big as a mouse’s ear,
Then to sow barley, never fear.
When the elmen leaf is as big as an ox’s eye,
Then say I, high boys, high !”
The Small-leaved, or English elm, is only able to ripen its seeds in England
in unusually favourable seasons. It is propagated therefore by layers, or by
grafts, or by suckers, which it throws up very readily from the roots, and hence
it is that its individual character has everywhere been so completely maintained.
Pliny says that it rarely produced seeds in Italy, and we know from Virgil
that it was chiefly propagated there by suckers.
{ Pullulat ab radice aliis densissima sylva,
Ut cerasis ulmisque.—Geo. 2. ]
Some from the root a rising wood disclose:
Thus elms, and thus the savage cherry grows.
It is a hardy tree, that bears transplanting well at any age or size, and may be
pruned at all seasons to any extent. It grows quickly, though not nearly so
quickly as the Wych elm. According to Evelyn ‘‘it will yield a load of timber
in little more than 40 years. It does not, however, cease growing until it is 100
or 150 years old, if planted in a favourable situation, neither too moist nor too
dry, and it will live for centuries.”
The Elm is one of the first trees to show the influence of spring, and is
amongst the last to shed its leaves in winter. Early in March, and often in
February, whilst other trees are still in the depth of their winter’s sleep, the elm
gladdens the eye with the reddish purple tint from the numerous little tufts
of blossom buds that adorn every spray. In April and May the leaves begin
to appear, and their light and cheerful green colour soon makes an agreeable
contrast with the olive tint of the oak foliage. As the summer advances, the
leaves gradually deepen in colour until they become of a dark and glossy green,
harmonising well with the sombre hue of the Scotch fir, or even the Yew-tree,
which are often planted near it, and inautumn they fade away to a fine clear
yellow in successive patches, often making the individual trees very beautiful
objects in the oblique light of a sun low in the horizon, and always mixing
kindly with the orange and red of the beech tree, the duller yellow of the oak,
and the many other hues of the fading woods.
The autumn tints of forest trees have been well noticed by Buchanan—
“The woods how beautiful! The oaks yet green,
Blent with the pale ash and willow hoar,
The purpling beech and yellow sycamore,
The blood red rowan and brown birch between,
And mottled elm: no royal robe, I ween,
Not flowery Spring nor rosy Summer wore.”
Tragic Dramas and other Poems. —
86
The Elm is never heavy in its foliage like the Horse-chesnut, the
Sycamore, or even the Lime tree. ‘‘As a picturesque tree,” says Gilpin,
‘the Elm, when without its leaves, has not so distinct a character as either
the oak or theash, . . . but in full foliage its character is more marked.
No tree is better adapted to receive grand masses of light. In this respect it
is superior to the oak and the ash. Nor is its foliage, shadowing as it is, of
the heavy kind. Its leaves are smaller, and this gives it a natural lightness ;
it commonly hangs loosely, and is in general very picturesque.”
Very many varieties have been raised from the seeds of the English Elm-
Amongst the best known are the Red English Elm (Ulmus c. Stricta), one
of the most valuable timber trees; the Kidbrook Elm (Ulmus c. wrens), which
is almost evergreen in a mild winter, and as such is a most ornamental tree ;
it has red bark and a spreading habit ; the Cornish Elm ( U/mus c. Cornubiensis ),
a tall and distinct upright variety ; the Cork-barked Elm ( Ulmus c. Suberosa) ;
the Dutch Cork-barked Elm (U/musce. S. major); the delicate twigged Birch-
like Elm (Ulmus c. Viminalis) ; the Birch-leaved Elm, the White-leaved Elm,
the Sharp-leaved Elm, the Elm with variegated leaves, and a very great variety
of other Elms, for an account of which, let those who please, look into the
subject in Loudon, or any other of the gardening authorities.
Many of these varieties are doubtless growing in Herefordshire, but none
have reached the position of trees remarkable for their size, and do not there-
fore find a place in the list I have now to put before you.
‘A goodly Elm of noble girth
That thrice the human span,
While on their variegated course
The constant seasons ran
Through gale, and hail, and fiery bolt,
Had stood erect as man.” ;
Hood.
Loudon, in his catalogue of ‘‘ Recorded Elms,” mentions only three trees
in the whole county, ‘‘One at Eastnor Castle, 18 years old, is 55 feet in
height.” ‘‘One at Croft Castle is 95 feet high with a diameter of six feet, and
of the head 60 feet.” ‘With reference to these trees I have no information,
Lastly he mentions and gives a figure of—
The Rotherwas Elm, which shows it to separate into three large branches
at about 12 feet from the ground, and makes it 112 feet in height. The trunk
of this fine old tree was completely blown down in 1865, and it now lies a shell
upon the ground. In its shrunken and dried form it measures as it lies, 29 feet
six inches at five feet from the base, and in its living state must therefore have
been considerably larger.
The Kingsacre Elm is situated about two miles from Hereford on the
turnpike road leading to Hay. It has a girth of 18 feet eight inches at five feet
from the ground, At 12 feet from the ground it divides into three stems of
THE REMARKABLE TREES
OF
HEREFORDSHIRE.
THE HOLME LACY ELM.
(Ui Imus campestris. P,
APRI L, 1869.
This fine old tree is situated in the Park at Holme Lacy (Sir E. F.
Scudamore Stanhope, Bart.) It is hollow throughout, and all its large lower
limbs, and many others up the tree, are broken off. It keeps its full height
nevertheless, and has still many luxuriant boughs. It measures 27ft. in
circumference at 5ft. from the ground, where the card of the Club is placed
(this in size, is 1ft. by 6in.), and its exact height is 104 feet by Mr. Wells's
clinometer.
Lodmore and Son, Photographers to the Woolhope Naturalists Féeld Club.
i
87
great size, the one on the south side rising to the greatest height. This tree s
past its prime and has met with many misfortunes although still very luxuriant.
So far back as March 1827 a violent storm of wind one Sunday morning broke
off a large limb hanging over the road, which so completely blocked it up that
horsemen had to leap into the neighbouring garden or field to get by it.
[ Wote.—This same storm was felt so severely in Hereford that the
service at All Saints’ Church was stopped for fear the spire should be
blown down, and the rector (Dr. Symons) and all the congregation
speedily left it. ]
The Stretton Rectory Elm is a very fine old tree standing close to the
west end of the church in the rectory grounds. It has lost many limbs and is
much decayed, but the trunk is entire, and measures at five feet from the
20 feet eight inches in circumference, and its full height, which it still keeps well,
is about 102 feet.
The Wormbridge Elm (of which an account will be given in another
place) measures 17 feet 8 inches in circumference, and is still a very luxuriant
tree.
The Holm Lacey Elm is situated in the Park at Holm Lacy—on the flat
ground, on the eastern side of the house. It is a very fine old tree, which
still keeps its original height and luxuriant upper boughs. It is hollow
throughout, and all its larger lower limbs and many others up the tree are
broken off. It measures 27 feet in circumference at five feet from the ground,
and its exact height, as ascertained by Mr. Wells’s clinometer, and by its
shadow measure, is 104 feet. There are two other fine elms at Holm oes 3
The Terrace Elm, with its ivy-covered stem,
“The female ivy
Enrings the asker 2 fingers of the Elm.”
Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II., Scene 1.
near the western gate into the park, has a circumference of 15 feet; and another
Elm in the park near this one, with a hollow stem and battered branches,
measures 16 feet 6 inches in circumference, and is 97 feet high.
The Much Marcle Elm grows near Hom House, in the field above the
kitchen garden. The girth at 5 feet from the ground is 18 feet 10 inches. It
is a vigorous tree, showing no sign of decay, with a clean bole and one main
stem. The height, roughly calculated by shadow measure, is 90 feet. It stands
well, and forms a landmark for the neighbourhood. (Dr. J. H. Wood).
The Prophet at Credenhill Court is worthy of note from its name.
Whenever a death is about to take place in the family, it is said to be foretold
by the breaking off of a large bough, and the most convincing (?) instances are
given of its correctness. It is a fine tree, and grows in the garden on the western
side of the house. It presents a fine, tall, straight bole, which measures 14 feet
11 inches, and which rises some 40 feet before giving off any branch of
importance, and is said to contain 365 cubic feet of timber.
88
The Ridgemoor Elm, near Leominster, is a very fine tree, and in full
luxuriance. It measures 19 feet 5 inches in girth at 5 feet from the ground,
and is very much larger at the base. At about 20 feet from the ground it
divides into two branches, one of which quickly separates, and the other shoots
up toa considerable height before doing so. It has met with several casualties
from the storms it has encountered, in the loss of some of its tertiary
branches, but it is still a healthy tree, and rises to the height of about 100
feet. A court leet was formerly held under this tree. :
[ Wote.—There is a curious covered walk of elms in Leominster
churchyard. They are cut so as to form an arched roof over the
broad walks which lead to the south doorway, and along the west side
of the churchyard. The trees were planted about 70 years ago by Mr.
Francis Woodhouse. ] é
The Westhide Elim is a very picturesque tree, of remarkable size. It is
a hollow tree, but still about 80 feet high, and owing to the excrescences on the
trunk, measures no less than 34ft, 3in. in girth, at 5 feet from the ground,
The Castle Green Elms at Hereford are said to have been “‘ transplanted
from the Parsonage garden at Weobley, and presented’ to the committee who
superintended the original construction and arrangement of the present walks,
in the reign of George II., by the Rev. Morgan Evans, vicar of the parish.”
The authority upon which this is stated is not given, but to judge from
the trees themselves, it must have been in the earliest years of his reign—
perchance on his accession in 1727. Allowing five years for the age of the
young trees when planted, they would be now 146 years old. There are still
twenty-one trees left, and beginning at the corner near the Infirmary, they
measure at 5 feet from the ground, 12.6; 12.7; 13.2; 12.6; 11.11 ; 12.7; 13.10;
10.9; 12.6; 13.5; 12.4; 11.8; 10.2; 10.9; 12.7; 11.8; 10.4; 10.6; 12.3; the
corner tree, and on to the two near the keeper’s house, which measure 12,2
and 12.11 respectively, making an average of 12 feet circumference. The trees
are beginning to show signs of rapid decay, and scarcely a violent storm occurs
but that a branch from one or other of them is broken off.
The Cathedral Close Elms, Hereford, are smaller trees, but from their
general condition and appearance would seem to have been planted about the
same time. There are ten old trees, and beginning at the corner near St. John’s-
street they measure 8.3; 9.8; 9.7; 10.4; 8.8.3; 9.11; 9.8; 9.5; 9.11; and 9.9
respectively.
The Ross Churchyard Elms were formerly much more numerous than
they are now. They are believed to have been planted by Kyrle—some say on
the restoration of the monarchy of Charles II.—but it is generally believed that
they were not planted until about the year 1700, that is 24 years before Kyrle’s
death. An archway erected in the prospect bears that date. There are now
only twelve trees left, and beginning opposite the rectory and going regularly
89
round they measure, in feet and inches, at 5 feet from the ground as follows :—
14.1: 12.1; 11.83; 12.3; 13.8; 12; 1410; 14.10; 14.8; 12.11; 12; 12.7 and
9.7 respectively, giving an average of 12 feet 8 inches. These trees are now
decaying fast and have lost many branches. A large branch fell the other day
from the weight of leaves being too much for the rotten limbs to carry.—
(Mr. Henry Southall).
[ Note.—Two young elm trees have sprung up within the church and
have been allowed to remain there. They are suckers from the roots of
the trees on that side of the churchyard, cut down many years since.
They are said, by the man who shows the church, to grow in the pew in
which the ‘‘Man of Ross” was accustomed to sit, and thus do reverence
to his memory.
Kyrle also originated the causeway from the south side of the
bridge to the town of Ross, and ‘‘ with his own hands planted shady rows
of elms on each side.” These elms no longer exist, having probably had to
give way to the improvements effected there. ]
The Hill Court Elms, about two miles from Ross, form a very noble
avenue of trees, the finest in the county. Captain Manly Power has very kindly
taken the following measurements of them at this time for me ‘“‘at five feet
from the ground :—15.6; 14.2; 15.2; 14.8; 12.2; 13.7; 13; 15.7; 15; 148;
and 14.10 respectively. The remainder of the trees would average about 12
feet in girth. The trees are in full vigour but getting past their prime and
many have lost some large lower limbs. The largest trees grow on the higher
ground in a light sandy loam, and they decrease in size as they get towards the
bottom of the avenue where the soil is rather stronger and not so near the lime-
stone, and there the oak and the thorn grow better. It is believed that they
were planted about the year 1700.”
These measurements will serve to give a good general idea of the size to
which the common English Elm will grow in Herefordshire, Many other elms
of great size and beauty exist in the county, and the regret that their measure-
ments have not been obtained would be the greater if there was not so good a
chance of their being carefully recorded in the reports of the Commissioners
of the Club.
Noble trees are to be found at Kentchurch, Sufton, Longworth, Ledbury,
Stoke Edith, Moorcourt, Croft Castle, Brampton Bryan, and throughout the
valleys of the Wye, the Lug, the Arrow, and the Teme,
[ Wote.—On the accession of Charles II. the joy ofthe people took
the fancy for Elm tree planting to commemorate the restoration of the
monarchy. The Elms in the broad walk at Christchurch are said to
have been then planted; and some of the Elms in the long walk at
Windsor—trees very similar in condition and size—are said to have been
planted by King Charles himself. ]
90
“Beneath those rugged Elms.”
Gray's Elegy.
The English Elm is not so fastidious and delicate as the Wych Elm. It
will thrive and grow well on very varied and inferior soils, light or heavy, and
frequently attains its largest size on strong clay loam, much too stiff and
adhesive for the Ulmus montana, The size of the trees now recorded proves
that it will grow to its full size in Herefordshire, but at the same time it must
be stated that on our strong land it quickly decays at the heart, and it is rare
that a tree of any size is felled without its being found more or less hollow.
Here, therefore, it gives way to the oak, and is only grown as a timber tree on
lighter soils. The English Elm in ordinary Herefordshire soil will grow more
rapidly than that most vigorous growing of all the varieties of the Wych Elm—
the Chichester Elm,—a tree that in suitable soil will often make shoots of from
six to ten feet long in asingle year. The actual experiment has been made.
Planted side by side, the English Elm grows most quickly, and general observa-
tion here seems to confirm it. I wish to lay stress upon this point, because
it seems to explain the complaint that has met me from several quarters, that
the English Elms you buy now are ‘‘such poor elms that they wont grow well,
and no dependance is to be placed upon them.” The fact is, the English Elms
are now sent out grafted on the Mountain or Wych Elm; they make wood
much move rapidly, and have not the disadvantage of sending up suckers from
the roots. ‘‘I think I may say, sir, that ‘grafted English’ is universal in the
trade,” was the result of my inquiries of a nurseryman. So long as the tree is
planted in the rich loamy soil, so prevalent in nurseries, the advantage is
undeniable—a larger tree is grown in a shorter time and equally good—but
remove it to the ordinary stiff clay loam of the county, and the roots of the
Wych Elm rebel, the tree may grow but will not thrive. The conclusion is
evident. If you wish to plant English Elms in common soil, you must get them
on their own hardy root stocks ; and to do this you must make a home nursery
and grow them from suckers yourself.
The value of Elm timber has become much depreciated of late years. The
cheap introduction of foreign timber ; the manufacture of improved pipes; the
extensive use of cast iron and galvanised iron, for all the under-ground and
under-water purposes for which Elm was especially adapted, have rendered it
much Jess in request than formerly. It is not, therefore, likely to be planted
as an article of commerce where a better kind of timber will grow.
Elm leaves were formerly dried in the sun and kept for feeding animals
**In some parts of Herefordshire,” says Evelyn, in his “Sylva,” ‘‘they gather
them in sacks for their swine and other cattel. 5 ° 5 .
When hay and fodder is scarce. They will eat them before oates, and thrive
exceeding well with them; remember only to lay your boughs up in some dry
and sweet corner of your barn.” In dry seasons on the Continent this practicg
is not unfrequently adopted. The leaves are said to contain a mucilage which
is very abundant and nutritious, and the animals feed quickly upon them.
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@ikt © trte of any cite is felléd wishout Hs being found mice Or LemneMtome:
Wxce, therefore, it givas way to the oak, aol only grown os o timber tree on
fagictor salle, Th ili, ha te andinary Horvtaahire wil wi SES
phy than that mont vigerbas growing of all the vo'w-tiie of the Wek Meer
the Uildebsater Hro,a tree that in suitable ssil will often make shoots Of from >
dis G tem Spot long ih a xingle year. The ectuel experiment. haw been jinade, ~
Planted sido by dde, the Buglish hn grows most quickly, and generals
tion here sceme to confirm it. 1 wish fo lay streee upon this point, Geeadie”
it seems to expiedn the consplaint that bas met me from soversk quarters, that ~~
the English Elms you buy now are “such ‘poor olms that they wéat grow ‘well,
and no dependance fa ‘to be placed upon them.” - The fact is, the Englivs Blins
are now sept out grafted ce tle Mountain or Wych Elm; they snake wood
fonch mort rapidly, and have not the disndvantage of sending up euckems irom >
the roots, “I think I may say, ix, that) ‘grafted English’ iv universal in the);
trade,” woathe result of myinquiries of a nurserymen. So long oa Sib. feed et
planted in. the rich loamy, got, a0 provalent ia marries, che sthenalggehalt ©. |
andeniablo~s larger ‘tev is grown in « shorter time: and equally gegdbet
rariove it to the ondinary etiffelay toam of the county, and the soother the
Wyck Him ‘rebel, the troe may grow but will not thrive. Thaw » fin’
puidint. If you wish to plant English Elms in common atl, vot cil ge
oe theiy own hardy ront stocks; and. to do tit son ove chet ye ardor aol
ead grew them from euckers youre! Pat eS
The valuo of Kini timber tee tito ayer be etal of eee yaa
vnety Watrodantion of foreign sipris, . He te Hh, of mogpetad pipers: ,
netuseiee Gee OA eeed fron aml yiir (get one te underground wot s
13d eral SL apie for whet: Hike . plas od, have rendered bid
mach - inom om Tegecet than fore «, atetore, likely to be planted: 1...
5s ah arin amemerce Where a tetter bon! ph Gamer will grow, .
Film. tenth pes formerly dre oo wae end kept for feedi } t fe
‘Tn some pert Kiverforiahi: 4 aeee Evnloey, Em his “ Sylva,” “they gather: f
them in sucks Seecieemn anne fant other cot ge hy oom See aos
When bay and PSubne ix euaowe. ‘They will cub ‘them before onted,-and
exneeding well, with stanley peewee oaiy t lay your boughs ap in vome dry he:
and eweet corneref jane wee Lo.airy seasons on the Continent this practigg “ig
in not unfreqnently staq@iMs, he deaves are paid to contein @ twndilage wht,
is vory abundant and ewe Bad the animeals food quickly wpon themy) ;
— ee ee
AY
ot Po
*
G
a ne
¢
pate:
THE REMARKABLE TREES
OF
HEREFORDSHIRE.
THE TREVIL ELM. TRELOUGH.
APRIL, 1869.
____ This fine picturesque old tree, sometimes called Toe WormprincE EM,
is situated by the high road on the green at Trelough. At five feet from the
ground, where the card of the Club is placed (in size 1ft. by 6in.) it measures
17ft. 8in. in girth. It is 86 feet high, and has an east and west diametric spread
of foliage of 31 yards.
Ladmore and Son, Photographers to the Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club.
i tala vw.
91
{ *f Feecunde frondibys Ulmi.”— Virgil. ]
Fertile in leaves, the Elm.
‘But thou, O Pteleas (the Elm), to the swain allows
Shades to his cattle, timber for his ploughs.”
Cowleigh.
The notices of the Elm in the classical writers are very numerous. It is
celebrated in the Iliad for having formed the bridge by which Achilles escaped
the Xanthus when that river, by overflowing its banks, endangered his life.
Virgil says the husbandmen bent the young elm whilst growing into the
proper shape for the ‘‘buris” or plough tail :—
{ ‘‘ Continuo in Silvis magna vi flexa domatur
In burim et curvi formam accipit ulmus aratri.”
Geo. I. 169. ]
Young Elms with early force in copses bow,
Fit for the figure of the crooked plough.—Dryden.
The Romans used the elm as a support for the vine.
{ ‘‘ Ulmisque adjungere vites.” ]
The lofty elm with creeping vines o’erspread.
Its straightness of growth, the abundance of its small branches, and above all
the perfect freedom with which it may be pruned at all times, rendered it
at once a natural support, as beautiful and elegant as it was economical and
effective. Inthe south of Italy it is still so employed, as is also the Lombardy
poplar. Columella informs us that elm-tree vineyards were called arbusta, the
vines themselves being called arbustive vites to distinguish them from others
grown in more confined situations. Virgil takes it for granted that the Vines
will be trained over Elms:
“Inde ubi jam validis amplexe stirpibus ulmos
Exierint, tum stringe comas,” &c.
Geo. 2, 367.
“But when the rooted vines with steady hold
Can clasp their Elms, then, husbandman be bold !"—Dryden.
And in other passages also. Once in two years the elms were carefully pruned,
to prevent their leaves from overshadowing the grapes, and this operation
was deemed of great importance. Corydon is reproached by Virgil for the
double neglect of suffering both his elms and vines to remain unpruned.
[ ‘‘Semiputata tibi frondosa vites in ulmo est.” ]
“Your vine half pruned upon the leafy elm.”
This union formed a fruitful subject of allusion to their authors and
poets. Ovid delights in it, and uses it with much elegance in the speech of
Vertumnus to Pomona, when recommending matrimony to her:
[ ‘‘ At si staret, ait, coelebs sine palmite truncus,
Nil preter frondes, quare peteretur, haberet.
Heec quoque, qu juncta vitis requiescit in ulmo,
Si non nupta foret, terrz acclinata jaceret.
Ovid, Metam., Lib. XIV.)
M2
92
“Tf that fair elm, he cried, alone should stand,
No grapes with gold would glow and tempt the hand:
Or if that vine without her elm should glow,
’Twould creep a poor neglected shrub below.”
Dryden.
[ Wote.—The same custom is alluded to by Milton in narrating the
occupation of Adam and Eve in Paradise :
‘« They led the vine
To wed the elm; she, spoused, about him twines
Her marriageable arms ; and with her brings
Her dower, the adopted clusters, to adorn
His barren leaves.”
And Shakspere, in the ‘‘ Comedy of Errors,” where Adriana is repulsed
by Antipholus her husband, as she believes, makes her say with sweet
entreaty to him:
“Come I will fasten on this sleeve of thine :
Thou art an elm, my husband, I a vine,
Whose weakness married to my stronger state
Makes me with thy strength to communicate.
If aught possess thee from me, it is dross ;
Usurping ivy, briar, or idle moss,
Who all for want of pruning with intrusion
Infect thy sap and live on thy confusion.’”’—Act 2, Sc. 2.
It was a case of mistaken identity—the lawyers par excellence !—her
husband's twin brother. ]
Spencer, in his ‘‘ Faerie Queen,” speaks of
“The Vine-propp Elme.”
Wordsworth, in his ‘Pillar of Trajan,” again revives its use:
“So, pleased with purple clusters to entwine
Some lofty elm tree, mounts the daring vine.”
And so too does Rogers in his poem on Italy (on Naples) :
“ Here the vines
Wed each her Elm, and o’er the golden grain
Hang their luxuriant clusters, chequering
The sunshine.”
And numerous other poetical allusions, ancient and modern, to the same custom
might be given. The real practical application is shewn by Pliny, who says—
‘That elm isa poor spouse that does not support three vines.”
The Greeks and Romans considered all trees that did not produce food
fit for human use as funereal trees. Homer alludes to this in making Achilles
raise a monument to the father of Andromache in the midst of a grove of elms.
: - « ‘‘epi O& mredtac tpdrevoay
vippar dpecriadec, Kovpar Arde aiyrdyo.o.”
Iviad—Lib. vi., 419 420.
** Jove’s sylvan daughters bade their elms bestow
A barren shade, and in his honour grow.”
Pope.
And whether from this classic origin of the idea, from the shade they produce,
from the open space afforded, or from the homely domestic feeling with regard
to the tree, the Elm has ever been frequently planted in churchyards,
SS eee
Paws” «
Meee e ti a aeteille
93
Mrs. Hemans, on a Sunday morning in Spring, says!
‘© How many blessed groups this hour are bending
Through England’s primrose meadow-paths their way,
Tow’rd spire and tower midst shadowy Elms ascending,
Whence the sweet chimes proclaim the hallow’d day.”
Was it this association, or was it rather some morbid fancy of the hour,
that made Hood write his melancholy poem on the Elm?—
“Twas in a shady avenue,
Where lofty elms abound,
And from a tree there came to me
A sad and solemn sound,
That sometimes murmur’d overhead
And sometimes underground.
Amongst the leaves it seemed to sigh,
Amid the boughs to moan,
It muttered in the stem, and then
The roots took up the tone;
As if beneath the dewy grass
The dead began to moan.”
And so it .goes on with the repetition of the melancholy refrain again and
again, to keep up the feeling of mysterious gloom. It is false, however, to
the tree, and simply reflects the sadness of the author’s mind.
Wordsworth is much more true to nature in his ‘‘ Churchyard amongst
the Mountains,” where he calls it—
“The JOYFUL ELM
Around whose trunk the maidens dance in May.”
The Elm a melancholy tree! the very rooks that love to build their cities in its
topmost boughs forbid it by the active bustle of their lives. There is indeed
nothing gloomy about the Elm. It is associated with all our life-long summer
pleasures ; we play under it in our earliest years; we swing upon it, we climb
it as boys; in love and in friendship we revel in its shade; and as age advances
on us we rest and meditate at leisure, enjoying the cool protection it affords
from the hottest summer’s sun. The Elms of home hang on the memory when
away, and in the outline of their tall forms we first recognise from afar the
reality of our return ; the village Elm is the pleasant lounge of the inhabitants ;
on its trunk public notices are fixed; beneath its shade all the news of the
neighbourhood is talked over; and there, too, stood in the days that most of
us can yet remember, the parish stocks, to give the depth of tragical interest
to the brighter tints of its usual characteristic features.
[ Wote.—The space so commonly to be found
** Amid the gloom,
Spread by a brotherhood of lofty Elms,”
near the churches and in other public places on the Continent, is so
thoroughly recognised as the general gossip shop, as to give rise to the old
ironical proverb for a private assignation
** Attendez-moi sous l’Orme.”
The spirit of which will be best shewn perhaps in English, by the vulgar
saying, *‘ Don’t you wish you may get it.” ]
94
“Ta de map avrdy
Atyetpot wredeat Te elioxioy adaocg Epatvor.”
And there beside
Poplars and Elms their grateful shade threw wide.
Theocritus—Idyll 7, 8.
For our parks and for our pleasure grounds the value of the Elm as an
ornamental tree wants no recommendation, but its advantages to give beauty to
our towns and cities seems not to be so fully appreciated in England as it
should be. The Elm is peculiarly adapted for this purpose, and asa tree for
“close contiguity with houses it has no rival. It bears well the smoke of towns,
and whilst it throws a constant shade below, its boughs hang loosely, and it
leaves broad open spaces from side to side to let in light and air ; and, moreover,
where these are not found sufficient for the houses near, whole branches may be
removed without injury to the tree, and if carefully done, without marring its
beauty. On the Continent its virtues are fully appreciated, and whenever they
get space sufficient, they plant Elm trees in preference even to their great
favourite, the Lime tree; and in such places, happily, they leave them liberty
of growth.
In Herefordshire, the great progress of recent years has set orna-
ment aside, An utilitarian spirit has prevailed, and everything has given
way to commerce ; our towns are becoming simply lines of houses in brickwork,
in Bath stone, or in stucco; without the quaint gables, and windows of
medieval times, to give them interest, or without the fresh foliage of trees to
relieve the monotony and glare of the streets.
Few cities have improved more rapidly than Hereford during the last
ten years: its streets have been enlarged, its pavements widened, old obstruc-
tions have been removed, new houses have been built, new shops opened, and
plate-glass has become general, not to mention those great unseen improvements,
more important still—complete drainage and water supply. If its commerce
has increased, if its inhabitants have grown more numerous, the foresight and
wisdom of its rulers have more than kept pace with the advance. The public
spirit they have shown, the great expenditure they have incurred, will redound
more and more to their credit as yearsroll on. And yet, what is the general
effect on the appearance of the city itself? What might an art critic say of it?
“Yes, gentlemen, you have no doubt very much improved your city for all
commercial purposes ; but you have swept away its picturesque features ; you
have carried off its old market-house, knocked down its projecting porticos,
cropped off its pretty gables, plaistered over its old timber houses, until nothing
is left of interest except such objects as you may sce in the shop windows.”
And there is a germ of truth in this, since the want of green foliage to relieve
the monotony has not yet been supplied. The trees our ancestors planted are
all that we have, and they are so rapidly decaying that nearly every storm
brings down a bough, An Elm at the end of the Old House in the High-town,
i
5
f.
‘
‘.
5
1
=:
95
in front of the Kerry Arms, or in St. Peter’s-square, would be an abiding
pleasure ; and on the Continent certainly trees would be planted down Com-
mercial-road. If, however, it should be thought that space fails in the city
itself, trees could certainly be planted on the new ground of the Castle-green,
here and there in the Cathedral-close, and readily in the approaches to the
city of Aylstone-hill, the Above-Hign, and Widemarsh.
Hereford does not stand alone; our other towns are the same. Why
should the Grange at Leominster be the ugly place it is, when the simple
planting of Elm trees around would, in a few years, make it the glory of the
town? Had the Man of Ross been alive when the new ground was added to
the churchyard there, would he not have planted young Elms, to be the pride
and ornament in after ages that his own trees are now?
“ Our fathers knew the value of a screen
Frem sultry suns, and, in their shady walks
And long-protracted bowers, enjoyed at noon
The gloom and coolness of declining day.” —Cowper.
Joun Luoyvp, Esq., in thanking Dr, Bull for his eloquent paper, begged to
propose a resolution :
“That the Central Committee of the Club be empowered to take such active
steps as may be deemed advisable, to encourage the planting of young trees of
the common English Elm, in our towns, and public pleasure grounds.”
This was at once seconded by the Rev. James Davies, of Moorcourt, and
was carried unanimously,
The President had brought with him some fine specimens of a beautiful
caterpillar, the Lophocampa Carya, so named from the plants it feeds upon
belonging to the genus Carya, or the Hickory tree. These pretty creatures,
covered with grey tufts of hair, were feeding on leaves of the common walnut,
Juglans regia, the only representative in this hemisphere of the natural family
of the Hickories. The Lophocampa carye is a native of the Northern States of
America. The larve shewn were hatched on June 5th from eggs laid by a moth
brought from America in the pupa state, under the care of Dr. Chapman, of
Abergavenny. They had just entered their last skins. The larger and more
handsomely tufted larve will probably produce female moths, for amongst insects
the female sex is usually the larger and stronger.
The Rev. Arthur Gray, of Orcop, sent a fine specimen of the Greater
Broom rape, Orobanche major, 21 inches long, in seed. This singular plant,
which grows as a parasite on the roots of the broom, clover, and some other
plants, has been unusually common this year. The Rev. George H. Cornewall
has said how very plentifully he has found it growing in large patches on the
roots of clover.
96
C. G. Martin, Esq., also brought two specimens of the Hieractwm
aurantiacum, the Orange Hawkweed, which, with H. pilosella, are the only
Hawkweeds that send out scions from theroot. These plants, though gathered
growing and wildly self-sown, were from so suspicious a situation, as to be clearly
“* parden wanderers. ”
The whistle now sounded, and a general move was made for the dingle,
where already many of the party were busy digging up roots of the oak and
beech fern which grew there in great abundance and luxuriance. A sharp descent
by a path but little prepared for such visitors as threaded its wanderings to-day,
led into the fine amphitheatre in front of the fall. The River Llech here falls a
clear hundred feet, and must be a magnificent sight when the river is full from
the autumn rains; now the small stream that fell over into the pool below was
dashed into spray, and although the prismatic colours—the rainbow of the fall—
were exceedingly pretty, it could not make up for the absence of life and spirit,
of activity and force, of rush and roar, which are the true characteristics
of such grandeur in material. There is ample space behind the water for
visitors to pass and many ladies did so, and there, had a capital opportunity of
observing in perfection the beautiful fringe moss, Mniwm punctatum, the Green
spleenwort, Aspleniwm vivide, and also other mosses with the usual abundance
of liver-green, Marchantia Polymorpha, and other moisture-loving specimens of
vegetation.
A more promising place for a charming picturesque ramble in search of
plants than this lovely dingle can scarcely be imagined. The river itself affords a
series of cateracts and whirlpools ; that is to say, it would do so in action, but on
the present occasion it was a succession of clear transparent pools with over-
hanging rocks, and a little invisible current of water running beneath the stones
to connect them. Its bed could be better seen and examined now perhaps than
at any time. Geologists could knock out the large Calamites and other fossils
from its shales with an ease and comfort not often to be found. It must seldom
happen too, that the Water ouzels can be so readily disturbed in their most
secret haunts, as they were on this occasion. Time, however, admitted not of
any accurate research, the whistle sounding loudly three times at the foot of
the fall, when ;
The Rev. W. S. Symonps made some very interesting remarks on this
beautiful ‘‘ Valley of erosion,” which he explained as the result of natural causes
—the effect of those powerful torrents produced by the sudden thaw of snow and
ice under a hot summer’s sun, and he pointed out the varying character of the
debris, the large fragments of Mountain Limestone, of Millstone Grit, and of Old
Red Sandstone, all lying mixed up together on the lower Shales of the bed of
the river below the Fall—as an example of mixed rocks brought within the waters
influence, in great part by the great weight-bearing powers of ice, and concluded
with some general observations on the powers of denudation now in operation
around us,
i ee
97
The time had now expired, the whistle began to blow continuously and
frantically, and all made their way quickly to the upper regions. Here the
kind people who sacrificed themselves so unselfishly for the general benefit, had
got all the valuables re-transmitted to their hampers, and leaving the ground
strewed with the bottles whose spirits of sparkling Moselle, of sparkling
Burgundy, or of Seltzer had departed, hands were readily given to the baskets,
and all marched off for the train. It stopped specially near the Fall to take
the company up again. The engine whistle shrieked loudly for some minutes
and with wonderful effect, for there was little delay, and yet, so far as is known,
none were left behind—though a hat or two and a coat could not he found.
The railway carriages thoroughly heated hy the sun made the short run
to Brecon, the most trying part of the day, but it soon passed, and the visitors
were left in pleasurable contentment at the successive stations where they had
been taken up.
Edward Stone, Esq., of Chambers Court, Worcestershire, an active
member of the Malvern Naturalists’ Club, was very desirous of expressing
his great sense of the admirable arrangements for the day. They were certainly
due for the kind co-operation of the several railway authorities over whose
lines the club passed; and particularly must they here be expressed to Wm.
Banks, Esq., of Pont-y-wal Hall, the Chairman of the Brecon and Neath
Company, and the active manager, Mr. Morley, for the train they had put on
specially for the convenience of the club, and also for the kind personal superin-
tendance they both of them gave to ensure the comfort of the members and
their visitors.
Che THoolhope Raturalisis’ SHield Club.
MEETING AT LUDLOW FOR THE TITTERSTONE
CLEE HILL AND OAKLEY PARK.
JULY 28TH, 1868.
A friendly meeting of the Caradoc and Woolhope Naturalist Field Clubs
took place at Ludlow on Tuesday last. The weather was very favourable, and
it is scarcely necessary to say more than this, to show that it was well attended,
and that a most enjoyable day was spent. Ludlow offers such a combination
of attractions, and receives its visitors so well and so spiritedly, that his mind
would be poor indeed that did not have it greatly enriched, and carry off,
moreover, the happiest recollections. Geology was the main object of the.
present gathering, and to the student of geology Ludlow is especially interesting.
It is the best starting point for a district to be carefully studied by the physical
geologist. Here the highest beds of the Silurian system are best developed ;
here is that remarkable bone bed so instructive and valuable with relation to
the beginning of vertebrate life; it is within easy reach of the celebrated Church-
hill Quarry, where the earliest fish was found ; and it has a Museum excellently
arranged, and of the highest interest. This Museum contains the best collection
in England of the Lower Ludlow star-fishes, some of them unique specimens.
A valuable collection of birds has been recently added to it, and it is indeed
highly creditable to the town, great as its opportunities certainly are. On the
present occasion the Museum was thrown open for its visitors, and R. Lightbody,
Esq., to whom belongs many of the most valuable specimens, very kindly
attended himself to point them out, and give every explanation that might be
required,
99
The Woolhope Club was the first to arrive, and spent an hour at the
Museum with much profit and pleasure; that is to say the science of the Club
was there, for, sooth to say, there were many to whom its beautiful Church,
and the extensive ruins of its interestling old Castle, proved higher attractions
still. We will trust that the town was new to them, and a better excuse
could not possibly be found, for the satisfaction with which they set off to
visit them. At the Church, which was admirably restored about eight years .
ago, their attention was particularly directed to the old wood carving on the
stalls in the chancel, the old glass still preserved in some of the windows,
and the fine carving of the screen dividing the chapel of St. John from the
church. On reaching the Castle a delay was occasioned by—may we call him
the seneschal?—not being at his post. Loud were the appeals to the long
and awkward knocker of the gate, frequent were the calls, and many the glances
at the watches, when, to the delight of the visitors, at last the porter with his
large keys appeared. But only a hasty visit to the interior could be allowed.
The round chapel, with its Norman arches in such perfect preservation, was
visited, the courts were hastily passed through, the apparatus where on occa-
sions of great public rejoicing, the ox is roasted whole, with the horns of the
victims suspended above it was ‘noticed, and then the principal tower was
ascended—but alas! as ever, time was inexorable, and not even the lovely
view on this most lovely day might detain the delighted beholders. The Clee
Hill was before them—that was the object of the day’s excursion, and ruin and
river, pasture and pleasaunce, must detain them no longer. They had to
retrace their steps t0 the ‘‘ Feathers,” where all the assemblage was to meet the
carriages at half-past eleven o’clock. A goodly number of gentlemen, and many
ladies were soon collected, and they rapidly increased by the arrival of the
members of the Caradoc Club and their visitors. ‘But where was the leader
for the day? where was Mr. La Touche ? was asked. ‘‘He will be here pre-
sently ; he is guarding a model that two men are carrying up from the station,”
was the answer. Of this we shall have more to say presently. The distribution
of carriage tickets is now going on rapidly, and as break and omnibus, dog-cart
and carriage arrive at the door they are loaded and sent off to Clee Hill.
They were heavily laden, and whilst this necessary delay takes place, it will be
best to give a list of those present.
The Woolhope Club was represented by its President, Dr. M’Cullough ;
George Bentham, Esq., President of the Linnean Society; and J. W. Salter,
Esq., F.G.S., honorary members; T. Curley, Esq., F.G.S., John Lloyd, Esq.,
and Dr. Bull, of the Central Committee ; Miss Read, ; Richard Hereford, Esq.,
Sufton Court; Capt. Hereford’ Capt. R. G. Hereford, the Rev. R. Hereford,
and Mr. George Hereford ; R. Lightbody, Esq., F.G.S., ©. Lightbody, Esq., and
Mr, Lightbody, Ludlow; the Rev. J. F. Crouch, Pembridge; the Rev. R. Dixon,
M.A., F.G.S., Nottingham ; Humphry Salwey, Esq., Mrs. Salwey, Mr., Miss,
and Miss Annie Salwey, Ludlow ; the Rev. Wm. Stanhope, Holm Lacey ; George
n2 ;
100
Cocking, Esq., Ludlow; the Rev. W. C. Fowle, Brinsop; Wm. Haggard, Esq.,
and Mr. Andrew Haggard ; the Rev. F. J. Eld, M.A., and Erling Clark, Esq.,
Worcester; the Rev. E. Du Buisson, Breinton; Miss Hodgson and Miss Lewis,
Ludlow; the Rev. R. H. Williams, Byford; T. Weyman, Esq., and Mrs.
