Iviii mOCEKDINGS OF THE 



ing tliG triangular piece of common ground which gives the name 

 of Ayot Green to this part of the parish of Ayot St. Peters, and 

 fine old trees, apparently the remnants of a double avenue from 

 which many have been lost by decay, giving the impression that the 

 hamlet is an unmodernised relic of olden times, which the avenue 

 of somewhat more recently planted oaks leading off the Green to 

 13rocket Hall tends rather to confirm. 



Leaving this avenue to the left, the right-hand road was taken, 

 and just past the Ayot station the brick-field was entered. Here a 

 continuation of the Sherrards Wood outlier of the Tertiary Series 

 was seen, with the London Clay and its basement-bed distinctly 

 shown above the Woolwich and Heading beds, and overlaid at the 

 highest parts of the brickfield Avith a sandy pebble-gravel. The 

 sections exposed in the various pits being searched for fossils by 

 the geologists of the party, a number of sharks' teeth, and oyster 

 and other shells, were found in the basement-bed of the London 

 Clay ; while the dyer's greenwood ( Genista tindoria) growing in 

 profusion and in full bloom, and other plants which find their most 

 congenial habitat in workcd-out pits of sand and clay, attracted the 

 attention of the botanists. 



A few minutes' walk from the brick-kiln brought the party to 

 The Fryth, the residence of Mr. C. W. Wilshere, who had invited 

 the Society to visit him on the way back to Welwyn Station. Mr. 

 Wilshere first showed the members round that portion of his exten- 

 sive and beautiful grounds which immediately adjoins the house, 

 pointing out the more remarkable of the particularly well-grown 

 evergreen and forest trees which would alone make the grounds 

 well worthy of a visit. From the terrace in front of the house 

 a splendid view of the surrounding country was obtained, especially 

 towards Hertford, across the valley of the Mimram and over a 

 well-wooded hill, in which direction the spire of Bengeo Church 

 formed a conspicuous object. 



The house was then entered, and after tea and other refresh- 

 ments had been partaken of, Mr. Wilshere showed the members his 

 large and valuable antiquarian collection, consisting principally of 

 sculptures and marbles from the Catacombs of Home, the age and 

 history of the more interesting of which he gave. Some time was 

 thus spent while waiting for a heavy shower to clear off, and after 

 thanking Mr. Wilshere for his kind thouglit in providing food for 

 mind and body alike, The Fryth was left, and Welwyn Station 

 reached by a more direct route than had been intended, there not 

 being time to visit the chalk- and gravel-pits near Welwyn. There 

 being a few minutes to spare at the station, the railway embank- 

 ments near were visited, and a "pipe" of sand and clay in 

 the chalk examined. This '' pipe " is of large diameter, and it was 

 noticed that through the gradual dissolution of the chalk, by water 

 holding carbonic acid in solution, the sand and clay, which appeared 

 to belong to the Heading beds, of which no other trace near w;is 

 seen, had been so gently and gradually let down, that the position 

 of a band of flints, passing across the pipe from the chalk on either 

 side, had not been disturbed. 



