226 



of which we could never know anything except by the tracks they had left behind 

 them. 



The Rev. W. S. Symonds made some eloquent observations on Professor 

 Melville's opinions, arguing in favour of a continual chain of animal life, and 

 appealing to Mr. Salter, as the greatest PaL-eontologist of the present day, to 

 support the opinion which he had seen in his hand-writing, that the chain of life 

 was continuous and progressive, and that there existed no sudden break, such 

 as Professor Melville's theory would seem to require. 



Professor Melville replied, and after a conversation sustained by Mr. Salter, 

 Dr. Bevan, Mr. Cocking, and Rev. J. F. Crouch, Mr. Symonds humourously re- 

 tracted his objections, having, he said, brought them forward merely to give 

 rise to the discussion which had taken place. 



After dinner a glimpse of sunshine induced the members to sally forth. 

 The escarpment of Aymestrey limestone (query Wenlock ?) at Llanbadoc was 

 visited, under the guidance of Mr. Salter. Llangibby was the next point, but 

 the rain again commenced to fall in torrents, and the party retraced their steps 

 to Usk, where they arrived in time for the 6-30 train for Hereford. 



Notwithstanding the unfavourable state of the weather, we are happy to 

 state that the party enjoyed a very agreeable and instructive excursion. In 

 consequence of the unfavourable state of the weather, we have no botanical 

 report. 



IN MEMORY OF THE LATE REV. T. T. LEWIS. 



A name occurring in this week's obituary, calls for some notice in our columns. 

 By the death of our late excellent friend, the Rev. Thomas Taylor Lewis, M.A., 

 Vicar of Bridstow, Herefordshrre has lost one of its best and most accomplished 

 men. We may claim him one of its worthies, for although born out of the 

 limits of the county, his life has been spent within it, and to it he was deeply 

 attached. Fond of natural history and of science in all its branches, a residence 

 at Aymestrey as Curate of that parish, turned his attention, in leisure moments, 

 to the investigation of the geological structure of that most interesting district. 



The geology of this part of England was at that time unexplored and for- 

 saken. Sir Roderick Murchison's Silurian researches had not commenced; there 

 were no Ordnance Surveys to direct the student ; and therefore we can hardly 

 overrate the value of the services which Mr. Lewis rendered by his silent and 

 unobtrusive labours thirty years ago. 



" My acquaintance with Aymestrey," to use Mr. Lewis's own words addressed 

 to Dr. Fitton, the eminent geologist, some years later, " commenced with 

 my entering on the Curacy of the parish in the autumn of 1826. Its natural 

 beauties soon invited my attention, which was likewise directed to its natural 

 and artificial sections, and its regular, but broken structure, and I began at once 

 very zealously to collect the fossils which were everywhere in abundance strewed 

 over the roads and fields, and to dispose of them m drawers, keeping those of each 



