VOL. XVIII. (i) THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 3 



map showing the distribution of the soils in the town of Chel- 

 tenham and its environs. He has demonstrated that the 

 presence of a sand deposit in a hollow of the Lias clay in the 

 Severn Valley determined, principally through the facilities 

 thus offered for obtaining a supply of water, the site of the 

 present town, while our important market-garden industry, as 

 might have been expected, cHngs to the tracts of loam. We 

 propose to publish this map in a future issue of our Proceed- 

 ings, and we have little doubt that it will meet with the 

 approval of present and prospective householders in this im- 

 portant educational and residential centre. Mr Richardson has 

 also placed on record a careful survey of the geological condi- 

 tions which regulate the water supply of the City of Gloucester. 

 During the Winter Session we have been favoured with illus- 

 trated lectures delivered by Mr Richardson on the economical 

 situation in Denmark, as examined by him in the course of a 

 recent tour in that country ; by Mr W. Bellows on his experi- 

 ences during a visit to the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and the 

 Island of Jan Mayen ; by Mr E. A. NeweU-Arber on the Fossil 

 Plants of the Forest of Dean Coalfield ; by Mr A. E. W. Paine 

 on a Long Barrow near Bisley, and on certain caves in the 

 valley of the Wye, to which I shall refer more particularly 

 later on in this Address. I beg on your behalf to convey our 

 hearty thanks to the gentlemen who have kindly favoured us 

 " with these important contributions. 



The most serious work which at present engages our atten- 

 tion is the preparation of the Flora of Gloucestershire, the 

 conception and progress of which are due to the energy and 

 scientific enthusiasm of the Rev Walter Butt. I am indebted 

 to Mr H. J. Riddelsdell for a note on the position of this im- 

 portant undertaking. Up to the present we have reached only 

 the preliminary stage, and we are unable to promise early 

 publication of the results of such a complicated enquiry. 

 Much fresh information is being received almost daily, and 

 new sources of knowledge are being tapped. The many prob- 

 lems resulting from the facts collected by the older generation 

 of workers are being gradually elucidated, and new questions 

 which have arisen in the course of the present survey await 

 further evidence before they can be finally settled. To make 



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