Weyman; H. Weyman, Esq., and Miss Weyman, Ludlow; the Rev. P.
Hammond, the Rev. ©. J. Robinson, Norton Cannon; C. G. Martin, Esq.,
Hereford; Capt. Williams, Talgarth; Jno. Lambe, Esq. ; J. T. Owen Fowler,
Esq., and Mrs. Fowler, Hereford; J. H. Wood, Esq., Tarrington; E. Cowtan,
Esq., Hereford; Mr. John Pitt, Freetown; Mr. John Lloyd, Kington; Mr.
Andrews, Bosbury ; and Mr. B, M. Watkins, Hentland.
The members of the Caradoc Club and their friends present were: The
Rev. J. Brooke, Shiffnal, vice-President, and Mrs. Brooke; the Rev. J. D. La
Touche, Stokesay Rectory, and three sons; the Rev. William Houghton, M.A.,
F.L.S.; the Rev. W. A. Leighton; the Rev. T. L. Gleadowe, and the Misses
Gleadowe (two); S. Downward, Esq., Mrs. Downward, and Miss Turner and
friend, Meole Brace, Shrewsbury; the Rev. Lionel Corbett; E. Calvert, Esq.,
and the Misses Calvert (three); Mr. and Miss Blunt; the Rev. G. T. Hall;
W. S. Buddicom, Esq., Mrs. Buddicom, Miss Hornby, and Miss Purton, Tickler-
ton Hall, Church Stretton; the Rev. J. Chapman; J. C. Scott, Esq., Manor
House, Rattlershope ; Folliott Sandford, Esq., and Mrs. Folliott Sandford,
Shrewsbury ; the Rev. Holland Sandford, Eaton Rectory; B. Matthews, Esq.,
Ludlow ; the Rev. R. Hopton, and Mr. Burns, Stokesay.
The roads were happily excellent—too good to escape special notice ;—
hard, smooth, and level, they were roads in perfection, and the absence of dust
gave pleasant proof of their power to bear traffic with the smallest amount of
destruction. They are formed of the igneous rock of the Titterstone Clee Hill
about to be visited. The Basalt, a trap rock, commonly called ‘‘Jew, or Dew
Stone,” possibly (as its colour implies) from the word ‘“‘dhu,” black, ‘‘the
black stone.” Mineralogically speaking, it is composed of augite, felspar, and
iron oxide. Its special peculiarity is the hardness and fineness of its grain
and the great proportion of iron oxide that it contains in comparison with other
igneous rocks. This rock is said to contain 20 per cent. of iron oxide. It is
seldom found associated with palceosoic rocks of a late period. It makes here
admirable road metal, and is now being distributed far and wide for this
purpose, notwithstanding its great weight. The city of Hereford has lately
become familiar with its appearance, and its use on our county roads is becoming
more and more general, as its indestructable qualities become more recognised.
The ride of 5 miles, with beautiful views, ever changing in character,
and varied delightfully by cloud shadows, was very enjoyable. The Titterstone
Clee Hill was ever a-head, its summit rising to the height of 1730 feet above
the sea-level, and a massive round-backed hill to the left, the Brown Clee hill,
which seemed lower from its greater distance off, is nevertheless higher still,
and reaches 1806 feet, The rain the week before had freshened all vegetation,
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and fields beautifully green once more gladdened the sight. Passing the young
Turkish oaks with their pretty foliage—rejoicing in this splendid summer as
they seemed to do—the fine upright English oaks, so valuable for timber—
the tall Elms of Henley Hall were reached. Here crossing the Lutwyche—
noted for its fishing—the ascent began, and soon called for the extra assistance
of a couple of horses to draw up the carriages as they successively arrived.
The mining district was soon reached with its basalt-built cottages becoming more
and more numerous as the brow of the hill was gained. Here the visitors
left the carriages and seemed by instinct to make for that noted land-mark,
“the fork-ed stick.” It was not the right way however. Mr. Cocking and the
leaders bore to the left over a rough common, dry and arid as the fashion
of the year is, and took the direct road to the summit across those mysterious
lines of stone which puzzle antiquaries to explain. The ascent would have
been remarkably easy if the turf had not been so dry and slippery, nor was it
long,-for in about a mile and a half the lecture point, above the Giant’s Chair,
was reached. The wind by this time had freshened to a point that rendered
elastic fastenings for hats highly valuable. Taking the sheltered side of the
summit, lying and seated in a close group, whose picturesque effect was
heightened, here by a young lady on a white pony, and there by a docile chestnut
standing amongst the rocks on the steep hill side, as quietly as if he too was
deeply interested in the excellent ‘‘ Address on the Geology of the District,”
which was here given by the Rev. J. D. La Touche, with a clear, distinct
enunciation which enabled every one to hear it plainly.
GEOLOGICAL ADDRESS ON THE TOP OF THE
TITTERSTONE CLEE HILL.
BY VEE SRE Vi. di... Ds LAY) OOH i.
Ladies and Gentlemen,—If, starting from the base of the hill on which
we stand, we were to traverse a straight line ina N.W. direction, and, as we
advanced along this line, were to observe the inclination of the rocks wherever
exposed to view, we should find that, asa general rule, they all fall away or
dip to the 8.E., until we arrive at the Longmynd, that dark range of hills
which nearly bounds our view from this point; but on arriving there, any
observant person would be much struck by the fact that the dip of the rocks
would be exactly reversed—that they are inclined to the N.W., and at a
very much higher angle than before. The conclusion to be drawn from this fact
is inevitable, viz., that that high ground which stretches for a distance of some
20 miles ina N.E. and §.W. direction is the centre of a vast upheaval of the
strata which had previously been deposited horizontally.
It is evident that for the most part these rocks which are now so much
tossed about in so many directions and at so many angles, were once lying
level at the bottom of the sea, and that their present position is due to the
disturbing forces which have acted upon them from beneath. Here, then, before
us is a grand instance of this disturbing force. The Longmynds are the axis
of this elevation, which has thrown off on both sides the more recent rocks which
have been inclined at angle corresponding to the application of the force which
has disturbed them. Just peering over the tops of the Longmynds, and apparently
resting on them, we see a few projections. These projections really are part
of a ridge lying behind that range, and separated from it by some miles. They
are called the Stiperstones, and are gigantic masses of quartzose grit, which
stand out on the summit of the hill, the rest of the stratum having been washed
away or denuded. This Stiperstone range is by Sir R. Murchison supposed to
be the same as the Lingula flags of Wales, but Mr. Salter tells me that the
evidence that it is so is slight, and that in his opinion they have more appearance
of belonging to the Arenig rocks of Wales, which, as here, lie at the base of the
Llandeilo. This latter series occupies the fine undulating country about Shelve
and Corndon, and is in some parts highly fossiliferous. The thickness of these
several strata is very great. Starting from Church Stretton, where, as I have
said, the break occurs on this side, and travelling westward, we pass across
——
;
:
:
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the edges of what might be likened to the leaves of an enormous volume, of
some 8 or 10 miles in thickness. The Longmynds alone measure, according to
Ramsay, 26,000 feet, which estimate, however, Mr. Salter thinks may be reduced
by the doubling over of some strata, whereby they would be counted twice
over. However, even if we take the smallest estimate of 10,000 feet, no one
can examine tLe structure of these rocks, which shows that they were for the
most part deposited on a succession of level sea beaches, exhibiting thin cracks,
ripple marks, and the traces of worms which crawled over their surface when
they were laid bare by the receeding tide, without being impressed by the
immensity of time required to form them. Such evidences meeting
the geologist wherever he turns—evidences as certain at least as any upon
which he can rely upon all ordinary subjects of knowledge—convince him that
cycles of time may be assigned to the production of these strata as liberally as
space is assigned to contain the countless worlds which we witness on a starry
night,
This part of the country is not devoid of evidences of the violent
action which even in the present day produces sudden changes in the crust of
the earth. In the Corndon and in several masses of igneous rock in the neigh-
bourhood are to be found traces of the forces which have elevated the Long-
mynds and the surrounding country ; besides the course grit and felspathic ash
which are often found there interstratified with clay shale, are memorials of
great submarine volcanoes which time after time cast up cones of lava and
ashes from the bed of the sea, these were then dispersed in every direction till
the cone was levelled and disappeared beneath the waves, and the whole was
then overlayed with a stratum of clay. Upon the nearer side of the Longmynd
the strata is sufliciently regular, but it is not so easy to determine their exact
relation to the rocks on the other side. This is caused by a vast fault of some
2,000 feet along the Stretton Valley which has cut off the upper strata from
the lower as seen on the western side of the ridge. There seems reason to
believe that the Caradoc is only the upper member of a long and regular series
of which the lowest is the Arenig—but however that may be the Caradoc strata
on this side of the range are deposited on the edges of the Cambrian rocks, while
on the other, the Stiperstone flags and Llandeilo are conformable to them,
Before leaving the neighbourhood of these hills we must notice a fact which
throws light on their early condition and history. We find along most of their
eastern flank, and also along their southern extremity and a portion of their
western flank, a stratum of the Mayhill grit and conglomerate succeeded by the
lower beds of purple Wenlock shale ; a little consideration of this fact will suggest
an important inference; we find these strata dipping at a tolerably equal angle on
every side away from the strata on which they lie—such an arrangement seems
only explicable on the supposition of their having formed a portion of an ancient
beach along the Longmynds as a shore—observe that a similar deposit is made
all along the coast of any existing land: all along the western shores of our island,
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far out into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, there would be found to be a
stratified deposit dipping away just as this does from the flanks of the Longmynd,
and consisting as this does of the larger pebbles close to the beach, and further out
of finer mud, the one in course of time becoming what is called a conglomerate,
the other the ordinary sandstone and shale which is so much more common.
According to this the Longmynd would be an island standing out from the
surface of the primeval sea before the time when all the succeeding strata which
now intervene between us and it, were formed—that is, all above the Llandovery.
Such strata are well developed within sight of the spot where we stand—on
the one side we have the parallel ridges of Wenlock edge and Aymestrey lime-
stone extending from Wenlock to Ludlow, and thence thinning out in their
course southwards,
Due south is the district of Woolhope, most interesting as including
within itself an epitome of most of the Silurian rocks and proving the
persistency of their relative position over so large an area; and lastly,
Malvern, which also presents the same order of strata, the Wenlock over-
lying the Llandovery, and this succeeded by the lower and upper Ludlow rocks
with the intervening stratum of Aymestrey Limestone.
In all these places the Silurian rocks are found to protrude from
under the old Red Sandstone, which was therefore deposited subsequently
to them and which occupies nearly all this immediate neighbourhood. This
extensive deposit is remarkable by its being the first in which vertebrate
fishes have left any extensive traces. It would, indeed, he rash to assert
that such did not exist previously. When we hear of such a fossil
as that of the Archceopterix being found in rocks which, though well
searched, had, till a short time ago, failed to yield a single specimen of it—
when Mr. Darwin tells us of a plate of a kind of barnacle being found in
the secondary rocks—a single specimen in that wide, and as was supposed, well-
known stratum, proving, as certainly as thousands of such specimens could, that
the ancestors of these little animals which now clothe the rocks of our sea shore
with their innumerable and curious dwellings had this remote antiquity—in
the face of these facts, I say, it would be rash to assert that the vertebrate
animals of the old red had no representatives at an earlier age. ‘‘It is as rash”
(to use Mr. Darwin’s own words) ‘‘in us to dogmatize on the succession of organic
beings throughout the world, as it would be fora naturalist to land for five
minutes on some barren point in Australia, and there to discuss the number
and range of its productions.” The same conclusion is forced upon us by finding
at the summit of the Silurian rocks, but below the base of the old red, a
remarkable bone bed, which in some places is some eight inches thick. This
deposit consists almost entirely of spines and bits of the skin of innumerable
fishes of which, however, not a single specimen to which they can be
assigned has come to light. In the Lower Ludlow rock, indeed, a few
specimens of Pteraspis have been found, but it is by no means sure that
a el lr
a
105
these fish defences belonged to these creatures. Such a fact shows us how little,
after all, we know of the life of those early times, and how unwarrantable it
would be to assert that any particular stratum is the first in which a particular
fauna came into being—since though a good geologist is able from the pre-
dominance in certain particular rocks to identify them with very great precision,
and so his study may be said to assume the dignity of a science; yet to
proceed to this further generalization would seem more than he is justified
in doing.
And now we arrive at this more immediate neighbourhood where we
find the Mountain limestone, the Millstone grit, and the Coal measures
succeeding each other in their ordinary succession, The Millstone grit consti-
tutes that ridge which stretches out from the Titterstone to the N.E., where it
presents the appearance of a coarse conglomerate; it is to be found also to
the S. and S.W. round this hill. At the spot on which we stand, I
would call your attention to the basaltic rock, or, as it is locally called, Dhu
stone, which is here so extensively seen. There can be no doubt but that the
great blocks of stone upon which you are now reclining were at one time in a
state of fusion. It has been the custom up to late years to call a very great
variety of rocks igneous, such as the Granites, Gneiss, and Syenite. In obedience,
however, to that excellent law by which every scientific theory is open to question
and examination, and by which the mere dictum of the learned is not sufficient to
decide its truth, there have been found some who are sceptical as to the wide
range of truly igneous rocks ; and it is now more than suspected that numbers
of those which up to a recent date have been classified as such, are really of
sedimentary origin, altered or metamorphosed by certain chemical and physical
changes going on within them during the enormous periods of time which
have elapsed since their formation. Such is not, however, the case with the rock
upon which we now stand, There can be no doubt that it was at one time
liquified under the action of heat, that it was protruded through the overlying
strata, and overflowed all along that Hoar edge along which we have toiled up to
this spot, spreading itself out like a gigantic mushroom upon the surface of
the coal measures. The evidences that such is the fact, may be seen—lIst, in
the columnar structure which is to some extent observed in the rocks just
below us, called the Giant’s Chair, and which, though not very visible to those
who approach the Clee-hills from the Ludlow side, is very striking to any one
who views it from the east ; 2ndly, the constituents of the stone itself, which
I am told proves its relation to known volcanic rocks; 3rdly, that it has
actually been melted up by the application of heat, by which it becomes so
plastic and tractable as to render it capable of being cast into various forms, so
much so, that a manufactory to cast ornaments for architectural purposes out of
the Rowley rag was, I understand, some years ago started at Birmingham, but it
» was found that their surface always became so yellow when exposed to the air,
from the oxydizing of the iron it contains, that it has not been extensively used
for this purpose ; and lastly, it has been proved by actual experiment that a
0
106
shaft of basalt pierces the underlying strata. This is detailed fully in Sir R.
Murchison’s larger work. He there describes how the coal seams were found
to assume a sooty appearance as they approached the wall of Dhu-stone, and
that they were at last all cut off by it, and yet that the contents of these
measures gave, under the blow-pipe, bituminous products, thus in every way
proving that the core of basalt had been intruded after the formation of the
coal strata, and not only so, but had by its great heat changed the form—burnt-
into cinders and soot—of their contents.
In this very hard and permanent rock may be seen the cause to which
we chiefly owe the existence of this and the neighbouring Clee Hill, of the
Wrekin, and a few other hills within this horizon. These hard rocks have
been a standing barrier to the ceaseless forces which have wom away and
carried down to the sea the enormous masses of strata through which they
were protruded. When you look to the Brown Clee Hill, about four miles to
the north of this, and see that the coal strata on the summit of it, like the
coal strata on the summit of this, are nearly horizontal —if you travel
northwards to Coalbrookdale and the black country, as it is called, and observe a
similar fact, and that under these lie in regular succession the strata of the
Millstone Grit, and under that, the Mountain Limestone, and under that, the
Old Red Sandstone—when you see that these strata have been cut off abruptly,
and that if they were continued from one chain of hills to the other they
would just coincide—(indeed in the minor divisions of the coal seams,
these successive layers are said to be traceable over very great areas).
When you consider these facts, it is impossible to resist the inference that these
Coal deposits were at one time all connected, and formed one great plain, one
flat swamp. It has usually been supposed that these great swamps were the
estuaries of vast rivers, and as vast rivers imply still vaster continents upon
which the rain would be precipitated, imagination might construct, ad libitum,
pile on pile of upland and mountain somewhere. But where? That
question is not easily answered. My friend Mr. Salter, however, has
shown that not only a much simpler mode of formation of these coal
fields is possible, but that there are positive evidences that it was the true
one, and that is, that these tracts of forest were marine marshes. Such are
occasionally found in the tropics in the present day, and not only the flora
themselves, but the existence on them of fossil sea worms, proves their marine
origin. ?
I have next to call your attention to a period in the history of our
globe when all these rocks had long been formed at the bottom of the sea,
hardened into rock, upheaved, sculptured out into hills and valleys, other
rocks formed on their edges, and then in turn denuded, each one of these
operations involving countless time. We at last arrive at a period when the
land was gradually assuming the shape we now behold it, and in that distant,
low lying country to the west we behold the clearest traces of this last process,
107
that is, the great valley which extends from the river Dee, which now flows
into the sea to the N.W., near Chester, all along the low lying country to the
E. of the Malverns, and on, southwards along the course of the Severn, till at
last it joins the sea in the Bristol Channel,
All along these Malvern Straits, as geclogists call them, and in
all the valleys which extend from them, are beds of gravel and sand
stratified in exactly the same way as we may see them in any river bed,
and revealing as certainly, their origin, and the conditions under which they
were found. No one who examines these beds can for a moment doubt that the
only possible way in which they can have been deposited was by the action of the
sea washing backwards and forwards, wearing down the subjacent rocks and
throwing them down at various depths in proportion to the size and weight
of their materials, the lighter floating out further from the land, and the heavier
being deposited close to the shore. On examining the contents of these gravel
deposits we find that while a great part of them consists of materials brought
from a great distance, and ground up into pebbles of various sizes, far the
largest proportion is derived from the subjacent rocks, which is just what we
might expect. Professor Buckman has also observed that the general character
of the flora of that valley is more marine than that of the surrounding country ;
plants which affect the sea-shore having lingered longer in its neighbourhood
than in higher ground, where traces of them are now obliterated. All these
facts point to one conclusion, and prove that the country around us, and the
whole of Wales was at the period that these sands and gravels were deposited,
cut off by a great strait from the rest of England.
The country in the immediate neighbourhood of Shrewsbury is about
110 feet above the level of the sea. I am not sure of the level of the
country intervening between that place and the course of the Dee, but it
cannot be very much more, as according to the map the Severn and the
Dee approach each other near the same spot. We see, then, that a
depression of only say 150 feet would suffice to transform all this side. of
England into an island. When we reflect upon how slight an elevation 150 feet
represents compared with the enormous altitudes at which there are evident
indications of sea beaches (one is mentioned in North Wales at the height of
200 feet above the sea)—when we consider that probably since the introduction
of the human race to this earth no very great change has taken place in the
configuration of the land (for it is believed that the drifts of the Malvern
Straits are older than those of Abbeville, in which flint weapons occur), we
may form some idea, though it must be admitted a very dim and indistinct
one, of the last scenes of the formation of the world as we now behold it.
Nor has the glacial period passed without leaving its traces hereabouts. We
have not, indeed, the rounded and scored rocks of the Llanberris Pass to indicate
the existence of vast glaciers, writing with pens of adament on their surface the
indellible characters which tell their history, but we have, scattered over the
02
108
country, masses of granite, and in the higher grounds, whole acres covered with
these boulders, showing that here the iceberg melted, and as it did so, deposited
its load of stones around ; we see the tops of the Longmynd hills planed off to
® certain level, looking almost like a series of truncated cones, and the most
probable explanation is, that to the action of great masses of ice passing over
them as they lay beneath the surface of the sea, is due this very striking appear-
ance,
But it is time to bring this sketch of the Geology of this District toa
close. We have now reached a period in its history of which perhaps the most
remarkable feature is that we are deliberately using up the products of former
geological epochs as they never were before. The same course of denudation
that has hitherto operated in wearing away and depositing the rocks in newer
forms is still at work, andat the bottom of the Atlantic and other oceans, fresh
rocks and the materials of other continents are being laid down ; but we see no
indication of fresh supplies of fuel being found for that improved race which is to
succeed ours. Perhaps as the inhabitants of the northern and colder countries
have generally superseded the more effeminate inhabitants of more tropical climates
in intellect, so our descendants reduced to depend less on the sensual enjoyments
of the fire-side, may surpass us who, unfortunately, are so dependent on these
creature comforts. It is useless to speculate, but evident it is that the contents
of the Coal seams cannot last for ever, and that some considerable modification
of the present state of things will be necessary when the last pit is exhausted
and the last collier’s grimy occupation gone.
With respect to objects of antiquarian interest on these Clee hills, I have,
after diligent inquiry, been able to obtain only the most meagre information.
That they were in very early times the scene of human operations of some
kind there are some works to show—on this, the Titterstone—there is to be
found towards the east a line of stones which have the appearance of having
once formed a considerable wall, but except this I am not aware of any evidences
of early structures on this hill; but the summit of the Brown Clee is enclosed
by a very high and broad circle of stones, and within it are a number of smaller
ones scattered about in a somewhat irregular manner, and, of course, these
afford some grounds for speculation. Mr. Hartshorn, in his ‘‘Salopia Antiqua,”
has at great length discussed the possible objects of these structures, and has
come to the conclusion that they were ‘“‘devotional and sepulchral,” but an
unfortunate note in this author’s book has brought a good deal of discredit on
his opinion. Among other reasons which he brings to show that this part of the
country was particularly sacred, he observes that old Leland says, ‘‘The Clee
hills be holy in Shropshire,” in which passage the word ‘‘wholly” which we spell
with a “w” is without one, and the meaning “entirely” would be trans-
formed to “‘sacred.”
I have been favoured by my friend Mr. Wayne with a note of
his observations on these structures, and as this seems to contain all
109
that is at present known about them, and quite coincides with my own im-
pression of their object, I shall here insert extracts from it. With respect to
the lofty circle which crowns the hill Mr. Wayne says, “‘Some years ago I met
with a collier on the Barf,* with whom I had some conversation aboutit. He
said the stone mound was once a wall; that buried beneath the stones, the wall,
‘as well-built a wall as you would need to see,’ was still to be met with in
places ; that he himself had come upon it three times over when making a road
through the Vallum, and twice in different parts when getting stones for colliery
purposes. I have since spoken with other colliers at work in the Barf, and all
agree that it has been a wall, and that the foundations are occasionally laid
bare.” ‘‘The ruin,” he continues, ‘“‘of Abdon Barf is so total, not a trace of
a wall being visible, that in the absence of some evidence of a wall no one would
perhaps be justified in maintaining that it had been anything else but a mound
of loose stones. But being satisfied that it has been a wall, I was pleased to
discover, as I think, the cause of its total overthrow, a cause now at work and
which in my memory has produced very visible effects; it is no other than the
never ending pursuit of the innumerable rabbits which seek safety among the
stones, and which I suppose people have been getting out ever since the rampart
ceased to be kept up asa place of refuge and defence.
If the present vallum represent what was once a wall of defence
it must have had habitations within it, and a work which I have
only recently met with, ‘‘A Perambulation of the Ancient and Royal
Forest of Dartmoor,” by the Rev. Samuel Rowe, confirms the idea
that the circles of stones within the vallum are remains of cabins. At
page 182, Mr. Rowe describes the remains of an aboriginal ‘settlement, ”
“town,” or ‘‘village” on Dartmoor in these words: “‘Its site is on the slope of
the common inclining to the southwest, and the ground over which the circular
foundations of houses (circles of stones) are scattered is of considerable extent ;”
and at page 44, Mr. Rowe gives a view of Grimspound, a work which bears a
striking likeness to Abdon Barf.
Utterly shapeless as is the mound of stones at Abdon Barf in its present
state we might perhaps infer the probability of its having been originally a wall,
from a comparison with an enclosure on Wortlebury-hill, near Weston-super-
Mare. Of this latter enclosure I have a more lively recollection from having
viewed it with Abdon Barf in my mind, to which it bears a striking resemblance.
The wall forming a considerable enclosure near Weston is almost wholly ina
state of ruin, as utterly shapeless as the mound of stone at Abdon Barf, but
in two or three places there still stands a wall rising, without mortar, from 8 to 12
feet or more above the remains accumulated at its base’—and Mr. Wayne con
cludes by suggesting the following questions: ‘‘Do you see reason to think the
great enclosure contemplated from the summit of the Titterstone Clee-hill may
Seer 0) vu oS eb se eee ee ee
* This is the local name given to the summits of these hills.
310
never have been fully carried out? and if not, does the abandonment of it mark
the transition in British Fortifications from stone walls to earthworks? and
again does this suggest the probable period of the work?”
I have dwelt on this subject although it relates rather to the Brown than
to this Clee hill, because that it is improbable that the Club could manage a
journey to that more remote region, and yet individual members may, in conse-
quence of these remarks, have their attention drawn to the subject, for I must
admit that unless our attention was especially drawn to the existence of these
circles they would not force themselves upon it. There can be no doubt of their
existence, and they can even be measured accurately across, but they are merely
indicated by occasional stones of no very great size peeping through the turf, and
my own impression is that they are of no very great antiquity. Although Mr.
Hartshorn traces them up to the Druids, and invests them with very awful and
mysterious attributes, he tells us in a note that an old man whom he met told
him that these circles were nothing like so perfect now as he recollected them
to have been. One would think that if they had fallen so much to ruin in the
life of an individual man, it is not probable they can have existed from such
profound antiquity as Druidical times.
The summit of these hills has evidently for ages been the scene of coal
mining operations, and it appears to me most probable that in these very
irregular circles we have nothing more or less than the foundations of the
hovels of the miners.
Camden has the following notice of this district :—
“‘When Temd now is leaving Shropshire behind it, not farre from the bankes
thereof there raise themselves up northward certaine hills of easie ascent. Cleehill they
call them, much commended for yielding the best Barly in great plenty, neither are they
without Iron mines ; at the descent whereof is a village called Cleybury Hugh Mortimer
built a castle, which King Henry Second forthwith so rased (because it was a noursery
of sedition,) that scarce there remaine any tokens thereof at this day; also hard by
standeth Kinlet, where the Blunts flourish. Their name in this tract is very great, so
sirnamed at first of their yellow haire; the family noble and ancient, and the branches
thereof farre spread.”
Leland, in his ‘‘ Itinerary,” fol. 89 b., has the following —
“No great plenty of wood in Cle Hills, yet there is sufficient brushe wood. Plenty
of Coal Yerth Stone, nether exceeding good for Lyme, whereof there they make much
and serve the contre about. Cle Hills come within 3 good myles of Ludlow. The village
of Cleybyri standythe in the Rootes by Est of Cle Hills, 7 myles from Ludlow, in the
way to Beandelay. There was a Castle in Cleberie nighe the Church by North. The Plot
is yet cauled the Castell Dike. There be no Market Townes in Cle Hills. The highest
part of Cle Hills is cawlyd Tyderstone. In it is a fayre playne greene, and a fountain
init. There is another Hill a three miles distant from it caulyd the Brown Cle. There is
a chace for Deare. There is another cawlyd Caderton Cle, and there be many Hethe Cokks
and a broket caulyd Mille Brokeet springethe in it and afar goithe into a Broket called
Rhe, and Rhe into Tende by neth Tende Bridge, There be some Blo Shopps to make
hace upon the Ripes or Bankes of Mylbroke comynge out of Caderton Cle or Casset
ood.”
The ‘‘Blo Shopps” were evidently blast furnaces for smelting iron, traces
of which are to be found of an early date, though not, according to Mr. Wm.
Purton, in the place mentioned by Leland. Lastly, as to the name Clee, though,
perhaps, with this I ought to have commenced, Mr, Purton appears to incline
vat:
to the belief that its origin is simply the Latin word “Clivus,” since, in old
documents, this district is sometimes spoken of as ‘‘ Les Clives,” and some-
times the Clives, The other derivation from the Saxon word ‘‘clay,” unless on
the lucus a non lucendo principle cannot be defended, as the immediate hill is
more deficient in that material than any of the surrounding tract.
Dr. M’Cullough, as President for the day, gave the thanks of the meeting
to Mr. La Touche, amidst general applause; and Mr. Salwey expressed his
strong sense of its value, by requesting its publication in full.
At the request of the President, Mr. Cocking then read the following
SONNET,
Written on the Titterstone Clee Hill, by the wuthor of ‘‘ Geology for Beginners,”
and never before published.
Scene of creative grandeur, power, and might,
That first in deep unfathomed mines of earth,
In time primeval, hadst thy mystic birth,
And thence impelled hast reached this mountain site.
What wonders taught by thee the soul excite,
What throes of nature, by convulsion riven,
What chaos wild, and strife, when earth met heaven,
Ere thou couldst soar to this volcanic height.
Nor is the joy the less, meanwhile, to trace
The varied charms that deck the vale beneath,
Where every gentlest grace hath twined a wreath—
A zone of beauty circling round thy base ;
Whence thy majestic piles sublimely soar,
Leaving the mind to muse, to wonder and adore.
G. F, RicHARDsoN.
A general move was now made for the return. Mr. Alfred Marston
was not able to be present, and the hunt for fossils amongst the Coal shales—
where by the way they may be found pretty plentifully—was abandoned. A
direct course was taken down the side of the hill for the great quarry at the
head of the steep railway incline. Here the hill was much more abrupt, and
thanks to the dry turf, the way was slippery indeed. Happy he who had spikes
in his shoes, and thus secure in his own perpendicularity, could give steadiness
and safety also to some fair votary of science. Many of the fragments of rock
which covered the hill side presented the columnar structure which Basalt so
often presents, and similar in their hexagonal shape to those well-known and
_ striking examples, the Giant’s Causeway and Staffa. One or'two streams were
passed in the descent, and the hearts of the botanists revived. Mr. Lloyd, of
_ Kington, ever fortunate, was the first to find the Parsley fern, Allosorus crispus,
about which the wording of the programme seemed to throw some doubt. The
112
Rev. R. H. Williams got a root of the Wahlenbergia hederacea, the little fairy-
like ivy-leaved bell flower, and some specimens of the Achillea Ptarmica the
Sneeze-wort Yarrow. The pretty Viola lutea grows plentifully here, but was
not in flower, and had the walk extended further the Scutellaria minor, Sedum
Telephium, Polygonum convolvulus, Inula Heleniwm, Saxifraga hypnoides,
Narthecium Ossifragum, and other interesting plants might also have been
gathered, On the lower slopes of the hill, too, Mr. Williams has gathered the
more rare fern, the Moonwort, Botrichium lunare, and in its bogs the ever
interesting Royal fern Osmunda regalis.
The great Basaltic quarry was soon reached and here the great steam
rock-crushing machine was visited. It was not at work, but the machinery
was visited, and some members on going up through the great supply trough
got into the works above, when the columns of the rock were being quarried
for cutting up into blocks for paving, building, road-making, &c.
The carriages were soon reached, and quickly conveyed the visitors back
to the Angel at Ludlow where dinner had been provided.
The tables were crowded with guests, and if there was a little want of
elbow room—if one or two more adventurous than the rest had occasionally to
go in search of what they or their neighbours needed—it mattered little, for
with unfailing good nature and plenty of liveliness, if not of learning, they
discussed the creature comforts provided.
Before the tables were cleared, the President called upon the Rey. Wm.
Houghton to read a paper
ON THE REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF
ANIMALS.
BY THE REV. W. HOUGHTON, M.A., F.LS.
By the term development is to be understood the whole series of changes
that takes place in the life-history of any animal, from the germ to the time
when it attains its adult form. Relatively to a sexual mode of reproduction,
animals may be divided into three divisions, namely :—
I.—Those which produce ova whose embryos contract a vascular connec-
tion with the uterus, and arrive at a perfect form within the body of the
parent.
II.—Those which produce ova whose embryos do not contract a vascular
connection with the uterus, and which undergo their development, partial or
complete, within the body of the parent.
IIL—Those which produce ova, which undergo their development after
deposition by the parent.
The three-fold phenomena represented above are generally expressed by
the terms, Viviparous or Placental, Ovo-viviparous, and Viviparous, respec-
tively.
In the first division are included all the Mammalia with the exception of
the Marsupials, whose embryo never contracts a vascular connection with the
uterus, from which it is expelled at an early period, and is then received into
the abdominal pouch. In the second division, the Ovo-viviparous, are included
the Marsupials, a few fishes as the viviparous blenny (Zoarces viviparus), whose
young at birth are fully formed; a few species amongst the Plagiostomous
tribe of fishes, as some of the sharks and dog fish, several reptiles, as our
common viper, the slow worm, and viviparous lizard ; it is probable, however,
that in some of these cases laceration of the thin egg-membrane takes place, and
is occasioned by parturition, for an American boa constrictor has been known to
produce both young and eggs at the same time: Amongst Molluscs several
bivalves are ovo-viviparous, as Cyclas, Kellia, Pisidium, Unio, Anodonta, which
retain their fry within the mantle or the gills, where they undergo either
complete or partial development. Amongst ovo-viviparous Univalves I may
mention Paludina vivipara, Helix rupestris, and Pupa umblicata. The scorpion
produces its young alive, and in this curiously enough, the embryo is developed
in the ovum while still in the ovary. The scorpion family is az exception to
nearly all the other Arachnida, which are oviparous,
114
The various species of Aphis amongst insects are an exception to the
general rule, being for the most part ovo-viviparous ; but to this subject I must
return by and bye. In the last division, of Oviparous animals, when
development of the germ takes place out of the body of the parent, either with
or without incubation, are to be enumerated all birds, without a single
exception, nearly all fish, most batrachia and reptiles, insects, crustacea,
annelida, &c.
Embryology will form the only true basis of a natural classification, I
dare say many here are cognisant of the form of that strange frog-like fish, the
angler, Lophius piscatorius. This fish was placed by Cuvier amongst a small
group of fishes which he designated Pectorales pediculés, ‘‘having pectoral
fins like feet.” But this may be, indeed is most likely to be, a thoroughly
artificial mode of classification. It never does to select one particular character-
istic, though pertaining to a number of animals, as a basis of classification, Fish,
‘‘with pectoral fins like feet,” comprise species having no clear aftinities with
each other. How does embryology aid us in assigning the frog-fish or angler
to its proper place? Is the Zophius, or angler, a higher development of the
Blennies, Gobies, Cottoids, and Sculpius? Has it anything whatever to do with
them? Agassiz shall answer this question. He says, * Another well-known
family of fishes is that of the Zophioides, To this group belongs the Lophius, or
goose-fish, with which the Cottoids, or Sculpius, and the Blennioids, with
Zoarces and Anarrhichas, the so-called sea-cat, onght to be associated. It was
my good fortune to have an opportunity of studying the development of the
Lophius, and to my surprise I found that its embryonic phases included the
whole series here alluded to, thus presenting another of those natural scales on
which I hope all our scientific classification will be remodelled when we obtain
a better knowledge of embryology. The Zophius, in its youngest state, recalls
the Tzenioids, being long and compressed; next, it resembles the Blennioids,
and, growing stouter, passes through a stage like Cottus before it assumes the
depressed form of Lophius.”
What is the relative standing of skates and sharks? Which shall we
place highest?
**On geological evidence I had placed the skates highest because the sharks
precede them in time; but this fact had not heen established on embryological
evidence. Professor Wyman has followed the embryolegy of the skate through
all its phases, and has found that in its earlier condition it is slender in outline,
with the appearance of a diminutive shark, and that only later it assumes the
broad shield-like form and long tapering tail of the skate.”
It is well known that all the various animals on the earth, from lordly
man to the humblest polype, start from the same point. As Huxley has said:
**Tf you trace back to its first germ, a man, or a horse, or a lobster, or an
oyster, or any other animal you choose to name, you shall find each and all
of these commencing their existence in forms essentially similar to each other;
ee aeal
ee ae
4
115
and, furthermore, that the first processes of growth, and many of the subsequent
modifications, are essentially the same in principle in almost all.” Now, what
is this original starting point? It is a single vesicle of minute size, with a
still smaller nucleus in its centre; and for a short period the development
proceeds in parallel lines. There isa wonderful difference between a sparrow
and acat that would eat it, but there is a period in the embryonic development
of the sparrow when I would defy you to be able to say whether the embryo
sparrow would turn into a bird or a mammal, supposing, of course, you had no
knowledge of the source where the embryo was derived. I will instance this
by an example that came under my own notice a short time ago. A swallow’s
egg was brought to me, and on breaking it and placing its contents in a saucer
of water, I discovered an embryo about four lines long and 1 or 1 lines broad.
After detaching it from the yelk by dividing the umbilical vessels, I placed it
in a small flattened glass tube filled with clear water. I showed it the same
evening to five or six gentlemen who were dining with me, and asked one after
the other if he could tell to what animal the embryo belonged? ‘Well, various
guesses were given: one thought it was the embryo of a dog, another of a mole,
another thought it was that of alobster. At last I asked whether they were
quite sure it did not belong to some bird? A chorus of negatives followed my
query ; whatever the embryo was, it certainly was not that of any bird. And
certainly the embryo would remind anyone rather of a mammal than of a bird;
the head had assumed as yet nothing ornithic about it; the wings were repre-
sented by two anterior cylindrical processes, the legs by two similar posterior
processes, scarcely distinguishable from the former; at the end was a single
process representing the tail. Nor, indeed, can experienced Naturalists distin-
guish embryos at certain periods of their development. Von Baer, to whom
science is so much indebted, says: ‘‘In my collection there are two little
embryos which I have omitted to label, so that nowIam quite incompetent
to say to what class they belong. They may be lizards, they may be small birds,
er very young mammals ; so complete is the similarity in the mode of formation
of the head and trunk. The extremities have not yet made their appearance.
But even if they existed in the earliest stage, we should learn nothing from
them, for the feet of lizards, mammals, and the wings of birds will arise from
the same common form.” Agassiz examined more than a hundred species of
bird-embryos, and found that at a certain period they have all bills, wings,
legs, feet, &c., exactly alike. The young robin and the young crow are web-
footed as well as the duck.” I can testify to the fact of the young embryo
of the blackbird being web-footed, and probably this is the case with most
birds. Now the embryology of birds can be pretty readily observed, and I hope
that another year some members of the Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club—a
club that evidently means work, and assembles at its different meetings for
practical scientific purposes, and not for picnics—will turn their attention to
ornithic embryology, and make collections of embryos of different birds at
various periods of their development,
P2
116
Animal development often presents us with phenomena of a very curious,
exceptional and inexplicable nature. I just now mentioned that, as far as is
yet known, all British osseous fishes are oviparous with the exception of the
viviparous blenny. The medium in which the young of all other species of
blennies are developed is the salt water; that in which this ovo-viviparous
species reaches its adult form is at first a peculiar tenacious fluid with which
each ovum is supplied; this fluid, as development proceeds, disappears just
before the young are born, probably by absorption into the body. The ova of
other osseous fishes are impregnated after exclusion—it is obvious that im-
pregnation in this exceptional case must take place internally ; yet the structure
of the generative organs in the viviparous blenny, both male and female, differs
in no respect from that of ordinary oviparous genera. It is evident therefore
that the fertilising fiuid of the male must find its way to the ovaries of the
female. How are we to account for this curious exception to the general rule,
The development of the young of the Syngnathidz or pipe-fishes is very
curious, and presents phenomena which call to mind the Mammiferous
Marsupials, with, however, this marked difference, that in the Mammiferous
Marsupial it is the female that has the pouch, in the fish the male. This pouch
consists of two large valves beneath the tail, posterior to the cloacal orifice ;
internally the surface is indented with a number of cells ; in these cells the eggs
are hatched and the young pipe-fishes developed ; and Mr. Couch tells us that
even after they are fully formed a kind of attachment still continues between
the parent and the young, for in case of alarm, they fly again to the shelter of
the pouch and are readily received into it. I should mention that the female
pipe-fish herself deposits her eggs into the marsupium of the male who opens it
to receive them. A still more curious mode of piscine embryological develop-
ment has recently been investigated by Agassiz as occurring in certain species of
fish he found in the basin of the Amazons. The locality, in which the ova
are developed, is certainly one which you never could have guessed; it is
absolutely in the mouth! Ina letter to Milne Edwards dated September 22nd,
1865, Professor Louis Agassiz thus writes of a species of Geophagus: ‘‘ This fish
has a most extraordinary mode of reproduction. The eggs pass, I know not
how, into the mouth, the bottom of which is lined by them, between the inner
appendages of the branchial arches, and especially into a pouch formed by the
upper pharyngeals which they completely fill. There they are hatched, and the
little ones, freed from the egg-case, are developed until they are in a condition
to provide for their own existence. I do not yet know how long this continues,
but I have already met with specimens whose young had no longer any vitelline
sac, but were still harboured by the progenitor.”
