49 
There is a beautiful supply of spring water into the town of Rhayader. It 
rises at the extremity of Maes-y-dref, and is conveyed by an artificial channel 
past the house-doors, in the same way as water is carried into the town of Honi- 
ton, in Devonshire. The stream is called Bwgey, and they say the reason the 
children of Rhayader are so beautiful is on account of their drinking of this water ; 
a happy opportunity to the ladies present who may be desirous of renewing their 
beauty. There is a beautiful ruin—Cwmhir Abbey—founded in 1143 by Cadwaller 
ap Madoc, about six miles from Rhayader. It was partially destroyed in 1401, 
by Owen Glendwr, because of his enmity to the Mortimer family. At the time of 
the demolition of the monasteries in 1536, 27 Henry VIII., and when the estates 
passed to the Crown, there were only three monks living there. Full particulars 
of this abbey will be found in the fourth volume of Archeologia Cambrensis, 
page 233. 
Here we have, some six miles away, near the Devil’s Bridge, the beautiful 
ruins of the abbey of Strata Florida, or Streteflere, in Cardiganshire, where most 
of the Princes of South Wales are buried, beginning (in 1175) with Codell, son of 
Gruffud ap Rhys, and brother of Rhys ap Gruffyd, the founder of the abbey. 
This abbey was the Westminster Abbey of Wales. In the disastrous wars 
following the death of Llewellyn ap Jorwerth, which rivetted the English chain 
upon the Welsh people, Strata Florida Abbey was burnt down. 
There is a glen not far from Rhayader, a small, dark, and lonely lake, 
ealled Llan-gwyn, or the lake of the croaking trout. The story goes that when 
Strata Florida was destroyed, a monk came to this lonely lake (as a help to the 
brethren on fast days) and prayed that every trout thenceforth caught in this lake 
should testify by its voice its abhorrence of the acts of the ruling powers on this 
earth. Well, be that as it may, the trout, when taken out of the water do croak, 
and the common people won’t eat them. All I can say is, when we get to Rhaya- 
der, may we have some of these trout—that we may convince the good people of 
Rhayader that we have no fear in eating these enchanted fish—but, on the con- 
trary, have to thank them for, by their abstinence, preserving the fish for our 
enjoyment. 
T hope these few remarks and ‘“‘book notes” will help you to trace out the 
ruins, or rather the foundations, of the old castle in the town of Rhayader gwy, 
which in Welsh means ‘‘ the Cataract on the River.” — 
THE TORTRIX VIRIDANA, OR GREEN OAK MOTH. 
THE following paper was read by Mr. Alfred Purchas, of Ross :— 
Ladies and Gentlemen,—I propose to detain you only a few moments with a 
short paper I have prepared. The subject is ‘* Tortrix Viridana” (the little green 
oak moth). This pretty little pest of the oak tree is perhaps, like many other 
small moths, little known to the dwellers in towns, or even to many who pass 
their time in the country, but to the observant owner of an oak wood, it must be 
known as a most persistent enemy; often nearly stripping the oak of its first leaves, 
and causing them, after being green in the middle of May, to almost resume the 
brown appearance of winter by the middle of June. It is one of many ex- 
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