VI Proceediiitjs, 



where some fine timbered houses were seen. The Eector, the 

 Rev. Dr, Burton, was fortunately met with, who kindly showed 

 the party over the old church, which contained many tine pieces 

 of work. The spire and belfry were practically supported by 

 four oak trees roughly squared. The five bells were of very 

 sweet tone. The pulpit is of fine carved oak, and has an ancient 

 iron bracket carrying an hour sand-glass, about which there is a 

 curious legend. On the floor of the Church is an iron slab said 

 to have been cast at the iron works which formerly existed at 

 Furnace Mill. 



The party then proceeded to Holtye Common and the Furnace 

 Ponds, at which place many objects of Natural History were col- 

 lected. Of butterflies, the orange-tip Cardamines was common, 

 as also were skippers of the genus Tkanaos ; some hybernating 

 Colias ediisa were seen, as well as several fritillaries. Ot 

 plants, many orchids were found, as also numbers of ferns, — - 

 Lastraa Filix-mas, L. dilatata, and Blechnum ; also examples of 

 the stag-horn moss, LycopodUim. The ponds abounded with 

 microscopic life, and a few very fine shells of Anodon cyynea 

 were obtained. The party then walked to East Grinstead, 

 passing on the road a " gamekeeper's museum," where hung 

 several weasles, kestrels, and jays. The day was beautifully 

 fine, though rain had fallen previously. 



June 25th. Mr. Mennell, who conducted this excursion, 

 sends me the following : — A party of about ten met at East 

 Croydon Station, and went by train to Marden Park, where they 

 disembarked and took the road to Woldingbam. About half a 

 mile up the road the ground on either side is open to the 

 road, and with a full south exposure is about as sunny a 

 spot as can well be imagined. The plant par c.vcellence of 

 this tract is Fra<jaria vesca, better known as the wild straw- 

 berry, and it here covers some 800 acres with a profusion 

 not often equalled in the Alps, and rarely, if ever, in this 

 country. A year or two back the bee orchis abounded on these 

 slopes, but this year only a stray plant or two were seen. This 

 seems to be the habit of the family, abundant one year, scarcely 

 to be found the next. It would be interesting to observe care- • 

 fully whether this is due to the season and the weather, or to 

 the plant needing a rest after flowering. That it was not merely 

 the season seems proved by what followed later. A flue plant 

 or two of the larger butterfly orchis, Uabenaria hifolia, was 

 gathered ; but nothing else beyond the ordinary plants of the 

 chalk. 



The party then walked across the fields to the opening of the 

 Hallelu Valley, the happy resort in summer of numbers of 

 children's treats and beanfeasters ; these, however, have not 

 interfered with the flowers of the valley, as fortunately neither 