At page 238 of ‘‘A Journey in Brazil,” further information is given of
these fish. ‘‘The story of the Acaras, the fish which carries its young in its
mouth grows daily more wonderful. This morning Mr. Agassiz was off before
dawn on a fishing excursion with Major Hstolano, and returned with numerous
117
specimens of a new species of that family. These specimens furnished a com-
plete embryological series, some of them having their eggs at the back of the
gills, between the upper pharyngeals and the branchial arches; others their
young in their mouth in different stages of development, up to those a quarter
of an inch long and able to swim about, full of life and activity, when removed
from the gills and placed in water. The most advanced were always found
outside of the gills, within the cavity formed hy the gill-covers and the wide
branchiostegal membrane. In examining these fishes Mr. Agassiz has found
that a special lobe of the brain, similar to those of the Triglas, sends large
nerves to that part of the gills which protects the young, thus connecting the
care of the offspring with the organ of intelligence.”
If we restrict the use of the word metamorphosis to designate those
changes which take place in the ovum after deposition by the parent, whereby
we are presented with larval and nymphal forms, &c., we find amongst vertebrata
few instances of it. -Of course the metamorphosis of the frog, toad, newt,
and Batrachia generally, has for ages bern known. No fish, however, was
supposed to go through a larval state until Auguste Miiller, in 1856, showed
that what had hitherto been supposed to be a particular species of fish was
merely the larval form of another well-known kind. I allude to the Ammocetes
branchialis, the Sandprey or mud-lamprey. This fish, evidently one of the
Cyclostomes, and very similar in form to the common river Lamprey, differs
from it in the semi-circular form of the upper lip and the absence of teeth.
Miiller has shown that this supposed new genus of Cyclostomus fishes was really
the young or larval form of the Lamprey. When four years old the
edentulous and semi-circular mouth are exchanged for a circular multidental
mouth. It has been thought that the Leptocephali, as the Anglesea Morris, and
the Branchiostoma lanceolatum (Lancelet) of our own coasts were only incom-
plete larval forms of some known fish; but from the recent researches of Dr.
Kowalesky and M. Bert, it would seem that the latter named fish isa fully
developed form. The eggs are said to be expelled by the opening of the mouth!
Ordinary sexual reproduction may be divided into Diecious and Her-
maphrodite; of the former there are, as we have seen, three kinds, the
oviparous, ovo-viviparous, and the viviparous or placental. Of hermaphrodite
reproduction we meet with a great number of instances in the animal kingdom,
as in most of the molluscous and radiate classes, worms, some of the entozoa,
&c. No insects, no crustacea exhibit normal hermaphroditism. Amongst the
Vertebrata naturalists long considered that normal Hermaphroditism never
occurred. I say normal, because abnormal instances of animals, as fish having
roe on one side and milt on the other, in the same individual, have long been
known. A few years ago, however, M. Dufosse, published an elaborate mcmoir
to show that a genus of percoid fish, the Serranus, was normally bisexual,
and was able to fecundate its own ova. M. Dufosse’s memoir is accompanied
by a plate shewing the anatomical arrangement of the generative organs, and
118
his conclusions are the result of several experiments. I confess, however, that
I was somewhat sceptical with regard to this unique exceptional phenomenon in
the vertebrata. Professor Owen, to whom I wrote to ask whether the bisexual
structure of the genus Serranus was accepted by naturalists, replied that he for
one was certain that the conclusion was based on erroneous observation. I
wrote to Mr, Couch, of Polperro, for specimens of the smooth Serranus, which
is sometimes caught in the crab pots off the Cornish coast, He did not succeed,
I am sorry to say, in obtaining for me more than a single specimen; this, on @
very careful examination, I found to present nothing approaching a bisexual
character. On this subject, therefore, I suspend my opinion.
But the study of the development of animals makes us acquainted with
other modes of reproduction besides that which results from the union of the
sexes. If we take nun.bers of individuals alone into consideration we shall find
many thousand times more creatures to be born by non-sexual reproduction than
by sexual reproduction. ‘rue, for the most part we find that this non-sexual
mode obtains amongst animals of very low organisation, but there are some very
striking exceptions to the rule. I dare say many in this room are acquainted
with that small jelly-like thing common in weedy pools, known by the name of
hydra. This animal throughout the whole of the spring and summer months
produces thousands of offspring, but not one from an egg. The body of the
parent at first shows a little swelling in the form of a papilla, budding out from
one or two portions of it; in time this bud grows tentacles like the parent to
which in all respects it becomes similar. Towards the end of autumn, however,
when the November days become cold, this budding process ceases, and the hydra
produces on two different parts of the body one or two round bodies containing
ova and the same number of oval ones containing spermatozoa, The ova, when
mature, are pushed through the body-wall, and, after having been impregnated,
are attached to some water-weed awaiting the warm weather of spring, when
they will develope into young hydra. Here, then, we have two modes of repro-
duction—the cne sexual, the other gemmipparous or asexual. It is not,
therefore, true to say with Harvey ‘‘omne vivum ex ovo” as the hydra produces
many young ones, not from an egg, but directly from the substance of the
parent’s body by a process analogous to that of the budding of plants. This
leads one, naturally enough, to say a few words on what has been termed
Parthenogenesis, a word which implies that there exists amongst certain animals
& power to produce young without intercourse with the male sex. It was in
1745 that Bonnet proved the astonishing fact that insects of the genus Aphis
produced young ones when no male insect was present, and further that these
young ones are all females, and that they gave birth to a fertile progeny in their
turn and so on to eleven generations, At the end of autumn, however, male
insects appear, and eggs are laid by the females, which attach themselves to the
bark of trees or other substances, These eggs lie dormant through the winter,
but in the spring of the following year give birth to the productive virgins I
have been speaking of, Thus it would seem we have a combination of viviparous
119
generation at one season and of oviparous generation at another, in the same
insect. I feel, however, pretty certain myself from several observations that the
so-called eggs laid in the autumn are not eggs, but immature larve, differing
in no respect from the viviparous larve except that they are enveloped in &
covering. We must consider this non-sexual reproduction, then, as analogous to
the gemmation of other animals as polypes generally, and the sexual reproduc-
tion to result in the impregnation of internal ova which develope themselves
into larve with a tegumentary covering within the body of the parent. These
are deposited by the parent on leaves and trees and have been regarded as ova ;
I maintain they are developed larve with a horny case to serve as a protection
during the winter months. Professor Huxley believes that there is no distine-
tion between the ova which produce viviparous aphides and those which are
deposited by the perfect winged female. Is it possible that under the favourable
conditions of nutriment and warmth this non-sexual reproduction might be
continued indefinitely without any recurrence to the sexual process? And it
would appear that Parthenogenesis, far from being an exceptional phenomenon,
is a normal process in many animals, It is strikingly manifest in bees and some
moths. To Von Siebold, I believe, we owe this important discovery. He
isolated a few female moths, and placed them in boxes with glass lids. They
laid eggs which actually gave birth to young caterpillars. The moths here
alluded to belonged to the genus Solenobic, one of the Teneide, the larve of
which family reside in a portable case. After the perfect insect appears, she
clings to the outside of the case or sac from which she has just emerged.
Von Siebold was particularly struck with the behaviour of the female Solenobia,
which, he says, commence the business of oviposition very soon after exclusion ;
they possessed such a violent impulse to lay their egg, that when he removed
them from their sacs, they pushed their laying tube about in search of the orifice
of the sac, and at last let their eggs fall openly. ‘‘If I had wondered,” he
continues, ‘‘at the zeal for oviposition in these husbandless Solenobie, how was
I astonished when all these eggs of these females, of whose virgin state I was
most positively convinced, gave birth to young caterpillars, which looked about
with the greatest assiduity in search of materials for the manufacture of little
sacs.” The phenomenon of Parthenogenesis has been described in other moths,
as in the silk-worm moth Bombyx mori, and Psyche Helix. 1+ has been proved,
beyond a shadow of doubt, that the males of the hive bees are produced from
sexual propagation ; the impregnated eggs turn to queens and imperfect females
(neuters, as they are popularly called), and these larve, as is well known, under
certain conditions, might themselves become queens. Sometimes the neuters
lay eggs, which produce drones alone. Other animals, *as some molluscs;
crustacea, and other groups of insects, besides those of which I have spoken,
exhibit the phenomenon of Parthenogensis.
ee ee ee
* The phenomenon described by the expression “alternation of generations,” is
now generally regarded by Naturalists as essentially one of internal budding, or of
fissiparous generation, which is identical with it.
320
One would perhaps naturally anticipate that the same order of animals
in which the different genera and species bear, in their adult forms, considerable
resemblance to one another, should present a corresponding similarity in their
larval state. This, however, is not always the case. We have a striking illus-
tration of this in the family of Ephemeride amongst insects. The genus
Ephemera differs from the genus Baétis in the perfect form of the insect very
slightly. The one has three caudal setz, the other two. This is the only obvious
difference to an ordinary observer. Now look at the larve of these two insects.
What similarity exists between them? Amongst the Crustacea, the Macroura,
or long-tailed family—familiar to all in the shape of lobsters and crayfish—bear
in their adult form great resemblance to each other; but how wonderfully
different are their larval forms. ‘‘The young lobster has divided legs like a
Mysis ; the Palemon appears under the form of a Zoea, and Peneus under the
Nauplius form.” The cray-fish undergoes no metamorphosis, Nay, even the
larve of closely-allied genera differ considerably.
Again, amongst the fresh water Planari, the young ones issue from
the eggs as perfect planari, but in a marine Wemertes, a turbellarian worm
of great length, the larva appears in the form of a helmet, with a long bristle-
like appendage at the top like a plume; from its shape it was called Pilidium,
and was supposed to bea new animal. What are we to gather from these
facts, and how are they to be accounted for? Mr. Darwin considers that they
demonstrate the absolute independence of old and new structures. He says :—
‘* According to the belief now generally adopted by our best naturalists, all the
members of the same order, or class, the Macrourous Crustaceans, for instance,.
are descended from a common progenitor. During their descent they have
diverged much in structure, but have retained much in common, and this.
divergence and retention of character has been effected, though they have passed
and still pass through a marvellously different metamorphosis. This fact well
illustrates how independent each structure must be from that which precedes.
and follows it in the course of development.”
I shall conclude this paper with an extract from an article by Dr. Allen
Thomson, who has in a few graphic words described the extreme importance of
the study of animal development :—
“Tt will be enough at this place to advert to the extensive range of topics
which must be embraced in an attempt to trace the history of the first origin and
subsequent evolution of all the parts of so complex and various a structure as
the body of animals; and to remind my readers that this department of science
professes to describe not merely the successive changes of external form and
relation by which the several organs, springing from imperceptible beginnings,
arrive at their perfect condition, but also the more minute phenomena of histo-
logical development or changes of the several textures, which accompany the
more obvious formative processes; that, as in many instances, the complete
knowledge of the structure and function of an organ is only to be obtained
aoa
q
121
by the observation of its fostal conditions—the study of development is acces-
sory or supplementary to many departments of anatomy and physiology ; that
in recent times no branch of inquiry relating to organic nature has made more
rapid progress, has presented a greater amount of new discoveries, or has
influenced in a greater degree the views of scientific men on allied subjects than
the science of embryology; that it is co-extensive with, and illustrative of, the
whole range of comparative anatomy ; that no system, therefore, of zoological
classification can be regarded as philosophical or complete which neglects the
facts and principles of foetal development; finally, that some departments of
pathological anatomy receive considerable illustration from our science, and that
more especially the scientific study and comprehension of teratology or con-
genital malformations is founded entixely on an accurate knowledge of the
phenomena and laws of development.- Our subject, therefore, is not only
interesting by itself, but deeply important as an essential branch of philosophical
anatomy and physiology.”
The Rev. J. F. Croucu, of Pembridge, brought to the meeting a box full
of specimens of a very elegant and sweet-scented Cuscuta, which he very kindly
distributed amongst the botanists present, Is proved to be the
2
122
CUSCUTA HASSIACA.—Pfeifft
THE LUCERN DODDER,
Cuscuta corymbosa (Ruiz et Pav.) C, suaveolens (Ser.) C. racemosa (Ingelman,)
Grammica aphylla (Zour); and Ingelmannia or Cuscutina
suaveolens (Pfeiff. )
Stems branched thread-like, of a pale orange colour.
Flowers fasciculate, on short stalks in racemes, white, or a pale lilac tint.
Calyx funnel-shaped ; segments semi-transparent, erect, ovate, acute and
close pressed to the tube of the corolla,
Corolla more than twice the length of the ealyx ; tube campanulate with
a five-cleft spreading limb, the lobes ovate, acute
Scales large and broad with fimbriated edges, incurved over the ovary, as
long as the tube of the corolla and nearly closing it ; transparent, and with cells
reflecting the light, as if frosted. These glistening cells were also scattered over
the upper portion the tube of the corolla.
Stamens exserted, filaments broad, half the length of the segments of the
limb: anthers bilobed, yellow, becoming brown.
Styles two, erect, unequal, as long as the ovary ; stigmas round,
Capsule subglobose, two-celled, seeds oblong.
A very elegant species, with a scent rather resembling that of the Helio-
trope. It is parasitical on Lucern, yellow Bedstraw, wild Chamomile, Sow-
thistles, &c.
The Cuscuta Hassiaca is among the species excluded from the London
Catalogue of plants, nor is any representation given of it in the new edition of .
Sowerby’s great work now in course of publication. It was found by Mr.
Varenne, near Witham, Essex, 1851; and also previously, near Riven Hall, in
the same county. It is not known to have occurred since that time, until the
attention of the Rey. J. F. Crouch was drawn to it by W. Langston, Esq.,
M.R.C.S., in whose field at Marston, in the parish of Pembridge, it was growing
plentifully on Lucern. The Lucern was raised from seed purchased in London,
and was of probably foreign growth.
The Illustration opposite is very kindly presented to the Club by My,
Crouch,
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ON OUR NATIVE FOOD-PRODUCING PLANTS.
BY THOS. BLASHILL, ESQ., VICE-PRESIDENT,
Let a man be called antiquary, epicure, or philanthropist, busying
himself with the past, the present, or the future; or let him as a naturalist
belong to all time—the study of our Native Plants brings food for that
particular organ, noble or common-place, which makes him what he is. It shows
the sources from whence our remote ancestors drew the vegetable portion of
their daily fare, perhaps their whole sustenance in times of scarcity, and it
accounts for habits and prejudices which survive through centuries of civiliza-
tion. It shows moreover what plants are undoubtedly fitted for our soil and
climate, and may be most easily improved by cultivation, and it enables us to
distinguish those which are wholesome, toothsome, or nutritious, from such as
are poisonous, distasteful, or simply indiffereat. Practically it ought to teach
us how to add to the food of our people, and also how to introduce variety
into household cookery, a point less regarded in England than in any other
country of Europe.
From the accounts of mediceval manners we can form but a mean opinion
of the vegetables supplied to the best tables down to the time of the later
Tudors. Whether gathered from the garden or the field they were not, as
a rule, far advanced beyond the wild state except in such plants as Coleworts,
Cabbages, or Greens, which are easily improved by cultivation in rich soil, Many
kinds were often mixed in the same dish with the view of diluting the pungent
flavour of some by the addition of such as were mild or tasteless, and a “‘greneé
sauce” composed chiefly of Sorrel leaves pounded in vinegar and verjuice was
eaten with fish, flesh, and fowl. Whatever may have been the available supply
of vegetable food it seems to have been possible to keep body and soul together
upon it alone, for the most strict of the monks of old were teetotal abstainers
from fish as well as flesh—they only touched them on a doctor’s certificate,
Qn the other hand John Russell, usher and marshall in hall to good Duke
Humphrey, who cannot have been so bad a host as some have thought, says in
his ‘‘ Boke of Nurture,” ‘‘beware of saladis, grene metis, and frutes rawe ; for
they make many a man havea feble mawe.” And this advice which he offered
to the young gentlemen of the 15th century seems to have become part of the
wisdom of future generations, for as the Potato came into general use several
of the native vegetables, with some excellent ones of foreign origin, dropped
out of the bill of fare and are now only to be found at the tables of those who are
curious in matters of horticulture, So late as the end of the 17th century, the
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ordinary dinner of good gentry and townsfolk consisted of two kinds of meat,
one of which might have been salted and boiled, surrounded with five or six
mounds of Cabbages, Carrots, Turnips, and other herbs or roots, with melted
butter poured over them, bread being hardly tasted with the meat. Then came
jocund “pudding time,” to an Englishman the happiest time in the world, but
ending rather ingloriously with a bit of cheese, for fruit formed no part of
dessert. Such is the account given to the world by a foreigner-who well knew
the England of that day.
Amongst the chief classes of our native plants from which food is -
obtainable the Cruciferw, consisting chiefly of the various kinds of Cresses, have
pungent juices, but become mild by cultivation and form useful salad and
pot-herbs. They are rich in nitrogen and their tendency to form masses of
succulent foliage as in the Cabbage, enlarged inflorescence as in the Cauliflorwer
and fleshy roots as in the Turnip and Radish, renders them valuable as food.
The Rosacce produce the most wholesome and delicious fruits. The Umbellifere:
are generally poisonous when wild, but some behave like the Cruciferee under
cultivation producing the garden Carrot and Parsnip. The Composite have
usually milky juices which are bitter, aromatic, and medicinal, but many, like
the Dandelion, are good salad or pot-herbs. The Campanulacew, with bitter
milky juices also, are scarcely used. Many seasonings, such as Mint, Thyme, and
Marjoram, come from the Labiate plants, but the native grasses produce us
nothing like Wheat, Oats, and Barley, the great sources, next to animal food,
of solid sustenance for man in temperate climates.
Tt is clear, then, that in treating of the food-producing plants of Britain,
we must look upon them only as accessory to a more substantial diet. Let it
be understood, therefore, that when a plant is herein said to be wholesome or
agreeable, it will generally be found more wholesome or more agreeable in com-
pany with a piece of bacon boiled or fried, and that the improvement will be
reciprocal. Though all, except Cherries and a few others, are to be taken cwm
grano salis, what is here said about them may be taken in that or any other way
until fairly tested; and if any poor sinner is inclined to curse the daily
iteration of potatoe and cabbage, he may find here a few hints which will at once
improve his dinner and his morals.
It seems convenient to divide our edible plants into the three classes
following :—
1, Fruits.
2. Salad-herbs.
3. Pot-herbs.
OF FRUITS.
The Wood Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) excels most others in respect of
wholesomeness and flavour. Comparing it with the large species and varieties
we observe that it obeys the general law with plants, The proportion
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of special or characteristic flavour diminishes as the size increases. The
Raspberry (Rubus Ideus) grows wild in the highest perfection in some of our
northern vallies, and the Bramble or Blackberry is generally so abundant in
Herefordshire, and so good, as to excite one’s regret that it is not more generally
gathered for the use of the poor in towns. The Dewberry and Cloudberry are
excellent but less common. I shall not disturb the ancient companionship of
ie the blackberry, haw, and hip,”
the love of which, generally attributed to the religious orders, seems to have
had at least one exception. From the hip of Rosa canina comes the best
conserve of roses, once used in tarts before other fruits of less flavour became
plentiful. If the Haw (on which the Ancient Britons are believed to have fed
freely) had more pulp and less stone, more might be said of it; yet the inha-
bitants of Kamtchatka still use it as food. The Crab Apple (Pyrus Malus)
though displaced by its own offspring as a table fruit, and no longer found
“hissing the bowl,” is still much used for making verjuice, a better article
than most modern vinegars, The wild Pear (Pyrus communis) may be classed
with the various species of wild Cherry and Plum, all of which have a pleasant
acid mixed with their otherwise bitter principle, and are to be valued chiefly on
account of the merits of their cultivated varieties. The whole of the above
plants belong to the natural order Rosacew, rich in Peach, Nectarine, Apricot,
Almond, and such as are the most valued fruits of our modern gardens.
The Barberry produces a useful acid fruit. Who keeps up the old practice
of preserving them in bunches? The Gooseberry and the black and red Currant
are not found wild in great plenty, but are amongst the best garden fruit. On
our mountains and moorlands the Bilberry, the two Whortleberries, and the
Cranberry produce fruits of a peculiar and agreeable flavour, but are seldom
eaten away from those localities ; the wise natives take careof them! The
Cranberry may however be grown in a garden pond,
I may here remark, as illustrating the natural taste of the Anglo Saxon
on both sides of the Atlantic, that while fruit, and combinations of fruit with
pastry, excite a tender interest sometimes even an enthusiasm pleasant to
witness, ordinary vegetables and their combinations with meats are almost
matters of indifference, except at the very moment of dinner. There is at all
other times an absence of heart and soul in talking about them which is perfectly
shocking.
Of dry fruits, the wild Hazel (Corylus Avellana ), from which we have the
garden Filbert and Cob-nut, is good and nutricious, and was once useful as food.
The Spanish Chestnut, which we cannot fairly reckon as a native tree, produces
fruit which is very wholesome when cooked, and is the chief food of the people
in some districts of France and Italy. The fruit of the Oak is always reckoned
amongst those used anciently in Britain, and the acorns of some species are now
eaten by the Moors both raw and cooked, as well as by the inhabitants of Spain,
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Portugal, Greece, and Asia Minor, The Sea-pea (Pisum maritimum), a bitter
seed, has been used in time of famine, I could not recommend it at any other
time.
Two species of roots may from their mode of usage be added to the above
list. The Earth-nut or Pig-nut (Buniwm flecuosum) is common on dry pastures,
and very palatable, and the Heath-pea (Orobus tuberosus) common on dry banks,
This pleasantly astringent root has a liquorice flavour, and is chewed commonly:
in the northern islands of Scotland as a means of keeping off hunger and thirst,
In times of scarcity the roots have been found very nutritious when boiled,
and in Holland they are roasted after the manner of chestnuts. So say the
authorities, but I believe they are boiled until they are tender. They may be
also cultivated in the garden, and Mr. Johnson, in his work on ‘The Useful
Plants of Great Britian,” suggests a trial of their powers of improvement,
SALAD HERBS.
It may fairly be doubted whether the salad will ever become so thoroughly
naturalized with us as to render its vegetable ingredients of any great impor-
tance. The labourer in towns finds the half of a Lettuce with a few middling
sized Onions very much to his taste, but the majority of people look with indif-
ference upon a carefully concocted salad. Our salads are dressed with a pungent
mixture that reduces all nice fractions of flavour to a common denominator,
making indeed a very good raw pickle rather than a salad. The French have
always used a little vinegar, oil, salt, and pepper. The German races long used
the herbs and the vinegar but barred the oil. Mons. Gerard pathetically
laments the cost of progress in such matters; according to him it required
the victories of Turenne, which wrested Alsace from Germany to introduce oil
into the salads of that province, and even yet the people use it but little,
Let us see what wild salad herbs we may gather if we will.
Sorrel (Rumex acetosa) formed the chief ingredient in the green sauce of
the middle ages—it is commonly called ‘‘ green sauce” to this day. Wild and
cultivated it is much used in France and should be found in all salads. The
Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) is also used in France and in Ireland, but its
acid, though very pleasant, is too powerful for use in large quantities.
The Water Cress (Nasturtium officinale), in respect of utility, stands at
the head of the wholesome cruciferous salad plants, all powerful antiscorbuties.
It is now so much used in towns as to be credited with a large share in the
improvement of the health of town population, The Scurvy Grass ( Cochlearia
officinale) may be equally useful, but is not so inviting. Two species of Lady’s
Smock (Cardamine pratensis, and C. amara) are sometimes eaten, and the
Winter Cress (Barbarea vulgaris), which stands the cold well, was often sown
in the autumn as an early spring salad. The Garlic Hedge-mustard (Erysimum
Alliaria) is much used in Germany with salt provisions, its tender leaves have
an agreeable flavour of Garlic, mingled with the hot savour of the Cresses. To
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leave the Cresses for a moment, we have in the Chive (Allium Schenoprasum ),
an old-fashioned species of true Garlic, which is good in salad, but, like all its
congeners, needs to be used with something of the artist’s hand. Leeks, Onions,
_and Garlic figure largely in old English cookery, oftenin company with Saffron,
and the Spaniards now eat garlic and saffron with almost every dish. The
Shepherd’s Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) when grown in its wild state, in rich
soil, and particularly if cultivated, produces enlarged leaves, which have been
much employed. ‘The first leaves of Sinapis alba, or white Mustard, is much
esteemed in company with the garden cress. Barbarea precox is also a good
early spring salad, if sown for the purpose.
The Rosaceze offer the Salad Burnet (Poterium Sanguisorba), which has
an agreeable flavour of Cucumber. The Avens also (Gewm urbanum,) is con-
stantly found in old receipts, its leaves and roots are astringent, and in the
north of Europe they are put into beer to give it the flavour of the Hop.
The Umbelliferous plants generally possess semi-poisonous properties, and
are therefore to be eaten with caution. Celery or Smallage (Apiwm graveolens)
is sufficiently popular as a salad when blanched and enlarged by cultivation ; it
deserves, however, to be more generally used in cookery. The Alisander, which
grows wild in many places, was once much used, and though not quite so good
as Celery has a peculiar flavour, and ought not to be lost to the garden. Chervil
(Anthriscus cerefolium), hardly to be rckoned amongst native plants, is excellent
in salad, and but little employed. .
The young shoots of the Wild Briony (Tamus Communis) are said to
be eaten by the Moors.
The Composite plants, amongst which we reckon the Lettuce, furnish
also some other useful salad herbs, They have generally a milky juice and a
bitter flavour, and possess useful properties. The Dandelion is commonly found
in French salads both in winter and summer, being cultivated and blanched
for the purpose. The young leaves of the wild plant when quickly grown are
also used, and are of an agreeably bitter taste, which should be better known,
From. France also we learn to utilise the roots of the Wild Chicory (Chicorium
Intybus), which plant having been ‘sown in the gardens in the previous spring
is cut down in November, the roots being planted in boxes in a dark place.
The blanched shoots are cut when five or six inches high, and make the excellent
salad known as ‘‘ Barbe des Capucins.” The tender leaves of the Goat’s-
beard (Tragopogon pratense) are likewise eaten. The Rampion (Campanula
Rapunculus) produces a root of an agreeable flavour when eaten raw—the leaves
and slices of the root are put into winter salads, but its use is almost obsolete
in England,
The French consider the leaves of Sedum Telephium equal to Purslane :
in Holland S. Reflecum and S. Rupestre are also eaten. The Buck’s-horn Plan-
tain (Plantago Coronopus) is sown in France as a salad, The Corn Salad (Fedia
Olitoria ), although small in a wild state, is one of the best salad herbs, and much
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cultivated in France as Salade de Chanoine. The Samphire, the young shoots of
the Fennel, and the scraped root of the Horse-radish may be added. ‘The flavour
of the young and tender tops of the Borage is seldom detected in the modern
salad—more frequently in those curious compound drinks which have claret for
a base, and to which it imparts a pleasing illusion of coolness, Even here,
however, it is replaced by such substitutes as the thin rind of lemon, a'slice of
Cucumber, or this last combined with one leaf of Mint, all good in their way;
but if Borage is worth imitating it is worth cultivating. We must not,
however, enter upon the consideration of that large class of plants which, like
Mint, Thyme, Parsley, Xc., are used for flavours rather than food.
From an ancient cookery book, entitled ‘‘A Forme of Cury,” compiled
about the end of the 14th century, by the master cooks of Richard 2nd, I extract
this receipt fora salad, modernising the language :—‘‘ Take Parsley, Sage, Garlic,
young and old Onions, Leek, Borage, Mint, Porrectes, Fennel, and Cresses, Rue,
Rosemary, and Purslane; lave and wash them clean; pick them, pluck them
small with thine hand, and mix them well with raw oil ; lay on vinegar and salt,
and serve it forth.” As usual, with old receipts, and very proper, the propor-
tions are left to the internal consciousness of the compounder, so that a pre-
tender to cookery might manage to make a rather nasty dish of it. Observe,
however, this great truth: The salad must be plucked or broken, not cut in
pieces with a knife. The dressing is French in principle, and doubtless tells
the origin of the receipt.
Salads used in moderation are allowed to be wholesome to most persons ;
they have also this great advantage: they are easily prepared ; while those with.
whom a good salad does not agree cannot do better than pass round the dish,.
POT HERBS.
We now come to the larger class of plants that are adapted for food by
being subjected to heat, chiefly by boiling. By this means the hot and bitter
principle of most plants becomes softened, and some that are poisonous in a raw
state are rendered safe : roots also and the harder tissues of some plants become
edible. Quoting again from the same authority we have the following receipt
for a mess of herbs :—‘‘ Take Borage, Colewort, Bugloss, Beet, Orach, Avens,
Violet, Savory, and Fennel, and when they are sodden press them well
small, cast them ina good broth and serve them forth.” Colewort, one of the
species of Brassica, partially improved by cultivation was much used, and was
no doubt pungent when compared with our enlarged forms of this class of plants,
All the forms of this natural order (the Cruciferze) are very valuable antiscor-
butics, and most of them may be used in cookery. Even Sinapis arvensis, the
wild Charlock of the fields is thus employed in Holland and Sweden. Brassica
Oleracea, the source of all Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Brocoli, and kindred Greens,
grows wild by the seain great plenty and is eaten by the country folks. The
large solid-headed Cabbage is used for the home manufacture of Choucroute or
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Sauer Kraut in North Germany and the North-west of France, every family
having its stock of this partially fermented vegetable for use during the winter
months. The wild Navew (B. Campestris), of which the Turnips are varieties,
produces useful foliage, but is chiefly valuable for its fleshy root when cultivated.
The Shepherd’s Purse, already mentioned as a salad, is also cultivated as a
pot-herb, and the Garlic Hedge-mustard, above referred to, is in Germany boiled
in company with mutton, while in Wales, it is fried with bacon and herrings.
Sea Kale (Crambe maritima), the tender shoots of which spring up amongst
the stones and sand of the sea shore, has been locally used for centuries, but it
is only in recent times that it has been regularly cultivated for the table. It is
one of those delicate and wholesome plants which, requiring a little care in
cultivation and in cooking, are comparatively little used. The blanched shoots
which spring in winter from the crown of the stored turnip make a good sub-
stitute for it. Cardamine Pratensis, enlarged by cultivation, is sold as a
pot-herb in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia.
Those who love the delicate flavour of Spinach will find something ta
say against most of its substitutes, but the Mercury-leaved Goose-foot or Good
King Henry is a fair imitation of it and is sometimes preferred. The tender
tops of the Nettle (Urtica dioica), gathered in early Spring, have an agreeable
flavour of their own, and although generally boiled as spinach are useful also
in soup. You may cut them in mid-winter if the roots have been planted
under a frame in rich soil, as seems to have been well known to Sir Walter
Scott, one of whose characters plumes himself upon having been bred ‘‘ where
they raise lang kale under glass and force early nettles.” A friend from farthest
_- Shetland has grave fears that their use is decreasing. It was an old practice
in Alsace to boil them with the leaves of the violet. The young leaves of the
Dandelion make a good dish when boiled, and those of the sea-beet (Bela
‘ maritima ') ave gathered for the pot by the cottagers on the coast. They are
geod, especially with salt meat, and the worst I can say of them is that they
are rather “‘earthy” as compared with spinach.
The common Chickweed (Stellaria media) is remarkably nice when boiled.
The young shoots of the Bladder Campion (Silene inflata) have a strong flavovr
of green peas, and, though rather bitter, that objection may be removed by
blanching. They are much used in the Levant.
The Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) a seaside plant very partially
distributed is well known in cultivation for the delicious flavour of its young
shoots, Of plants which are cooked in imitation of it, the Hop produces young
shoots which are much used in France and in some parts of England under the
name of “‘ Hop tops.” In Belgium there seems to be a practice of blanching
them by means of sand. Linnzus recommends the young shoots of the Sea Holly
the roots of which may also be candied and used as a sweetmeat. The young
_ flower spikes of the tall Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum pyrenaicum) a rare
_ plant allied to the lilies are also boiled in the neighbourhood of Bath. The
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shoots of Good King Henry, peeled and boiled, taste like asparagus. In
Scotland the soft cores of Cabbage stems, called castocks, are thus cooked, as
also are the shoots of Epilobiwn angustifolium and Tamus communis, the
tender stalks of the Burdock cut and stripped just before flowering are delicious,
and so are several others—more or less. Indeed it seems somewhat superfluous —
to plant asparagus, such is the magic of toast and butter.
The Alisander was used as a potherb as well as in salad, just as celery
may be used now. Picris hieracioides, Hypochwris maculata and several other
of the milky composite are described as good. The Sow-thistle (Sonchus
oleraceus) was used by the Romans as well as by old English cooks, and is
still boiled as spinach in some countries and much praised. Mons. Soyer says
it has been given up to the rabbits who are likely to retain undisputed
possession of it. If one could be quite sure that he had tried it we might be
better inclined to take his word as to its value, The milk thistle (Cardwus
Warianus) used to be cooked for the table, and I have seen a receipt dated
about 1760 for cooking the blanched root leaves of the largest of our thistles
after the manner of Cardoons. The peeled stems and the thick mid-ribs of the
leaves in the whole tribe are decidedly nutricious—let those who know and
love the Cardoon look kindly on these poor relations for its sake. In Belgium
they boil the roots of the Wild Chicory parsnep-wise. Salsify (Zragopogon
porrifolius) is an excellent table vegetable, now again somewhat more in
fashion. The common yellow goatsbeard (7. pratensis) may be similarly used,
and was cultivated in old gardens. The French continue to use it under
the name of Salsifi des prés.
Amongst the Umbelliferous plants—two roots—the Carrot and the
Parsnep require cultivation to reduce their strong flavour and poisonous
properties. Professor Buckman experimented for several years upon the Wild
Parsnep at the Agricultural College, Cirencester, and produced a middling
sized and very regularly shaped root, with a better colour and more flavour
than the rather mild vegetable with which our ancestors qualified their diet
of salt fish. This, which is named the ‘“‘Student” Parsnep,is succeeding well
in the hands of Messrs. Sutton of Reading, who say that it is the best now
grown.
The tuberous root of Stachys palustris is rich in starch, and makes a
palatable dish, especially if grown in rich soil. That of the Goosegrass
(Potentilla anserina) is roasted or boiled in Scotland, and has the flavour of
parsnep. Of roots which are used in making bread, those of the Meadow
sweet are ground up for that purpose in Sweden. Those of the Buckbean and
Bistort have also been employed.
The large roots of the black and white Briony and that of the Meadow
Saffron, (Colchicum autumnale), although of an acvid nature, become mild by
cooking, bruising, and washing in water. The milky root of Arwm maculatum
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131
being thus treated, loses its pungency, and is commonly eaten in the neigh-
bourhood of the Isle of Portland as well as being manufactured for sale in
London under the name of Portland sago. All these plants should, however,
be very cautiously dealt with by amateurs. From the roots of two species of
Orchis, mascula and morio, is made Salep, which of all substances produces the
greatest amount of jelly in proportion to its bulk. In the East itis used as
food. It is said that one ounce of it per day will support a man for several
days together. I have made it on a small scale, by following the ordinary
directions : to scald the roots, rub off the skin, dry in the sun if possible, and
then to reduce them to the state of flour, which is to be boiled in milk or
water. The roots of the water Arrow-head may be treated like those of the
orchis : they shonld not be used without care.
For all information relating to the British Edible Funguses, I gladly
refer to Dr. Bull’s illustrated paper in the last volume of our Transactions.
Those to whom he has given a taste of their quality, owe him a double debt.
I may, however, mention two cryptogamic plants. Fucus vesiculosus, a sea-weed,
said to be mingled with flour in bread, and F. palmatus, which in the north of
Scotland is freed from salt and eaten in milk or broth. Certainly the northern
islanders eat small quantities of Hindware and two kinds of Tangle, and the
preparation from sea-weed known as “‘Laver” is relished as a luxury by many
persons.
If I have not ineach case subjected the plant (and myself) to actual
experiment, I have done so wherever I was able, and I live to tell the tale,
In inquiring into the truth of the ordinary statements handed down from
author to author as to the use of herbs in particular localities, I came to this
conclusion. Wherever a wild plant is said to be used on the Continent it
is actually used at the present day, and often forms an important part of the
food of the people, but when it is said to be used in England, it will probably
be found to be either forgotten or only eaten occasionally as fancy dictates.
The general enclosure of lands in this country, and the constant appendage
of a garden to each cottage, disposes our poor to depend upon such plants as
they can grow rather than such as they may or may not be able togather.
If a wild plant is really good, it is often more economical to grow it in the
garden than to seek it in the field. But the great reasons for the neglect of
wild vegetables seem to be :—Ist, a very general ability in all ranks to obtain
really good bread, potatoes, and even meat, in fair proportion; and 2nd, a
lamentable want of aptitude for the practice of cookery as a fine art. We are
not simply content with plain roast and boiled, they are part of our national
glory. I well remember the contempt with which some English villagers spoke
of a small colony of French artizans who had settled in their neighbourhood -
and might be seen “picking up all manner of rubbish out of the hedges to eat.”
But it is not everyone who hasa garden. And if by a little ingenuity—
such as every French peasant knows how to apply—a good dish of vegetables
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132
may be obtained free of cost, the requisite knowledge is worth acquiring. Nor
is the subject without bearing upon the health of those classes even in which
the question of expense is unimportant. The effect of the particular flavours
by which we distinguish plants seems to go beyond the palate, and it is in
accordance with the best opinions to suppose that the moderate use of a variety .
of such vegetables as please the taste is more wholesome than an adherence to
one or two, however valuable they may be. There is hardly a succulent plant,
not poisonous, which cannot by the skilful addition of some simple seasoning be
made into an agreeable dish.
In pointing out the raw materials for a lenten meal I will only add that
the wise man who knew all plants from the cedar to the hyssop tells us with
‘what sauce a “dinner of herbs” may be made to excel a more substantial feast,
CS
EN
THE AIR OR SWIM-BLADDER OF FISHES.
BY JOHN LLOYD, Esa.
Whether we examine, as is the wont of the members of our Woolhope
Club, the position and nature of the primeval rocks, the parts and functions
of animals, the structure and uses of plants, or other special branches of natural °
history,in all alike we find signs of the wise providence of our Creator. In
earth, air, and water, and in their denizens, animate and inanimate, we see the
wonders of the creation displayed, and a marvellous adaptation throughout, of
the means to the end.
The birds when formed to fly in the air had wings given them, and their
locomotive powers specially adapted to act upon that medium ; and fish likewise
were furnished with fins framed to act with the greatest power on their element,
water— and in both auxiliary air cavities are provided.
