236 



carriage and refreshment arrangements, a portion of the members 

 returned to Newbury, and visited the parish church, which has been 

 admirably restored evidently by a master's hand. The covering 

 to the font is an elaborate piece of pinnacle work, and arrested the 

 attention on account of its unusual height. 



The members who remained for the second day's excursion 

 visited, before returning to Newbury, the churches of Burghclere 

 and Sidmouton, and report that they were very much indebted to 

 Dr. Palmer on Thursday, for his kindness in showing them his 

 private collection, and the museum, and for his guidance through- 

 out the day in visiting Shaw House, Grimsbury Castle and Tumuli, 

 and Dorrington Castle ; and they heartily wish him success in the 

 formation of a Newbury Natural History Society which is shortly 

 to commence its operations. 



The record of this excursion would be imperfect without a 

 recognition of the valuable contribution to the pleasures of the day 

 by the unceasing flow of wit and humour of a gallant Colonel of 

 the party, upon whom the damp weather had cei-tainly no eflfect. 



Excursion to May-Hill. 

 The third excursion of the season was devoted to geology 

 especially, and took place on Tuesday, June 21st. Twelve mem- 

 bers and two visitors started by the 8.25 a.m. train from the 

 Midland Station for Longhope via Gloucester. Every facility waa 

 afforded by the railway authorities, and Longhope station was 

 reached with the gi-eatest punctuality. Mr. Davies, a well-known 

 Silurian geologist from Hereford, joined the members here, and the 

 work of the day commenced, and a very hard day's work it was, 

 the most enthusiastic of fossil collectors finding his ardour some- 

 what abated by the melting heat which radiated from the rock 

 surfaces. The famous Longhope quarry, where the Ludlow beds of 

 the upper Silurian strata with their olive-green micaceous shales 

 are first seen dipping at a high angle beneath the new red marls, was 

 left for exploration until the return to the station. The Secretary, 

 who had made a previous visit to the ground, here briefly pointed 

 out that the members were standing on the line of a great fault, 

 and that the whole mass of the Old Red sandstone and Carbonifer- 



