I 



71 



When grace had been said, and the cloth removed, the President rose. 

 It might seem ominous to begin with the expression of a regret, he said, b\it 

 he must do so nevertheless, for he could not help regretting very much that 

 this was the last of their pleasant meetings for this year. The interest of these 

 field days never seemed to grow less, and it was a matter of great congratrdation 

 that the position and prospects of the club never stood higher than at the 

 present moment. The best test of this success was the publication of the volume 

 of Transactions for last year, a copy of which they had all received. He did 

 not hesitate to say, that it would be a credit to any club to pxiblish a book so full 

 of varied information and instruction on the natural science of the county (hear, 

 hear). Quite independently of the enjoyment of these meetings, it was most 

 satisfactory to get so good a volume at the end of the year. So far as his ex- 

 perience went there were very few societies, learned or otherwise, whose sub- 

 scription was so amply repaid (hear, hear). The many papers it contained 

 were so replete with interest, and embraced so many subjects that, to any 

 one with a love for any branch of natural science, it must prove a source of 

 gratification {hear, hear). For his own part, he thought the subject of the 

 Eemarkable Trees of the county was particularly interesting. It was a happy 

 idea to give an exact account of the present condition of their finest forest trees, 

 and to illustrate them by photographs. Last year they had Dlustrated the yew 

 trees of this county, they were now about to commence the oaks. The honorary 

 secretary, Mr. Corncwall, would read them a paper " On the Oak Tree in 

 Herefordshire" at the annual meeting, and he should have presently ask to 

 them to authorise the central committee to have photographs taken of three of 

 the finest oaks in the county to illustrate it. If they were pleased with their 

 volume of Transactions it was at once a duty and a pleasure to him to show them 

 they had good reason to be so, by telling them what some of the leading scien- 

 tific men had said of it. 



Sir Charles Lyell writes : 



I beg to acknowledge the receipt of the transactions of the Woolliope Naturalists' 

 Field Club, a truly elegant volume, beautifully illustrated, and full of excellent and 

 varied matter. 



I regret that I have been unable to attend any of the meetings of the club, although 

 I have had the honour of being one of your honorary members for many years. 



I am glad to see that you are making and recording measurements of some of the 

 oldest treesin the county. I remember being much delighted with an e?say by the late 

 Auguste de CandoUe on the Longevity of Trees by reference to their Size and Rings of 

 Growth, and he ascribed extraordinary antiquity to certain JEuropean yew trees, several of 

 them, if I am not mistaken, in British churchyards. 



Be so good as to give ray thanks to the club, and believe me, your very obliged 

 fellow-member of the AVoolhope Club, 



73, Harley-street, London, July IG, 1S67. 



CnAELEa Lyell. 



Sir Eoderick Murchison, in a letter to the Rev. Wm. Symonds, begs him 

 to be his spokesman at the next meeting of the Woolhope Club, to express Ms 

 regi-et that he was unable to attend it himself, and to return his warm thanks for 

 the transmission of the volume of Transactions, and adds : " It quite cheers my 

 old Silurian heart, to see how the noble valley of elevation of Woolhopo has been 



