xlvi. 



Wednesday, February 9th, 1887. In the absence of Mr. Mansel-Pleydell 

 the Rev. Sir Talbot Baker presided, and there was a gathering of some 

 forty members and friends present. After electing new members the 

 business of the day was entered upon. The Secretary laid on the table 

 the report of the meeting of Delegates of Corresponding Societies at the 

 Birmingham meeting of the British Association in September, 1886. The 

 report of the meeting of Delegates contained a number of subjects on which 

 it was deemed advisable to secure the investigation and co-operation of 

 local societies. Some of the more important of these in relation to Dorset- 

 shire were then described viz., the appearance and study of insects 

 injurious to crops ; the investigation of British barrows and prehistoric 

 remains; the distribution of erratic blocks; the appearance, position, 

 and direction of luminous meteors ; the investigation of meteorological 

 phenomena recorded in the log books of steamers ; the erosion of sea 

 coasts, and the influence of the artificial abstraction of shingle in that 

 direction ; the circulation of underground waters in the permeable forma- 

 tions of the country ; earth tremors, and their possible connection with 

 mine explosions ; the preservation of native plants. 



The Rev. 0. P. Cambridge suggested that the report should be printed, 

 so that members should have the opportunity of forming an opinion on the 

 matters for investigation. 



Mr. Moule, curator of the County Museum, said he should be glad to 

 support the objects referred to in the report, especially in regard to the 

 extermination of local plants, one serious instance of which he was aware 

 of in the neighbourhood. 



Mr. Udal supported the proposal to print the report in the Proceedings. 



It was finally settled to print and circulate the chief items of the report 

 before the first meeting of 1887, so that members might have time to 

 consider the questions before discussing them at that meeting. 



The Secretary then brought forward a proposal to hold a two-days' 

 meeting during the ensuing summer at Chard, on the borders between 

 Somerset and Dorset. Chard had been fixed on as the site for the June 

 meeting of 1886, but the elections had interfered and it had to be abandoned. 

 In preparing the programme, however, it was found that Chard possessed 

 so much of interest in its neighbourhood that it would be impossible to do 

 it full justice in one day. The question of holding a two-days' meeting at 

 Chard, with an evening conversazione, after some remarks from Sir Talbot 

 Baker and the Rev. 0. P. Cambridge, was eventually carried. 



Some discussion ensued on the question of exchanging a portion of the 

 Club's annual volumes of Proceedings with those of other societies, which 

 might be deposited in the County Museum, provided the Museum 

 Committee sanctioned such a step. 



