Proceedings. Ixix 
Of the general excursions of the Club at which the Section was 
represented, those on June 4th to Cowden and Holtye Common, and 
on September 15th to Threehalfpenny Wood, Addington, were of 
especial botanical interest. At the former a number of interesting 
plants were observed, including several of somewhat northern and 
mountain proclivities; and at the latter some twenty species of fungi 
were collected—not a large number, but more than might have been 
expected in so dry a season. These were exhibited at the meeting of 
the Club on September 21st. Accounts of the above excursions will 
be found in the general Report. 
Besides the general excursions of the Club, two special botanical 
rambles were made during the summer, as follows :— 
On May 17th an evening ramble was made to Shirley Hills, and 
was well attended, Dr. Parsons acting as guide. About eighty-nine 
species of plants were recorded; not so many, however, on the hills 
themselves, where the gravelly soil supports a moorland flora not 
numerous in species, as in the neighbouring roadsides and enclosures. 
A patch of sandy ground near the drinking-trough is covered with a 
fine turf, rich in dwarf annual plants, as Hrophila vulgaris, Ceras- 
tiwm quaternellum and pumilum, Erodium cicutarium, Trifoliwm 
subterraneum and filiforme, and Myosotis collina and versicolor. 
Potentilla argentea was also found here. In a neighbouring hedge 
were found Myosotis sylvatica and Claytonia perfoliata, both pro- 
bably having been recently introduced. In some wet places were 
found several bog plants not commonly met with in so dry a neigh- 
bourhood as that of Croydon; among them the sundew (Drosera 
rotundifolia) andthe marsh St. John’s wort (Hypericum elodes). By 
the Oaks Road were found several plants not occurring on the hills 
themselves, among them Sazifraga granulata ; and in Coombe Lane 
the goutweed (Aigopodiwm Podagraria) and the sweet-scented butter- 
bur (Petasites fragrans) have established themselves, probably from 
former cultivation. 
On July 5th a botanical ramble was made to Mitcham Common, 
under the leadership of Mr. Arthur Bennett, and was attended by 
members of the Botanical Section and two or three visitors. Train 
was taken to Mitcham Junction, and the party crossed the common, 
returning by Beddington station. About one hundred and seven 
species were gathered or seen; a search for the rare Hypocharis 
glabra, L., was unsuccessful, though the species was seen in some 
plenty a few years ago. The full list is reserved for the Report of the 
Botanical Committee, to be made after another season’s work. 
Mr. J. Edmund Clark, B.A., B.Sc., reports that he saw at Abinger 
on April 24th the first ash in leaf, but no oak in leaf before April 26th. 
He saw in flower, on May 16th, a hawthorn (Crategus oxyacanthus) ; 
May 19th, a horse-chestnut (4isculus hippocastanum) ; May 26th, a 
white ox-eye (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum) ; June 9th, a dog rose 
(Rosa canna). 
The extraordinary mildness of the season during the later months 
of the year deserves to be placed on record in this Report, so far as it 
has affected the vegetable world. 
On November 4th Mr. Mennell recorded seventy distinct species 
and varieties of plants in his garden on Park Hill, Croydon, in good 
‘flower; these included a large variety of dahlias, nasturtiums, and 
other tender plants. They were not merely survivals, as has often 
