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give some short list of the rarities and novelties contained in them, but the task 

 was too appalling-. They were so numerous, and so beautiful, that it was found 

 quite impossible to do justice to such collections in so cursory a manner. " I 

 daren't look at them," said one of the entomologists present, "for if I began I 

 could not tear myself away." 



One novelty, however, must be noticed, and that is the new mode of prepar- 

 ing the skin of caterpillars, for which Lord Walsingham is so noted, and some of 

 them, indeed, were actually prepared by his lordship. The method followed is to 

 drop the caterpillar into spirits of wine, and allow it to remain there a sufficient 

 time to harden the skin. The insect is then taken out, and by careful manipula- 

 tion in flannel, the inside is removed, when it is simply blown up by air with a 

 fine blowpipe, the fingers holding it, giving the insect its natural shape at the 

 same time. It quickly dries, and the result is that the caterpillar seems moving 

 before one in its most natural life-like appearance. 



In the neighbourhood of Grant3field, it must be mentioned, two plants of 

 considerable interest grow, but they are extremely local. One is the Bee Orchis, 

 Ophri/s Apifcni, which was not this year to be found, the sheep very possibly hav- 

 ing grazed off every spike, as sometimes happens. The other local plant is Con- 

 vallaria Multiflora, Solomon's Seal. This is one of those old-fashioned plants, 

 more often to be met \vith in gardens than found wild. It has been cultivated for 

 the many virtues formerly attributed to it, but which are now perhaps so com- 

 pletely forgotten that it will be a novelty to remind people that it was believed 

 to have the power of "knitting together, soddering, or sealing broken bones." 

 Gerard, in his grand work, goes so far as to assert, that " the roote of Solomon's 

 Seale stamped while it is greene and applied, taketh away in one night, or two 

 at most, any bruise, blacke or blew spots, gotten by falls, or woman's wilfulness, 

 in stumbling upon their hastie husbands' fists, or such like" (p. 758). Let us hope 

 that the need for the remedy has grown as much out of fashion as the herb itself. 



At Grantsfield some very interesting stone implements had been sent for ex- 

 hibition. 1. A neolithic axe-head of polished flint, six inches and three-quarters 

 long, two inches and a quarter broad at the base, gradually tapering to nearly an 

 inch ; it was found on digging a drain on the Heath Farm at Leysters, and is a 

 very fine specimen. 2. A stone ball, of about two inches and a quarter in dia- 

 meter, rather irregularly round ; it was found near a tumulus, sujjposed to be 

 British, in a field near the church at Leysters ; and 3 and 4 were arrow-heads of 

 flint ploughed up there last year. They were all specimens of very great interest, 

 and the neolithic axe is a remarkably fine one. It did not transpire to whom 

 they belonged, or for what museum they may be destined, for such relics seem to 

 demand public appreciation and care as Herefordshire specimens. They would 

 be greatly treasured and well preserved in the glass cases of the museum at Here- 

 ford, if the liberty of making the suggestion at haphazard may be pardoned. 



The attractions at Grantsfield had to be left, so with a parting look at the 

 well-tended garden (there's a Ilosa tomentosa there, with a stem considerably over 

 a foot in circumference,) the way was taken for Berrington Ride and its noted 

 plant Pyrola minor (the Lesser Winter Green it is called in English). It is very 