In birds the central cavity of the bones, usually occupied by marrow, is
filled with air; and it has been found that in proportion as their bones are
connected with the respiratory process, and their interior filled with air instead
of marrow, so are their special powers of flight increased. In fish the air cavity
is the subject of this paper—the Air or swim-bladder. Here it has been said that
those capable of the most vehement and prolonged efforts possess the largest air
bladders, and those with the quickest action. In the cases both of the bird and
the fish the chief and primary object is by the introduction of a considerable
quantity of air to lessen the specific gravity, and thus aid locomotion ; and in
proportion to the amount of air thus held, their speed and power of progression
is in both animals much enhanced.
The Air bladder of a fish is a most beautiful and admirable device. Paley
calls it a philosophical contrivance, and brings it forward in his ‘‘ Natural
Theology” as an instance of the wise design of the Creator. He further says :
“The principle of the design is clear, and the application of the principle is
clear also.” The principle is clear enough, it is true, but its application in all
cases is far from being so. The subject of the Air-bladder of fish has engaged the
attention of the most eminent naturalists, including Munro, Lacépéde, St.
Hilaire, Cuvier, Miller, Owen, and Milne Edwards, and though all agree as to
the principle, yet they differ widely as to the application. In preparing this
paper, and following them through the mazy labyrinths of their disquisitions,
the endeavour is made to get hold of some clue, which, if not entirely explaining
this vexato qucestio, may help us on our path,
134
The Air vessel consists of three coats or coverings lying closely one ovet
the other. The interior one is a thin serous lining membrane, by which the
air is secreted. Next to this is a vascular membrane full of conspicuous blood-
vessels, which supplies the blood from which the air is secreted by the inner
membrane. The third and outer covering is a strong fibrous coat, which serves
to protect the apparatus from injury by accident or sudden movements : it is
also often muscular, giving the fish power to contract the vessel at will.
It is the opinion of some physiologists that the Air bladder in its most
simple form is developed as a process or diverticulum from the upper part of the
alimentary canal, so that when it forms a closed sac the original communication
must have been obliterated. However this may have been, we find in the large
majority of fish possessing air bladders that the sacs are closed on everyside, and
have no communication with any other organ. This is the case in the order of
Acanthopteri (Miller), which includes among other kinds the Perch, and one
kind of Mackerel, and also in the Gadide branch of the Anacanthini, consisting
of the Cod, Haddock, Turbot, Ling, &c. The air bladder of the Cod is of large
size, commonly called the sound, and is covered with thick coats. It is entirely
destitute of any communication with the stomach or gullet, as we shall find to
exist in those of nearly all fresh water fishes. This is also the peculiarity of
the orders of Pharyngognathi and Plectognathi, consisting almost entirely of
sea fish. On the other hand, we find thatall the fish of the order of Malacopteri,
such as the Herring, Salmon, Trout, and the Salmonide generally, Pike, and the
Eel, possess a communication between the air vessel and some part of the
alimentary canal near to the stomach by a short duct called ductus pnewmaticus ;
and in the Cyprinide or Carp tribe this duct leads to the (sophagus or
gullet. A similar duct is found in the Ganoidei order, and in the British family
of the Acipenseride or Sturgeon tribe, which have very large air bladders, and
communicating with the gullet by a short and wide duct.
These air vessels are, in some instance, as in the Salmon, Trout, Pike,
Perch and Eel, closely attached to the side and the spine of the fish, while in
others, as in the Carp tribe, they float loosely in the stomach. There are also
intermediate varieties, Their shape varies much, The ordinary simple form is
that of a single lobe of an elongated-oval shape, or two ares of a circle joined
together. In all the Salmon, Herring, Pike, and Kel families, it is one elongated
cylindrical tube lying close to the under surface of the backbone and adhering
to it, and in some cases, as in the Pike, connected with the ribs by strong
ligaments. Another and quite distinct form is that where there are two
chambers or lobes with oblong cavities, the anterior one generally slightly
truncated at the end placed one behind the other, and connected by a short
tubular neck. In all classes of fish where the air vessels are of this form, and
not being closed sacs, there is a duct leading from the anterior part of the
hinder lobe to the esophagus, and in this duct there is a valve closing outwards,
which while it allows the air to be expelled prevents its admission, This is the
135
character of the Cyprinide, and some of this family have also a connection
between the anterior lobe and the acoustic organs by a chain of vesicles. Some
of the Cyprinoids have also air vessels in three divisions, placed one behind the
other, and in some of the Gurnards, a fish of the order of Acanthopteri, the air
vessel has three lobes placed side by side, while in others it is only bilobate.
In this species there are many various forms of air vessels.
The nature of the air or gas contained in these bladders has been the
subject of repeated inquiry. Monsieur Foureroy found some azote in the vessel
of a Carp, while Dr. Priestly states that he found in those of several fish oxygen
mixed with a considerable quantity of another gas, of which he had not found
out the nature. Dr. Brodbett examined some Sword fish, and found pure
nitrogen. Lacépéde examined some Tench, and found hydrogen gas. Yarrell
states that various chemists have found the air in different fishes to consist of
nitrogen, oxygen, and carbonic acid, the nitrogen in greater proportion, and the
oxygen smaller, than in atmospheric air. In marine fishes the oxygen is in
excess, varying from 40 to 87 per cent., depending on the depth at which the
species usually remain. Fish, like the Gurnards, having closed air bladders are
the best subjects for this examination, because the vessels can be removed from
the interior of the fish without any of their contents being lost. In the air
bladders of all sea fish a greater proportion of oxygenisfound. Biot detected
as much as 87 per cent. of oxygen in the air bladder of deep-sea Mediterranean
fish. Professor Owen states generally that oxygen predominates in the air
bladders of all sea fish living at great depths; and that in most fresh-water
fishes the air bladder is filled with nitrogen, mixed with a very small quantity
of oxygen, and a trace of carbonic acid. According to Humbolt there is 4 per
cent. of oxygen, and 96 per cent of nitrogen in the air bladder of the Gymnotus,
and Dr. Davy found in the air bladder of a Salmon in fresh water a little
carbonic acid, 10 per cent. of oxygen, the remainder being nitrogen. Carpenter
says that ‘‘the gas which the air bladder contains is composed of the same
elements as atmospheric air, namely, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbonic acid, but
these are mixed in proportions that are very liable to variation.”
From this conclusion, it has been argued that the excess of oxygen in the
bladders of sea fish is given for a special purpose, and intended to serve as a sub”
stitute for the deficiency of oxygen in the sea water itself. There is some weight
to be attached to this argument, and independently of the different physiological
properties of the gases, it is strengthened by the consideration of their different
specific gravity. The specific gravity of fresh water being much less than that
of sea water, being as 1,000 to nearly 1,030, and nitrogen being a much lighter
gas than oxygen, fresh-water fishes are supplied with the more buoyant gas ; and
thus in each the degree of buoyancy is adjusted to the specific gravity of the
water in which the fish lives.
One evident purpose of the air-vessel is to lessen the specific gravity of the
body of the fish, which is in itself heavier than the quantity of water whose place
136
it occupies. This is effected by increasing the size of the fish without any
appreciable addition to its weight, and thus creating a displacement of water
equal in weight to that ef the fish. The body without the air-bladder weighs say
10 oz., and the water displaced weighs only 9 oz. ; hence the fish must sink,
unless it used incessant muscular exertion ; but the presence of the air-bladder
removes this difference, and thus the great end is obtained of enabling the
fish to poise or balance itself at varying depths of water, or according to its
temperature, and thus to remain at rest with the slightest amount of muscular
exertion.
This use is of a passive kind; another of a more active kind is attributed
toit. This is :—
To enable the fish to raise or depress itself in the water at pleasure.
Opinions of learned naturalists differ somewhat on this point. Lacépéde asserts,
as a fact beyond question, that fish raise or depress themselves in the water by
the contraction or expansion at will of this vessel. He says ‘‘that the gas,
when transmitted through the pneumatic canal to the swimming bladder, which
is called the aérial bladder, swells and extends that vessel, renders it much
lighter than water, and gives to the fish the facility of raising itself in this
liquid. When, on the contrary, the animal wishes to go down, it compresses its
swimming bladder by means of the muscles which surround this organ; the gas
escapes by the pneumatic tube, and the weight of the solid parts of the fish drags
down the animal more or less rapidly to the bottom of the water. This effect of
the swimming bladder on the rising and descent of fish cannot be questioned,
since, independently of other reasons, and, as Artedi has announced, any one
can prove the fact by piercing with skill, by means of a suitable needle, the
air-vessel of a living fish, when it will be found that the fish can no longer rise
in’ the water.” Lacépéde further states ‘‘that this fact is well known in
countries where the art of fishing has been much cultivated, and that there
the fishermen, in order to prevent the fish leaping over the sides of the troughs
in which they are placed, pierce the air-bladders, and then the fish lie quietly at
the bottom.” Wood, in his Zoography, mentions this as being commonly done
by the Cod fishermen at the Newfoundland fisheries,
Yarrell says ‘‘that one use of these air-bladders to the fishes possessing
them is to enable them to alter their specific gravity with reference to that of the
fluid they inhabit seems almost certain. We see the gold-fishes in our orna-
mental vases ascend and descend in the water without making any visible
external muscular effor:. In this respect their action is to be understood and
explained by the well-known hydrostatic toy of the philosophical instrument
makers, in which a small glass balloon, or other figure, confined in a column of
water, has its weight, by the introduction of a small quantity of air, so nicely
balanced in reference to the specific gravity of the water, that it is made to
ascend or descend according to the degree of pressure made by the finger on the
elastic cover of the top.” Paley, in his ‘‘ Natural Theology,” says: “The use
137
‘of the organ to sustain, and at will also to elevate the body of the fish in thé
water, has been proved by observing, what has been tried, that when the bladder
is burst the fish grovel at the bottom; and also that Flounders, Soles, and Skates,
which have no air-vessels, seldom rise in the water, and then with effort.” And
he says, ‘‘This power is derived by the contraction of the bladder when the fish
descends, and the expansion when it rises.” This has doubtless been the general
belief, but Mr. Carpenter states ‘that this is an error, as, by experiments made,
the fish still retains the power of raising or lowering itself in the water after the
‘organ has been removed.
In order to reconcile these statements, we must remember the great distinc-
tion before noticed between fish that have closed sacs, and those that have sacs
provided with an outward communication. Now when the sac is closed, and full of
air, it seems impossible to eject the air and so loose the buoyancy, though certainly
the compression of the bladder and therefore of the air may have the same
effect in a degree, but in these cases it would seem that the air vessels are given
simply to fulfil passive purposes, and that the fish being thus made buoyant, as
before said, has no weight to lift, and is able to raise and depress itself by the
smallest amount of muscular exertion. When there is a pneumatic duct
attached, it is evident that the fish, by muscular action, can discharge the air
through the duct, and is thus enabled to lessen its specific gravity, and pass more
rapidly downwards through the water. Many of our fresh-water fish of prey,
the Pike for instance, have very strong ligaments connecting the air-bladder
throughout its length with their ribs, and thus by sudden movements of the
body have instantaneous control over that organ. The Pike, as is well known,
remains for a length of time stationary, or slowly moying in mid-water, until,
sighting its prey, it makes a rapid dart in pursuit, and thus must find such an
immediate control over its own specific gravity of the greatest use. Asa general
rule in all cases where there is a pneumatic duct there is also a power given by
muscles or ligaments to act directly on the air bladder and lessen its contents.
The changes of temperature to which shallow water is so manifestly
Tiable must often increase very much the size of the air-vessel, and would seem
in itself sufficient to prove a source of great discomfort to the fish. It is
probably due to this cause that in hot weather, especially when it has come on
suddenly, the fish in ponds are observed moving about in shoals upon the
surface in a thoroughly listless way, refusing to bite, or take any interest in
things in general. The provision of an air-duct in fresh water fishes, to which
of course these remarks chiefly apply, would more or less quickly give them the
required relief.
The Air vessel has also been considered to be a rudimentary organ of
respiration. Fish constitute the lowest order of the vertebral branch of the
animal kingdom, and many anatomists have sought to give to the air vessel the
eharacter of a homologue of alung., Professor Owen considers it to be this, and.
Dr. Roget says “‘itis regarded by many of the German naturalists as having
8
138
some relation with the respiratory functions, and as being the rudiment of the
pulmonary ‘cavity of land animals, the passage of communication with the
cesophagus being conceived to represent the trachea.” Harvey observed that
the air in birds passed into cells beyond the substance of the lungs, thus showing
a resemblance to the cellular lungs of reptiles, and the air bladder in fishes.
M. Agassiz, in dissecting a species of Lepidosteus, or ‘‘ bony Pike,” a fresh water
fish of North America, found the air bladder to be composed of several cells, with
a tube proceeding upwards into the pharynx, and entering by an elongated slit,
having everted edges, resembling a glottis or tracheal aperture. Yarrell states
that various Siluroids and Protopteri possess air bladders with similar pulmoni-
form complications, and that though it is generally admitted that the chief
function of the air bladder is to regulate the specific gravity of the fish, yet
comparative anatomists consider it to be the homologue of the lungs of the
air-breathing vertebrata, or the rudimentary state, in which that organ first
appears in the ascending scale of the animal creation.
Carpenter says that ‘‘the cavity of the air bladder is in some instances so
divided by membranous partitions, as to give to the organ the character of the
lung of areptile. The true relations of this organ are most remarkably shown
in the ZLepidosteus, which presents many reptilian affinities. Another fish may
also be mentioned as presenting an apparatus adapted for atmospheric respi-
ration, which is rather a peculiar development of the bronchial apparatus than
the rudiment of a lung of air-breathing vertebrata. This is the Cuchia, an
eel-like fish of the Ganges, in which saccular prolongations are found in one of
the gill-chambers used for atmospheric respiration. The power which this
animal has of distending the respiratory sacs with air when on land, and the
necessity it is under of rising to the surface of the water for the same purpose
prove beyond a doubt that they perform the function of lungs, and lead us to
the conclusion that the Cuchia is amphibious in the strict sense of the word—
forming a connecting link between the Ophidian reptiles and the Synbranchus
among fishes. In some other fish, especially such as naturally inhabit small
collections of fresh water, whose temperature is liable to be considerably raised
during the heat of summer, the mucous lining of the alimentary canal appears
to act as an additional organ of respiration; for such fish are seen frequently to
rise to the surface, and swallow air, which is subsequently discharged by the
anus with a large quantity of carbonic acid substituted for its oxygen. This is
the case with the Cobitis (Loach); and it would seem as if under these circum-
stances some such supplemental means is required for carrying on the respiratory
process with unusual activity.” Carpenter sums up thus: That where there is a
short and wide opening to the cesophagus the air-bladder may serve as an
accessory organ of respiration, atmospheric air being taken in, and carbonic acid
ejected through the alimentary canal ; but in those whose air-bladder is a closed
sac, it seems that it cannot in any way conduce to the aeration of the blood.
This appears to be one of the many instances which may be pointed out in the
animal and vegetable kingdoms, where the rudimentary form of an organ that
we
139
attains its full development in other classes, is adapted to discharge some office
quite different from that to which it is destined in its perfect state.” But how
diffidently de all naturalists speak on this subject!
The Air bladder does not exist in all fishes, and is absent in those sea-fish
accustomed to remain at the bottom, and whose movements are slow. Such is
the case in the order of Dermopteri, consisting of the Lancelet, Myxine,
Lampern, and Lamprey, and in the Pleuronectide, a sub-order of the Ana-
eanthini, consisting of Plaice, Sole, Flounder, Brill, Turbot, Holibut, and Dab,
commonly called ‘‘flat fish.” It is easy to understand why, in the order of
Pleuronectide, this organ is absent, because the habits and form of this class of
fish are not such as to requireit. Flat fish frequent sandy and muddy shores,
swimming closely to the bottom, with their white and under sides frequently
resting on the mud. Their form also, width without depth, give them additional
buoyancy in the water. The air-bladder is also absent in the large order of the
Plagiostomi, divided into the sub-orders, Squali and Raiz, the former consisting
of Dog-fish, the Shark family, and the Angel-fish, and the latter of the Torpedo,
Skate, Thornback, and a variety of Rays. The Shark family are provided with
very strong muscles and numerous fins, which compensate in some measure for
the absence of an air-bladder, and though capable of vehement efforts, cannot
prolong them. It may be added that since the air-vessel at all times requires
considerable space in the abdominal cavity, there would scarcely be room in the
internal structure for viviparous reproduction.
The sub-order of Raiz swim sideways, like the flat-fish, and in addition to
the advantage of having their weight distributed over a considerable surface,
some of the species have their body fringed with a web somewhat resembling a
continuous fin, or the wing of a bird, which being muscular, assists much in the
support of the body. Almost the only fresh water fish in which the air-bladder
is not found, is the well-known little Bull-head, or Miller’s Thumb, the latter
name being derived from its flat head, resembling in shape the miller’s well-worn
and flat thumb. The habit of this fish is to hide under the stones in the river’s
bed, beneath which it is able to thrust easily its appropriately-formed head, and
though it swims away rapidly when disturbed, seldom rises from the bottom.
There are exceptions, however, to this rule of nature, for which it is.
impossible to account. We have two Red Mullets without swim-bladders, and
yet they seem to possess all the powers in the water of the Indian and American
species, which have them. The two British species of Mackerel both swim near
the surface of the water with the same ease and swiftmess—one has a swim-
bladder, the other has not. Of our two species of Orthragoriscus, which appear
to possess the same powers—one has the swim-bladder, the other has not,
Such exceptions add much to the interest with which this subject is replete, and
when we séem to have hit the truth, we find ourselves wide of the mark.
It will be interesting here to give a description of the swimming bladders:
im’ our common fishes,
8 2
140
The Salmon has an air-vessel consisting of one elongated cylindrical tube,
lying close to the back-bone, which opens almost directly into the pharynx, or
without the intervention of a distinct duct. The air-vessel is much more deli-
cately formed than that of the Pike, and is connected with the ribs and spine by
much finer ligaments. Trout and nearly all the Salmonidz have similarly shaped
air-bladders. The Grayling, however, has an air-bladder communicating with
the cesophagus by a very small tube.
The Carp family, consisting of the Carp, Roach, Chub, Rudd (or Red-eye),
Barbel, Bream, and Dace have large air-vessels divided by narrow and short
necks into two or more chambers, The Chub, Roach, and Rudd, have twa
large chambers, the anterior one slightly truncated at the upper end, and
connected with the posterior one by a short tubular neck, From the upper
end of the posterior one a duct runs forward into the cesophagus. The air-vessel
of the Dace is similar, except that the posterior chamber is comparatively
longer, more narrow, and cylindrical. The air vessel of the Gudgeon
resembles that of the Dace, though the posterior chamber is hardly so narrow,
and in both the anterior one has a slightly truncated end,
In all the family of Cyprinoids the air-bladder, though closely packed in
and enveloped by the intestines, is loosely fixed in the abdomen, and is not
connected with the ribs or spine by any strong ligaments as in the Pike. The
covering is, however, muscular, and the fish has thus the power of contracting
the vessel and expelling the air through the pneumatic duct.
The air-vessel of the Pike forms one long and large sac extending the
whole length of the abdominal cavity, and only separated from the spine by the
blood vessels, Externally it has a very tough fibrous membrane of great
strength, and isconnected on both sides to the ribs, and also to the spine by short
strong ligaments. At the upper end there is a small round tube of about half an
inch in length communicating with the gullet. If you attempt to pass a probe
from the gullet into the air-vessel it is stopped, but if you pass the probe from
the bladder into the gullet there is no resistance. It is clear therefore that the
communication between the air-vessel and the gullet is guarded by a valve, which
allows the air to escape outwards, but not to enter. Ina pike of 123lbs. weight
the air-vessel was 12 inches long.
The Hel has an air-bladder of very delicate construction. It is fusiform,
with two short processes at the anterior end, enveloped in the common integu-
ment ; the inferior one, or vertical process, is closely bound to the cesophagus,
and is cellular, as is also the posterior end of the vessel. There are, moreover,
several membranous diaphragms in the air-vessel of the Eel, with a vascular
ganglion ; and a duct leads from it to the alimentary canal nearthe stomach. It
is closely connected with the intestines, and is with difficulty separated from
them in making an examination,
The Perch has a simple large air-vessel or chamber fixed close to the spine,
141
more closely even than in the Salmonide. It is also of more delicate construe
tion, consisting of very fine transparent membrane, extending between the
vertebral column and the abdomen. This membrane forms also the covering or
lining of the ribs and spine, and so closely adheres to them that it is impossible.
to take out the air-vessel entire. The delicate inner lining is plainly visible.
The air-vessel forms a closed sac, and there is no communication from it either
to the gullet or cesophagus.
From the preceeding remarks the following general conclusions may be
drawn :—
1, All fresh-water fish, with a single exception, and the generality of sea
fish, have air-vessels,
2. In the large majority of fresh-water fish there is some communication
between the air-vessel and the intestinal canal.
3. In the large majority of sea fish the air-vessels are closed sacs,
4, The position of the air-vessel is always the same, near the centre of
the body.
5. The air-vessel varies considerably in shape in different fish.
6. The gas contained in the air-yessel is secreted by the lining membrane
of the sac.
7. Its constituents are the same as atmospheric air, but vary in their
proportions. In the air-vessels of fresh-water fish nitrogen is in excess; and
in those of sea fish oxygen is most abundant.
8. The chief use of the air-vessel is te lessen the specific gravity of the
fish, and thus to enable it to poise or balance itself with the smallest amount
of muscular exertion.
‘9. Fish possess the means—more or less evidently shown—of regulating
the amount of air in the vessel, so as to adapt their specific gravity to the
position they occupy in the water, to the temperature of the water itself, or
to the purposes they wish to effect.
10. Where the sac is closed, the change is probably produced by the
slow process of reahsorption of the air.
11. Where the duct of communication—the ductus pneumaticus—is small
and long, as is most frequently the case, the change is more readily affected.
12. When the ductus pnewmaticus is short and large, a great chamge may
be instantaneously affected.
13. The air-vessel is a rudimentary lung, adapted to fulfil the secondary
object of lessening the specifie gravity of the fish.
14. In some rare cases it may still form a portion of the respiratory
apparatus, and possibly does so in many more when an emergency calls for it,
142
15. Fish without air-vessels are usually such as frequent the bottom of
the water ; but there are exceptions to this rule—in some an increased muscular
development seems to render it unnecessary, and in others there is no clear
explanation of its absence (applause).
(The paper was illustrated by dried specimens of air-bladders and outline.
sketches. )
The Rev. W. Houcurton said he could make many remarks on Mr. Lloyd’s
interesting paper, but he should confine what he had to say to a few points, as
there was very little time for discussion. As to the gaseous contents of the air-
bladders of fish, he confessed he shared with the late Dr. Davy considerable.
doubt. That the same organ should secrete two such different gases as nitrogen
and oxygen seemed certainly very anomalous. It was generally believed that
salt-water fishes secreted oxygen, and fresh-water fishes nitrogen, in their air-
bladders, Humboldt, experimenting on the Gymmnotus Electricus, of South
America, found the gas to consist of 96 per cent. of nitrogen and 4 per cent. of
oxygen. M. Biot, on the other hand, experimenting on some deep-sea fishes of
the Mediterranean, found 87 per cent. of oxygen, and the rest nitrogen, with a.
trace of carbonic acid. The secretion of oxygen by any animal was remarkable,
and one might as well expect this gas to be exhaled from the lungs in respira-
tion, as separated from the blood by secretion from the inner tunic of the swim-
bladder. Mr. Houghton did not mean to deny the results obtained by
Humboldt and Biot, but he thought the matter required further verification,
As to the function of the swim bladder he regarded it as simply a
mechanical one as affecting the specific gravity of the fish; but he did not
agree with Mr. Lloyd in regarding its presence as an important organ. This
was evident from the fact that in closely allied species of fish, with precisely
similar habits, one species had a swim bladder and another had not. For instance,
the common Mackerel has no swim bladder,—one or two other species of
Mackerel have one. Of the two British species of sun-fish (Orthragoriscus), one
has a swim bladder, and the other has not. Some of the Siluroids were pos-
sessed of a very complex swim bladder, others again had none atall. Other
instances might be given.
With respect to the question of the swim bladder of fishes being homo-
logous with the lungs of air-breathing vertebrata, this was the most interesting
and important point of all. Although, functionally, scarcely a single fish,
perhaps, uses the swim bladder as a respiratory organ, yet it was quite clear
from the case of the mud-fish, or Lepidosiren, that those anatomists who regarded
the swim bladder as the homologue of the lungs, and the pneumatic duct,
where it existed, as the homologue of the trachea of air-breathing vertebrata
were correct. The Lepidosiren, whether of the African or South American,
rivers, appears to beat one time a Fish, at another a Batrachian, so far at least
as its respiration is concerned, Whilst it inhabits the water it breathes by
143
‘heans of its gills as a fish, but when it burrows itself in the mud of these
tracts, which after the overflow of the river are left dry, then the swim bladder
and ductus pneumaticus come into play, and respiration is carried on mainly
through them. The swim bladder of the Lepidosiren is double, with many
cellular divisions, lung-like. The pneumatic duct is wide and short, and opens
‘out into the Gsophagus. It is kept open by a special provision; there is,
moreover, a pulmonary artery which conveys blood to the lung-like swim
bladder. So amphibian-like is the Lepidosiren in some respects that naturalists
differ whether they are to regard it as a Fish or a Batrachian. Owen is satisfied
that ‘‘the totality of the organisation of the Lepidosiren exemplifies its funda-
mental ichthycic nature.” In the structure of the swim bladders of the Polypterus
and the Lepidosteus we meet with transitional states connecting the simplest
closed swim bladder with the double lung-like organ of the Zepidosiren; and
this seems to be a verification of Mr. Darwin’s remark on the swim bladder of
fishes when he says, ‘‘There seems to me to be no great difficulty in believing
that natural selection has actually converted a swim bladder into a lung or
organ used exclusively for respiration.” Myr. Houghton thought in Lepidosiren
we have a living witness of a Fish in a transition state towards becoming a
Batrachian. The embryology of the Lepidosiren would doubtless throw much
light on this question (applause).
Had time permitted there would have been a long discussion on this
interesting subject,
PALAONTOLOGICAL NOTES ON THE SILURIAN
STRATA IN THE WOOLHOPE VALLEY.
By the Rev. P. B. BRODIE, M.A., F.G.8., Vice-President of the Warwickshire
Naturalists’ Field Club.
The fossils of the Ludlow formation and Wenlock Limestone, including
in the latter the Woolhope Limestone, which is only a local development of
the Wenlock series, are so well known that it may seem a work of mere repe-
tition to make any remarks upon them ; but a recent sojourn of a fortnight in
this interesting and most instructive district, during which I visited nearly every
quarry, escarpment, and available section, has led me to form some conclusions
respecting the range and number of the organic remains which may be worth
recording.
In this part of the Silurian area, the sea evidently abounded in corals,
as it did elsewhere ; many of them—especially Stromatapora striatella, Halysites
catenulatus, Favosites Gothlandica, and some of the larger and frequent species
of Heliolites, Arachnophyllum typus, Strephodes vermiculoides, and Cyathophyllum
articulatwum—being of massive form, are often well preserved, and widely distri-
buted ; but I failed to detect many, if any, of the rarer genera which occur at
Dudley, Wenlock, and other places, I was particularly struck with the com-
parative paucity of shells, both gasteropods and molluscs, Leptena euglypha,
Atrypa reticularis (a very ubiquitous shell, being the only one which passes
into the Devonian and Carboniferous), Spirifer, Huomphalus, and a few others
were common enough, and in this respect differ widely from the richer districts
of Malvern, Dudley, &c. In the catalogue of the Geological Survey a larger
list of Conchifera is given, including many general did not meet with, but still
the number is not great, and absolutely small when compared with other upper
Palzosoic regions, and so far bears out the view advocated in this paper. The
Wenlock Shale, and lower Ludlow beds contain, as might be expected, a larger
assemblage, but nothing like the remarkable abundance and variety which occurs
in the Wenlock Shale at Ledbury, Walsall, and Dudley. The same may be
said of the Crustacea, which appear to be positively rare. The common genera, .
Calymene Blumenbachii and Phacops caudatus, being apparently very sparingly
145
distributed, less so though in the Shales than inthe Limestones. I turned over
hundreds of slabs of the latter, which at Dudley swarm with organie remains,
and only remarked a few small corals, Bryozoa and shells, and those chiefly
Atrypa, Spirifer, Leptena. Broken stems of Encrinites are abundant, but only
once did I discover any portion, even of ahead. As I carefully searched over
a very wide extent of the calcareous portion of the series, the result is certainly
remarkable, for had my investigations been limited to only afew quarries, the
comparative rarity of many genera and species more or less common elsewhere
would not be unusual, since certain localities with favourable conditions are
often prolific in forms which are usually rare, as in the case of the abundant star
fish in the Ludlow formation at Leintwardine. A rather unusual fossil from
the Paleozoic rocks of this district is a set of horny hooks of some Cephalopod,
which I found in a nodule in the Wenlock Limestone at Dormington, which.
although not uncommon in the Lias, have not, I believe, been before detected
in the Silurian formation. From the abundance of Orthoceratites it may be
inferred that these horny hooks belonged probably to the animal which inha-
bited these shells, and their preservation is due to their horny nature, the
softer parts of the mollusc having perished, the former being at present, as far
as I am aware, the first and only trace of the animal in the more ancient
rocks, The lower Wenlock, or Woolhope limestone, contains portions of
Trilobites, especially Bumastus Barriensis and Homalonotus cylindricus (N.S.),
the latter never entire, the former very rarely so, and a few molluscs, but
‘by no means abundant, Mr, Dixon, in speaking of the Llandovery limestone,
remarks that it would be a great find to discover any fossils in the Woolhope
area, Though much less abundant than at May Hill and elsewhere, I found a
few of the characteristic species, viz., Petraia bina, Pentamerus oblongus, and.
the rarer Stricklandina rens, in blocks of sandstone on the slope of Haugh Wood,
just above Scutterdine, and also ina field near Woolhope. In a narrow lane
near Littlehope a very fair section is exposed in the fossiliferous bands, the best
section I have seen in the district, though it also crops out on the road side
near the Common at Woolhope. Sections being very few, it is desirable to
note these.
The conclusion at which I arrive, then, in the Woolhope Silurian area,
is that on the whole the Celentreata form here, as in certain portions of
the Old Red (Marine Devonian) in Devonshire, the chief and most abundant
representatives of the life of the period, though at the same time it is rather
difficult to understand why there should not have been as great a variety of
Molluses, Crustacea, and Radiata as elsewhere, other conditions being apparently
equal. One interesting exception is to be noted in the Downton sandstone
(passage beds so called) in a small section exposed at Purton, near Stoke Edith,
where remains of Pterygotus and Euripterus abound, intermingled with frequent
fragments of vegetable matter, including some small preserved seed vessels, a few
small semivalves, and acoral. In a thin band of sandy shale, I was fortunate
Tt
146
enough to find aconsiderable number of the remains of these crustacea, and
possibly of some other allied forms which may be new, consisting of heads,
body-rings, entire tails, portions of the body of some size, claws, and swimming-
feet, more numerous and on the whole better preserved than any previously
detected in England, and for the most part larger than those obtained in the
equivalent stratum near Ludlow. Some of the bodies have as many as eight or
body-rings attached, but without the head or tail, owing, I believe, in a great
meeasure to the difficulty of working the bed, and the consequently small frag-
ments which could be got out, even with the greatest care and labour. I am in
hopes that the entire collection will be placed in the hands of a competent
authority, when the most remarkable will be duly figured and described. In the
same beds at Ludlow remains of these singular Crustacea are numerous, but I
am not aware whether they have been observed in almost equal abundance at
Purton. If the quarry was worked I have no doubt some entire specimens.
might be procured, but unfortunately there is no hope of this, for, although
there is a capital band of adjacent sandstone, it is not allowed to be
quarried.
At Lesmahago, in Scotland, where the Silurian rocks are much altered and
more of a fine slaty character, very perfect specimens of Zurypteri and Pterygott
occur, many of the latter indicating great size. I have two body-rings of this
genus of gigantic proportions from the Old Red Sandstone in Scotland much
larger than any in the Lesmahago Silurian rocks; and Mr. Salter has lately
obtained some remains of pterygotus in Wales, and especially near Pontrilas,
from the Old Red Sandstone, which must have been of enormous size.
The only way in which we can account for the better preservation
of these Scotch-Silurian Crustacea arises, no doubt, from their rapid
and immediate preservation in the Silurian mud after death, which,
as in the Oolite at Solenhofen, in Germany, and in the Lias at Lyme
Regis, in Dorset, accounts for their fine condition. These crustaceans, as well
as the trilobites, were easily separable after death, and unless instantly embedded
would soon decompose and break up and be scattered into fragments by waves
and currents ; hence they are so often found in a mutilated state, the heads,
tails, and single body-rings being most usually preserved.
In this short notice my object has been purely Palceontologieal, therefore
I will not make any remarks on the physical geology of this district, which is,
however, most interesting and instructive, being probably the finest example of
a valley of elevation in England, and it has been already ably described by
Sir R. Murchison, and one of your own members, Mr. Dixon. With the
exception of occasional visits of the Woolhope Club, and a few wandering
geologists this district is little or not at all known, and it offers to tourists
some of the finest views and most striking scenery in this beautiful county.
The hills are richly wooded and much broken and diversified by extensive
147
fractures and subsequent denudations.* Some of them rise to a considerable
height, commanding on all sides grand and extensive views over the adjacent
counties and the more distant mountains of Wales. The intervening vallies are
also very picturesque and well wooded. The Railway Stations of Stoke Edith
and Holm Lacey now render it comparatively easy of access, and it only wants
to be better know to. be more frequently visited.
* Tt is an important question to decide what has become of the drifted matter,
the quantity of which must have been enormous; and, as my friend Mr. Symonds
observes, the only drift in the neighbourhood, fuli of remnants of Silurian rocks, is to be
seen at Mordiford, and nowhere else.
=
NOTES ON THE ONNY RIVER SECTION.
By J. W. SALTER, Esq., F.G.8., &¢.
The gorge of the river Onny is classic ground. It is one of the best
sections in Siluria, and it has, besides, a little difficulty in it which misled the
earlier observers, and which may yet furnish work for the Naturalists’ Field
Clubs.
Indeed, though much has been done in it, there is yet enough left to do.
The western end, where the river cuts through the faulted Cambrian ground,
will furnish many a day’s work for the man who cares less for fossils than for
geological structure. The various sub-divisions of the Caradoc—which it was the
good fortune of Mr. Aveline and rayself to disentangle—should each be care-
fully marked out on the parish maps, and then transferred to the small ord-
nance scale :—
1. The Hoar Edge grits of Corston, &c., with the Horderley limestone,
2. Soudley and Long Lane sandstones.
3. Cheney Longville flags (Chatwall, Broome, &c.).
4, Calcareous beds of Batch gutter, Ticklerton, Plash, &c.
5. Trinucleus shales of the Onny section.
All deserve separate mapping, and will repay the toil.
And if the observer will be only careful to spot them down on the map
where he sees them, without attempting to join up the broken lines, he will
do more for the geology of Shropshire than has yet been done, for a simple
reason worth recording. The whole ground is highly, nay, intensely, faulted.
These faults are not marked on any map; and in attempting to carry on un-
broken lines of strata from end to end of the Caradoc valley, the arrangement
of these faults is so utterly obscured that nothing but a fresh survey will make
them intelligible. This survey should be the work of the Caradoc, Severn
Valley, and Ludlow Clubs.
As a contribution to this good work, I have taken advantage of the hos-
pitality of my friend the Rev. J. de la Touche, to re-examine the cliff section of
the Trinucleus shales, with the overlying May Hill group, which is so clearly
displayed at Cheney Longville footbridge,
Oe Sa ee
149
The length of the accessible section is considerable, but it is cut off at
_ either end by several faults. So it is best to confine ourselves to the low bank
and river section which extends from the first beds visible west of the foot-
bridge, to the cliff of green and gray shales, now rather well known and well
hammered by the Ludlow geologists. Only the north bank shows the section.
The beds, though they doubtless cross the river in some places, are mostly lost
-on the south side by the considerable fault which runs along the course of the
river in a direction about W. by N.W., and not quite in the same direction as
the river. Such dislocations in many places cross the Caradoc range on its
8. end.
Measured roughly along the bank by paces, the Zrinucleus shales, with
the calcareous gray layers at their base, occupy 130 yards, dipping at a low
angle. For 40 yards they form only shelves in the river bed, and are slightly
nodular and calcareous at the western end.* Then, for 45 yards, the low cliff
exhibits green and gray concretionary shales of a very uniform fine grain, with-
out bands of limestone or sandstone of any kind, and full of various forms of
Trilobites, chiefly Trinucleus concentricus, easily known by the laced border.
Ampyx, Remoplewrides, Lichas, and Calymene, are more rarely found. But a
tolerably full list may be found in the paper above referred to in the Quarterly
Geological Journal for 1854—(Aveline and Salter).
The angle of dip in these shales is seldom more than 25°, except where
they are overlaid by the May Hill Sandstone bands, where the dip accidentally
deepens to about 30° or even 35° in parts, with which dip the beds plunge into
the trout pool. The exact spot is now easily marked; a couple of large trees
have fallen—one on each side of the deeper water (it is but a few feet in sum-
mer time), and a holly tree hanging from the bank, exactly covers the line
of unconformable junction, Roughly measured, the thickness of the gray (or,
when weathered, greenish) Caradoc shale is 35 feet, and in all this, no beds of
limestone or calcareous sandstone occur.
This is immediately followed by bands of impure Limestone. 3 or 4 inches
or less in thickness, with greenish or grey friable shales between the limestone
bands. The shales so exactly resemble the underlying Caradoc shale, that any
one might mistake the one for the other. But when hammered, they yield not
a single Zrinucleus, or any of the characteristic fossils of the Caradoc shale,
On the contrary, they contain Pentamerus linguifer in abundance, a fossil which
abounds all along the line of junction—in these May Hill rocks up to Buildwas
and the Wrekin base. In the beds of limestone are Pentamerus, Atrypa reticu-
laris in plenty, Leptena transversalis, L. scissa, and Chonetes levigata, some
corals (Petraia and Favosites); and these abound, and are wholly unmixed
with any of the small Mucula, Bellerophon, Holopea, &c., which are found
in the lower (Caradoc) beds.
* Similar beds, with rather thicker bands, occur along the course of the river for
some way up. The ground must be much faulted judging from the area covered by
these beds, The same grey shale extends to Church Preen,
150
So sudden is the change of the fauna, that even were the slight uncon-
formity more difficult to detect than it really is, there could be no doubt of
its existence, It was in vain Mr. la Touche or myself, in a baking sun, set our-
selves steadily to pull down and examine the shale. Pentamerus and Atrypa
everywhere—but not a Caradoc fossil, such as must have mingled with them
had there been a true passage from one rock to the other.
Next, I measured the thickness of the May Hill band up to the point
where the green-grey shale is mingled with purple shale, and at the utmost
this can only be 30 to 35 feet; beyond which 20 to 25 feet may be reckoned for
the claret-coloured purple shale.
