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HARDWICKE'S S CIEN C E-GO S S IP. 



LOCAL NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 



so. I. — BUSSAGE, NEAR STROUD, GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 



I SHALL commence with a few words about the' 

 geology of the district, as of course all the 

 other natural history characteristics depend upon it. 



The country is very hilly, and these hills consist 

 of, I believe, tbe inferior oolite limestone and clays 

 that occur with it. Some of the hill slopes are 

 very steep, and in general configuration and herbage 

 strongly resemble chalk, but differ in having copious 

 springs breaking out on most of them. The alter- 

 nations of hard and soft strata, I am told, occasion 

 small landslips in the neighbourhood. 



Some of the Oolitic fossils are very numerous 

 about Bussage, and it is possible to pick up lumps 

 quite full of two species of Terebralida; though, 

 I believe, the richest spot for fossils is at Dursley, 

 some twelve miles off. A piece I got there has a 

 cast of what I take to be Trigonia costata, a common 

 fossil in this formation, with a number of sea- 

 worms' tubes across it. The stone of the neigh- 



Fig. 166. A common Oolitic fossil (Tng-oma cosfaio). 



bourhood is much used for building, and for the 

 stone walls which here take the place of hedges. 

 These walls are built "dry," as they are stated to 

 last longer without mortar. The ordinary walls, 

 composed of rough fragments of stone and over- 

 grown with moss and weeds, give a very charac- 

 teristic sample of the geology, botany, and zoology 

 of the district. Nearly all the common fossils of 

 the local formation may be seen while walking by a 

 hundred yards of one of these walls, and a great 

 many plants and ferns find shelter and foothold on 

 them. Herb Robert (Geranium rohertianum) is 

 perhaps one of the most beautiful when the leaves 

 and whole plant turn a vivid carmine colour, afford- 

 ing a lovely contrast with the grey weathered stones 

 and patches of dark green moss. Then the loose 

 stones at the top give shelter to a fair share of the 

 moUusca of the district, including that minute 

 little snail Helix rupestris in great numbers, and 

 others of a less local character ; as Clmisilia 

 riigosa, &c. 

 Botany.— The district oC Toadsmoor Valley, 



adjoining Bussage, to which these notes apply, is 

 well wooded with beech, although it has been partly 

 cleared to supply beech-wood to a walking-stick 

 and penholder-mill in Chaleford Valley, where it is 

 turned up into these articles. A striking pecu 

 liarity is the total absence of gorse or furze on the 

 hills and wastes. A common studded with bushes 

 1 took for furze in the distance, turned out to be 

 wild rose and brambles. Heather is also not to be 

 found. 



Perhaps one of the most conspicuous plants is 

 the Rose-bay, or flowering willow {Epilobium 

 angustifolizim), which grows on the walls, quarries, 

 and slopes. At Dursley, before-mentioned, there 

 were some hill-slopes so covered with it as to seem 

 rose-coloured a mile off. Two other species of 

 Cranesbills are common to the district, besides the 

 Herb Robert, one of them being the very beautiful 

 meadow Cranesbill {Geranium pratense), which 

 grew even on the tops of the hills where the soil 

 was damp, and the other species Geranium Incichnti. 



In the beech-woods of Toadsmoor Valley two 

 rather local plants occur, Epipadis latifolia, the 

 Broad-leaved Helleborine, and Campanula glome- 

 rata ; the green Hellebore [Uelleborus viridis) also 

 grew there; its deeply divided leaves reminded one 

 rather of a small hothouse palm. 



Fig. 167, An abundant Oolitic fossil {Terehratula biplicata 



The large-flowered St. John's Wort {HypericHm 

 calycinuni) was also a denizen of this valley, but the 

 place to see it in perfection was at Woodchester 

 Park, a few miles off. Some of the slopes thei'e 

 were perfectly covered with it, and looked quite 

 golden-coloured from the number of its almost 

 symmetrically-arranged flowers, which are remark- 

 able even in the distances between them. A lady 

 residing in Bussage tells me that before the 

 common was enclosed the Moonwort fern [Botry- 

 chium Lunaria) used to grow there, but I am afraid 

 it is extinct now. The little black Spleenwort 

 Asplenimn tricJiomanes, with the common Hart's- 

 tongue and Wall-rue {A. Ruta-muraria) still grows 

 on the vicarage walls. 



Entomology. — The wood-ant {Formica rufa) is 

 very abundant on some of the wooded slopes : as a 

 general rule, they choose spots that are open to the 

 morning sun. One nest in a larch plantation was 

 larger than any I remember seeing before, and 



