45 



had a brood of young ones which had just left the nest, and one beautiful bird 

 unfortunately fell a victim to a rough attempt to capture it. 



The bright sunshine and fresh mountain air which swept across the 

 little promontory were most refreshing : albeit it placed hats in danger 

 and made rocks useful to , . , . keep down tablecloths ! All the little 

 groups assembled in close proximity produced an effect as picturesque as it was 

 merry and cheerfuL 



Let us leave them there, and go down into the glen above the fall through 



the brushwood and hazels, where the stream rushes rapidly down its rocky 



i:hanneL 



Hie away, hie away, 



Over bauk anrl over brae. 



Where the copse wood grows the greenest, 



Where the fountain glistens sheenest, 



Where the Laiiy Fern grows strongest, 



Where the morning dew lies longest. 



Hie to haunts right seldon seen 

 Lovely, lonesome, cool, and green. 



Here are ferns in luxuriance, and here, too, was found the treasnrA of the 

 day, a couple of fronds of the moss-like graceful filmy fern, BymenophyUum 

 H-t^OJit. No more grew there, but in some concealed nook higher up it 

 probably grows in much greater abundance. The brittle mountain fern, the 

 Cystopteris fragilis, grew well and plentifully. Here the pretty oak fern, 

 Polypodium Dryopteris, grows in abundance ; and, here, a little further up, 

 grows the elegant beech fern, Polypodium pkcgopteris, which only two or 

 three visitors gathered. Here, in the shade of the underwood, grow the com- 

 moner kinds in great luxuriance, the fragrant mountain fern, Withriuga fern, 

 the prickly shield ferns, and the delicate Lady Fern luxuriantly. 



Itis scarcely safe to linger too long in getting their roots, for all are busily 

 engaged on the rock above with the good things provided. 



No sooner was the feast over than the party assembled in the central 

 part of the rock and prepared for the more scientific business of the day. A more 

 romantic lecture-room cannot be imagined, and if the geological description had 

 not been given, no observant spectator could have failed to notice the peculiarities 

 of the scene. 



The President for the day, the Rev, Thos. "Woodhousb, briefly opened the 

 proceedings, and having expressed his regret at the absence of the President of 

 the Club, he called upon Dr. Bull to give them an account of the Yew trees of 

 Capel-y ffin, which he had recently visited with Mr. Lees. 



Dr. Bdll said that he simply wished to have given the measurements of the 

 very interesting trees of Capel-y-ffin, by way of an additional illustration to the 

 very able paper on Yew trees, read to the club last year by Mr. Woodhouse ; 

 but learning yesterday that we were to lose Mr. Hoskyns' paper, he had added 

 some remarks on the church itself, which he trusted would produce some 

 little discussion. The subject was, whether the church had come to the yew 

 trees in this instance, or whether, as Mr. 'Woodhouse maintained was always the 

 case, that the yew trees had been planted for the church. 



L 