Returning to the junction at the holly tree, 12 feet of alternating lime-
stone bands and green-grey shale take us to a bed, 6 inches thick, of calcareous
sandstone, very micaceous, and permeated throughout with worm burrows and
tracks on the flat lines of bedding. I do not stop to describe these here—they
are simple and branched—the branched ones being what are commonly and
falsely called Fucoids. This bed, in which are no Pentameri, shows the jointed
structure to which I beg to direct the attention of the club. It is cut up into
inumerable dice-like blocks, the sides of which lie respectively in the direction
of the valley, i.e., 35° north of west, and the direction of the Great Wenlock
Valley 30° east of north. The latter direction is not exact, but the main joints
are in the direction of the Onny, along which, sometimes crossing the stream,
sometimes keeping to the north or south of it, runsa “fault,” which is not laid
down on the map, but probably extends quite into Wenlock Edge. ‘The diree-
tion of these joints should be carefully noted on the map. The result would be
very obvious in a few years, for the relation of the jointed structure to the
faults of the district is more than probable—it is in many cases proveable. We
must proceed with our section,
Six feet of very green shale, like the Caradoc, above this band, takes us
to a similar band four inches thick. The green shale still contains Pentamerus
linguifer, Strophomena applanata, with the Leptena transversalis. And now
comes eighteen feet more of rubbly shale, greenish and gray, and in its upper
part striped by numerous purple layers. It is interstratified with thinner and
thicker layers of calcareous sandstone, full of mica, and marked in some layers
by worm tracks: in others more calcareous, sandy, and full of the fry of Lep-
tena, Atrypa, and Chonetes. Twenty feet of purple shales, rich in fossils, con-
clude the section, for beyond this point, I think, no beds show on the water’s
edge. Hither the fault crosses here, or the soft layers, no longer protected by
the intervening bands of limestone, have been wholly denuded, a clayey drift
filling up the low ground,
TdT.
I prefer the term, May Hill Sandstone, to the new appellation, Upper
Elandovery, for two reasons, One is, that except in the presence of Pen-~
tameri and Atrype, the May Hill rock has nothing to do with the Llando-
very, to which in Wales it is an unconformable cover. The Llandovery has
Caradoc species mixed with Pentameri. The May Hill rock, of which the
purple shale forms the natural cover, has Upper Silurian species mingled with
Pentameri, and passes truly into the Woolhope beds. The second reason is
that, in science, the discoverer and true describer of a rock has the right of
priority to name it ; and the recognition of the true characters, position, and
contents of the May Hill Sandstone, as distinct from the Caradoc, is due to
Sedgwick, who, with a rare generosity, applied the name first used in the
Silurian system. The purple shale is a very continuous formation. It is
nearly colourless in North and South Wales, where it is known by the name of
Tarannon Shale, and has, but few fossils.
The Rey. J. D. LA Tovcus, exhibited a very beautiful model, in relief,
of the Onny River Valley and surrounding hills, made to scale and coloured.
It was very generally admired, and the wish was loudly expressed that some
member of the Woolhope Club would construct a similar model of the Wool-
hope Valley of Elevation, And Mr. Salter took the opportunity of pointing out
very ably the great use of such models, and called upon the geologists of
Ludlow to mark down on a map all the minor faults and dislocations, which
were so numerous in the rocks of the district. Not to complete their lines by
hypothesis, but simply to mark down their exact occurrence in the exact spot,
and when this had been carefully done, the key to their explanation might
very possibly be found in the study of all the separate observations,
The carriages for Oakley Park were now announced, and several of the
visitors that the early trains had not cruelly carried away, set off to visit the
celebrated old oaks there. Crossing the river Teme towards the White Cliff,
the beautiful view of the castle, which is so well known, would gladly have
been sketched by more than one of the company, had time permitted. The
grounds of Oakley park were entered by the private road, and a beautiful
drive of nearly two miles led to the mansion. Here the visitors alighted, at
once paid a visit to the very interesting old oak trees, knotted and knarled,
with trunks covered by excrescences, and all more or less decayed. Some still
bore a goodly canopy of green leaves, but others had nothing to show but hollow
boles and rotten boughs, or limbs broken and bare, presenting great variety in
picturesque form and outline, and to each one of them might be addressed
Cowper’s beautiful lines—
«© Time made thee what thou wast, king of the woods;
And time hath made thee what thou art—a cave
For owls to roost in,
152
; Through all stages thou hast push’d@
Of treeship—first a seedling, hid in grass ;
Then twig; then sapling; and as cent’ry roll’d
Slow after century, a giant bulk
Of girth enormous, with moss-cushioned root
Upheaved above the soil, and sides embossed
With prominent wens globose—till at the last
The rottenness which time is charg’d to inflict
On other mighty ones found also thee.”
Are they Druidical? Well, they seem to inclose in double semicircle, the
northern side of a green open space some 60 or 70 yards in diameter, No trace
of trees of a similar character on the southern side exist, and perchance it may
be that too much sunshine has destroyed them early, as too much prosperity
is apt to carry off creatures who should better know how to guard against it,
There are but some half-dozen of the old, old trees remaining, and all of the
true pedunculate variety. The tape gave their meazurements at 5 feet from
the ground 19ft. 4in., 18ft. Gin., 25ft. (hollow and open), 23ft. (covered with
excresences), 23ft Sin. (the same), and one was too divided to measure at all,
and the largest bough of another, alas! lay rotting on the ground.
A walk over a covered bridge led to the fernery and flower garden,
Here the quaint box edgings of our forefathers are still carefully cultivated.
Here, on the lawn, too, was a beautiful specimen of the Deciduous Cypress,
Taxodiwm distichwm, whose feathery foliage is so very ornamental. Its trunk,
at 5ft. from the ground, measured 4ft. 9in. in circumference.
The pleasure grounds, stretching for nearly half-a-mile on the steep bank
of the Teme, were next visited, and many of its beautiful trees measured and
greatly admired. The most striking feature of the grounds, perhaps, was the
tall straight boles cf so many of these trees, which give that delighful aérial
shade so charming in our hot summer days. A Spanish Chestnut, though only
some 11 or 12ft. in circumference, had a stem some 40 or 50ft, high, without a
bough or an imperfection. Two Silver Spruce Firs were said to be 120ft. high,
and looked it; they measured 11ft. lin, and 12ft. lin. respectively. There were
two very perfect specimens of Pinus cembra growing well, measuring 6ft. 4in.
and 5ft. 10in. respectively. Two beautiful trees of the Pinus Douglasii as
ornamental as fancy can picture, measured 7ft. 10in., and 6ft. 6in., respectively
at 2 feet from the ground. Then the tape went round a Scotch fir of 1Oft. 2in.,
a lime tree of 13ft. 3in. ; an ash of 13ft., and some other trees that space fails
us ‘o cnumerate. In the grounds is a Maze with privet hedges having in the
centre a fine 18ft. specimen of the Wellingtonia gigantea, which they who
would admire in close contact must walk many paces to reach, and be fortunate
if when half way they don’t find that they have taken the wrong road. The
shades of evening were rapidly approaching—the slight shower which fell here
had passed off—the carriages were quickly gained—and so in due time was
Ludlow reached, and the late train carried off the last of the Woolhope members
to their several homes,
The TWoolhopy Auturalists’ SHield Club.
MEETING AT HEREFORD FOR WOOLHOPE,
Aveust 25TH, 1868.
On Tuesday the Club made its annual visit to the district from which it
takes its name. About ten o’clock two well-laden coaches left the Green
Dragon Hotel, and passing by Hampton Bishop, Mordiford, and Fownhope,
finally set down their passengers near the Lindels Quarry, a little beyond Sollers
Hope. Here the Aymestrey Limestone is interrupted for the distance of nearly
a mile, and the two ridges of Wenlock Limestone meet at an acute angle,
showing dips in different directions.
The ride of nine miles was very enjoyable. The welcome rain of the last
few weeks had completely renovated nature. The yellow leaves of premature
autumn had disappeared, and the trees accorded once more with the fresh and
bright verdure of the pasture. The anomaly of the early ripened fruit, the
‘bright hips and haws, and the size of the acorns, which are peculiarly abundant
this year, alone remained. Autumn had seized nearly all vegetation, but
summer again for a time resumed her sway, and made the journey very
pleasant.
The nature of the ground visited gives prominence to Geology in the
day’s work; and though neither plants nor insects, nor anything capable of
being baptized with a Latin name comes amiss, somehow or other the earth,
and the things under the earth, receive the largest share of attention in these
gatherings, perhaps because they are the largest.
As far as Mordiford the route presents little or no feature of interest.
Alluvial flats bordering the Wye, and Old Red Sandstone Hills on the left
and right, had nothing but perfect beauty of outline and rich agricultural
value to recommend them. The wooded hills of the Woolhope ‘‘anticlinal,”
U
154
were the points of attraction for the day. Skirting their western side the
road to Sollers Hope does little more than mark the boundary of the two
formations,—Old Red Sandstone, and Upper Silurian Rocks, There was
therefore plenty of opportunity for those disposed to find “faults” in the
outline to do so, The Woolhope hills are full of faults, and it so happens .
that they are very plentiful and conspicuous on the western side along
which the coaches were running. Mordiford presents one great ‘‘fault,” but it
is only a specimen of many that cross from S.W. to N.E., and slice up the
pear-shaped mass into manageable portions,
At Fownhope, and Sollers Hope, faults cross the oval. Between these
two places they run along the outline, and the effect of both sets, as was
pointed out on the spot by Mr. Salter, has been so to shatter and bewilder the
strata on the western side, that they dip more sharply, and occupy much less
breadth than on the opposite side.
The Lindels limestone quarry was first visited. It is solid lime-
stone for six feet at the base, with bands of nodular limestone and shale
above ; from the top perhaps measuring twenty-six feet. Corals and
shells abound. Thirty or forty pairs of hands, and some of them with
hammers in them, soon gathered a heap. The corals were Fuvosites, Conites, and
Heliolites, two or three species of each, the latter especially being in beautiful
preservation, and almost like living specimens. By the bye, it was observed that
the Blue Coral of Australia was hardly to be distinguished from this. Shells
were plentiful, almost all Brachiopoda, the tribe most abundant in Silurian
times. The Strophomena depressu comes out entire in this prolific spot.
S. euglypha is common, Spirifes, two or three kinds, Rhynchonella, and chief
of all, the ubiquitous Atrypa reticularis, This shell, named by Linneus,
occurs all over the world in Silurian Limestone ; at least it has been found
from China to the Rocky Mountains, and from Australia to the North Pole
—very perfect specimens were procured here of all of these. A few Trilobites,
chiefly Calymene Blumenbachii and Phacops caudatus—a worm tube or two—
and a great sponge (Stromatopora), were also met with. One peculiarity was
noticed, the Limestone is largely pisolitic, like the beds of inferior Oolite.
Professor Phillips noticed this in the Wenlock Limestone of Malvern.
The Aymestrey Limestone is quite a different thing. Flat beds of hard
Limestone, with very little shale between, form a very solid rock, No wonder
therefore that the Ridgeway stands up so high.
Whilst the geologists were hammering away at the rocks, the botanists
had time to look around them. The Dwarf Thistle, Carduus acaulis, was
found growing abundantly ; a vigorous plant of the Bear’s Foot, or Fetid Helle-
bore, Helleborus fctidus, was observed; the Chlora perfoliata, Eupatorium
cannabinum, Chrysanthemum segetum, Inula conyza, Lathospermum arvense,
and some other plants were also observed,
i —
eS, A aera oe
155
On leaving the Lindel’s Quarry the route was taken for the Camp of
Oldbury Hill, under the guidance of the Rev. F. Merewether. Here the view
was magnificent and almost panoramic. It excited so much interest and pleasure
that but little attention was paid to the camp itself. It seemed a large inclosure
of an oval form, and protected chiefly towards the south and western side. It
presents no great signs of strength, but it is of considerable size, and is taken
full possession of by agriculture for the growth of wheat and barley. The
same elements of interest and beauty in near and distant scenery were presented
by the whole length of the ridge of Aymestrey Limestone which was followed.
On the one side was the May Hill, the whole range of the Malvern Hills, and
those still more distant in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire—the cathedral
and city of Gloucester were plainly visible—and on the other side, spread out
before the observer, lay the whole valley of Woolhope and its successive ridges
of limestone with its dome of May Hill Sandstone in the centre, The merest
tyro in science could have made out the geology. Standing on the outer and
highest ridge, the Aymestrey Limestone, the lower ridge of the Wenlock
Limestone, forming, as it were, an inner line of defence, was immediately in
front. Between the two. with a varying depth, runs the fosse, excavated
in the soft Lower Ludlow Shale. Outside, the Upper Ludlow Rock slopes
gradually away to pass as regularly and conformably under the Old Red
Cornstone and Marl, as on the other side it is plunged irregularly against it.
The difference is all due to the faults which were pointed out by Mr. Salter
on the ground. They cut up the north and west side of the valley, as it is
called, being a space encircled by hills, and leave the eastern side almost free. But
this irregularity, great as it is, does not prevent the pear-shaped mass from being
at once the most regular, as it is the most beautiful, of our Silurian districts.
It was the general exclamation that nowhere in Herefordshire could so beau-
tiful a walk be found, fora similar extent, Partridges seemed to appreciate it
also, for no less than four goodly covies were disturbed in the walk.
At Sleeve’s oak a quarry of Aymestrey limestone was examined. Here
the jointed structure of the rock is very remarkable. Joints in three directions
were observed on the Woolhope side, The fossils gathered here were chiefly
Brachiopod shells, Rhynchonella nucula,and R. didyma, the former in profusion ;
Lingula Lewisii and Chonetes levigata,
The route was continued to Hooper’s oak, when the descent began and
the Wenlock ridge was again crossed. In the valley some specimens of Boletus
Satanus were gathered, as poisonous as its name and its lurid red colour might
lead one to expect. A hopyard in beautiful luxuriance. How very fine and
abundant the hops of Herefordshire are this year! they seem to have enjoyed
thoroughly this lovely summer, and to have cared but little moreover for the
drought. On the ridge of the Wenlock Limestone was an old kiln, quite
remarkable for the beauty given to it by @ luxuriant growth of the Traveller’s
Joy, Clematis vitalba, which covered it,
v2
156
The broad valley of Wenlock Shale was then passed to gain the hospitable
shelter of Woolhope rectory. At Fowmer’s farm there is a good’section of this
shale, and fortunately recently made, for it so soon decomposes to mud that
no section can be permanent. Here Mr. Merewether guided some of the
visitors to a rock he considered to be May Hill Sandstone. It was a very
unexpected place to find it, but such nevertheless it turned out to be. It was
not another outbreak of this rock, but a series of large broken fragments resting
on the shale, transported as drift by some more modern agency, and so arranged
as really to look like a bed of the rock iz situ.
At Woolhope, the celebrated limestone that bears the name of this village
emerges from beneath the shale, and near the rectory shows itself as a tesselated
pavement of rock, Time did not admit of any close examination of the strata
here, or of the dome of May Hill Sandstone in the central Haugh Wood.
The whistle of the leader was imperative, and it was well it was so, for days
instead of hours could well be occupied in this interesting locality.
A rapid descent by the Littlehope or Scutterdine quarries, which could
only be glanced at, showed again that this, like all other ‘‘ Hopes” in the district,
was at fault. The word ‘‘ Hope” means ‘‘a sloping ascent between bills,” and
they are evidently here caused by ‘‘faults.” The rapid change of the dip and
the curving of the strata indicate them; but, of course, better evidence is
afforded by the abrupt juxta-position of strata which should lie part. Such,
for instance, on leaving the ground, as was seen in the Pentelow brook, where
the Woolhope limestone lies cheek by jowl with Aymestrey rock, and May
Hill sandstone abuts against the Wenlock shale.
We should have noticed, that on the road to Sollers Hope the party
alighted for awhile, and the President and Mr. Salter, who had been working
together previously in the Old Red Sandstone, found both plants and crustacea
(Pterygotus) in the Old Red Sandstone of Nash Tump.
The coaches pulled up at Mordiford Toll-gate, and a rush was made for
the entrance to the grounds of Sufton Court. Here a very fine and complete
‘‘fairy ring” of the large or horse mushroom (Agaricus arvensis) was visited,
and many of them carried off. Some specimens of the yellow Boletus ( Boletus
luteus) were also gathered, and it is as well perhaps to say at once, that both
were cooked and eaten with much relish at the dinner in the evening.
The coaches were quickly regained and as they make their way back we
will take the opportunity of naming those who were present at the meeting—
the President, Dr. M’Cullough ; the Vice-Presidents, Chandos Wren Hoskyns,
Esq., and James Rankin, Esq.; J. W. Salter, Esq., F.G.S.; the Rev. Wm.
Houghton, M.A., F.G.S. ; Professor Gairdner, Glasgow ; R. M. Lingwood, Esq. ;
Elmes Y. Steele, Esq., and Mr. Elmes Steele; the Rev. J. F. Crouch, Pem-
bridge ; Dr. Bull and Master Bull; John Lloyd, Esq. ; the Rev. F. Merewether,
Woolhope: the Rey, Arthur Gray, Orcop ; the Rev. Thomas Phillipps, Dewsalt ;
L
'
‘
;
157
the Rev. E. Du Buisson; the Rev. W.C. Fowle; James Haggard, Esq., and
Mr. Chas. Haggard ; Marcellus Newton, Esq., Sugwas ; the Rev. E. Cunningham ;
Wm. Aston, Esq. ; the Rev. J. C. Robinson, Norton Canon ; J. Griffiths Morris,
Esq., and Master Morris; the Rev. J. H. Jukes ; Thomas Turner, Esq. ; the
Rey. ©. J. Westrop, Wormbridge; Dr. J. H. Wood, Tarrington ; J. Mortimer
Bowen, Esq., Talgarth ; J. T. Owen Fowler, Esq. ; Mr. J ohn Lloyd, Kington ;
Mr, Adams, Marden; Mr. Pembridge ; and Mr. Arthur Thompson.
Punctually at 4 o’clock the travellers returned to be refreshed, according
to the programme, at the Mitre Hotel, and well indeed was the programme
carried out in this respect.
Immediately after dinner a paper was read
ON THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS OF BRITISH
SNAKES.
By tHe Rev. THOMAS PHILLIPPS, M.A.
In our walk across the usually boggy mountain side from Penwylt to
the Sewd Hen Rhyd waterfall, on our Ladies’ day in July, two or three of
these reptiles were picked up by some of the more adventurous members of our
party, and exhibited to the rest of the Club. I was then so much surprised
at the mistaken remarks which I heard made on several sides as to what was
their nature and even their name, Vipers being called Snakes, and Snakes
Blindworms, that I determined to brush up my old experiences respecting them,
and to make the attempt to point out what the distinctive marks and peculi-
arities of these reptiles are.
There are only three British (so called) Snakes, and they are—
1st. The Viper or Adder (Pelias Berus).
2nd. The common Grass Snake or Ring Snake ( Zropidonotus Natrix ).
And 3rd. The Blind-worm or Slow-worm (Anguis Fragilis).
First with regard to the Viper, often locally called Adder. It is
the only one of the three which possesses a poison-fang, and fortunately, too,
it is the least common of the three. It is now, in fact, rarely found in England,
except in unfrequented, and generally boggy localities, such as the Cambridge-
shire and Lincolnshire fens, where, in my younger days, I killed and examined
a great many.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SEEDS OR SPORES OF FUNGI,
MAGNIFIED 1,000 DIAMETERS.
Fig. 10.—Spore of Lactarius quietus.
Fig. 11.—Spore of Agaricus ( Psalliota )
campestris. 'The Mushroom.
Fig. 12.—Spore of Gomphidius viscidus.
Fig. 13.—Spore of Coprinus micaceus,
common on old stumps everywhere.
Fig. 14.—Spore of Spathularia flavida.
Figs. 15, 16, 17, 18.—Spores of Spathu-
laria flavida, in the act of germination.
Fig. 19.—Mycelium of Spathularia fla-
vida, produced under the microscope from
the confluent germinating spores.
Fig. 20.—Discs from human blood, drawn
to the same scale, 1,000 diameters, to give
an idea of the exceeding minuteness of the
objects, especially of Fig. 1, which, how-
ever, is by no means unique for smallness.
ON THE FORMATION OF FAIRY RINGS AND THE
FUNGI THAT INHABIT THEM.
BrEDWIN LEES, Ese, F.L.8., F.G.8., &e., Vioe-President of the Malvern and
Worcestershire Naturalists’ Clubs.
Particular attention has been lately called by Dr. Bull, in the Transactions
of the Woolbope Naturalists’ Club, to the species of edible Fungi inhabiting
Herefordshire, and the learned doctor has also kindly given recipes for cooking
them, with the tasty zeal of an Apicius. I shall not emulate my recondite friend
in the gastronomical department, though collaterally the subject I have taken
in hand bears upon it; but, leaving him to his stews, broils, and omelettes,
take a philosophical and contemplative view of those Agarics that (arranged in
remarkable curved lines) adorn the verdant fields, and, finding the ring ready
formed, I shall invite you to conclusions within it, showing sport in as many
rounds as you please.
My object then, in the present paper, will be to describe those appear-
ances in pastures that commonly bear the name of Farry Rios, and to notice
thus dovetail into the subject of edible Fungi, for nearly, if not quite all, the
Agarics that grow in or about Fairy Rings, may be regarded as innocuous or
edible.
} I shall divide the subject into four parts, for the sake of perspicuity, and
inom
2nd. The Mythology and Folk Lore of the subject.
3 3rd. The Theories that have been entertained with regard to them.
And 4th. Give the correct explanation of their formation.
a The fact of rings existing in pastures and occupied at times by various
kinds of Agarics, will be admitted by every inhabitant or even wanderer in the
country. But ideas on the subject are not very exact, and it is generally
stated that the rings are green. But in fact these rings exhibit different aspects
at different times, though the fungologist is only interested in them when Aga-
rics or other Fungi appear round the border of the rings, which is by no meant
always the case.
212
Rings may be brown, forming a band of up-turned soil, or of a greener
hue than the pasture in which they appear, or they may present a hairy or
rough aspect like the tails of some animals, from a dense mass of tall grass
growing in them, and the latter I call comet-rings. It is only in the spring and
autumn under meteorological circumstances that the rings become conspicuous
from Agarics either scattered about or in a dense mass spreading around theit ~
circumference.
Now let us attend to the exact formation of the Fairy Ring, for on this
depends the interpretation of a passage in Shakspere that is well known and
often quoted :—
“You demy-puppets, *
That do by moonshine green sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe bites not.”
Here our great bard alludes to the current belief of the times in which he
lived, and also mentions a rural fact that we may suppose came under his par-
ticular observation. Ewes, he states will not bite the grass of a fairy ring.
Now this is not true with regard to the area of the circle, but it is correct when
the expression is limited to its circumference, which is truly the ring that the ewe
will not bite. This I once satisfactorily proved by observation in the vicinity
of Stratford-on-Avon, and probably in a field that Shakspeare had himself trod.
In this pasture, through which was a footpath, there was a flock of sheep’
grazing, and several rings of Agaricus gambosus. The exterior circle of each
ring was occupied by a tall growth of the coarse grass called Brachypodiwm pin-
natum, among which lay nestled and cencealed the savoury agaric. The
sheep had close grazed most of the herbage of the field, but the grass oceupying
the circumference of the rings was entirely untouched, It was then, doubtless,
the vernal fairy rings to which the immortal bard alluded.
The ring itself, which bounds the area, is often divisible into three bands,
of which the outer one is the most distinctly marked, and the ring spreads
and dilates in this direction, while its inner margin joins with and is scarcely
distinguishable in places fromthe area, But though the term ‘‘ring” is generally
applied to these appearances, it must be borne in mind that a perfect circle is
rarely formed, and mostly only arcs, portions of circles, or long waving lines
are presented to the view. Some of these rings or ares remain with little
alteration for years, while others slowly increase till if uninterrupted they
assume vast dimensions, for my friend Professor Buckman has mentioned some
on Salisbury Plain that were more than fifty feet in diameter. Finally they
die out after a longer or shorter continuance.
Various fungi occasionally dot or fill up the circumference of the rings, and
these are either vernal or autumnal, but chiefly the latter. The first rains of
May bring up the common Fairy Ring Agaric (A. Orcades), and also the less
common but larger Agaricus gambosus, which has been called St. George’s’
Agaric, as appearing about the time of the feast of St. George. Few other fungi
appear so early in the year, the majority preferring the misty season of autumn,
and then, besides Agarics, Puffballs and other funguses adorn the rings, These’
213
fatter soon disappear from decay, but a green conspicuous band marks where they
grew. But the rings occupied by gambosus and Oreades mostly remain brown
and bare through the summer. These circles in the grass are not confined to
any particular district, but pastures are necessary to their production, and my
friend Dr. Bull has met with many about Hereford, and I have seen some in this
vicinity abundantly crowded with agarics myself, as well as in other counties.
They are not so common on the Continent as in England, though I have noticed
some in Switzerland. In an article upon Fungiin the ‘American Naturalist”
(1868) it would appear from a remark of the writer, that they are unknown
in the United States of America, where, however, Agarics are very abundant.
With regard to the mythology and folk-lore of the subject, much may
be written, and very curious matter collected, but I shall select chiefly what
bears upon the appearances presented to view, and which led people in olden
times to believe that fairy dancing had taken place where these circles met their
view. Up to the middle of the 17th century, and perhaps nearly to the end
of it, there was a general belief in the existence of a race of unsubstantial pigmy
elves commonly called fairies, to whom various good as well as malicious qualities
were attributed ; but on the present occasion I can only notice their dancing; »
pastime to which they were said to be addicted, especially when the moon
illuminated the midnight scene. An old poet alluding to this says :-—
“Dance like fairies a fantastic round,
Who neither change their motion or their ground.”
It was this keeping to one place in the fairy dance that made the impression it
the grass visible to the rustic eye the next day, as Michael Drayton observes in
his “*Nymphidia,” thus endorsing the popular belief—-
** And in their courses make that round,
In meadows and in marshes found
Of them so called the Fairy-ground,
Of which they have the keeping.”
Now this was not a mere poetical idea, but the general belief, and the fairies
and their love of dancing being believed in, it seemed not unlikely that traces
of their light revelry should be left in the spots they frequented, which was an
easy solution of the phenomenon presented to view, and kept up the credit of the
fairy people as ever at work although invisible to mortal eye. Chaucer has it:
timated the existence of the belief in Fairies as universal before his time, though
in his satirical way he suggests that “‘limitours” and ‘‘holy freres” had in-
creased to such a degree that by ‘“‘blessynge halles,” bowers, and all other
places, they had frighted the Fairy people away from their accustomed haunts;
and where before was ‘‘walken an elf,” the intrusive limitour alone on the
scene now presented himself only. But they were stillin existence if not se
manifest as formerly.
“In the olde dayes of the King Arthour,
Of which that Britouns spoken gret honour,
All was this land fulfilled of Fayrie ;
The elf-queen with her joly compaignye
Daunced ful oft in many a grene méde,
This was the old oppynyoun, as I rede.*”
* Chaucer—in the opening of the ‘‘ Wyf of Bathes Tale,”
214
But evidencé was not unfrequently obtained from some “belated peasant,” as
Milton intimates, that the Fairy people were still to be seen at their dancing
pastime if aman was out wandering in the moonshine late in the night, and
had the eyes of his imagination sufficiently ethurielized. Such appearances even
learned divines professed to have seen, as appears from the following relation
in the Miscellaneous Wiltshire Collections of Aubrey, preserved in the Library of
the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. Aubrey wrotea ‘‘ Natural History of Wilt-
shire,” and lived in the latter part of the 17th century. He says—
In the year 1633-4, soon after I had entered into my grammar at the Latin School
at Yatton Keynel, our curate, Mr. Hart, was annoyd one night by these elves or fayries
comming over the downes, it being near darke, and approaching one of the fairy dances
as the common people call them in these parts, viz., the greene circles made by those
sprites on the grasse, he all at once sawe an innumerable qnantitie of pygmies or very
small people dancing rounde and rounde, and singing and making all maner of small odd
noyses. So being very greatly amaz’d, and yet not being able, as he says, to run away from
them, being as he supposes kepte there in a kinde of enchantment. They no sooner
perceave him but they surrounde him on all sides, and what betwixt feare and amaze-
ment, he fell downe scarcely knowing what he did; and thereupon these little creatures
pinch’d him all over, and made a sorte of quick humming. noyse all the time; but at
length they left him, and when the sun rose he found himself exactly in the midst of one
of these faery dances. This relation I had from him myselfe a few dayes after he was so.
tormented ; but when I and my bedfellow Stump wente soon afterwards at night time to
the dances on the downes, we sawe none of the elves or fairies. But indeed it is saide
they seldom appeare to any persons who go to seeke for them.
Even in the early part of the present century in the remoter parts of
Wales the peasantry if they did not fully believe in the existence of Fairies
_had a great dread of Fairy Rings, and the writer on the “‘ Popular Superstitions
of Wales” in the ‘‘ Graphic and Historical Illustrator ” (1834) quotes a corres-
pondent of Mr. Croker, as thus writing to him on the subject :—‘‘ Many old per-
sons have told me that when they were young, and had occasion to go to the
mountains to look after their sheep or to fetch the cows, their parents always
cautioned them to avoid treading near the Fairies Rings, or they would be lost.”
This is alluded to by a modern poet as not yet forgotten :—
“‘ Some say the screech-owl at the midnight hour
Awakes the Fairies in yon antient tow’r ;
Their nightly dancing ring I always dread,
Nor let my sheep within that circle tread ;
Where round and round all night in moonlight fair,
They dance to some strange music of the air.”
The same writer on Welsh superstitions asserts that still in Sweden if a peasant
sees a circlemarked out on the morning grass he attributes it to the midnight
dance of the Fairies. f Thee
Barham might have made a good Ingoldsby Legend out of Aubrey’s narra-
tion, which I adduce without attempting to account for the curate’s bewilder-
ment, but only to show at how late a date such a narrative could be received as a
veritable fact, :
Aubrey, at a later period of his life, when he wrote his ‘‘ Natural History
of Wiltshire,” discarded the fairies, assumed the philosopher, and was, I believe,
the first to suggest a natural cause for the rings, though his supposition of ‘‘ a
fertile subterraneous vapour which comes from a kinde of conical concave,” and
assumes a circular shape at the surface of the ground, was rather too recondite
to be generally received,
215
This notion of Aubrey’s, however, brings me to the third division of my
paper, as to the Theories adduced by philosophers and naturalists to account for
the appearance and continuance of the rings so common, in pasture land,
Dr. Darwin, the botanical ‘poet of the last century, was of opinion that
electricity gave the form7to the fairy ring, and in a note to his poem of “The
Botanic Garden,” contends that “‘flashes of lightning attracted by the moister
part of grassy plains, are the actual cause of fairy rings,” and in the poem itself,
he says :—
* So from the clouds the playful lightning wings,
Rives the firm oak, or prints the Fairy Rings.”
But if so, these rings would be evident to some eye or other immediately after
a thunder storm, and the blackened; grass would be an incontrovertible wit-
ness 5 but there is no reliable evidence that}I know of as to lightning making
such circular marks on grass lands, while trees and prominent objects are
generally the subjects of electric strokes. Mr. J. F. Dovaston, at a later period,
in Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History, like Darwin, ascribed the exciting
cause of the formation of rings to ‘‘ strokes of electricity, » which laying bare the
ring the first year, by “‘the fertilization of combustion,” gave rise the second
year to a crop of grass “‘with -highly increased vigour and verdure.” This
fertilization, however, Dovaston remarks, though violent, is of very short
duration, and thus the circles soon disappear. It may be well to remark that
both Aubrey, Darwin, and Dovaston, all believed the rings to be formed of their
full size at once, and by a sudden act, without which, indeed, the idea of dances
in the moonlight, made evident when the sun rose, would have been un-
sustainable.
' But as Agarics often fill the outer margin of a Fairy Ring, a question
arose as to how they came to be there, and this has led to the supposition
that the Fungi were the efficient cause and origin themselves of the circles in
the grass. This was first suggested by Dr. Wollaston, and has been since
admitted as a vera causa by the Rey. M. J. Berkeley, Dr. Greyille, Mr. Cooke,
and almost all British Fungologists. It is therefore necessary to examine it in
detail, and see if this theory really agrees with careful observation.
Mr. M. C. Cooke, adopting the explanation of Dr. Wollaston and Mr.
Berkeley, thus expresses himself in an article on Fairy Rings in Hardwicke’s
Science Gossip* :—‘‘ There are green circles of luxuriant grass on pasture lands,
sometimes of immense size, and to be seen from a considerable distance.
Romance ascribes their origin to the dances of fairies by moonlight; science
to a much more matter-of-fact cause. These circles are the result of Fungi,
originating at’ first from a single mushroom. This parent mushroom exhausts
_ the soil beneath it, ‘and nearly destroys the grass by the spawn or mycelium
which insinuates itself among their roots. When matured, the spores of this
mushroom are shed at an equal distance all around the plant, which latter dies,
decays, and manures the soil around it. The next season a circle of Fungi spring
ap about the spot occupied by the mushroom of the preceding year, but all
216
within the circle is barren. These shed their spores and decay, as their
parent had done, and thus year by year the circle increases until rings are
formed in some cases three feet, and at others thirty yards or more in diame-
ter. The turf cut from within the ring exhibits a network of spawn, interlaced
amongst the roots of the grass, Thus the fairy palace is demolished, and the
airy dancers dispersed by the hard-hearted and unpoetical mycologist.”*
Berkeley, the great expounder of Fungology in the present day, takes
the same view, and after remarking upon the tendency of minute Fungi to
“assume a circular disposition,” he goes on to say: ‘‘In the fields we see this
tendency illustrated by the formation of Fairy Rings, which have for a long
time puzzled philosophers, and are not without their difficulties now. These
rings are sometimes of very ancient*date, and attain enormous dimeusions, so
as to be distinctly visible on a hill-side from a considerable distance. J¢ is
believed that they originate from a single Fungus, whose growth renders the
soil immediately beneath unfit for its reproduction. The spawn, however,
spreads all round, and in the second year produces a crop, whose spawn spreads
again, the soil behind forbidding its return in that direction. Thus the circle
is continually increased, and extends indefinitely till some cause intervenes to
destroy it. If the spawn did not spread on all sides at first, an are of a circle
only is produced.” There is some confusion among authors in this theoretical
explanation, some saying the spores fall in a circular form, while Berkeley gives
this power to the mycelium.
It is extremely easy for a theorist to sit in his easy chair and propound
a bold hypothesis, which he fondly hopes may solve a difficulty and obtain for
him a reputation ; but if truth is the object in view, it does seem astonishing
that people when out in the country look upon objects with sych a careless
eye, and will not closely examine things before they come to a rash conclusion,
Poor Peter Bell, of Wordsworth’s imagination, has been often held up to repro-
bation, because, like hundreds of the unthinking multitude,—
“A primrose by the river’s brim,
A yellow primrose was to him,
And nothing more.”
But perhaps the majority of persons in walking through a meadow, if asked about
a green circle, or an agaric-filled circle there visible, would say—‘‘ Ah! only a
fairy-ring!” and see ‘‘nothing more in it,” and care nothing more about it
than Peter Bell did about the primrose! Even Mr. Berkeley takes the suppo-
sition about the single Fungus forming the circle for granted, without due
examination himself, and says :—‘“‘It is believed” that such is the case. Now,
after attentive observation, I myself do not believe it. No one appears to have
tried to make a Fairy Ring on this principle, and it is clear that if this was
the modus operandi, instead of one large circle only, a number of small circles
would appear intersecting the original one, because if the first fungus could
* Science Gossip, October 1, 1866.
t Berkeley’s “ Outlines of British Fungology,” p. 41.
On
217
form a circle by its sporules falling around it, every other offspring of the family
could do the same in its turn. But such an appearance is never presented to
view, and the supposition is therefore fallacious, This may be made clear to the
eye by reverting to a diagram. For thus numerous intersecting circles would
be of necessity formed, and the pasture, if the agarics were not too numerous
and close, might look like an orrery.
Let me now, then, attempt the elucidation, as the last part of the subject
I have undertaken to discuss. Discarding then the mythological Fairies, as
well as the various hypotheses that have been eliminated to account for the
commonly-called ‘‘ Fairy Rings,” let us look at the matter in a common-sense
‘but botanical point of view, remembering that we have here to deal not with
flowering, but cryptogamous plants, Yet the same law of Nature will apply.
Turn up a mass of soil in any place, make a bank of manure, or leave the
cultivated soil of a garden to itself, and what are generally called weeds soon
congregate. So in a wood, if the wind upsets a tree, or scatters dead branches
about, Fungi quickly find them out, feed upon them, and flourish on a pabulum
congenial to their nature.
All fungi, whether Agarics, Boleti, or Polypores flourish on decaying
substances, and rotting matter of some kind they require as a pabulum of
support. Whatever, then causes the withdrawal and death of grasses in pastures,
or displaces the soil, enables the sporules of fungi floating in the air to settle
down, and Agarics or ‘‘ Toad-stools” to appear, and thus we notice them scat-
tered about, without much wonder at their appearance, in the autumnal season,
for, as Shelley says—
** Agarics, fungi, mildew, and mould,
All start like mist from the wet ground cold.”
But they do not start without some predisposing cause, or without something
or other has caused decay where they arise.
That circles or arcs, forming rings of Agarics or other fungi, should appear
in meadows must be admitted to be curious, and require explanation. For this
purpose two things are required—the forms which attract the eye, and incipient
decay. The marked green or brown rings in the grass was the ground of popular
appreciation, and gave rise to the supposed fairy dances—
‘‘ The nimble-footed fairies dance their rounds
By the pale moonshine.”— Fletcher.
and hence a cause must be shown for the sudden appearance of a round in the
grass, and the decay that, allowing fresh grass to spring up in the track made,
gives a new verdancy to it that keeps the circlet visible for a considerable time.
Shakspeare says— :
“And nightly meadow fairies, look you, sing
Like to the garter’s compass, in a ring ;
The expressure that it bears, green let it be,
More fertile fresh than all the field to see.”
* Shakspeare—‘‘ Merry Wives of Windsor,”
, c2
218
The theory of Berkeley and other modern fungologists by no means explains
the phenomenon that has attracted popular notice ; for on the idea of an origin
from a single fungus, it would be two or three years before sufficient space was
made for a proper dancing ring, and, the fairies with their nimble feet would not
trouble themselves with such a slow process, nor would the clown be attracted
by it, We must have a suddenly formed circle in the first instance, to show
the fairy dance mado in the night, and exhibit their pastime as Shakspere in-
timates, ‘‘to make these midnight mushrooms.” No supposed centrifugal
growth of spores scattered round from a single agaric will make the large
circles that have been noticed in pastures occupied by the mushrooms, for,
theoretically there ought to be @ number of small circles. Now let us look at
what is really done, and inquire what will do it, and then we shall see that the
observation of Nature’s operations carefully made repays any trouble the en-
quirer may have, and gives interesting facts instead of unsubstantial theories.
Though these pasture-marks, the subject of my paper, are commonly
called rings, they are by no means as a yule regular circles, but in fact for
the most part incomplete circles, ares, and wavy lines of variable and undefined
dimensions. Their primary aspect is brown with upturned soil, then they be-
come either greener than the pasture in which they appear, or, a8 circumstances
happen, brown and scorched from decaying vegetation, or at times throughout
one clustering mass of Agarics, so close and firm that a light-footed gil might
really dance upon them all round,
Now having paid close attention to these appearances for many years,
and not merely looked to the fungus growing in the circle, but the circle itself,
this close observation tells me that in the great majority of cases the original
disturbance of the soil in a circular or semicircular form is due to that little
mining animal the Mole (Talpa Europea ). His gyrations close under the surface
of the ground are very yemarkable. In making his runs he disturbs the roots
of the grass, and the grass itself withers and dies in the round that he has
made. This offers a pabulum to the wandering sporules of Fungi not to be
neglected, and they seize upon these rounds accordingly, and once there make
an occupation of the ground for as long a time as favourable circumstances allow,
and then fly off elsewhere. For an uncertain time their occupation increases
the size of the ring, but they do not originally form it. The ring is increased
too, not by the sporules of the plant scattered about, but by the perennial
underground mycelium, which slowly spreads until it is killed by meteorological
causes, or like other plants dies out from exhausted vitality.
By reference to some of the diagrams I have made from actual field
observation, you may see that in numerous cases I have established not
merely the presence of the Mole near the circles, but the certainty of his
formation of them. (See Plate of fairy-ring circles and ares p, 224. )
But so far from Fungi in their growth forming these rings, some of them
are never attacked by Agarics at all, and here it is that from grass first wither-
es eS ee
219
ing, and fresh grass afterwards springing up over the run of the Mole, the ring
formed appears greener than other parts of the pasture that have not been
thus revivified. Tennyson noticing this, refers to
“A foot* that might have danced
The greensward into greener circles.”
