Ill 



to the belief that its origia is simply the Latin word " Cliviis," since, in old 

 documents, this district is sometimes spoken of as " Les CUves," 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 hUl is 

 more deficient in that material than any of the sun-oimding 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, Sir. Cocking then read the following 



SONNET, 



Written on tJie Titterstone Clee Hill, by the aiUhor 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 wUd, 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 circUng round thy base ; 



Whence thy majestic piles sublimely soar, 



Leaving the mind to muse, to wonder and adore. 



G. F. BlCHAUDSON. 



A general move was now made for the return. Mi-. 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 gi-eat 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 sHjipery indeed. Happy he who had spikes 

 in his shoes, and thus secure in his own perpendiculaiity, could give steadiness 

 and safety also to some fair votary of science. Many of the fragments of rock 

 which covered the hUl side presented the columnar structure which Basalt so 

 often presents, and similar in their hexagonal shape to those weU-known and 

 striking examples, the Giant's Causeway and Stafla. One or two streams were 

 passed in the descent, and the hearts of the botanists revived. Mr. Lloyd, of 

 Kington, ever fortimate, was the fii-tt to find the Parsley fern, AUosorus crispus, 

 about which the wording of the programme seemed to thi'ow some doubt. The 



