42 



where there is an extensive quarry near the Frith farm. The stone from this 

 quarry was used in constructin'jf the farmhouse and buildings. Portions of it, 

 and of Do\v-nton Sandstone may be seen in the easternmost wall of Ledbury 

 church, which have probably been there more than 700 years, and are still per- 

 fectly sound. It occurs also at Ludlow, LTsk, Abberley, and elsewhere. The 

 Upper Ludlow beds at Ledbury attain a thickness of about 1-50 fe°t. This forma- 

 tion is overlaid by the Ludlow Bone bed, which varies from one inch to one fuot 

 in thickness, but the latter dimensions are very rare, and is made up of bony 

 fragments of fish spines and nther organic matter. The Downton Sandstone is 

 immediately above the Bone bed. It is a thin, light-coloured, and slightly mica- 

 ceous sandstone, which takes its name from Downton, near Ludlow, and is the 

 highest member of the Silurian system. It may be seen to advantage in the 

 cutting at Redding's Hole, eastward of the railway .station at Ledbury, at the 

 base of the Passage Beds there, and is found in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, 

 Shropshire, Pembrokeshire, and Carmarthenshire. It rarely exceeds a few feet 

 in thickness. 



When the President had finished his address, the position and character of 

 the embankments of the camp were examined, and the carriages regained. The 

 way back was taken by the Crossway, where the old Roman road was gained, 

 and by Rugden to Caplar Hill, witli fine and extensive views the whole way if 

 the mist would but have allowed them to be seen. The ascent to Woldbury 

 Camp from this side is easy, and the visitors were soon engaged in examining 

 its embankments, considering the water supply, and taking the height of the 

 summit, where stood that now familiar object, an Ordnance Survey pole. The 

 papers were to be read beneath the yew trees on the large south-western embank- 

 ment, where " the British Chieftain was buried," said a resident on the spot, but 

 a drizzling rain came on, and in a barn conveniently at hand Dr. Bull read his 

 paper on " Woldbury or Caplar Camp," and the Rev. Augustin Ley read another 

 on " The Rarer Plants of the District." Both these papers were listened to with 

 much interest. 



The road home was taken by Fownhope, Mordiford and Hampton Bishop, 

 and the members reached Hereford quite ready for the good fare provided for 

 them at the Mitre Hotel. 



The botanists of the party enjoyed very much the luxuriant "greenery " that 

 met them on all sides throughout the day. The foliage of the trees could scarcely 

 be finer than it is this year, and the crops of all kinds look more promising after 

 the refreshing rains of the last three weeks. From the carriages in the lanes 

 about Soler's Hope, besides the dog-rose and the wild guelder-rose, Viburum 

 lantana, they could have gathered easily blossoms of the honey-suckle and the 

 dog-weed, Cornus sanyuinta, which was plentiful in every hedge. The abundance 

 of orchis blossoms was very striking throughout the day. The common spotted- 

 leaved Orchis maculata grew in lar-e quantities, with spikes of blossom, sometimes 

 nearly six inches long, and if it was but rare or difficult to grow how lovely it 



