10 



sories consisted of Yoildey, or Yard Delf, Whittington Delf, Upper Trancbard, 

 and finally Lower Tranchard. Fire damp is said to be quite unknown in this pit 

 and in all the other pits in the forest, which circumstance— as Mr. Phillipps after 

 dinner explained to us — is owing not only to the character of the coal, but also to 

 the compact nature of its seams, and their freedom from those fissures which 

 exists ,in the South Wales beds, in which the above-named explosive gas Is too 

 well known to collect. Some of us procured a few good specimens of fossil 

 Calamites and Bothrodendrons of the foreman of the works, and none of us 

 having expressed a wish to go 249 feet nearer our antipodes, we left the pit and 

 descended the hill to the Pyroligneous Acid Works, where we struck off to the 

 left and entered a shady part of the forest, through whose sinuous paths the 

 botanists and mycologists soon dispersed themselves, and began to exercise their 

 several pursuits. We all afterwards met at the " Ponds," where we rested awhile 

 on its sloping banks and enjoyed the refreshing scene before us. This piece of 

 water, so cool and placid to look on, and yet so unlocked f^r in the middle of the 

 forest, is formed by the damming up of a narrow stream which issues from the 

 gorge just above Cannop's Bridge, about a half-a-mile below which, its progress — 

 having been arrested — it expands itself into a pretty miniature lake, and so trans- 

 formed and sheltered by the neighbouring trees, it rests, while its clear and tran- 

 quil surface reflects the image of the woodland scene that surrounds it. 



But time was hastening on, and we were compelled to resume our walk ; so 

 we crossed the dam at the head of the lake on to the opposite side, and then 

 entered an enclosure, through which we proceeded until we emerged at the Cole- 

 ford road, and half an hour afterwards we were all seated at dinner. 



With reference to this by no means unimportant part of the day's proceed- 

 ings, I may remark that a fine specimen of the Salmonida;, Salmo salar, 301bs. in 

 ■weight, graced the head of the table, and the rest of the bill of fare was made 

 up of items which equally expressed the liberal catering of our host of the Speech 

 House. 



After dinner Mr. V. P. Phillipps read a paper, in which he combined a short 

 history of the Forest of Dean, with an account of its important productions, 

 namely, its coal, iron ore, timber, and building stone. He also referred to its 

 plants, birds, and other frequenters of it, not omitting that phantom deceiver. 

 Will o' the Wisp. He spoke of the entire absence from the coal pits of any ex- 

 plosive gas, and the freedom with which the miners worked with underground 

 lamps, and so fully do they believe in their security that at the Trafalgar works 

 the levels are lighted with gas. 



Next Mr. Lloyd exhibited a fresh specimen of a pretty floating aquatic plant 

 •with yellow blossoms, Villarsia nymphoidcs, which he had brought from Hunt- 

 ingdon pond, where he had introduced it. He remarked that it was a native of 

 Holland and Denmark, and was sometimes met with in the Thames and in the fens 

 of Lancashire. 



Dr. Mc. Cullough also produced to the meeting a specimen of a plant new 

 to Britain, seot by Mr, B, M. Watkins, of Koss, called MelUotus alba. It had 



