189 



British origin, and in the a*>sence of the relics of anj' other people, it seems 

 most probable that this fortified spot, well adapted by its isolation for defence, 

 and naturally very steep, was occupied by one of the original British tribes in 

 or before the Koman times. Whether it was ever made battle ground, or 

 subsequently occupied by invaders, rests entirely in the realm of conjecture. 

 The entrance is on the eastern side, and the vallum here is greatly elevated, 

 so that the occupants completely commanded it against any attempt to gain 

 an entrance by an enemy. The camp itself, or rather the fiat top of the hill, 

 surrounded by a single vallum and trench f oi-ms a long oval, and in an obscure 

 place below the vallum, on the south-east, was the water supply, in a long 

 narrow pool probably supplied by a perennial spring, and apparently in its 

 dark hollow never likely to be dry. From this permanent water supply close 

 at hand a permanent occupation of the camp by those who made it may 

 be inferred. But time now iiermitted no fui-ther obsei-vations, for the dinner 

 hour was drawing near, so hastening down through the thickets to the base 

 of the hill, the naturalists remounted, and quickly returned to Hereford. 



The season for ordinary botanizing was past, and yet the number of wild 

 plants observed in flower was eighty-six, and of these the most remarkable, con- 

 sidering the time of the year, were, Fragaria vesca, Chlora pcrfoliata, Erythrcea^ 

 Centaurium, StacJiys Betonica, and Anar/nllis arvensis. 



The following gentlemen took part in the day's proceedings : — Tho 

 President, Dr. M'Cullough ; Vice-President, Thoa. BlashiU, Esq. ; Edwin Lees, 

 Esq., F.L.S., &c., Vice-President of the Worcester and Malvern Field Clubs ; 

 Worthington G. Smith, Esq., F.L.S., London ; the Rev. W. Houghton, M.A., 

 and ILaster Houghton ; Dr. Bull ; the Kev. B. L. S. Stanhope, and tho Kev; 

 W. P. Stanhope ; Arthur Armitage, Esq. ; John Lloyd, Esq. ; Capt. PateshaU ; 

 the Rev. Thos. Phillipps ; J. Griffith Morris, Esq. ; tho Rev. J. E. Jones ; the 

 Rev. E. H. Williams ; W. Aston, Esq. ; the Rev. E. Du Euisson ; T. Maling, 

 Esq. ; Rev. R. D. Hereford ; R. D. Hanison, Esq. ; T. Curley, Esq. ; Flavel 

 Edmunds, Esq. ; Rev. A. G. Jones ; Mr. B. M. Watkius ; and Mr. Arthur 

 Thompson. 



Having again had a look over the collected funguses, the time for dinner 

 amved, and nothing daunted, twenty-one of them sat down to the feast. 

 They could not quite say with the fairies — 



" AVe'll make a feast in our mossy dell 

 Of infant puff-ball and rare morel. 

 And many a favoured guest shall sup 

 On lily dew from a sUler cup " — (Wicliffe Lane.) 



and it is lucky they could not, for they were much better off in the comfortable 

 quarters of good ]\Irs, Roberts, who had many agarics of high edible merit for 

 their delectation, and besides, moreover, to be precise, the season for piifEballs 

 and morels had gone by. 



With the fish and the soup came the first novelty in the form of 

 "Oreades ketchup." It was good with either, and as guest after guest helped 

 himself to an experimental taste — pooof of a discriminating judgment ! — it was 



