WATFOED NATTTEAL HISTOET SOCIETY. XXXI 



Returning to the house, tea and other refreshments, Tiindly pro- 

 vided by Lord Ebury, were partaken of in the gardens immediately 

 adjoining it, and then the house itself was entered. The richly 

 decorated entrance-hall was first examined, and the paintings of 

 mythological subjects on the walls, by Amiconi, a Venetian artist, 

 were explained by the President, Dr. Brett, who also gave some 

 interesting information as to the history of the house under its 

 successive owners, and especially as to its almost entire recon- 

 struction, between 1720 and 1739, when the property of Mr. 

 Styles, by Leoni, a celebrated Italian architect, under whose 

 direction these paintings and most of the present decorations 

 throughout the house were done.* 



After visiting various rooms, a vote of thanks was accorded to 

 the present noble owner, in moving which Dr. Brett stated that 

 Lord Ebury regretted that he was unable to receive and entertain 

 the members of the Society himself, being unavoidably engaged 

 in London on that day. 



The members then dispersed, most of them returning to Watford 

 from Eickmansworth Station. 



OEDrNAEY Meeting, IOth Octobee, 1878. 

 Alfred T. Brett, Esq., M.D., President, in the Chair. 



The Rev. Herbert R. Peel, M.A., Abbot's Hill, Hemel Hemp- 

 stead, and the Rev. E. T. Vaughan, M.A., The Parsonage, Hunton 

 Bridge, were elected Members of the Society. 



The following lecture was delivered : — 



" The Origin and Present Distribution of the British Flora." 

 By the Rev. George Henslow, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S. ( Vkle p. 129.) 



Maps, diagrams, and botanical specimens were exhibited by Mr. 

 Henslow in illustration of the lecture. 



Oedinaet Meeting, 14th JS'ovembee, 1878. 



Alfred T. Brett, Esq., M.D., President, in the Chair. 



Captain George Ernest Ross, F.R.G.S., Watei'side, St. Albans ; 

 and Forfar House, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London, 

 S.W., was elected a Member of the Society. 



The following paper was read : — 



" The Bulbome and Gade, with ISTotes on the Fish of the two 

 Rivers." By John E. Littleboy. {Tide^.m.) 



* Sahnon. in writing in 1728 of these alterations to the house, says: "A 

 North Front of the same is designed, the Hill towards Watford being cut through 

 for a Yisto ; in digging were found Veins of Sea Sand mth Muscles in it" 

 ('Hist. Herts,' p. 110). The basement-bed of the London Clay must have been 

 here cut through. 



