﻿89 
  

  

  Perhaps 
  the 
  small 
  attendance 
  was 
  not 
  wholly 
  due 
  to 
  the 
  weather, 
  

   but 
  partly 
  to 
  an 
  erroneous 
  notion 
  that 
  Wimbledon 
  Common 
  has 
  

   shared 
  the 
  fate 
  of 
  Clapham 
  and 
  Wandsworth 
  Commons, 
  and 
  been 
  

   so 
  suburbanised 
  as 
  to 
  be 
  no 
  longer 
  worthy 
  of 
  a 
  visit 
  from 
  naturalists. 
  

   In 
  past 
  years 
  I 
  have 
  heard 
  many 
  remarks 
  to 
  this 
  etTect 
  in 
  our 
  meet- 
  

   ing 
  rooms, 
  and 
  I 
  should 
  like 
  to 
  take 
  this 
  opportunity 
  of 
  saying 
  that 
  

   the 
  notion 
  is 
  entirely 
  false. 
  In 
  the 
  70's 
  and 
  80's 
  I 
  had 
  a 
  very 
  inti- 
  

   mate 
  acquaintance 
  with 
  the 
  Common, 
  but 
  until 
  my 
  recent 
  removal 
  

   to 
  the 
  district 
  had 
  not 
  set 
  foot 
  on 
  it 
  for 
  thirty 
  years. 
  After 
  what 
  I 
  

   had 
  heard 
  about 
  the 
  County 
  Council's 
  drainage 
  and 
  gravelling 
  of 
  

   paths 
  [the 
  County 
  Council, 
  by 
  the 
  way, 
  has 
  never 
  had 
  the 
  slightest 
  

   authority 
  over 
  it 
  !] 
  I 
  was 
  agreeably 
  surprised 
  to 
  find 
  that 
  the 
  wooded 
  

   glens 
  and 
  bottoms, 
  which 
  are 
  invisible 
  to 
  the 
  motorist 
  or 
  'bus 
  pas- 
  

   senger, 
  were 
  just 
  as 
  I 
  had 
  left 
  them 
  thirty 
  yeai's 
  before. 
  There 
  are 
  

   fairly 
  dense 
  woods 
  of 
  birch, 
  oak, 
  crab 
  and 
  buckthorn, 
  intersected 
  by 
  

   convenient 
  rides, 
  where 
  the 
  trunks 
  bear 
  evidence 
  of 
  sugaring; 
  

   ponds, 
  bogs, 
  and 
  trickling 
  moorland 
  runnels 
  that 
  flow 
  into 
  the 
  

   Beverley 
  ; 
  and 
  the 
  gravel 
  of 
  the 
  paths 
  is 
  the 
  natural 
  plateau 
  gravel 
  

   that 
  covers 
  much 
  of 
  the 
  London 
  Clay 
  here. 
  

  

  Our 
  course 
  lay 
  along 
  Robin 
  Hood 
  Road 
  to 
  Brickfield 
  Cottage, 
  

   descending 
  through 
  the 
  woods 
  to 
  Beverley 
  Plain, 
  then 
  along 
  Stag 
  

   Ride 
  to 
  Queensmere, 
  where 
  we 
  ascended 
  again 
  to 
  the 
  plateau 
  a 
  little 
  

   south 
  of 
  the 
  Windmill, 
  and 
  took 
  tea 
  in 
  Wimbledon 
  village. 
  

  

  Among 
  the 
  species 
  of 
  Fungi 
  noted 
  were 
  the 
  following: 
  — 
  Lactarius 
  

   piperatus, 
  L. 
  tinpis, 
  L. 
  subdidcis, 
  Scleroderma 
  vulgare. 
  Boletus 
  scaber, 
  

   Riisstila 
  einetica, 
  Amanita 
  rubesce^is, 
  A. 
  m)iscorii(s, 
  Hijgropiionni 
  psit- 
  

   tacunts, 
  Aniiillaria 
  mellea, 
  Hypholoma 
  fascicularis, 
  Paxilli(s 
  involHtiis, 
  

   P. 
  atrotomentoHiia, 
  Awanitopsis 
  vaginatiis, 
  etc. 
  

  

  Messrs. 
  Ashdown 
  and 
  Carr 
  found 
  beating 
  for 
  larvas 
  and 
  Coleoptera 
  

   remunerative. 
  

  

  OCTOBER 
  lOth, 
  1918. 
  

  

  The 
  evening 
  was 
  spent 
  in 
  hearing 
  a 
  lecture 
  on 
  " 
  Sponges," 
  by 
  

   Prof. 
  Dendy, 
  F.R.S., 
  who 
  exhibited 
  nearly 
  a 
  dozen 
  large 
  sheets 
  of 
  

   diagrams 
  and 
  a 
  series 
  of 
  lantern 
  slides. 
  

  

  After 
  a 
  few 
  introductory 
  remarks 
  on 
  the 
  history 
  of 
  our 
  know- 
  

   ledge 
  of 
  sponges, 
  and 
  reference 
  to 
  the 
  popular 
  notion 
  of 
  a 
  sponge 
  

   obtained 
  from 
  contact 
  with 
  the 
  bath 
  sponge, 
  the 
  lecturer 
  gave 
  a 
  

   description 
  of 
  the 
  general 
  characteristics 
  of 
  a 
  sponge, 
  which 
  con- 
  

   sisted 
  of 
  a 
  skeleton 
  and 
  tissue 
  with 
  a 
  canal 
  system 
  for 
  the 
  entrance 
  

  

  