1 ::i) MIDLAND 1 NION MEETINGS. 



the tumbled Oolites can be found many casts of shells, sea urchins, 

 bivalves, &o. Botanists will find Herminium monorchis near the top of 

 the tramways, and all along the top of the hill, Hippocrepis cumosa, 

 Echium vulgar e, Orchis ustulata and pyramidalis, Ophrys apifera, 

 Gymnadenia eonopaea, &o., Ac. On rejoining the cai-riages, the party 

 will proceed towards Birdlip. The road commands a fine view of the 

 r. The various villages and homesteads present at 

 each torn an ever-varying and most picturesque scene. Churohdown 

 Hill ami Chnroh, Robin flood's and Beacon Hill, from whence on a 



lay the Bristol Channel is visible, are all in a view, which is 

 bounded bj the blue mountains of Malvern, and which relieves the 

 flatness of parts, and gives a beautiful effect to the whole. The road 

 I. ihe Air lhilloon and Crickley Hill, where there is a 

 Roman Camp formed by a mound and ditch. At Birdlip, the party 

 will rest. Through this village runs the old Roman road called the 

 Ermine Street, Roman way from Cirencester to Gloucester. This 

 consular way forms a very striking feature in the landscape. 

 Archaeologists may from here visit the Roman baths in 

 Whitcombe Park, and can either rejoin the carriages at Tods 



eB, or proceed through the village of Whitcombe, along 

 the Ermine Street Road, and await the arrival of the rest of 

 the ]>"'> at the Cross Roads, near "Horse by the Bridge," a 



ce of about three miles from Birdlip. Botanists can ramble 

 in Cranham Woods, which, at this season of the year, are full of wild 

 (lowers, and mosses, lichens, &c, &c, and well worth examining. The 



.ill drive home by the Vale of Gloucester Road, passing Cooper's 

 Hill and the village of Shurdington. 



The second excursion will leave Cheltenham and drive through the 

 suburb of Charlton Kings, past Dowdeswell Wood, where cau be found 

 both kinds of the ifragi -ChrysospleniumoppositifoliumBJid.C- 



alternifolium, Lathra i squamaria (Toothwort) and Pari*. Then up the 



rhichcan be found Geum rivale, (water 

 avens,} also the butterfly orchis; past Whittington Court and Church 

 to AndoYerstonl. then by a crossroad by Owdeswell Farm to Withing- 

 ton ; the brook called the river Colne crosses and recrosses the 

 road. After leaving Withington the party will drive between Star 



or Compton Wood and Chedworth Woods, a very pretty 

 drive to the Roman Villa, one of the best preserved in 

 England, and well worth a visit. The woods will repay the 



■ and such oi rty as search for the "wonders of 



pond life" will have ample opportunity of exercising their persever- 

 ance in the River Colne. In this wood can be found the celebrated 

 //-//.;• pomatia or edible snail, the largest of its kind in England. A 

 halt there will give plenty of time to explore the neighbourhood, 

 again the drive will be continued through the woods to 



i Park, where the old manor bouse will be visited, (by permission 

 of Mr. Thoma - Walker.) It was built in the time of James I., on the 

 Bite of an older mansion which belonged to the Tame family, and of 