The decay of agarics about a ring will also cause a fresh and greener appearance
of the turf in autumn, but more frequently in this case a taller and coarser grass
is stimulated to grow in the ring at the vernal season, and I have observed the
circles in which Agaricus gambosus flourished in May to be surrounded with
a tall grass hiding the fungus completely from view, while the turf in the area
of the ring was quite of a different character. This luxuriant growth of tall
grass often reveals a ring in a meadow at some distance, and where the circle
is imcomplete it bears some resemblance to the tail of a comet, a molehill
representing the comet itself.
Then again I have observed long wavy lines in flat meadows, undoubtedly
the work of moles, and these at irregular distances were spotted with indi-
viduals of the large cup-shaped Agaricus gilvus, which certainly had nothing to
do with the formation of these long sinuous lines.
But let me here particularize one case from my journal, to show the close
observations I have made, and fifty more might be adduced if necessary.
“*May 16th, 1848. I observed at Salwarp, Worcestershire, a large ring,
though not a perfect circle, full fifteen yards in diameter. It commenced in a
molehill, and then proceeded to another, and finally took a semicircular sweep
nearly back to the molehill from whence it started. The circular track was
evidently the underground work of a mole, although very near to the surface,
and this track was now brown and bare from the very hot weather of the last
fortnight. Now, a few weeks ago, I saw in Spetchley Park a similar largo
ring covered with rank grass much superior in height to the herbage within it.
This rough grass which thus springs up so luxuriantly in the track of the
mole, and which does not appear to be eaten, soon withers away, leaving a bare
place, on which, after rain, Agarics mostly of one particular species appear in
each ring, though various species and even genera of fungi, are adapted to grow
in such rings.”
To any one only looking upon some neglected meadow or wide-extending
heath, where hundreds of molehills appear scattered about in the most irre-
gular manner, it may appear a strain upon credibility to suppose the mole to
form ares and circles in anything like a regular way ; but these common heaps
are only thrown up in the process of searching for and feeding upon worms; and
there are times when the little burrower yields to that overpowering principle
that impels all animals to the process by which their numbers are increased
in the world, and the species they belong to maintained. By recurring to this
phase in the mole’s history, we shall see how the various phenomena of nature
are connected and dove-tailed into each other.
* This “foot” is that of the little unseen burrowing Mole,
220
Both English and French writers have given an account of the gyrations of
the mole in the soil when love inspires his movements, and when the nest is formed
where the young moles repose and have to be fed. Sir Charles Bell in his “‘His-
tory of British Quadrupeds,” says, when alluding to the habits of the mole,—
“‘The tracks by which the mole pursues his mate are curiously divaricating ;
they are very superficial, and are made with great rapidity ; they are termed by
the French ‘ traces d’wmour; and by our English mole-catchers ‘ coupling-runs,’
or ‘rutting-angles.”” Persons engaged upon other pursuits may tread upon a
thing and not see it, for unquestionably we here find the primum mobile or
originator of our old friends the Fairy-Rings in these circles amour. Mr. Jesse,
also, in his Natural History ‘‘ Gleanings,” has alluded to these curious “‘ rutting-
angles,” which he says are formed by the male mole, and ‘‘are as near the sur-
face as possible.”* In fact they often break up the surface. M. de St. Hilaire,
a French naturalist, who has gone into details of the mole’s history, taken
from practical persons who were familiar with the operations of the mole, shows
fully how the sportive animal is incited to these amatory runs; and I am in-
clined to believe that Miss Mole at these times takes a ‘‘run” also, and from
the form of some double circles that I have seen, I should conclude that the
runners run into each other’s arms! Of course many of these courses would
be of a sinuous character, but as to perfect and complete circles, which are
occasionally met with, M. de St. Hilaire states that when the mole has made a
nest for its young, which is under a hillock much larger than the ordinary
mounds, he is careful to surround it with a circular path of communication,
from whence other passages divaricate deep into the soil, and when these
circular walks of which M. de St. Hilaire has given a plate, are near enough the
surface to break the soil, the grass is disturbed, a circle is apparent to the eye,
and finally this becomes of a vivid green from young and fresh grasses springing
up. All this is plain and natural, and we may therefore dispense with the theo-
retical idea that the sporules of the Fungus are obliged to ‘‘ spread centrifugally”
in every direction to produce Fairy Rings, which is as much an illusion as the
dances of the Fairies themselves.
If one species of Agaric alone occupied Fairy Rings, it might be imagined
that the growth of this Fungus was peculiar, but when not only numerous
kinds of Agarics but even Puffballs and the Chanterelles are at times found in
the rings, it is clear that the circle has been formed in some other way than by
centrifugal propulsion.-+ In some cases, I have reason to believe, that a small
ring has been formed by wire-worms, but any action that breaks the soil or
burns up the grass, will tempt a Fungus or colony of Fungi to take up a position
* Jesse’s Gleanings, p. 136.
+ Mr. Berkeley has in one of his works, ascribed the formation of the ring to ‘‘ the
radiation of the mycelium” from the first central Agaric, and says that the space within
the ring has ‘‘ been previonsly exhausted by the demand of the former crop;” but this is
so far from being the case that the area of the ring is often green with grass equal to
any in the meadow, while the circwmference is brown and bare,
221
there, and if this takes a circular form there is a ring marked in the grass, or
the portion of one.
In conclusion I will only remark upon the continuance of the rings and
their mode of increase. Rings occupied by Agaricus Oreades seem more per-
manent than many others, and may be of considerable age, and in this case all
traces of the primary work of the Mole is lost, but he was not the less there
originally. For the most part, however, as Mr. Dovaston has remarked in
Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History,the rings are not of very long continuance,
and I can testify to the evanescence of many that I have known and sought for
in after years in vain. In truth, Linneus correctly gave the name of Womades,
or wanderers to the Fungi, and their sporules fly off to settle again miles from
their original location. The mycelinm, or the underground plant of Agarics,
maintains an existence beneath the soil as long as it can find a pabulum for its
support, and having exhausted this it dies out. However, as what one robber
may leave behind, another may come and think worth having, so a ring deserted
by one agaric that has flourished there may be occupied by another in suc-
cession, and this is frequently the case. This may account for Mrs. Key’s
observation in the last volume of the Transactions of this Club (1867), without
necessarily supposing that two kinds of agarics are varieties of one species, be-
cause successively growing in the same ring ; and, indeed, I have been informed
of Agaricus campestris taking possession of an old ring of Agaricus gambosus,
without troubling itself to form a circle by means of centrifugal propulsion.
On this point I have received a note from my friend Professor Buckman, who
has made many experiments on edible Fungi, and on one occasion was almost
poisoned by eating too much of one particular kind.
The Professor remarks that from a notice in Hardwicke’s Science Gossip,
that a lady (Mrs. Key) in the Transactions of the Woolhope Club, supposes
that because two kinds of Mushrooms have been observed by her in the same
ring, that they are therefore not specific, but varieties of each other. ‘‘Now I
have found,” he continues, “in the same rings Agaricus gambosus first, at a
later time Agaricus Oreades, and later still Agaricus personatus. However, I
always looked upon it as a fact that most of the Agarics grow in the same way
and require like conditions, and so the different species come in their season.”
This opinion and observation places the growth of funguses pretty nearly
on a par with that of ordinary phanerogamic vegetation, where as we see on
rocks, walls, and ruins, and any ground left waste, that some roving seeds find
out the vacant spots and colonize them accordingly for a time ; only that in the
case of fungi there must be some decaying substance for them to feed upon.
The withering of the grass in a meadow where rings have been made by the bur-
rowing mole, invites the sporules of Agarics that are floating in the air to rest,
and these produce an underground myceliwm, from whence the fleshy hymenium,
which is their fruit, isdeveloped. This in its turn decays, and acts as a manure
to stimulate the grass to a greener and ranker growth, But the mycelium, like
222
the roots of perennial plants, lives, and spreads its fibres onwards in search of
further nourishment, which if it finds it develops its fruit again, though not
always the succeeding year. How long this mycelium may exist is uncertain,
and an undetermined point, but in many cases its existence is not carried on for
many years, and it dies when exhausted, which is the general lot of all other
plants. At any rate when the annual crop of one species has died and rotted on
the ground, it is open for any other fungus to occupy the old ring, and Dr.
Wollaston was even of opinion that the same Agaric could not grow on the same
spot two successive seasons. This may not be exactly correct as to the vernal
species of A, gambosus and Oreades, but I believe it holds good as to the autumnay
ones, and thus it is that the old rings are lost, while new ones are developed in
fresh places every succeeding year. Dr. Bull indeed has informed me that a
fine ring of Lycoperdon giganteus that he saw last year has re-appeared this
season in a somewhat larger but more irregular ring; but splendid rings of
Ag. geotrupus that met his view two years since have not appeared again in
the same place,
The foreign writers, Dutrochet and Turpin agree upon this continued ad-
vance of the Fungi to fresh places, and Sir Humphrey Davy has illustrated the
doctrine of the rotation of crops on this very fact of funguses requiring a per-
petiial change of supporting pabulum.
In fact Fungi and the Agarics especially are urged into active growth by
exciting meteorological causes, such as electric rain. Scarcely an Agaric could
be met with during the great drought of the last summer, but after the first
thunder storms that swept over the country, mushrooms sprang up inastonishing
multitudes, the markets were crammed with them, and tons collected. Soin
like manner, up sprang rings of Agaricus Oreades, complete at once as Minerva is
said to have risen full armed from the brain of Jupiter; and soon after one of
these heavy thunder-showers, my friend the Rev. J. H. Thompson observed
three large Fairy Rings suddenly apparent in a croft some time since added
to Cradley churchyard, where he feels assured they were never present before,
as he was in the habit of noticing this piece of ground almost daily. But, no
doubt, I think, the rings were really there before, though not made apparent
till after the rain by the sudden growth of the Agarics. This may be often the
case, for Dr. Bull mentioned to me a ring in a garden grass-plot that appeared
in a very similar way.
If then, after all, we find nothing miraculous in Fairy Rings, and require
neither fairies or centrifugal propulsion to form the rounds so often perceptible
in the meadows, we see at least a law that acts upon cryptogamic equally with
phanerogamic vegetation—that progressive change, which, with every alteration
and disturbance of the ground, has something prepared for the situation, and
leaves no spot unoccupied. So that, in conclusion, with a slight alteration only,
and having in view the edible utility of the tribe whose growth we have been
contemplating, I may say, in the language of the observant author of ‘* The
223
Seasons,” whose descriptions and reflections have never been exceeded—
*« These as they change, Almighty Father, these,
Are all thy varied works ; the rolling year
Is full of thee; forth in the pleasing spring
Thy beauty walks, thy tenderness and love.—
Thy bounty shines in autumn unconfined,
And spreads a common feast for all that lives.”
Thus Nature is ever progressive, and fertile in expedients that every disturbance
of the soil shall bring its recompense in fresh vegetation that shall take its turn
in the march of utility. The air abounds with the sporules of cryptogamous
plants ready, like birds of prey, to pounce down upon any place that will afford
them a footing. The mole has his living to get and his duties to perform, and
he makes his gyrations in the meadows accordingly ; but thus in his train a new
creation follows, and though unconscious of the result of his capricious circlings,
yet, as was said of the good fairy of old, his track is marked by a sudden effusion
of heauty to the eye and a product of utility to the human family.
As a supplement to this paper, it may be well to subjoin a list of those
Fungi that have been noticed as inhabitants of Fairy Rings, either by myself,
or recorded by other observers.
AGARICS,
Agaricus (Tricholoma) gambosus, Fr.
A, (Tricholoma) personatus, Fr.
A, (Tricholoma) grammopodius, Bull.
A, (Clitocybe) giganteus, Sow.
A, (Clitocybe) infundibuliformis, Scheff.
A, (Clitocybe) geotrupus, Bull.
A, (Collybia) confluens, Pers.
A, (Heboloma) crustuliniformis, Bull.
A. (Psalliota) arvensis, Scheff.
Hygrophorus virgineus, Fr.
Lactarius piperatus, Fr.
Cantharellus cibarius, Fr.
Marasmius urens, Fr.
Marasmius Oreades, Fr.
OTHER FUNGI,
I observed once in Haywood Forest, Herefordshire, in company with Dr,
Bull, a considerable quantity of Hydnum repandum, that occupied a long waving
line that appeared to be due to the operations of a mole. The Giant Puftball
(Lycoperdon giganteum), has also been occasionally found occupying a ring,
as well the commoner species LZ. gemmatum. The various kinds of Fungi found
in Fairy Rings, surely suggest that they occupy a figure made by some other
cause than the supposed centrifugal arrangement of the sporules from a central
agaric,
REFERENCES TO PLATE
OF
FORMS OF FATLBY REN GS:
No. 1.—An irregular ring of Ag. geotrupus, reduced from a drawing by Dr,
Bull, of a ring on Wickliff House lawn, Breinton. Diameter of the lower part
22ft. Gin. In one part within this ring an apple-tree was growing. The spot is
marked by a section of the bole.
No. 2.—A very large semi-ring of Agaricus personatus, very much like a
sickle, no less than 51ft. in diameter. Grass in the ring half concealing the
agarics within it. At Norton, near Worcester, in autumn,
No. 3.—Bare ring of Ag. gambosus, after the agarics had died off. A mole-
hill evident at one end of the incomplete ring. The area was occupied by the
same grass as the pasture around. At Bradford Abbas, Dorsetshire. Longest
diameter 15ft.
No. 4.—Assemblage of arcs or portions of rings, two of them bare with
groups of A. Oreades, and one filled with coarse grass, the latter evidently pro-
ceeding from a mole-hill. At St. John’s, near Worcester.
No. 5.—Very large double ring of green grass in a pasture at Bransford,
Worcestershire. Measured along the exterior, this was 90ft. in extent. Bare of
agarics, although early in autumn.
No, 6.—A comet ring or waving line of luxuriant grass, having mole-heaps
at either extremity, and no agarics within it.
N.B.—In all the above forms of rings there was evidence of the operations
of the mole, except in No, 1, the attention of Dr, Bull not having been then
called to molar work,
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225
A very lively discussion then took place in which Mr. Blashill, Dr. Bull,
Messrs. Curley, Flavel Edmunds, Harrison, Haughton, Lloyd, Griffith Morris,
Worthington Smith, and Williams took part. The opinion supported in the paper,
however, took every one by surprise, and its novelty as a matter of course,
created considerable antagonism. It was however thought better to postpone
the discussion until the observations of another year had been brought to bear
upon it.
Yes, another year, thanks once more to Mr. Lees and to Mr. Worthington
Smith, to whom in chief measure, it is due that the present ‘‘ Foray Amongst
the Funguses” has been so eminently successful. As our American cousins
would say, it promises to become ‘‘an Institution” of the Woolhope Club.
We have yet to add a postcript, and say that another ‘‘ Foray” was made
by Mr. Lees and Mr. Smith for a short time the morning after the meeting to
Haywood Forest, with an amount of success which deserves a record since it
is not only most interesting in itself, but it shows what a field we have at
hand for the interesting study of mycology. The result of this “Foray” was
two magnificent specimens of the extremely rare fungus Strobilomyces strobi-
laceus; the uncommon Wyctalis parasitica growing upon Russula adusta; the
Agaricus bufonius; the A. placenta; the A. vulgaris; the A. velutinus; the
very pretty A. acutesquamosus which also is not common, the rare and
poisonous Coprinus picaceus, the magpie toadstool, and several other species
which the hurry of the Foray and their own perishable nature did not allow
time to determine. Greatly delighted with their success the Naturalists
departed with a high appreciation of the natural products of Herefordshire,
D2
The Toolhope Raturalists’ Sield Club.
THE ANNUAL MEETING,
Monpay, Marcu 1, 1869.
The Annual Meeting of the Woolhope Club took place at the Green Dragon
Hotel, on Monday last. Dr. M‘Cullough, the President, was in the chair,
and the following gentlemen were also present: The Rev. H. C. Key, and
James Rankin, Esq., Vice-presidents; the Rev. William Symonds, F.G.S., Pre-
sident of the Malvern Naturalists’ Field Club; Edwin Lees, Esq., F.L.8., Vice-
president of the Worcester and Malvern Field Clubs; the Rev. J. D.
Latouche, of the Caradoc Olub; Dr. Griffith H. Griffiths, Honorary Secretary
to the Worcestershire Naturalists’ Club; R. Lightbody, Esq., F.G.S. ; Arthur
Armitage, Esq.; Dr. Bull; the Rev. J. F. Crouch; Captain Pateshall ; the
Rev. S. Clark; T. Cam, Esq. ; John Lloyd, Esq.; the Rev. F. T. Havergal ;
©. Lingen, Esq. ; the Rev. T. Thistlethwaite Smith; D. R. Harrison, Esq. ; T.
Curley, Esq., F.G.S.; the Rev. J. E. Jones; C. G. Martin, Esq.; the Rev.
J. H. Jukes; J. F. Symonds, Esq. ; J. Price Hamer, Esq. ; O. Shellard, Esq. ;
R. H. P. Styles, Esq.; J. E. Smith, Esq. ; Mr. Henry Southall; Mr. With;
Mr. W. Adams; Mr. J. P. Jones, and Mr. Arthur Thompson.
The first business of the day was the election of the officers for the
ensuing year, when the following gentlemen were unanimously chosen:—
PRESIDENT:
Jas. RANKIN, Esq., M.A., Bryngwyn.
VICE-PRESIDENTS :
J. H. Argwricut, Esq., Hampton Court,
ARTHUR ARMITAGE, Esq., Dadnor, Ross,
The Rev. James Davies, Moorcourt, and
Dr. M‘CutLoven, Abergavenny.
HONORARY SECRETARY :
The Rev. Sir Grorce H, CoRNEWALL, Bart., Moccas Rectory.
227
CENTRAL COMMITTEE :
Dr. But, Hereford,
T. CurLgy, Esq., F.G.S., Hereford, and
Joun LuoyD, Esq., Huntington Court.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY AND TREASURER :
Mr. ARTHUR THOMPSON.
The thanks of the meeting were given by speaker after speaker, and
cordially supported by all present, to the retiring president for his very great
and successful exertions in promoting the welfare of the club during the past
year.
The Field meetings for the ensuing year were then appointed as
follows :—The 1st, on Thursday, May 20th, at Ledbury, to meet the Malvern
Club ; the 2nd, on Friday, June 25th, at Pontrilas ; the 3rd, “‘ the Ladies’ day,”
on Tuesday, July 20th, at Ludlow and the Downton Castle grounds; the 4th,
on Friday, September 3rd, at Usk; and the 5th. on Friday, October 1st, at
Hereford, for ‘‘a Foray amongst the Funguses.”
The Financial Statement was then given, the names of several gentlemen
were proposed as new members, and other business matters discussed.
The first paper read was
228
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR 1868.
By E, J. ISBELL, Esa.
To those who take any notice of the records of Meteorology the past year.
has been one of singular interest, and will hereafter occupy a prominent place
in scientific history as a year distinguished for its very high temperature, ex-
traordinary drought, and abundant rainfall.
The heat of July and the first five days of August, I quite believe,
equalled, if it did not surpass, any summer heat ever before experienced in
England by any person living. The drought during June and July exceeded
that of 1864, its effects upon the depth of the river Wye being decidedly greater.
And yet, strange to say, the total amount of rainfall during the year was
above the average by a very considerable amount ; the fall of rain being great in
August, and quite extraordinary during the month of December.
Some thunderstorms remarkable for extent and severity occurred during
April, according to Mr. Symons, ‘‘had more than its share of electrical
phenomena, thunderstorms, large falls of hail, and diminutive but very violent
rushes of wind.” This description of the weather during April applies to part
of Scotland and Ireland, and a very large portion of England.
The extent of the thunderstorm (or storms) on the 29th of May was so
remarkable that Mr. Symons has published a map to show how vast a surface
of the country was affected by it. He says, ‘‘ We have very little doubt that
not half the accidents are reported, but the following analysis is somewhat
formidable :—
Men struck...... 16 Churches struck ... 5
ea Piet i Ys We 4 i EE QUSOS' ice -cessaseerens 10
Beasts killed ... 13 OBIEATEC icc ccccnceccs ih
Sheep killed ... 112 | (BATT Se.sesecedetesase co GE
HiMPsPONb). Pasecesarsseeceedeqees 1
This storm reached Hereford, and in fact, nearly the whole of England felt
its influence; but although the darkness at 8 a.m. was very remarkable, and
the storm lasted about four hours, no harm was done in the city itself. I
cannot answer for the surrounding country.
Thunderstorms of extraordinary extent and severity occurred also on
the 11th and 12th of July. Iam not aware that these storms affected our city
at all, at least I have no note to that effect ; but we had a thunderstorm on the
15th, when the chimney of the foundry in Bath-street was destroyed by a vivid
flash of lightning which appeared to descend in nearly a straight line from the
clouds. The great mass of metal in the foundry appeared to determine the
course of this flash. The men at work escaped without injury.
During the past year, the volcanic regions of the globe have been fearfully
shaken by earthquakes, and a fearful loss of life has been the consequence of
these visitations, At least two shocks of earthquake were experienced in
229
England; one affecting a limited space only, whilst the other was quite as
extensive as that of 1863, but much less violent,
The November meteors were again visible in England, but the appearance
did not equal in grandeur the wonderful display of 1866.
As I trust the Tables will be found to contain all the information my
observations during the past year enable me to offer, I shall not attempt to
enter into detail here on other points, but confine myself to a few observations
respecting the high temperature of the past year, and a few remarks on the
October earthquake.
In the Times of Monday, July 27th, 1868, Mr. G. J. Symons has pub-
lished some very valuable information respecting the temperature of the hottest
years of recent date, commencing with 1806; and from his figures I select
the following records of the high thermometer readings :—
1806. At Plaistow, in shade, June 10th, 95 deg., and 90 deg. or upwards
on three days.
1808. Somerset House, Max., in shade, July 12th, 90 deg., 13th, 93°5 deg.,
14th, 91 deg.
Plaistow, Max., in shade, July 12th, 92 deg., 13th, 96 deg., 14th, 94 deg.
1818, Tottenham, July 24th, Mr. Luke Howard registered 93 deg. in the
shade.
1825. Stratford, July, Mr. Luke Howard registered 90 deg. or upwards,
in shade, on seven days ; the highest reading being 97 deg. on the 18th.
1826. Mr. Luke Howard registered, in shade, 92 deg. on the 27th of
June, and 91 deg. on the 28th. The mean temperature of the summer months
was very high, and the drought excessive.
1846. July was very hot; highest reading, in shade, at Greenwich, 93°3
deg., and 94 deg. at Clapliam.
1852. A wet year, but July remarkably hot; ‘‘the monthly mean tem-
perature 66°6 deg., having been only exceeded by July, 1778, when it was 67
deg., and July, 1859, when it was 681 deg. The extreme heat, however, was
only 90°3 deg., in shade, at Greenwich.”
1857. Greenwich, June 28th, 92°7 deg., in shade.
1858. Greenwich, June 16th, 94°5 deg., in shade.
1859. ‘Temperatures of 92, 92°5, and 93 deg., in shade, recorded at
Greenwich, and 80 deg. reached on 21 days at that station.”
So much for the high temperatures of past years. We see that 90 deg,
(or upwards) in shade is occasionally recorded in England, but that it is a very
high reading for this country, and always noted as something out of the common,
During the hot weather of 1868 the thermometer registered, at Hereford,
91 degrees or upwards in shade on eight days, and with us July 22nd was the
hottest day of the year; but it was not so at all stations, and Mr. Symons
observes :—‘‘ That the date of the hottest day seems to have travelled certainly
in rather a remarkable manner, being the 13th (July) in the West of Ireland and
North West of Scotland, 14th in the middle of Ireland, and at one or two
230
stations in Scotland and Wales; 15th on the East of Ireland, generally
throughout Scotland and Wales, and at stations in Cornwall and Devon. The
next hot day was the 21st in the counties of Middlesex, Oxford, Cambridge, and
Stafford ; the 22nd was hotter still at all other stations except Worthing and
Ventnor, where the maximum, such as it was, occurred on the 23rd.”—
Symons’ Meteorological Magazine, September, 1868.
In the same number of his magazine Mr. Symons has published the
returns of 94 observers—English, Scotch, and Irish—of whom one, Dr. Fielding,
of Tunbridge, registered 100°5 on July 22nd, ‘‘ with a verified thermometer’
box stand, double, with Venetian sides.” G. Pigott, Esq., of Abington Pigott,
Royston, sends a reading of 99°9, July 21st; ‘“‘verified thermometer, mounted
on a Glaisher stand, in a very open position.” Mr. Skinner, of East Sutton,
Staplehurst, makes a return of 99 deg., but does not state the position or
character of his thermometer (no date given). T. Burgess, Esq., of Wigston,
Leicester, registered 98 deg. on the 15th and 22nd.
At Evesham 97°3 was recorded by RK. Burlingham, Esq., on the 22nd, and
97 deg, by my friend, Mr. Southall, of Ross, on the same day. In both eases
the thermometers are verified and well placed.
At Wimbledon Camp, Linton Park (Staplehurst), Greenwich Observatory,
Epping (Essex), Hereford, and Belmont Villas (Leicester), the readings on the
22nd of July were above 96, but not quite up to 97 deg. in the shade.
At thirty-six stations the readings ranged from 90 to 96 degrees, and at
forty-eight other stations from 71.6 to 89.8 in the shade. The lowest reading in
the whole list (71.5) was registered on the 15th at Sandwich, Orkney.
Of the high readings thus collected by Mr. Symons, forty-three were
registered on the 22nd; but at two stations, Linton Park (Staplehurst), and
Wigston (Leicester), a reading equal to that of the 22nd had been previously
registered on the 15th, and at another station (Cranbrook, Hartley, Kent) the
readings of the 21st and 22nd were alike.
Speaking generally, we may say that the highest readings were registered
in England on the 22nd, in Scotland on the 15th, and in Ireland on the 14th.
The whole of the readings given above, however, must be understood to belong
to July alone.
But we had, at Hereford at least, very great heat to record up to the
5th of August ; indeed the fourth day of this month was the second hottest in
the year; but on the 6th rain commenced, and the exceedingly high temperature
of the year ended.
During the period of extraordinary temperature I registered, as already
stated, 91 degrees, in shade, or upwards, on eight days, viz. :—
July. August.
bth) Se -cs. 91.6 ZO icceres 91
21st . 93.1 Cs |e 92.4
2200 vn suse ove, 96.1 | SiN os csesestt 93.1
BIGD sescccee 91.3 DUP ivetre 91.8
231
he temperature on the same days as shown by a verified black bulb thermometer
placed in the sun, was as follows :—
Upon the whole, we may conelude that the temperature of 1868 will bear com-
parison with that of any year of which we have authentic information.
The summer was not tropical in its temperature ; those who think it was
so cannot knew what the heat of a tropical summer really is ; but it was exces"
sive for these regions, and had a perceptible influence on health and on the bills
of mortality. The grass also was burned up, hills took fire, and thus sheep-
walks of considerable extent were destroyed; and the distress in agricultural
districts would have been very great indeed had a severe winter followed. But
it has been most mercifully ordered, in the providence of God, that a winter
unusually mild has followed the heat and destructive drought of the memorable
summer of 1868, and thus, up to the present moment at least, the anxious fears
of many have been altogether set at rest, and the apparently well-grounded
predictions of others have failed of realization and come to nothing.
I have already alluded to the fact that two earthquake shocks were felt in
England during the past year. The first was very limited in extent, being
confined apparently toa portion only of one county, viz., Somerset. It is thus
noticed in ‘‘Symons’ Monthly Meteorological Magazine” for February :—“‘ On
January 4th, at 5.10 a.m., a slight shock of earthquake was felt throughout
the southern part of Somersetshire, Taunton, Wellington, Langport, and other
places. Beds and houses were shaken, lamps and windows rattled, &c.”
The second shock, however (which occurred on the 30th of October), was
felt over a very large portion of the surface of our island; for the movement
extended from Plymouth to Liverpool, and from the centre of South Wales
to the neighbourhood of London. In fact, as Mr. Symons observes, ‘‘its
apparent extent agrees very well with that which prevailed in October, 1863.”
The motion was, to my own feelings at least, very gentle. Those persons who
were out of doors or on the ground floors of houses, speaking generally, failed
to observe any movement whatever. Persons in bed or in the upper rooms of
houses felt the shock very distinctly, and the higher the house the more per-
ceptible was the motion. I was in bed at the time, and my bedroom being
tolerably high above ground, the rise and fall of the earthquake wave was very
distinctly felt by me, whilst the people down stairs were unconscious of any
shock at all.
The movement appeared to consist of a gentle but very perceptible rise
and fall, and there was no sound whatever.
Thus the earthquake of 1868 differed essentially from the alarming shock
of 1863. Of course I speak only of those two movements as we experienced
them at Hereford. In 1863 there was first a trembling of the earth sufficiently
232
strong to make the windows rattle, and with this trembling of the earth there
came a sound like that of a train approaching at inconceivable speed. Then the
earth appeared to jump up suddenly with a loud crash, and the subterranean
thunder was heard dying away in the distance. The shock was violent, and
needed, I am quite certain, but a very slight increase of force to have caused a
fearful loss of life by the destruction of the strongest houses.
All who felt this shock were assured that the force was travelling in a
certain direction, viz., from some point in the west to some point in the east ;
but I cannot say that any impression of that kind was left upon mind by the
earthquake of 1868. The movement appeared to be vertical only, simply up
and down, With respect to the moment of the shock there is a slight differ-
ence in the statements of various reporters. I believe the true time to have been
10.38 p.m.
The earthquake of 1863 occurred, it will be remembered, on the 6th of
October at 3.20 a.m.
THE TABLES FOR 1868.
The tables this year are five in number, our arrangement being as follows :—
Table I.—1st, barometer readings and means ; 2nd, the wind.
Table II.—Thermometer readings and means.
Table III,—Rainfall in Herefordshire, as shown by eight rain gauges.
For materials for the compilation of this table I am indebted to the following
observers :—Rocklands, J. M. Herbert, Esq. ; Ross and Leominster, Messrs. H.
and E. P. Southall; Sellack, Rev. W. Clement Ley; Stretton, the Rev. H. C.
Key; Tupsley, Mr. Ballard; Whitecross-road, Mr. Davison, who has kindly
taken charge of the eight inch gauge belonging to the Woolhope Club, The
Richmond Place rain gauge is my own.
Table IV.—Rainfall in Herefordshire by ten observers, beginning with the
year 1818 and ending with 1868.
Table V.—The Register of the water-level of the River Wye for the year,
kindly forwarded by John Lloyd, Esq., of Huntington Court.
We are going forward with our barometrical measurements of the hills in
the neighbourhood of Hereford. A fault having been discovered in one of the
instruments used last year we have gone over the whole of the work again, and
hope to repeat our visits to two or three hills concerning the measurements of
which, in consequence of the disturbed state of the atmosphere at the time of
our observations, or want of time, we feel there may be some small error,
The following values may be safely taken as very near the truth :—
Above Hereford at Richmond Place.
Feet. In. Feet. In.
GBrWAY oa: ss tenssecescenrsanes cevehn 1013 BaACKDULY ccs cissavccevensca nese Ween 546
Acornbwry ivavi.cs vests cbse. snes Zod OG file Crodenuill, «cco a: Vesvechenthavtecy 533 10
Bad list vvssscues toudereccssesaet. 732 4 Hough Wood ............. epsaeacs 440
DBeAGAT. spc -csrieent=eenses-cccsers 704 Wirtedor ©h. .2, SAE. soreness tees 423 2
Bgdon wcliveskactete. wees lati bis 660 10
Hereford itself at Richmond Place is 184 feet above sea level, and this
addition to the several measurements here given will, of course, give the heights
above the sea,
233
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236
TABLE IV.
RAINFALL IN HEREFORDSHIRE, 1818 TO 1868.
1 2 3 4 5 6 $
fa | ae ou s|3,|/2
ai| 3 | von a | 2a] 6s | &8 a] 22 ee
3 Peay — AB 2 23 Bo coy St io) ce
s eo a2 oF aa ee Sie Ss] ms 2)
m on £2 aA at Bis Aa Ross. | 8 & oH ox
FEL sm 4. Ox = r=
se | Cn | "se | se | Ba | 88 ge | Zo | 2s
ae | & sk a aca See i ee
181g | 9799 | .. =a - , ; ;
18i9| 9678 | .. - % * : a 0
1820| 9243 | :. ke .. sy ; * a: x
1821 85°21 ta cn ae ms cS ae . Be %
1822] 3026 | .. Es - 4, 3 Ha es a SJ
1823 | 3385 | .. a ie ; } Be x
1824| 3176 | .. ae ae * fk 33 : 3 =
1825 | 2456 | .. ee 2 x : sae. base si zk
1826 | 9533 | 93°378 | .. ¥ : : fe ds ss
1827 | 2696 | 21930] .. * EF a - : * i
1828 | 3805 | 31230 | -.. ; : ‘ Ps 2 sf
1829 | 9874 | 95498 | .. ite a: ne A wa =
1830 | 3287 | 29319 | 2. = Bs cm 0 me S
1831 34°28 | 81°033 or) ee o. ag os . a oo
1832 | 9684 | 95234 | .. a ae : 2 Aes Bn
1833 | 2863 | 25338 | .. 5 3 oa as +: er sg
1s34 | 99:09 | (lost) | .. en os te Poel aes ie Be
1845 | 3273 | 297276] .. e = __ i . A a
1836 | 30°59 | 98168 | .. = = “f ae . i
1837 | 3014 | 26207 | .. Hg nf a, ¥ vs 3 =
1888 | 3564 | 27643 | .. a x e PAINE oe ’ as
1839 | 4063 | 34401 | .. ef Fe : leans eS =
1840 | 2470 | 21°38L 35 we “5 So 5 Ac a a
1841 | 39°73 | 32140 | 35°01 ee a : cm Pn i
1842 | 2990] .. 33°38-| .. x3 Me : ¥: AS ,
1843]. a: g6-47 |: is - : ; a :
1gi4] 4 93°59 | o. a os Feccillate. # a
1845 |. = 29°69 |e 5 A 7 Bal cal x -
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1847 7A ss 29°99 ee o. a a “5 ow =
1848 a3 A 87 85 ae x a a3 = us
1849} x 2833 | «. * a Bs a Ae vk
1850] .. 3 2270 | v Bs - sal 8s E ke
185. | 2. 7 2458} oe E. s eal ee “4
1852] .. a 43°53 | 's. A bg ébalece Be S
1853 |. x 2770 | 8019 | .. * en ¥ : 2
1Bbdb| ate es 140 | 1942 | .. dy a paste of ;
1855 |. ve 2460 | 2512 | .. x5 Dior Pelee ae Pe
1856. | .. ap; 9870 | 3256) .. % canes a us
IST cc x 9993 | 2018 | .. es Se op a a
1858 | .. iS 27°93 | 2404 | 22°040 | 92°46] .. : a -
1859 | .. t 3420 | 3353 |... 8:64 | 2814] .. a f
1860 |<. se - 4077 | .. 99°67 |3301| .. a wi
1861 sie ae AD 81°85 | 19'245 | 25°50 | 25 94] 2360 oa Be
1862] .. if ee 2527 | 19810 | 2909 | 29°58] 2836] .. *
1863. | |. & ss 99°32 | 17°563 | 2215 | 2526/2218] .. -
1Shdt| pas cs Es 2228 | .. 19°43 | 19:18]1865] 19318] ..
1865] .. s Ee 32441, 27°10 | 28°58 | 27°38] 25005] ..
1866] .. 3 es 8717 | 31°51 | 29:16 |27°57| 25898] ..
13867] <: a ae 3155 ¥ 2526 | 2910/2817] 26272 | 28171
1368! 5 3397 | 37:18 |.. 3185 | 29:04 2898] 25°367 | 28.531
1. Pool Cottage, 54 miles nearly South of Hereford and about 300 feet higher than the
level of the High-town. 2. Titley, nearly 16 miles N.W. of Hereford. 3 Rocklands,
about 134 miles S.S.. of Hereford, and about 100 feet above the sea. 4. West Lodge,
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180 feet above sea-level. 6. Stretton, about 2? miles W.N.W. of Hereford, and about 170
feet above the sea,
. EDWIN J. ISBELL.
WILLIAM COOKE.
237
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"TAM DHHL—‘'A ATAVE
238
THE CATHEDRAL MAPPA MUNDI.
The proposed reproduction and publication of the ancient map preserved
in Hereford Cathedral was then discussed.
The Rev. F. Havergal remarked that since the last annual meeting he had
devoted some time to the Map, and had made many inquiries with a view to its
reproduction in a manner worthy of its great Geographical importance. That
it could be done well and faithfully he had no doubt whatever, photography
being the basis with the aid of chromo-lithography. He had caused a fac-
simile to be taken of a large portion of the African part of the map by Mr.
G. C. Haddon and other assistants. With reference to the price at which the
whole Map, with letterpress, &c., could be satisfactorily produced, he felt sure
that it could not be done at less than two guineas per copy. There is no less
than 30 square feet of surface, and, if done at all, it must be well done. This,
however, was a matter that further inquiries would show more exactly.
As great geographical skill and knowledge would be required in the com-
pilation of the letterpress accompanying the fac-simile, he wished to have the
co-operation of any gentlemen who were familiar with ancient geography. He
would be happy to render any further assistance so soon as his work, now in
the press, was off his hands, which would very shortly be the case he Loped,
He asked for a committee, and eventually the following gentlemen were
appointed, with power to add to their numbers :—Sir William Guise, Bart.,
Elmore Court Gloucester; the Rev. W. L. Beavan, Hay; the Rev. Samuel
Clarke, Bredwardine ; the Rev. W. Phillot, Stanton-on-Wye; Dr. Bull, Here-
ford; G. C. Haddon, Esq., Hereford; and the Rev. F. T, Havergal, Pipe and
Lyde, Hereford.
A fine photograph of the map in four sections was then exhibited. It was
taken last year by Mr. Ladmore, of this city, solely with a view to the repro-
duction of the Map. His utmost skill was required, for the indistinctness of
the faded parchment renders the map an extremely difficult object to photograph
at all, and certainly his efforts have been crowned with great success.
