xliii. 



General Business.— Mr. Moule remarked upon the inaccuracies of 

 the new ordnance maps as regarded ancient earthworks. The Secretary 

 stated that a Rainfall observer was much needed at Dorchester or near it, 

 as though, being the county town, it ought to be the centre of science as 

 well as everything else in Dorset, there were no rain gauges so far as he 

 knew within some miles of it. 



jMr. Bankes said that he understood that there existed a local Field 

 Club at Poole and thought that it was a pity that it should not be 

 amalgamated with the Dorset Field Club, and similarly that it would be 

 better to have one Central Museum in the county, to which all objects of 

 interest should be sent, rather than a local museum in each town. The 

 Rev. Sir Talbot Baker said that there had existed a small Field Club at 

 AVeymouth which, he believed, was not carried on. Dr. Philpots stated 

 that the Poole Natural History Society had been in existence for about 

 six years, that the subscription was small and no Proceedings were 

 published, and that he did not think that it clashed with the Dorset 

 Field Club. 



Mr. Bankes also drew attention to the occasional flooding of 

 Charminster Church and the dampness of the churchyard, and 

 asked for suggestions from the Club, which were not however forth- 

 coming. 



Exhibition of Objects of Interest.— The President exhibited a 

 specimen of Verbascum Chaixii found at Abbotsbury in June last by 

 Miss Hawkins and new to Dorset. 



Mr. Cunnington exhibited two fossils— (i.) a specimen of Tercbclla 

 Lewcsiensis, which is according to INIr. "William Davies, F.G.S. (Geol. 

 Mag., Ap., 1879), the remains of membranous tubes of large soft-bodied 

 annelides of solitary habits that collected and agglutinated, either for 

 protection or disguise, the scales and the bones of fishes to the exterior 

 surface of their tubes, which were sometimes 2ft. in length. Dr. Mantell 

 in 1822 looked upon these as fishes, and the quarrymen call them 

 " petrified eels." All that can be seen is an agglomeration of the scales, 

 kc, of different fish which are now generally considereil to have formed 

 the cases of worms. This specimen is from the chalk near Dorchester, 

 (ii.), a specimen of Cliona cretacea, a pretty and delicate sponge, from the 

 flint quarries two miles south of Evershot. 



The first paper by the President, " The Kimmeridgc Shale in Its 

 Economic Bearings " will be found, as well as the others read at this 

 meeting, printed in full later on in this volume. This paper was illus- 

 trated by six large diagrams, illustrating the faults in the strata and their 

 general arrrangement. 



