

THE FIRST WINTER MEETING. Xxix. 



Burlington House, on July 3rd, under the presidency of Lord 

 Avebury, and was attended by Messrs. E. A. Fry and Nigel 

 Bond as Delegates of the Dorset Field Club. Copies of the 

 reports of the Congress and of the various sections had been 

 sent to each member of the Club. Especial attention was called 

 to the subject of folk-lore, and the Congress asked its component 

 societies to assist the Folk-lore Society in the collection of all 

 that was in print on the subject in reference to their respective 

 counties. The Dorset Field Club had never regarded folk-lore 

 as being outside its ken, and its Proceedings contained several 

 interesting papers on the subject, notably those from the pen of 

 Mr. Udal, who was an enthusiastic student of the subject. Mr. 

 Thomas Hardy, too, had done a great deal in this direction, 

 preserving many curious beliefs and customs and superstitions in 

 his books; and probably in their respective parishes many of 

 them were still recording such things. Captain ELWES expressed 

 the opinion that not enough attention was given to recording the 

 minutiae of old superstitious beliefs, and he observed that one 

 difficulty in the way of collecting folk-lore was the reticence of 

 the peasant class. One did not always succeed in putting men 

 and women so completely at their ease that they would confide 

 to them their curious ideas. 



COPYING TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTIONS. The HON. SECRETARY 

 continued that it was suggested by the Congress that some 

 members of the Club who were not actively engaged in other 

 branches of archaeological work might do useful service in the 

 copying of churchyard inscriptions, there being a movement to 

 make a complete record of those extant, as they usually give 

 much more information than parish registers. 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. At the suggestion 

 of Captain Acland, it was decided that the Dorset Field Club 

 should exchange publications with the Geological Society of 

 London. 



BRITISH WATER BEETLES. A communication was read from 

 Mr. Balfour Browne, of the Ulster Fisheries and Biology 

 Association, who stated that he was working at the distribution 