The following Fossils have been selected for illustration :—
hy
is
9
6 ee Bi:
BTYLONURBRUS SY MONDSITI (Woods :
Berypterus Symondsti (Salter)
The fret notice-of this crustacean was given w Rev. W. & Symonds
a, President of the Malvern Natu: History Field Cinb, wi .
per on the Berypterus in the Old Red Sandstone of Horcfordeh the
British: Association for the advancement of Science, held at Dublin, A
185 ~ Symonds describes the fosall a» having been found in strata of grey
¢ above the cornstones on the sumenit ef Rowlestone Hill, ne
Bywyne Harold and Pontriles, in this county. He says: ‘It was discovered by
‘! ~ by _— - -
are Rowlost between
correlation of the beds, t
. had chtained p Lon
the Eurypterus.”” The specimen wae described by J, W. Salter,
.G.8., of the Geological Survey of Great Vritaim, fn the Quarterly Joureal ef
Moclagh al Society (vol. 15, No, i, p “The specimen,” says Me
* éf which we hare onty the exterior east of the heal perfectly reyoo
g the surface is ‘fopr vesed One eth of howwnd fey miccovous yy: ta
410th inches Tong by 2 6-10th iiches broad at the wide anterior put
dat bresath boing wh the anterior third 5 the hinder edge is anly two ictecs
Side. Tho front margin isarched, sompwhsd tronente in front, and gihtens a
@siden, Tho ridge is continnons all round with the somewhat elevated horiier
tho sides ia such /a* way that the carapace appears compiete withent the
ition Gf the anterior border, A deep ¥ shaped vertical furrow, forked
ard, wt on angle of Q0° divides the space betwoen the eyes and oeoupies
p middle third of the head, The apace between the branches is very conver.
eyes are otretimecribed by & anuken ppace ; they are placed mors than half
up the head und as wide apart as they are distar nt from the outer margin.
ained ; they bppear to have been large and rounded. Tho great
P Yhlia species di stinguishes it from any ? eviowsly described, excapt
So tgealy the head of = | is aight * ¢
iD ches ida,
ae. 2.8, of the British sesbadiho ne weil Sabie] by his aanadina en » eal
“Recent Crustacea, has defarmined that the. fossil. antler vomeilie hare
ings t the genus Siplon Vn" of the oriter Eurypieride, sad 24 coc © &
éd. in the Guarterly Journal of the Geologion! Soctety (Vol. 2h Ma. Ae
‘with several other species of Stylonurun. It ia sleo figured by & tie ®. & x.
jon ix his last oflition of Bileria. yp. 248,
‘The origiual speciawe t tow in the Masean é Sehewl ef Mines is
antl ip the emiy spevimon ef thin species as yo discovered, Meyueit
tow tugnatle whieh bore tage beon fownd in the eumo quarry,
—— - i one - — rece eanerertnndinnine ste wapahee-sembennanatndtendiislnies +
« Main, New Fill. Sournni, Grtsher 1857, vol. & Wo. >. 267
We le el ee
—— <
239
STYLONURUS SYMONDSII (Woodward).
Eurypterus Symondsiz (Salter).
The first notice of this crustacean was given by the Rev. W. S. Symonds,
F.G.S., President of the Malvern Natural History Field Club, who read a
paper on the Zurypterus in the Old Red Sandstone of Herefordshire,” at the
British Association for the advancement of Science, held at Dublin, August 28th,
1857. Mr. Symonds describes the fossil as having been found in strata of grey
building stone above the cornstones on the summit of Rowlestone Hill, near
Ewyas Harold and Pontrilas, in this county. He says: ‘‘It was discovered by
an intelligent labouring man in a quarry near the church at Rowlestone, between
Hereford and Abergavenny, where I examined the correlation of the beds, to
which I was conducted by the Rev. W. Wenman, who had obtained possession
of the Eurypterus.”* The specimen was described by J. W. Salter, Esq.,
F.G.8., of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, in the Quarterly Journal of
the Geological Society (vol. 15, No. 58, p. 230). ‘‘The specimen,” says Mr,
Salter,” of which we have only the exterior cast of the head perfectiy repre.
senting the surface is impressed ona slab of brownish-grey micaceous grit. It
is 2 4-10th inches long by 2 6-10th inches broad at the wide anterior part, the
greatest breadth being at the anterior third ; the hinder edge is only two inches
wide. The front margin is arched, somewhat truncate in front, and gibbous at
the sides. The ridge is continuous all round with the somewhat elevated border
of the sides in such a way that the carapace appears complete without tke
addition of the anterior border. A deep Y shaped vertical furrow, forked
upward, at an angle of 30° divides the space between the eyes and occupies
the middle third of the head, The space between the branches is very convex.
The eyes are circumscribed by a sunken space; they are placed more than half
way up the head and as wide apart as they are distant from the outer margin.
As they are abraded in this unique specimen, their shape and convexity are not
to be ascertained ; they appear to have been large and rounded. The great
size of this species distinguishes it from any previously described, except
Eurypterus Sconleri, the head of which is eight inches wide.”
Since the publication of Mr. Salter’s paper in 1857, Mr. Henry Woodward,
F.G.S8., F.Z.8., of the British Museum, so well known by his researches on Fossil
and Recent Crustacea, has determined that the fossil under consideration
belongs to the genus Stylonwrus, of the order Eurupteride, and as such it is
figured in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (Vol. 21, No. 84,
p. 483), with several other species of Stylonurus. It is also figured by Sir R. I.
Murchison in his last edition of Siluria, p. 246. ‘
The original specimen is now in the Museum of the School of Mines in
Jermyn-street, and is the only specimen of this species as yet discovered, beyond
some few fragments which have since been found in the same quarry.
* Edin. New Phil. Journal, October 1857, vol. 6, No. 2, p. 267.
240
CEPHALASPIS ASTEROLEPIS (Harley).
By J. W. Satter, Esa., F.G.S.
(See the Photograph placed as the Frontispiece to this Volume.)
An oblique view of a large specimen, seven inches broad, found on the
east side of Skerrid-vawr, by E. Y. Steele, Esq., of Abergavenny, and now in
the cabinet of J. E. Lee, Esq., of Caerleon, Monmouthshire.
The surface is mostly abraded, and the large tubercles of enamel only
seen in parts; but the peculiar form of head, a broad and blunt pointed gothic
arch is well preserved in this specimen—the largest known. The eyes are
small, placed more than half way from the vertex to the front, twice their own
shorter Giameter apart, « narrow depression between them, with a tubercle
behind it, and then a broad oblong flat space 1} inches long, by % of an inch
broad, appears to have been bounded by low ridges of enamel. Posterior to this
the vertex rises to a sharp high ridge, more elevated than in any other species,
but unfortunately imperfect. We do not know the cervical spine. The lateral
cornua (in Dr. M’Culiough’s cabinet) are 3 inches long, measuring from their
contracted base, and are both larger, and more cylindrical, and narrower,
than in the typical ©. Lyellii. The polygonal vascular areas which cover the
head are small in this species. On the under side, the incurved bony margin
is broad at the head angles, and as roughly tubercular as on the upper surface.
Round the front it becomes semi-cylindrical. The enamel tubercles appear to
have been one on each polygonal area. On the spines they are clear, compressed,
and all but shortly spinose.
The length is 6 inches, including the extreme cervical point, which is
lost in this magnificent specimen.
HOMALONOTUS JOHANNIS. (Salter, Pal. Tr. 1865.)
@ fine specimen from Wenlock Shale, Usk,
in the Cabinet of H. B. Holl, Keq., M.D.
247
eee
HOMALONOTUS JOHANNIS (altor},
(A. Ibeal wad rare species of Trilobite from Usk, Monwenthehire.)
By J. W. Sauren, Esa., F.C!
* AM finer specimen than any yet collewted of this fine species adorns the
© and well-arranged cabinet of Dr, Harvey B. Holl, of Worcester. This
ate'and painstaling geologist and naturalict, for he combi beth scence
ix fortunate enough, ‘thet ia, diligent enough, to a ood fi
f his hammer falls, And he permits me to figure. amd describe ;
By mon as 2 mpplement to my account of the species in the transactic
Sadia tho Palacontographical Society,
( omalonotie, os. its name imports, ie the least Trilobitio of alk the
obites, i.o., it Lng tho. mrface of the body. less divided into three lIebes
any other genus, werbeis forme of Tleconus es cepted. Unlike the Dudley
(Calymene) in erery point of mote ’ it b yet a
releted to it, that certain for " which bot?
pfound (Arenig or Skiddaw rocks of for the ot
when wa come to Upper Silurian timer me twe § ¥
Le more distinct. And. while Owly ei : of
- Bomalonotus in bulk y + Célymene fe smooth, Homaloncexe offen very
svulptared, Soma of the later species (Devonian) ary armed with large
# along their hacks, and all about their beads; and evon thoir tails bear
it beil-Uike spines. Cnaly, however, they aro not so ornamented or enowai-
2, and th roughly grantlar svface is thee general character. The vider conse
g xed Lower Sihuriz un) ate often. considerably trilobed, All the more
n ones (Upper Silurian and Dovenlan) are nearly free from trilobation.
%.& more or less elongate and very convex form, the depth of this
ptrasting strongly with oe flattened, ehallow forma of Opygia, Para-
t, Asuphue, and other large forma, with which Homalunciua may be com-
| size, though widely mentéin chayacter. ‘
ae omalonutus de: Iphinocay of Green, the common and handsome fossil of .
‘ ju the species with wh jak ons Wenloek shale shonld be oom-
ame 3 (see plate over lef.) The difterences ore a¢ follows: Both are nearty of a siza, » 4
grown apeclimena, measuring: ax, ea; seldom more, But while the Dadley
Bk hiss thee Gothic head and trisngular tail nearly equal in sise, the tall
pot H. Jphutnis, including the terminal spine, is rather longer. One
@ is more strongly trilobed, ‘ogpecially ia the head, the glabella or contral
m (stomach) being marked ont much more strongly s0 a trapexitum, aod
ir D citeait sides and well marked lobes, while that of the Dudley fost /
bore faintly indicated in all ‘these particulars, and hag the hinder portion
tx in proportion, and the lobes very faintly marked. The head teo ia ©
ly trinngular. The thorax {or body, for it includes not only the tras thoras,
of the abdomen in all trilobites) i is of 13 rings, but only 10 or Ll abow
rt
Arts SKeloprd NOS,
Fae % Vi yg te
, it : a y
‘
7p
HOMALONOTUS JOHANWIS. (Balter, Pal. Tr, 1865.)
@ far specimen from Wenigok Piale, Vad,
ten Mbit a’ 1. BR. Molt. Kee. MD.
241
HOMALONOTUS JOHANNIS (Salter).
(A local and rare species of Trilobite from Usk, Monmouthshire.)
By J. W. Sauter, Esq, F.G.S., &c.
A finer specimen than any yet collected of this fine species adorns the
choice and well-arranged cabinet of Dr. Harvey B. Holl, ef Worcester. This
accurate and painstaking geologist and naturalist, for he combines both sciences
well, is fortunate enough, that is, diligent enough, to secure good fossils
wherever his hammer falls. And he permits me to figure and describe this
specimen as a supplement to my account of the species in the transactions
of the Palacontographical Society.
Homalonotus, as its name imports, is the least Trilobitic of alk the
Trilobites, i.e., it has the surface of the body less-divided into three lobes
than any other genus, certain forms of Illenus excepted. Unlike the Dudley
locust (Calymene) in every point of mere habit and appearance, it is yet so
strongly related to it, that certain forms in the lowest rocks in which both
are found (Arenig or Skiddaw recks of Sedgwick) may pass one for the other.
Yet when we come to Upper Silurian times, or Devonian epochs, no two genera
can be more distinct. And while Calymene, beautiful as she is, is short of
stature, Homalonotus is bulky ; Calymene is smooth, Homalonotus often very
roughly sculptured. Some of the later species (Devonian) are armed with large
spines along their backs, and all about their heads; and even their tails bear
great boil-like spines. Usually, however, they are not so ornamented or encum-
bered, and a roughly granular surface is the general character. The older ones
(Arenig and Lower Silurian) are often considerably trilobed. All the more
modern ones (Upper Silurian and Devonian) are nearly free from trilobation.
All possess a more or less elongate and very convex form, the depth of this
genus contrasting strongly with the flattened, shallow forms of Ogygia, Para-
doxides, Asaphus, and other large forms, with which Homalonotus may be com-
pared in size, though widely different in character.
Homalonctus delphinocephalus, of Green, the common and handsome fossil of
the Dudley limestone is the species with which our Wenlock shale should be com-
pared (see plate over leaf.) The differences are as follows: Both are nearly of a size,
full-grown specimens, measuring six inches, seldom more. But while the Dudley
fossil has the Gothic head and triangular tail nearly equal in size, the tail
piece of H. Johannis, including the terminal spine, is rather longer. One
species is more strongly trilobed, especially in the head, the glabella or central
portion (stomach) being marked out much more strongly as a trapezium, and
having turned sides and well marked lobes, while that of the Dudley fossil
is more faintly indicated in all these particulars, and has the hinder portion
narrower in proportion, and the lobes very faintly marked. The head too is
truly triangular. The thorax (or body, for it includes not only the true thorax,
but part of the abdomen in all trilobites) is of 13 rings, but only 10 or 11 show
F2
242
distinctly in our specimen, some being pushed under thé head piece. The
trilobation is more marked on this part also than in its Dudley ally, and the
axis a central portion thus marked out is narrower than in H. delphinocephalus.
The tail, however, shows the distinction more strongly, the short trigonal tail
iece of the Dudley fossil being here replaced by a long triangular organ, pro-
luced into a stout thick mucro more than one third the whole length of the
tail, It is sharp, but the tip is not recurved. There are about nine furrows on
the central axis of the tail, and seven on the sides, and these join on to the
furrows on the axis, while they do not do so in the Dudley fossil.
There is a species in the Woolhope limestone which should be diligently
sought for by the Club, H. cylindricus. Salter (Trans., Pal. Soc. vol. xvii.
pl. xi., fig. 12, and woodcuts), which in some respects is more like our A,
Johannis than the Dudley fossil. But this has a narrower and more cylindrical
tail, with a much stronger and longer point; and the back of the creature is
flat, with the sides turned sharply down. Its head is more like that of Z.
delphinocephalus. I wish we could get perfect or numerous examples.
Enough has been said to show that while the species of this genus differ
from each other sufficiently, they yet are like enough to be readily mistaken
for each other. What natural objects are there which may not be thus con-
fused by the careless observer? It would puzzle any body but a close scrutiniser
to recognise, under their varieties of colour, the true characters of humble bees,
or wasps, or ants; but the practised entomologist knows them well. The
business of natural history observation is to detect these differences under the
mask of general similarity, which covers the species of all large genera,
Whether the species were derived from each other by long selection, according
to the true and earnest philosopher, Darwin, or whether created separately,
as some would have it (and there is about equal probability for both views,
since some forms must have been original), the acumen of the naturalist is best
brought out, not by confusing himself with theoretical views, however probable,
but by close observation of the real differences which exist even between nearly
related species.
H, Johannis was named in compliment to John Edward Lee, Esq., of
Caerleon, a true man of science and a true friend,
LB AD, delptinocophatun, 3,4 I. cytinitrions
for compotion with H. JORAN NES. (Beiltor
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vilea of colour, the true characters of humble bees,
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1, 2, H. delphinocephalus, 3,4 H. cylindricus
for comparison with H. JOHANNIS. (Salter)
;
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243
POLYPORUS ANNOSUS. FR.
Several specimens of a fungus were then exhibited which had been found
growing on the shoring timber of an unused gallery in the ‘‘Park Slant” coal
mine, Tondu Iron Works, near Bridgend. They were kindly sent by Wm,
Adams, Esq., President of the Cardiff Naturalists Society.
Mr, Adams was desirous of knowing whether they were the fruit
of the Rhizomorpha subterranca, as the matted mass of fibres and fila-
ments has been called, which in the coal mines of Germany often shows a
beautiful phosphoresence and lightens up with indeseribeable splendour the
vaulted arches and passages of the mines, Mr. Adams instituted inquiries
amongst the miners as to whether this phosphorescent mycelium had ever been
seen in the Welsh colleries, and he obtained distinct evidence that the ap-
pearance of the phosphorescent light was well known to the working colliers.
In consequence of these inquiries the funguses now exhibited were brought to
him, but there was no evidence of any phosphorescent light about them. They
have been carefully examined by Worthington G. Smith, Esq., F.L.8., and
pronounced to be specimens of Polyporus annosus Fr., a fungus of very variable
appearance, and which usually grows on old larch stumps. Berkeley thus
describe it ‘‘pileus woody, convex, then flattened, rough with tubercles. In
the first season brown and silky ; in the second and when old covered with a
rigid, smooth, black crust; substance white; margin obtuse, whiteish as well
as the middle-sized obtuse pores. Extremely variable, common in some districts,”
There is no record of the mycelium ever having been observed to be
phosphorescent, and therefore Mr. Adams’ question cannot positively be
answered. However, from the inquiries he has instituted, he will, doubtless,
be told when the phosphorescent light is again observed in the coal mines,
Then by a careful examination of its source, and by observing whether it
. produces any distinct fungus much more light may be thrown upen it,
FAIRY RINGS.
Dr. BuLL said he would take that opportunity of reminding the members
of the club that at the last meeting of the ensuing year—the one appointed for a
“* Foray amongst the Funguses”—a discussion would take place on the causation of
“Fairy Rings.” It was a subject of considerable difficulty, and there could be
no hope of any satisfactory result being arrived at unless they would take the
trouble to make careful observations through the year. They were aware that
the most commonly accepted theory of their formation was what was called
the ‘centrifugal theory,” that is, that they sprung from a single fungus, and
that the mycelium or underground plant would not grow two years on the samo
ground, and could only grow therefore on the outer margin of the exhausted
soil, and so the ring grew larger from year to year. Mr. Lees, on the contrary,
in the excellent paper read at their last meeting, maintained that the rings
eften appeared of large size at once, that the mycelium would grow wherever
244
it found a favourable state of the soil and the requisite materials of growth,
and that both these conditions were provided by the moles, which usually made
their spring wanderings in runs of a more or less circular form, This may be
termed the ‘‘mole theory” of their formation. He was not going to discuss
these theories or any other, for there were several, but he mentioned them
because he wished to suggest a few experiments of a very simple nature to
such of the members as lived in the country, and had leisure to carry them out.
Directly they observe the rings of the common ‘Fairy ring fungus”
(Marasmius Oreades) springing up, first let them cut asquare foot of turf and
soil out a few yards from the ring, loosen the soil, and add if they please a very
little rotten manure, then cut a piece of the same size, including a portion of
the ring, and remove it as carefully as possible to the prepared hole ; in short,
making an exchange.
2ndly. When the ring is large—a ring of the horse mushrocm (Agaricus
arvensis) is particularly favourable for this experiment—let them cut a straight
trench at right angles to the ring, say a yard long within the circle up to the
ring, and a yard long without from it, raise the turf and loosen the soil toa
depth of 8 or 10 inches, add a little manure all along it, and then restore the
turf. By this experiment the ring need not be disturbed, nor the mycelium
injured.
Srdly. A carefully cut, and still more carefully carried, portion of a ring
might be inserted into the middle of a mushroom bed purposely made, or of a
used-up cucumber bed, where the soil was loose, and the material of growth
abundant in all directions.
Other modes of varying these experiments would suggest themselves to
any one who thinks over the subject. They would require great nicety in
carrying out, so as to be deep enough to get the mycelium, and to move it with
as little injury as possible. No doubt many of these experiments would fail,
and be therefore simply negative, but if any one of them succeeded, it could .
not fail to be of great interest. He did not believe common observation of the
rings themselves would give the solution, or it would bave been discovered ere
this.
The President supported Dr. Bull in urging the members to interest
themselves in this subject, and to make the experiments; but he thought,
however, that a good deal might still be learnt by careful observation of the
growth of the rings from year to year, marking the size of the rings accurately
by fixing pegs into the ground and leaving them for the following year. He
was quite sure, if they would take the trouble to make the experiments and
observations suggested, that they would become interested in it, and could not
fail to gain some useful information.
Dr. Butt said: Gentlemen -fond of gathering mushrooms in their own
fields might like to know that a dressing of common salt on the grass in
spring was the best manure to encourage their growth, and it was also equally
good for the pasture itself.
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NEW AND RARE HEREFORDSHIRE AND BRITISH
HYMENOMYCETOUS FUNGI.
By WorrsHineton G, Situ, Esq., F.L.S.
During the abnormal summer and autumn of last year (1868) a large
number of new British species of Hymenomycetous Fungi appeared in various
parts of the country: of these few or none were second in interest to those
gathered by different members of the Woolhope Club—Dr. Bull, Dr. M’Cul-
lough, the Rev. W. Houghton, M.A., Edwin Lees, Esq., F.L.S., and J.
Griffith Morris, Esq., being especially fortunate. Of these species several remain
at present un-named, but I select for description and illustration, first,
LACTARIUS CONTROVERSUS, PERS.
This noble addition to our cryptogrammic flora was found by Dr. M’Cul-
lough at and near Abergavenny, and by the Rev. E. Du Buisson, at Breinton,
and taken by Dr. Bull to the Exhibition of Fungi at the Royal Horticultural
Society last October. The specimens sent from Abergavenny grew under poplars
about a mile and a half from Abergavenny, and it also grew in great luxu-
riance (again under poplars) at Abergavenny, forming a semicircle of some
twenty feet in diameter. The specimens were crowded together in great
numbers, and several attained a diameter of more than a foot—the specimen
selected for illustration was one of the smallest, in order to get it into the plate.
In general appearance it considerably resembles other Lactarii as D. vellereus
Fr., L. insulsus Fr., &c., but it differs from all in many specific characters; it
is highly acrid, and feels and looks soapy.
Lactarius ConTROvVERSUS, Pers,—Stem stout, swollen, one or two inches
long, sometimes eccentric, pruinose at the top, never marked with pits or
depressions: gills decurrent, with an obscure tooth: pileus, fleshy, compact,
rigid, convex, then depressed and subinfundibuliform: at first dry, but after
rain viscid in all its parts: margin at first involute and villous, stem and
pileus more or less covered with blood-red spots and smears: flesh very firm,
like ZL. piperatus Fr.: milk very acrid, white, plentiful: odour faint, but
pleasant : taste exceedingly acrid.
246
AGARIOUS (ENTOLOMA) JUBATUS, Fr.
This species was also shown at Kensington last autumn by Dr, Bull. He
found it growing in great abundance on Merry-hill Common, and in and near
Haywood Forest, near Hereford ; it grew in dense clusters, some of them taking
a circular form, Young specimens are acutely campanulate, and full grown
plants attain a height of five or more inches and a diameter of three or four. A
small specimen is however selected for illustration to meet the restricted size of
the plate. The taste, like that of many other pink-spored species, is watery
and very disagreeable. I am not aware that this species has been before pub-
lished as British, but I understand it was found by the Rey..M. J, Berkeley
a year or two ago, at Ascot; and Mr. Currey informs me he found specimens
on» October 13, 1868, in a meadow adjoining a house called Twisden, between
Gondhurst and Kilndown, in Sussex, Mr, Currey was kind enough to forward
me specimens, which precisely correspond with the Hereford plants.
AGARIcus (ENToLoMA) JuBATUS, F.—Stem fleshy, glossy, striate, and
shining, white at the base, stuffed or hollow, clothed with minute sooty fibres.
Pileus fleshy, campanulate, at first acutely, then obscurely umbonate, clothed
with fibres, glossy, not hygrophanous, gills slightly adnexed, inclined to he
ventricose.
HYGROPHORUS CALYPTRAFORMIS, B. AND BR.
This distinct and beautiful species occurred in abundance in Holm Lacy
Park last autumn ; where attention was first drawn to it and the first specimens
gathered by J. Griffith Morris, Esq.* It grew amongst furze and in open places
bordering the plantations, As it has not been figured before, our plate may
perhaps lead to its detection elsewhere by other members of the Woolhope
Club. It was first found many years ago by Mr. Broome, the eminent mycologist,
on Hanham Common, near Bristol, but the habitat is now destroyed, and ‘the
plant has disappeared from the district. It is thus described in Berkeley’s
Outlines of British Fungology, p. 202 :—
HYGROPHORUS CALYPTREFORMIS, B. AND BR.: Pileus thin, acutely conical,
lobed below, minutely innato-fibrillose ; stem white, smooth, slightly striate,
hollow ; gills rose-coloured, at length pallid, very narrow, acutely attenuated
behind.
One or two Fungi found by the Rev. W, Houghton, and not before
referred, deserve a word here, First, Agaricus (Flammula) sapineus, Fr.—a
very rare British plant not in Berkeley’s Outlines, and Agaricus (Clitocybe)
fumosus P. var polius Fr., in great abundance and luxuriance in the woods
round the Wrekin; always on charcoal heaps. These large agarics were black
with charcoal dust, which caused Mr. Houghton to refer to them as ‘‘the
dirty dogs.” A splendid and rare variety of Polyporus perennis, L. Tinted .
with rich sienna, chocolate, and black, in great abundance, was also found on the
charcoal heaps.
* Thanks are especially due to Mr. Morris for driving Mr. Lees and myself over to
Haywood Forest on the following day (Saturday), the 10th October, 1868. Had it not been
for his kindness, Strobilomyces Strobilaceus, B., one of the rarest of British fungi, would
not have been added to the Herefordshire list,
mp.
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Vieuees Moore, Dy $500;
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255
A REPORT OF THE REMARKABLE TREES OF
WHITFIELD.
BY A COMMISSIONER FROM THE WOOLHOPE CLUB.
(N.B.—The circumference of the trees is always taken at 5 ft. from the ground when not
otherwise specifiel; and the figures given always refer to feet and inches.]
In the manuscript Diary of Sir Richard Symonds, in the British Museum,
printed by the Camden Society, the following passage occurs :—
“*1645, May 12th. This night the King lay at Cofton Hall—(query,
Corfton Hall, near Ludlow). These Colonels and Governors with the King :
Colonel Scudamore, Governor of Hereford, &c., &c., &c. Here in Hereford, a
quarter of mutton, 14d.; Rye, 12d. a bushel. Ryeis the best Grayne growen
generally in the county, and Oates and Pease. Little Timber in the Shire.”
There is no reason to doubt the truthfulness of this last observation.
~ The Court of Charles I. would gladly have seen an abundance of timber, for in
those days—much more than in our own—timber meant money, and subsidies,
and all other things that money can produce; and if we inguire a little into the
causes of its scarcity then, we shall quickly see that the Court, at any rate,
fully appreciated its value.
Timber was at that time the only available fuel, it was largely employed
for buildings, fences, and in every other possible way. Still, when the popula-
tion was so small, this home use, extensive as it might be, could not in itself
have produced any deficiency.
A second cause, and one much more powerful, was the use of wood as
fuel in the smelting of iron ore, as had been customary from time immemorial.
The Forest of Dean bas always been noted for its ironworks. The Romans
had furnaces there, and an examination of the cinder heaps they left, proves
that their iron was all smelted with charcoal, The Forest at one time extended
into Herefordshire, and in 1314 the writs for raising soldiers in the Forest of
Dean were sent also to the Sheriff of Herefordshire. These furnaces must,
therefore, have been partly supplied from this county. The difficulty of trans-
porting timber of any size was then very great, as, indeed is to some extent,
proved by its lavish use in the buildings and houses of the period, and there-
fore, in addition to these furnaces, forges were established at intervals through-
-out the wooded districts of the country. The iron ore was brought to the
fuel to be smelted. Many instances occur where the names indicating
the locality of these Forges are still retained, as Old Forge, Goodrich ; Kilforge,
256
Bolston ; Strangworth Forge, Pembridge ; Llangua Forge, &e. ; but many of the
localities are now known only by some local name, as the ‘‘Forge barn,” at
the junction of the rivers Monnow and Dore, near Pontrilas; the ‘‘ Forge farm”
at Peterchurch, near the rectory ; the ‘Furnace farm,” Treago, St. Weonards,
and in a field at Llandinabo is a place called ‘the Furnaces.” Doubtless there
are many others known only by near residents, but about them all there is
evident proof of their having existed, in the abundance of slag and scoriz left
from the furnaces. The refuse heaps from the furnaces at Llangua—which were
probably kept up +0 a late period—were so enormous, that they supplied
sufficient ballast for nearly three miles of the Newport and Abergavenny
Railway. These furnaces must have consumed great quantities of wood from
the adjoining districts of the country. (See Appendix I.)
The iron manufacture in England received a great impulse from the dis-
coveries made in the course of the 17th century, and began to be much more
extensively carried on.
In 1640 the King, Charles I., sold the Forest of Dean to Sir John Winter
—the great iron-master of the time—for £10,000 down; £16,000 a year for six
years ; and £1,950 12s. 6d. a year for ever afterwards. Sir John, after he had
satisfied his own needs, attempted to preserve what was left of the Forest, but
the miners resisted, threw down his inclosures, and went on destroying the
timber as usual, by using it in their trade. Sir John Winter states that above
40,000 trees in the Forest were cut down during the Commonwealth by order of
the House of Commons.
In 1656 a Bill was passed suppressing iron works in order to preserve
the timber, In the same year, much more happily, Sir John Winter invented
a plan of ‘‘ charring” coal by burning it in earthen pots, and thus converting it
into coke,* This discovery led the way to the use of coal instead of wood in
the manufacture of iron, and thus eventually saved the trees. The Act itself
could have had but little effect, nor did the coke come rapidly into favour,
for Andrew Yarrington, writing 10 years later (1677) speaks of the sale of
timber for the iron works by the country gentlemen, as an established practice.
“At the iron works,” he says, ‘‘the gentlemen and others have money for
their wood at all times when they want it, whieh is to them a great benefit and
advantage.”
There was yet another and, for a time, a still more powerful cause for
the general destruction of timber, and this was the great civil war which began
in 1642, Throughout England trees were felled extensively during its course,
* Evelyn says in his Diary :— :
“July 11th, 1656. Came home by Greenwich Ferry, where I saw Sir John
Winter’s new project of charring sea-coale, to burne out the sulphure and render it
sweete. He did it by burning the coals in such earthen pots as the glasse-men mealt
their mettal, so firing them without consuming them, using a barr of yron in each
erucible or pot, which barr has a hook at one end, that so the coales being mealted in a
furnace with other crude sea-coals under them, may be drawn out of the potts sticking
to the yron, whence they are beaten off in greate halfe-exhausted cinders, which being
rekindled make a cleare pleasant chamber fire, deprived of their sulphure and arsenic
malignity. What successe it may have, time will discover.”
a
257
to find money and guns for the combatants, and to pay the heavy contributions
imposed successively by the King and by the Parliament. Contemporary tes_
timony asserts that between the cutting of timber by the landowners to raise
money for the King’s cause, and the repetition of the same destructive process
by the sequestrators appointed by Parliament, anxious to realise the amount of
the fines imposed on the Royalist delinquents, it came to pass that most parts
ef the country were very bare of timber trees at the time of the restoration.
We have shown that on a visit into Herefordshire 20. years before this time, the
sharp eyes of the Royalists could see even then but “Little Timber in the
Shire.”
The district of the county in which the estate of Whitfield is situated,
and, indeed, the estate itself, was at that time for the most part a mere wilder-
ness of brushwood and scrub, fit only for fuel, and which formed hunting
grounds for the gentry of the district. A considerable portion of the Whit-
field estate was formerly the forest of Trevil, extending as far as Trevil brook,
as the small rill is called which rises in the Whitfield lawn, supplies the pool,
and joins the Worm brook at St. Devereux; and this tract formerly belonged,
by a grant of King John, to the Abbey of Dore. It remained in its forest
condition, and supplied its contributions liberally to the furnaces of the district.
Doubtless, in their day, it supplied venison to the monks at Dore, but at the
time to which it is now more particularly referred, the falcons from More-
hampton may have coursed their quarry here, or it may have supplied the stag
for a royal hunt. The adjoining estate of Morehampton, three miles away west-
ward as the crow flies, was then in its glory. It is now gone, divided and sold.
The mansion itself was a timber structure. The last portion of it was destroyed
about twenty years in order to build the present farmhouse on its site. The
moat surrounding the old garden alone remains to show its former importance.
Here, in the early part of the 17th century, Sergeant Hoskyns entertained King
James I. The autograph letter of Mr. Sergeant Hoskyns to his housekeeper,
with reference to the preparations for the royal visit, is still extant. It was
contained in the collection of the late Rev. C. J. Bird, of Mordiford, and has
passed into the possession of W. H. Cooke, Esq., Q.C. It is so little known»
and is so singularly interesting, that it is quoted here at full length. It gives
incidentally an admirable insight into the state of the country at that time, and
the difficulty of travelling :—
Letter from Mr. Sergeant Hoskyns (1), in London, to Mrs. Bourne (2), at Morehampton.
“ Dec. 10, 1627.
*«Pray God to bless us and yourselves. 1 think the matter will be so far settled to-
morrow that we shall need no other help than God’s blessing, which is drawn down by the
prayers of those that fear Him.
“‘Proyide all things as well as you can: if it please God, we will be at Ross on
Friday night. Thither must be brought some good coach with four horses, for I know not
how we shall proceed further. Weare in hope of my Lady Cornwall’s (4) coach for part
of the way. I had brought one down from London had not a foolish report caused a
doubtful letter to be written to me, but now I will cut off all possabilitye of rumcurs, and
therefore I must make sudden provision. Sir Samuel Aubrey (5), Mrs. Candish, Sir Giles
Brydges (6), and every friend must be tried. My sister Kempe (3) hath a good coach, so
hath my Lady Bodenham (7), but who hath horses? If any one knows of any noble gen-
tleman that now would furnish me, I would truly requite him, and in such a case never
H2
258
troble friend more, if it please God: and be ever hereafter able to do the like for another.
We have somewhat to do, and I cannot write much. Commend me to Mr. Howarth (8),
tell him if he can help us it shall be a worthy friendship. There must be horses sent to
Oxford, to be there on St. Thomas’ eve to bring down William and Bennet Hoskyns (2).
They mean to keep Crismas with us. There must be a hogshead of sacke from Monmout
or Hereford to walke with our coach. Take care for the coach horses to be had at this time,
and go presently about it day and night: the rest we have more time todo. Study the
coach way; where to break hedges, and how to avoid deep and dangerous ways. So God
speede you.
J. Hosxyns.
“ Mistake me not—no man resisteth me. We want nothing but coach and horses.
To Mrs. Bourne (3),
at Morehampton (9), in the Golden Vale.”
(See Appendix II., to which the figures apply.)
Bad as the roads may have been in this district, scarce as was the timber
two centuries ago, it is the very reverse in these days—Moorhampton has fallen
and Whitfield has arisen within this time ; and on the hills and vales that now
form the fine estate of Whitfield, the timber is sufficiently abundant and good
as to attract thither a Commissioner from the: Woolhope Club, and easy and
pleasant be it added he found “the ways” of getting there. It is not that there
are there as yet any very remarkable trees, though there are some, but that the
estate itself has been so well attended to, the ground so well drained, the trees
so well cared for, that it has taken upon itself a new character, and only
requires time still further to develope itself. A careful survey now cannot
fail to be interesting in years to come.
There are three entrances to Whitfield. The south entrance from the
Abergavenny and Hereford turnpike road leads to the mansion by a drive a mile
and a half in extent. It completely threads the valley and presents scenery
well diversified. Beginning with an avenue of mixed trees it becomes more and
more parklike as it proceeds until passing the keeper’s house it reaches the
richly wooded expansion of the vale in which the house stands. This lodge
was built in the year 1850, and the trees, which consist of oak and beech trees,
many of the latter having been replaced by oak, were planted about 40 years
since. A tape thrown around a dozen of the finest gave these dimensions :—
Oak, 4.4; 4.3; 46; 4.2; 5.3; 5.1; and Beech 4.10; 4.6; 4.9; 44; 4.2; 4.8,
The second lodge or keeper’s house, was built about 1830, This approach is by
far the best. It was the original, and indeed the only entrance until 1821.
It has since been supplanted by another, but now by the formation of the
railway it has again become the chief entrance, and it deserves to be so. It is
already very good, but will become still finer as years pass on and as the
opportunities for improvement which its great length affords are taken advan-
tage of.
The second or Thruxton entrance affords the most direct approach from
Hereford, and since 1821 the bye-roads have become so good (better by far at
this time—1869—than the high roads), that it has virtually been the chief
approach to Whitfield for many years. The drive is pretty throughout, and
from Thruxton takes the character of an approach to a good estate, The view
from the first lodge (built 1850) is park-like and pretty, and gives some idea of
— re
259
_ spaciousness in the arrangement of the hanging woods and the slopes of the
hills. From the second lodge (built about 1836) the house and pleasure grounds
are approached by a gentle descent, with an open view to the right, though it
is contracted by too many scattered trees on the left-hand side (planted in 1821).
The third entrance, the North, or Kingstone Entrance, has only become
worthy of the name within the last 22 years, when it was laid out by Mr.
Archer Clive in 1848, and the avenue of Scotch firs planted. The trees are
growing well, and the entrance is now becoming handsome—albeit a wood that
skirts it on the approach to the house, gives it a contracted effect. These firs
may be said, therefore, to be 27 years old. The tape thrown round a dozen
of the boles gave these results :—2ft. 10in.; 3ft. ; 3ft. 10in.; 3ft. 2in. ; 3ft. ;
2ft. Qin. ; 2ft. Llin. ; 2ft. 10in. ; 2ft. Lin. ; 2ft. 10in. ; 3ft. 3in.; and 3ft. lin.,
at five feet from the ground. The lodge was built in 1857.
There are those who say that the mansion of Whitfield is not in the right
place, that it should be situated on the higher ground above the garden, where
the views commanded are so much more beautiful and extensive. This opinion
may be regarded simply as a compliment to the fine growth of the timber
trees there. Without this protection, and with it indeed to a great extent, a
house in that situation would be exposed to all the violence of the western gales,
which sweep round the Black Mountains with great force, and borrow a peculiar
chilliness from the snow whenever it lies there. The house in reality is very
well placed. It is on the slope of the hill below ; it has a southern aspect, and
the ground falls from it on three sides. Though relatively low, it has indeed
a very considerable elevation, This has been taken very accurately by E. J.
Isbell, Esq., with the instruments of the Club, specially for this paper. The
terrace in front of the house is 245 feet above the level of Hereford, and since
this is 184 feet above the level of the sea, it follows that the mansion stands on
ground 429 feet above sea level, a height that justifies amply enough the
protection sought from the adjoining hills,
: The home view of the valley the mansion commands is peculiarly rich,
and no one can study it without seeing that considerable thought has been
given, and great taste displayed to make the most of it. Kent may have been
consulted, for the house a century ago stood ina plain lawn. Here certainly
are the ‘‘clumps” of ‘‘ Capability Brown” and his hanging woods, and both are
here seen to an advantage they do not always present. It was possibly Brown
who marked out ‘‘the wood walk,” which though nearly two miles in length
was made so as to wind round the valley as never to lose sight of the house, a
peculiarity it has happily long since lost from the better taste of the late Mrs.
E. B. Clive who planted out this walk, and by planting up to Brown’s Clumps,
did much to retain the best features of both, whilst their formality was de-
stroyed. Mrs. Clive was a good amateur artist, and the ornamental trees
about the house and lawn were planted chiefly by her.
Sir Uvedale Price, of Foxley, at a later period visited much at Whit-
field and aided in its improvement. Sir Uvedale’s pleasure in life was land-
260
scape gardening, and his excellent natural taste was refined to the utmost
by his intimacy with Mr, Richard Payne Knight, of Downton, and by the study
necessary for the attacks they both so spiritedly made on the glaring faults of
Kent, of Brown,* and of Repton.
The great feature of the Whitfield estate is the abundance of the oak
timber it produces. Oak woods hang on every hill; oak trees abound in every
vale ; they are thickly scattered throughout the lawns; they even invade the
pleasure grounds; and as a matter of course give their character to every
landscape. Now, on oak scenery, all authorities unite in praise to the uttermost.
“Tt is a happiness,” says Gilpin, ‘‘to the lovers of the picturesque that this
noble plant is as useful as it is beautiful. It is confessedly the most pictu-
resque tree in itself, and the most accommodating in composition. It refuses
no subject either in natural or artificial landscape;” and Strutt says, ‘‘ Foremost
in dignity and grandeur, the oak stands preeminent, and, like the lion ameng
beasts, is the undoubted lord of the forest. Beauty united with strength
characterises all its parts, The leaves elegant in their outline, are strongly
ribbed, and firmly attached to the spray, which, although thin and excursive, is
yet bold and determined in its angles, whilst the abrupt and tortuous irregu-
larity of its massive branches admirably contrasts with the general richness
and density of its clustered foliage ;” and so on, authority after authority
might be quoted. But all these descriptions refer to the oak when advanced in
age, when size brings out the contortions of its moss-covered branches, and a
massive trunk gives a grandeur, indicative of boldness and strength. These
splendid word paintings of the supreme picturesqueness of oak scenery, it must
* Lancelot Brown was a man of the highest reputation as a landscape
gardener in the middle and latter end of the 18th century. He had great
taste, and though now thought formal himself, was the first to set aside the
stiff formality of earlier times. From his frequent use of the phrase “This
spot has great capabilities,” he got the name of ‘‘ Capability Brown.” It became
the fashion to employ him everywhere, and his dictate became law.
