went through much of our "sayings and doings," it would be perhaps 

 more interesting if I address you to-day upon some occurrences 

 which have since arisen, and which aft'cct the Woolhopo Club in 

 their character of naturalists. You Avill remember the paper I had 

 the honour of reading upon the Old Red Sandstone, and the remarks 

 I felt bound to make upon tho wretched collection of fossil remains 

 from that system, so characteristic of this county, obtained by our 

 working geologists. 



The practical value of a local collection depends chiefly upon the 

 history of individual specimens. A fossil from the Old Red Sand- 

 stone of Herefordshire has a value far beyond any accident of 

 fineness or rarity ; it is illustrative of the history of the geology of 

 our native county. Chinese butterflies and Australian cuckoos are 

 very well in their way, and gifts not to bo despised when offered ; 

 I would rather, however, see in Hereford an herbarium containing 

 a good collection of Herefordshire plants, presented by one of the 

 many good botanists the county can boast of, than all the foreign 

 specimens of the British Museum. 



You will call to mind the delight we experienced in finding, on 

 our Leominster expedition, a true fish bed, containing great numbers 

 of the relics of those remarkable denizens of an ocean long since 

 passed away, and rendered classical by the writings of Hugh Miller 

 and Agassiz. I little thought at the time we were examining the 

 plates, and heads, and tails of the Cephalaspides of Leyster Sprowle, 

 that, in a few weeks, I should have the pleasure of making the 

 acquaintance of the celebrated Scotch geologist, of examining in his 

 cabinet the analogues of our Herefordshire fishes, and conversing 

 with him on the similarity of the deposit, and the identity of the 

 oro-anic remains that occur in spots so far distant as the quarries of 

 our native county and the north of Scotland. Most heartily do I 

 thank the kind friend who a9"orded me the opportunity ! Both Mr. 

 Hugh Miller and Professor E. Forbes, alas, now no more! were 

 anxious that I should introduce our Herefordshire specimens to tho 

 notice of the many distinguished geologists assembled at the British 

 Association for the advancement of science, at Liverpool, and I 

 immediately wrote to our Honorary Secretary (Mr, Suter) to furnish 

 me with all the specimens he could collect at so short a notice. He 