The poet Cowper introduces his name ironically in a well-known passage—
“To ! he comes!
Th’ omnipotent magician Brown appears !
Down falls the venerable pile, the abode
Of our forefathers, a grave whiskered race
But tasteless.”—Task III.
But it was Brown’s fate also to go out of fashion, or rather let us say,
to yield to a better and still less formal taste.
Sir Uvedale Price never lost an opportunity of attacking him. One
amusing instance of his sarcasms may be given. A rumour got abroad that
George III. had given Brown leave to crop the oaks in Windsor Park, on which
Sir Uvedale wrote the following caustic lines :—
“* England thy sons their lessoned freedom mourn,
Windsor thy parks and forests are all shorn,
What various evils from his petty tricks,
Whose taste was formed by Brown, by Bute his politics,”
261
be frankly confessed, do not as yet apply to Whitfield. Some of the knolls,
scattered with oak trees, are certainly very beautiful and picturesque. The
grove above the pleasure grounds, for instance, presents an admirable example
of the superiority of clustered trees over formal clumps. Some one—Sir Uvedale
Price probably—has said that trees should be planted as you see a herd of deer
arrange themselves on rising ground, picturesquely clustered together, with
scattered members here and there, and many examples of this form of planting
are to be seen at Whitfield.
The trees generally, as has been said, are more remarkable for their
number than for their size. They present the well rounded outline of full-
grown trees, but are as yet only just beginning to develope their true picturesque
features. Indeed, studying them asthetically, they are far too numerous. The
estate has the happy failing of being overgrown with oaks; for fine and bold
and noble as the sturdy oak is in form and outline, it is by reason of these
virtues formal and stiff when in vigorous growth. Doubtless, at this age of
growth it owes much of the great appreciation it obtains to the knowledge of
the value it denotes, and justly so. Still, when it is repeated again and again,
when its monotonous outline meets a critical eye at every turn, the very fact of
its value becomes almost an objection toit. To use an expressive Americanism,
“the almighty dollar” comes oppressively uppermost. This is not as it should
be. In the very heart and centre of a noble estate, value should ever be
subordinate to beauty and variety of effect, both in colour and outline. In his
last visit your Commissioner had the satisfaction to observe that several hundred
trees of goodly size were marked for felling. The improvement will be very
great, and the operation may still be continued with proportionate advantage
The largest oak is at the entrance of the pleasure grounds from the lawn,
and a very fine tree it is, though battered by storms and damaged at heart. It
is of the sessiliflora variety, and has a girth of 16ft. Sin. The diametric
spread of its branches is 25 yards-in extent N. and S., and 24 yards E. and W.
Tt lost a very large bough from a storm in the spring of 1868. An ivy tree of
" considerable size climbs the bole, and adds to its picturesque effect.
About the Wormbridge property are also some fine old oak and other
trees, denoting a gentleman’s residence. (ne oak tree, in Wormside meadow,
measures 14ft. Sin. ; another, in Druid’s meadow, 15ft. 2in. ; and two others
13ft. Gin. and 12ft. 3in. respectively, all fine growing trees; a pollard oak
behind the church H4ft. Gin. ; another in the garden meadow of Wormbridge
farm house 16ft. lin. at 5ft. from the ground, with several other good trees
scattered about, and most of them in a healthy, growing state.
In the field opposite the church at Wormbridge, which was formerly the
garden of the house, are two young oaks and two Wellingtonias, which were
planted on the day of the Prince of Wales’s marriage (March 10th, 1863) and
which are growing well.
A pedunculate oak at the entrance of the fruit garden measures 12ft. Sin.
in girth, A very fine picturesque tree, ‘the weeping oak ” in the Bason
262
meéadow measures lift. 3in., and several others of about the same size are to
be found in the walk through the grove or rookery. This grove; by the way,
occupies the north side of a steep hill, and affords ample proof that such a
position is the best for the growth of oak timber. The boles of all the varieties
here, whether pedunculata, sesilliflora, or intermedia, shoot up in the race of
rivalry for air and sunshine from 30 to 40 or 50 feet in height, without any
appreciable difference between them. There are various causes to which this
may be attributed. The sensitiveness of the oak and some other trees to the
south-west wind is shown by the leaning of the exposed branches from the south-
west to north-east, and by nothing more strikingly than by the healthy and
uninterrupted growth of this class of timber on slopes whose Northern aspect
would render them most unfavourable for crops of annual growth, or even the
more delicate class of shrubs. The N.E. wind, though equally tyrannical in its
season, has no such chafing and distorting effect upon our forest kings, and it
has the less power of mischief from its rarely finding the trees in foliage.
The soil on Northern slopes also retains its moisture unaffected by summer
drought, a condition of almost unequalled importance for the growth of timber,
The annular deposits of fresh growth of wood will be found to indicate with
exact fidelity the character of each successive summer, forming a sort of
hygrometric calendar of past years, marked by an annalist that never errs, the
hand of Nature.
There is a sketch of the mansion at Whitfield made in the year 1800 by
Mr. James Wathen, a well-known Hereford character. It represents the House
standing on a plain lawn, and gives very accurately the grass slopes on the
North and East sides of it. The sketch is too inartistic to lead one for an
instant to doubt its exactitude, and it affords proof, therefore, that all the
trees now there have been since planted. Allowing for their nursery life, they
may be said to date with the century, and their measurements will therefore
show a growth of 69 years.
The finest tree here is the Cedar of Lebanon, opposite the door, It is
a very handsome luxuriant tree, still growing fast. It measures, before giving
off any branches, at 2ft. 6in. from the ground, 12ft. 8in. in circumference, and
at 3ft., 10ft. 5in. It is well represented in the opposite photograph. Another
cedar lower down, near the croquet ground, measures only 8ft. 4in. in girth.
The trees, however, which give, and will continue more and more, to give
character to the North side of the gardens at Whitfield, are a group of four
Silver or Mount Atlas Cedars (Cedras argentea), or as they are sometimes called
African, or again, Atlantic Cedars. Their tall, straight stem, their horizontal
branches, and their fine grey or silvery foliage are already beginning to be very
effective. The trees on the lower North side measure 7ft. 10in. and 7.6 in
girth, and those on the higher ground nearest the drive measure 6.1 and 5.6
respectively. They are nearly 60 feet high, and are still growing freely. They
have not yet began to show any signs of throwing out those horizontal branches
263
at the top, which make the table shaped head, which is the characteristic of
old trees of their kind. The lower foliage of these trees has been injured by
others, now happily cut away.
Keeping still to the North side of the house, which we know to have been
. bare of trees at the beginning of the century, the tape thrown round a very»
fine growing Sessiliflora oak, named ‘‘ Bolton’s Oak,” with a straight clear bole,
gave the girth of 8.3, This tree is growing luxuriantly. It is now 73 feet high,
with a diametric spread of branches of 57 feet. Another well grown Sessiliflora
oak, farther from the house, measures 6.3 in girth, and a sweet Chestnut, with
boughs dropping to the ground, next it, measured 10ft. 9in., and two others
8.9 and 9.3 respectively. Still measuring, because they are there, on the North
side of the Croquet ground, a Turkey Oak, ivy grown, and with loose straggling
boughs, gave 7.10, anda birch 5.8; and two Hemlock Spruces prettily looked
down upon from the drive, 5.5 and 3 feet. Crossing the drive to the house
we have a Cedar of Lebanon planted in 1821, which gives a girth of 10.5, as the
result of rather more than half a century growth, and another ivy covered near
it measures 6.9. Near these cedars are three Scotch Firs, which are very
ornamental trees, though of no very great size. They measure 9ft., 7.5, and
6.4 in girth respectively. They present clear straight boles from 30 to 50 feet
high, whose characteristic red colour is admirably contrasted with the dull
deep green foliage of some evergreen oaks (Quercus ilex) near them and the
brighter tints of the beech tree (9.3), laurels and hollies in the back ground.
One of these evergreen oaks with its dense robes of ivy, clusters very pictu-
resquely. It measures 12.1 in girth. Three others standing forward in the
open ground—meesuring 5.3; 5.4; and 5.9 respectively—would doubtless be
called generally well grown trees of good shape. Your Commissioner thinks
them stiff and formal, but then he has no great admiration for this oak, since
evergreen though it be, it wears in winter so dull, and sombre, and melancholy
an aspect that its foliage might as well be absent for anything it adds to the
cheerfulness of the scene when other leaves are away; indeed he values it
chiefly for its great usefulness as a -perennial screen, and for the deep neutral
back ground tint it gives in the shrubbery during summer and autumn. In old
age, or after misfortunes these oaks are often very picturesque, and surely the
pruning saw might do much to lessen the bunchy formality of younger trees.
The acorns of the Ilex Oak have none of the bitter taste of the acorns from
our ordinary oaks. Virgil (Georgics I. 147) speaks of this fruit as having been
eaten by mankind, before they began to raise grain crops :—
*< Prima Ceres ferro mortales vertere terras
Instituit ; cum jam glandes atque arbuta sacre
Deficerent sylvz, et victum Dodona negaret.”
Don Quixote lauds these acorns “‘es a sweet and pleasant fruit which in the
golden age man had only to raise his hand and cull.”—Pt. 1. c. ll. Possibly
in that age they had no objection to the taste of astringency. The Ilex acorns
certainly contain too much tannin for degenerate modern palates.
Passing a sycamore, 6ft, 10in., with mistletoe upon it, in itself a rarity,
264
since only two other sycamores in the county are known to bear it, a sweet
chesnut, 6ft. G6in., a larch fir, 6ft. 2in., and a beech, 9ft. 2in., or two, a well-
contrasted clump of trees appears. A black spruce fir springs out from a mass
of oak and sweet chesnut, with a base of yew trees and the ilex oak relieved
by tall holly and laurel, through which a laburnum struggles here and there into
air and sunshine.
Continuing the shrubbery walk past the garden entrance and beneath
the drawn up beech trees, whose stems are ever pretty and picturesque, the first
noticeable trees are two wide-spreading sycamores (8ft. and 7ft. 3in.), whose
trunks are showing that attractive mottled appearance so peculiar to this tree.
They are worth preserving for it, but oh! how littering they are, not merely
shedding their leaves in all directions—that is a passing evil and might be got
over—but the abundance of their seedsis marvellous, and the way young sycamore
plants come up in all sorts of places, at inconvenient times, is enough to try the
patience of any...... gardener,
A Scotch fir is next passed, 8ft. 5in., very handsome in growth, and a
Spanish chesnut, 10ft. 2in., and then some young trees demand attention. There
are four handsome Deodar cedars, from 33ft. to 34ft. high. They have been
planted 23 years, and are now growing from 18in. to 20in. annually. Further
on, a Virginian red cedar makes a very handsome pyramidal column some 46ft.
high, Ata foot from the ground it has a circumference of 6ft. lin.
There are here, too, some very fine specimens of the Douglas Spruce Fir
(Abies Douglasii). The finest tree is 35ft. 4in. in height, and is now growing
about two feet annually. This tree is a great favourite at Whitfield, and many
young ones are being planted. Well it may be, foritis a graceful fast-growing
tree, with a foliage of a bright and cheerful green. It grows to a great height
(near 300 feet in California), and yields, itis said, a most valuable timber, ‘‘ close,
and heavy, of the colour of yew, free from knots and not subject to warp. It is
superior to the best red deal.” So here we have ornament and utility combined
with rapid growth, and the tree moreover possessing these virtues thus proved to
suit well our heavy Herefordshire soils. Oh, timber growers! Scatter Douglas
Spruce Firs thickly in your Larch plantations. Point out to your neighbours
how their pretty evergreen foliage will enliven the landscape ; tell them how
much better they will protect their pheasants ; and take to yourself meanwhile
the satisfaction that you are growing a very superior timber at an equally
rapid rate. Scatter, it is said advisedly, for the young plants are dear yet—too
dear to be planted very freely.
; Turning now from the shrubbery, and walking if you please through the hot
houses—they are always most interesting, and many splendid specimen plants will
be found here—let us pass on to examine what may be called
The horticultural gem of Whitfield. It is the Salisburia Adiantifolia, the
Maidenhair tree, or Ginkgo. It is believed to be the largest specimen in England
with one exception. It measures 7ft. 2in. in girth at 5 feet from the ground, is
50ft. 6in, in height, and has a diametric spread of foliage of 40 feet, It is very
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Beech trees adjoining. It lost its leader from a storm, in the year 1797, a
fact remembered by one of Mr. Clive’s labourers (who was born on the estate,
and whose father and grandfather had always worked there) from the occur-
rence of some event which happened to one of his children at the same
time. The fellow tree which stands some 60 or 70 yards away amidst some
oak trees is also a very remarkable tree. It measures 12ft. llin. in circum-
ference at 5ft. —has lost its leader at about 50 feet from the ground—and
reaches a height of 100 feet. These trees show the same appearance of age
in the thinness of foliage, and were doubtless planted at the same time. They
are thus, in all probability, rather more than 100 years old. The Beech Grove
adjoining was probably planted atthe same time. The trees are fine but give
no great measurement. A dozen gave these figures, viz., 9.3; 9.1; 9.5; 83;
8.9; 9.10; 8.9; 10; 8.8; 9.2; 8.1; and 8.4. On the ground beneath these grew
a rich crop of that excellent fungus, the Boletus Edulis, which your Com-
missioner would have rejoiced in the more, if he had but been sure of its
identity. He has never seen it growing elsewhere in this county in such
abundance.
Beyond the giant Silver Fir and the Beech Trees is a most interesting
plantation of young trees—let us term it ‘‘ THE Sequoia GRovE”—for its main
and most striking feature is now, and will long continue to be, a group of the
Sequoia Sempervirens—an old friend with a new name—for its old designation
was Taxodium Sempervirens. It is a lofty tree from California, the Evergreen
Red Wood Tree. The settlers in Upper California call it the Giant of the Forest
—and well they may, for it frequently attains gigantic dimensions, It will
grow toa height of 300 feet, and many trees have a circumference of about 50"
feet at 6ft. from the ground. It is called the Redwood from the fact that its
wood has a beautiful mahogany red colour. It is close grained and when once
seasoned it will not warp, and is never attacked by insects, These Redwood
trees have been planted 17 years, and are now 45ft. high. They are growing
with great rapidity, not less than from 3 to 4 feet a year—and five of the best
measured 2ft. 1lin.; 3ft. 3in.; 3ft. 7din. ; 3ft. 23in.; and 2ft. 103in. in circum-
ference. They are most picturesque trees in their mode of growth, and their
bright red bark; and the glancous green of their foliage makes them very
striking objects in the landscape. They are now under the protection of the
woods beyond them, and yet three of them have lost their leaders and sent
up fresh ones again. As they get higher still, they will have great difficulty
to contend with the powerful west wind. The Redwood is a brittle tree, and
268
must not be planted moreover in a low or damp situation, or it may be destroyed
by a severe frost. The Sequoia sempervirens is own sister to the Sequoia
Wellingtonia (once the Wellingtonia gigantea, oh those tiresome botanists!) but
it is not so hardy as the latter tree. There is in this grove a Sequoia Welling-
tonia about 12 feet high, planted in 1856, but though it looks well it has not
taken kindly to its situation, and is as yet only growing at the annual rate of
about 14 inches. A group of them, in honour of the grove’s name, should be
planted lower down the bank. 1t will give a good idea of the rapidity of growth
of the Redwood trees here to say that whilst they grow from 3 to 4 feet a year,
the Larch firs scattered about them grow barely 2 feet per annum, the Deodar
Cedars average two feet, the African cedar 2ft. Gin., and the Cryptomeri 2ft. 6in.
These last trees are growing admirably here, and there are several specimens
from 30 to 40 feet high. There isa Pinsapo fir (Abies Pinsapo) growing very
symetrically, with branches brushing the ground. It has been planted eleven
years. It is 19 feet high, and its annual rate of growth is about 2 feet.
There are many smaller coniferous plants of great interest here ; but there
is, however, one tree which demands a special notice, and that is a seedling oak
which is nearly evergreen. It has a large, fine sessilliflora leaf, of a light and
cheerful green, and it was first observed in the very severe winter of 1860, when
it kept on its leaves with their natural colour until March. This variety is
now being propagated for planting.
Whilst approaching this tree to look more closely at it, a splendid cock
pheasant flew rocketing up with much more noise and alarm than there was the
least necessity for. ‘‘ A splendid shot,” was remarked. ‘‘I wish I had a gun,”
was the answer, ‘‘and permission to shoot—not that brilliant bird—but I should
like to blow off the leading shoots of five or six of the larch trees hereabouts ;
it would make them send out fresh leaders in that picturesque form the larch
always puts on when it meets with some such misfortune, and which would be
the delight of visitors in years to come.”
Those who like trees, may linger long here with much satisfaction and
pleasure, It is as quiet as it is pretty and interesting. Let us meditate on
"the estate in general.
Whitfield, after all, conceals wonderfully well the beauty of its scenery.
_ “ Visitors may come and visitors may go” with scarcely an idea of it, They
must see to be sure, the abundance of its trees, and the richness of its wooded
hills; and in autumn they cannot but notice the loveliness of its foliage tints ;
but then this is not so very uncommon in Herefordshire, and is but one feature
at Whitfield. If they take ‘* the Wood Walk” as they will be sure to do, it will
probably remain upon their minds as the very model of what a hot summer's
day’s walk should be, in its airy shade and its delicious coolness—and set too,
in this pleasant remembrance as a framework, will be many bright spots—first,
a most picturesque group of Scotch firs, with a wild and lovely entourage of
undulating ground, parklike and wild, of brake, and of scattered trees. Again
for a dark picture, the oak before mentioned shivered and blasted in the fulness
269
of its youth and strength, by the lightning :—and then the peep of the distant
hills in the high corner will be its contrast. But fine as this isinits way, it is not
Whitfield in the varied scenery it really offers—you must stay there, must shoot
or hunt—or boldly push your way as fancy takes you—and you will come upon
views unexpectedly, rich and varied, near and distant, and breathe an air the
while of a purity that tells you itself how high is the situation. Let us, for
example show a contrast to the ‘‘ Wood Walk,” it is easy to do it, Instead of
turning into the pleasure grounds by the old oak, make your way up the
oak-covered knoll, before admired, to the Sheep-cot above, from which you will
catch a western view over the gardens at once rich and extensive. Then walk
for the Park farm, and as you gradually ascend higher ground still, the trees
are left behind, and you are in full view of a wide extent of distant hills,
embracing the Saddlebow, the Skyrrid, the Sugar-loaf mountain by Abergavenny,
and the nearer range of the Hatterill Hills, If the wind is stirring you will
find a breeze to your heart’s content! But push on still to the Park farm
itself, if you please, for you will find there cattle worth seeing—of a breed and
quality dangerous to other competitors in the showyard. If trees and scenery
are your objects however, and not cattle, turn at the second gate to your left by
the hedge, and as you get over the stile you come at once in sight of the patri-
archal tree of the estate—old, perhaps, as the time of the Ancient Silurians, who
doubtless put it there—a tree of centuries indeed—the trunk of an old yew
tree, of very remarkable interest. It presents an aspect white, weird-like, and
barkless. It is hollow on the south side, but on the north side life lingers still.
A few green boughs remain. One wonders how any sap can reach them, but a
closer examination, however, amidst the netted fibres of the dry and whitened
trunk, shows a tortuous stem going down to the soil, the only living portion of
the tree and, indeed, its mainstay. The trunk has a girth of 13ft. 10in. It is
altogether exceedingly picturesque and interesting. But, indeed, you must be a
lover of trees, and of trees only, if you have not been struck at once by the
beauty of its site. Looking down between the hanging wood on the left, and
that pheasant-haunted wood (Thruxton Vallets) on the right, you command a
pastoral scene of great richness and beauty, well worth the whole walk. Return
through the hanging wood, a way had been cut there (though not quite broad
enough) along the north sheepwalk and by the second lodge to the house.
Then, be the weather what it may, you will have an idea of the varied scenery
of Whitfield, and may take the walk again and again with renewed pleasure,
for in the changing effects produced by variations of sun and sky, there will ever
be something fresh to admire.
Whitfield has great natural advantages, and care is being taken to improve
them to the utmost. Your Commissioner has only to add in conclusion, that in
the last few years the change that has taken place here is most striking ; and
if he was asked to name the particular spot in the county which had most im-
proved during the last 20 years, he should unhesitatingly answer, ‘‘ Whitfield.”
. The very colour of its grass has changed, and the trees have grown with a
270
vigour quite pleasant to observe. Time has done much for it, but art has done
more, until at length the poet’s lines descriptive of the good deeds of the
‘*Knight of Industry” have become fairly appropriate to the work done here :—
‘‘ Nor from this deep retirement banished was
Th’ amusing care of rural industry :
Still as with grateful change the seasons pass,
New scenes arise, new landscapes strike the eye,
And all the enlivened country beautify :
Gay plains extend where marshes slept before :
O’er recent meads th’ exulting streamlets fly :
Dark frowning heaths grow bright with Ceres’ store,
And woods embrown the steep, or wave along the shore.”
Thomson’s Castle of Indolence.
(See Appendix III. for an account of the Possessors of Whitfield.)
APPENDIX I.
HEREFORDSHIRE FORGES AND FURNACES.—The forges or furnaces,
which were established in the different wooded districts of the county,
were called ‘‘Glomerys” or ‘‘Bloomeries.” They were simply an ordinary
blacksmith’s forge, worked by a foot bellows, and they smelted the ore so very
imperfectly that in after years the slag was worked over again, and to such
profit, that the heaps of cinders left by the ‘* Bloomeries” have been “‘sold for
much more than the land itself on which they were placed originally cost”; and
the fortunes of some existing families in the county are said to be due to this
source.
The town of Ross is spoken of by Camden as “‘noted for smiths,” a
celebrity it has ceased so long to enjoy that it owes to him the credit of it.
In a paper apparently published officially, in answer to one from the Earl
of Kent relating to the rivers Wye and Lugg, dated ‘‘ Wormeloe Hundred,
Herefordshire, January 29th, 1695,” it is stated, ‘‘ But there are several furnaces
and forges for the spending of woods in Herefordshire; as Peterchurch Forge,
Strangwood Forge, Llancillo Forge, Pontrilas Forge, St. Wannard Furnace,
Bringwood Forge and Furnace,” and it then refers to some others. This paper
also estimates incidentally the necessary consumption of wood for fuel for a
peasant’s family at that time as not less in value than 50s. per annum.
Brinewoop Forcr.—In 1604 Sir Robert Harley was made Forester of
Bringwood alias Bornigwood Forest and Custodian of Prestwood Chase, and its
management remained in the hands of the Harley family for many years. The
following agreement (1663) has been kindly furnished to the writer by R. W.
Banks, Esq., of Kington :—“‘Sir Edward Harley, K.B., and Samuel Baldwin,
of the Inner Temple, Esq., agreed with William Lord Craven for a lease for 21
years of the forge and furnace of Bringwood and of several lands theretofore
let to Francis Walker, and they afterwards relinquished the agreement in favour
of the said Fras. Walker, to whom a lease was granted, and who afterwards
assigned the term to his son Richard Walker. By an agreement (10th Sept.,
271
1663) between Sir Edward Harley and Samuel Baldwin of the one part, and said
Richard Walker of the other part, it was arranged that if Sir Edward Harley
should during the term have so much to sell on the Manor of Brampton Bryan,
Wigmore, Pedwarden, as being cut and corded would amount to the quantity of
two coale hearthes of charcoale, or if the said Samuel Baldwin should during the
same term have so much wood to sell on the Manor and demesne lands of
Stokesay in the County of Salop as cut and corded would amount to the same
quantity, the said Richard Walker would purchase wood at 5s. per cord, to be
cut and fallen at the expense of Richard Walker. The cord to contain 4 feet in
breadth, 4 feet in height, and 8 feet in length. The quantity to be seld by Sir
Edward Harley in any year not to exceed 800 nor be less than 400 cords, and the
quantity to be sold by Baldwin not to exceed 1,000 cords nor be less than 400
cords. Walker to have ‘liberty for the making of cabbins and digging and
taking of turf and earth, and other usual necessaries for the making of charcoale
of the wood before mentioned,’ ”
Fore EXPENSES.—The following details of the expense of the manufacture
of iron at the Forges refer to the years about 1640-50. These have also been
kindly supplied by Mr. Banks :—
“A corde of wood ought to be 9 foote in length and 43 foote in height,
and ye wood for ye most part cutt 4 foote long.
‘*33 cordes of wood (being good wood) will make a lode of coles.
‘*4 lodes of coles and 4 lodes of iron stone will make a tonne sowe iron.
**3 lodes of coles will serve for ye fyninge and drawinge of a tonne of iron
at forge.
; ‘* A tonne and halfe of sowe iron ought to make a tonne of barre iron at
orge.
“The founders’ wages is about 5s, for ye castinge of a ton of sow iron.
“‘The fyner and hammerman’s wages is 20s. for every tonne of wrought
iron,”
THE CHARGE FOR MAKING A LOADE OF COLE.
3 cord of wood, at 5s. per cord ............ee0ee050 00 15 OO
Cutting and cording, 18d. per cord 00 04 06
(OY IA ie IA FE oe SSR 8 00 03 06
Carriage,’ Smeg A tetecttceenoesicetseeerebecn 00 04 00
01 07 00
THE CHARGE FOR MAKING A TONNE OF RAW IRON.
24 loade of cole, at ye rate above said ............ 03 O07 06
3 doz. and 3 strike of stone, at 17s. per doz.... 02 15 03
Founders’ wages per tonne .............0es0eceeeeeeee 00 03 06
06 06 03
THE CHARGE OF MAKINGZA TONNE OF BAR IRON.
WOME OL- COIS t5....:tecctt Neer reterteee Cet ee 04 O1 00
28 ewt. of raw iron at ye rate above mentioned 08 16 06
Fyner’s and hammerman’s wages, pertonne... 01 00 00
13 17 06
272
THE LUANDINABO ForGE, OR FURNACE, affords a marked example of a coms
plete change in the character of a district. Its very name has passed into oblivion.
In the middle of an open arable field near the little church of Llandinabo,—
from which over a wide expanse of country, looking west, every thicket, four-
fifths of the hedges, and almost every tree has been grubbed away, and the whole.
district given up to the plough, there is a portion of ground, consisting of
several acres, to this day distinguished by the title of ‘‘The Furnaces.” Nota
vestige meets the eye, even by the usual tell-tale mounding of the earth, to
explain the name which thus capriciously distinguishes an uninclosed and
otherwise unmarked spot. But on looking closely into the soil underfoot, an
ample explanation of the traditional title reveals itself. Innumerable masses
of furnace slag and half smelted iron ore, from the size of a man’s two fists
down to that of a walnut, lie amongst the clods, at first undistinguishable
owing to the coating they have acquired of the red soil of the field, but so
thickly mixed with it as to be sensibly felt by the foot, and by the additional
weight and toughness of the furrow-slice as the plough passes over that part of
the field. An ancient road now entirely obliterated, but existing in the reccl-
lection of the writer, passed through the field dividing it in two, close by ‘‘ The
Furnaces.” The spot is itself the apex of an angle made by two roads—the
one leading towards the Forest of Dean, and the other towards Gloucester and
London. The district in question is spoken of in Domesday book as having been
a dense forest waste. Judged by the remains, the smelting works must have
been extensive. And here in a wide smooth tillage field with others equally bare
around it as far as eye can reach, must once have been a busy mid-forest scene
of smoke and glare and noise in all its picturesque wildness, Truly the face of
mother earth witnesses some strange mutations,
APPENDIX II.
1.—SERJEANT HOSKYNS AND THE PERSONAGES MENTIONED IN HIS LETTER.
Amongst the characters who figured in the reign of James I., few en-
joyed a wider reputation amongst their contemporaries than Serjeant
Hoskyns. A good scholar, a clever lawyer, ready in speech, and bold withal, he
could neither fail to be a man of mark himself, nor to incur the risk which
distinguished talents brought down upon all who possessed them in those
tyrranical times. In 1614 the national feeling ran strongly against the intrusion
of the King’s Scottish followers and favourites into all the offices of the state,
and it found an uncompromising exponent in the member for Hereford.
Serjeant Hoskyns represented the City of Hereford for many years. He
was returned in the 1st and 2nd Parliaments of James I. 1603 and 1613,
In his place in the House of Commons he was amongst the foremost to
denounce the conduct of the Court. In a speech of great boldness and daring,
he even hesitated not to allude to the ‘‘ Sicilian Vespers,” as the great political
massacre of 1280 was called. (Frenchmen had then been thrust into all State
z 273
offices of Sicily, until the Sicilians rebelled, and a general massacre of 8,000
Frenchmen, it is said, took place as they were at vespers on Easter Sunday or
Monday, for accounts differ as to the exact day.)
The immediate consequence of the Sergeant’s rashness will be best shown
by some quotations from a letter written by Sir Henry Wotton to Sir Edmund
Bacon (June 8th, 1614) :—
“Tt pleased his Majesty the very next morning to call to examination
before the lords of his council divers members of the House, for speeches
better becoming a senate of Venice, where the debaters are perpetual princes,
than where those who speak so irreverently are so soon to return to the natural
capacity of subjects, Of these, four are committed close prisoners to the tower.
First Sir Walter Chute, secondly John Hoskyns, thirdly one Wentworth (ancestor
of Earl Fitzwilliam), a lawyer, and fourthly Christopher Nevil (second son to my
lord of Abergavenny).” . . . . . ‘‘John Hoskyns having been questioned
whether he well understood the consequence of that ‘Sicilian Vesper’ whereunto
he had made some desperate allusion in the House, made answer that he had no
more than a general information thereof, being but little conversant with those
histories that lay out of the way of his profession.” . . . ‘* Thus you see, Sir,
the natural end of a great man, and the accidental ruin of others, which I had
rather you should see in a letter than as I did, for it grieved my soul to behold
a grave and learned gentleman of good hopes and merits carried away in the face
of the whole court, and such a greediness at all windows to gaze at unfortunate
spectacles.”
He had, however, noble companions in misfortune. A recent historian
(‘‘Knight’s Pictorial History of England,” vol. III., p. 72), with reference to the
imprisonment in the Tower of Sir Walter Raleigh, writes as follows :—“‘ He found
several men fit to be his mates, and these were increased year by year by the
absurd tyranny of the Court, till it seemed almost to be James’s intention to
shut up all the genius, taste, and enterprise of England in that great cage. Henry
_ Perey, the accomplished Earl of Northumberland, the friend of science and
scientific men; and Serjeant Hoskyns, the scholar, poet, wit, and critic, the
admired of Camden; Selden, Daniel, Walton, and Donne, the friend and polisher
of Ben Jonson,* were among the distinguished co-mates of Raleigh ; and these
men constantly attracted to the Tower some of the most intellectual of their
contemporaries, who enlivened their captivity with learned and pleasant dis-
course.”
Serjeant Hoskyns was, however, released after twelve months’ confinement,
and was subsequently held in high estimation by the King, who appointed him
a Judge for the Welsh Circuits, and one of the Council of the Marches,
On the list of contributors towards the building of the College quadrangle
at Hereford, the name of ‘‘ John Hoskyns, serjéant-at-law,” is placed second,
next to Sir Samuel Aubrey, and he is followed by ‘‘Fulk Walwyn, of Marcle,
* “T do confess it, Father Hoskyns hath made me speak clean,”—Ben Jonson.
K2
274
Esq., the Right Hon. John Lord Viscount Scudamore, the Right Worshipful
Fitz-William Coningsbie, of Hampton Court, Esq., and Cecilia his wife, daughter
of R. H. Henry Lord Bergavenie,” &c., &c.
In Nichols’ ‘‘ Progresses of King James the First’ Morehampton is spoken
of as the place where the King paid a visit to his quondam prisoner, “that
being the seat of the witty Serjeant Hoskyns.” If local tradition may be credited.
the ‘‘Merry Monarch” (he was so called before Charles II.) was entertained not
only by the performance of the masque, which seems to have been a regular
and necessary thing, but also by a morris-dance noted for its dramatis persone.
It is described as follows by Dr. Fuller in the introduction to his ‘‘ Worthies of
Herefordshire.”
“‘There cannot be given a more effectual evidence of the healthful aire
in this Shire than the vigorous vivacity of the inhabitants therein: many aged
folke which in other counties are properties of the chimneyes, or confined to
their beds, are here found in the fields as able (if willing) to work. The injenious
Mr. Sarjeant Hoskins gave an entertainment to King James, and provided ten
aged people to dance the morrish before him, all of them making up more than
a thousand yeares, so that what was wanting in one was supplied in another
—a nest of Nestors not to be found in another place.”
The dance nevertheless was not the real Nestorian dance of Herefordshire,
though it doubtless might have taken place in imitation of it. The real assem-
blage of veteran morris-dancers took place at the Hereford races 18 years before
this time. In the ‘British Bibliographer,” (vol. iv. pp. 326, &c.), will be
found an account of ‘‘ Old Meg of Herefordshire for a mayd-marian, and Here-
ford town for a morris-dance; or twelve morris-dancers in Herefordshire, of
twelve hundred years old,” London, 1609.
The visitora of rank present were there recorded to have been ‘Lord
Herbert, of Ragland ; Sir Thom. Somerset, Cha. Somerset, Count Arundel’s two
sons, Sir Edwd. Swift, Sir Thom. Mildmay, Sir Rob. Yaxley, Sir Ro. Casey,
Sir John Philpot, Sir Ed. Lewes, Sir Fr. Lacon, Sir James Scudamore, Sir Thom,
Cornwall, Sir Ro. Bodenham, Sir Thom. Russell, Sir — Bascarvile, Sir Thom.
Conisby, and Sir Geo. Chute.” Fi
Tradition and history believes in these centenarians and they probably
believed in themselves, But there were no parish registers in those days, and
our matter-of-fact Registrar-general might possibly be somewhat sceptical on the
point. It is true he makes Herefordshire still one of the counties most noted
for longevity. But though octogenarians are numerous, and nonagenarians not
uncommon, centenarians in our time are certainly but rarely to be met with.
Serjeant Hoskyns died in the year 1638, and was buried in Dore Abbey,
where there exists in the chancel a remarkable monument, on which is in scribed
a variety of epitaphs and memorial verses, by Dr. Sharpe, Donné and other of his
surviving friends, but so elaborately and delicately worked on the stone and
so richly ornamentéd as only to be legible here and there,
ae Pe
275
2. “William and Bennet Hoskyns” were the Serjeani’s son and nephew.
Sir Henry Wotton writes to Bennet Hoskyns, in allusion to the circumstance
which caused his father’s imprisonment :
“* Sweet Benedict, since thou art young,
And hast not yet the use of tongue,
Make it thy slave, while thou art free,
Imprison it, lest it do thee.”
And the same circumstance gave rise to the family motto:
“ Vineula da Lingue, vel tibi Lingua dabit.”
Bennet Hoskyns represented the city of Hereford in the two first Parlia-
ments of the Protectorate, and he was returned for the county in the two last
Parliaments.
3. ‘“‘Mrs. Bourne” was probably sister-in-law to the Serjeant, as
sister Kempe” is known to have been.
4. “My Lady Cornewall” was probably Katherine, daughter of John
Harley, of Brampton Bryan Castle, widow of Mr. Cresset, of Upton Cresset,
who married Thomas Cornewall, Barou of Burford. He also died in 1615, so
that at this time she would have been again a widow.
5. “*Sir Samuel Aubrey,” of The Aubreys, of Grendon and Clehonger.
Sir Samuel Aubrey was High Sheriff of the county in 1622. He lived at Grendon,
near Ross, and married a daughter and coheiress of Sir William Rudhall of Rud-
hall. A black marble tablet in the Cathedral records their many virtues after the
manner of the period. Lady Jocosa Aubrey died first, July 12th, 1638, and Sir
Samuel lovingly wrote :—
“ Could dull words speak what buried here doth lie,
*T would raise both envy and idolatry.
"Twas an exchequer throng’d with so much good,
The age that lost it never understood ;
Just Heaven, finding 'twas but envied here,
Left us the casket, fix’d the jewel there.”
Sir Samuel Aubrey died May 19th, 1645, and of him it is said :—
“ He who did never lodge within his breast
Dishonour, baseness, or self-interest ;
The just man’s friend, the poor man’s treasury,
The oppress’d man’s patron in extremity,
Lies here.—Reader ! if now thou grudge a tear,
Find some more worthy object—spend it there.”
6. “Sir Giles Brydges” was High Sheriff for the county in 1625. He
was created a Baronet May 17th, 1627. He lived at Wilton Castle, Ross, and
would thus be well situated to afford help on the route.
7. ‘*My Lady Bodenham” was probably the relict of Sir Roger Bodenham,
who is said to have been cured of some grave disorder by a pilgrimage to Saint
Winifred’s Well, in Flintshire, now called Holywell; and in consequence of his
miraculous restoration, he and his family returned to the fold of the Roman
faith, which they had previously left.
8. ‘Mr. Howarth” was a neighbour residing at the Whitehouse, near
Turnastone. The last of the family was a daughter, who married a Mr. Wood,
of Leominster, and his grandson, Mr. Herbert Howarth Wood, now lives at the
Whitehouse,
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276
9. The Morehampton Estate was sold by the late Sir Hungerford Hoskyns,
Bart., to the late Mr. Hamp, and is now again in the market.
APPENDIX III.—THE PossEssoRS OF WHITFIELD.—In the 17th century
Whitfield was in possession of the Pye family of the Mynde, and was sold in
1754-5 to Mr. Booth, a conveyancer of eminence, and a friend of Lord Mansfield
(see Campbells Lives.) He first made Whitfield into a residence, lived there for
some time, quarrelled with his neighbours—and especially with Scudamore of
Kentchurch—about roads, and eventually sold the place in 1775 to Lady Catherine
Stanhope, daughter of the last Duke of Chandos, and grandmother of Sir Edwyn
F. S. Stanhope, and of the late Sir Hungerford Hoskyns, Bart., of Harewood.
In 1798 the late E. B. Clive, Esq., bought it, and at once removed there.
The estate of Wormbridge came into the possession of the Clive family
by the marriage of George Clive, of Stych (Salop), in 1656 with the heiress of
Martin Husband. He was grandfather of Judge Clive and great grandfather of
the first Lord Clive. Wormbridge House was pulled down in 1798, A part of
the offices only remain, and are now made into a school and school-house. The
stables on the opposite side of the turnpike road—(now happily just freed from
turnpikes !)—have been converted into a farm-house. The church at Wormbridge
contains the monuments of most of the possessors of the property. It was cased
with stone, the tower rebuilt, and the inside repaired between the years 1850
and 1860 as recorded on a painted window in the vestry.
277
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OFFICERS FOR THE YEAR
1869.
President:
JAMES RANKIN, Esq., M.A., Bryngwyn, Hereford.
Vice-Presidents:
Joun H, Arxwricut, Esq., Hampton Court.
Arrnur ArmitaGp, Esq., Dadnor, Ross.
The Rev. James Davies, M.A., Moor Court, Kington,
Dr. M’Cuttoven, Larchfield, Abergavenny.
Honorary Secretary:
The Rev. Sir Geo. H. Cornnwatt, Bart., Moccas, Hereford.
Central Committee:
Dr. Buut, Hereford.
T. Curry, Esq., F.G.S., Hereford.
Joun Lioyp, Esq., Huntington Court, Hereford.
Assistant Secretary and Treasurer:
Mr. Artur THompson, King-street, Hereford.
FIELD MEETINGS APPOINTED
oi
1869.
1.—Taourspay, May 20TH. ...........0-00 00 Wall Hills and Ledbury.
(To meet the Malvern Club.)
2.—Fripay, JUNE 20TH. ..........++00 ss oleae spvdseies Ves ie
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