St Tudor : Geology 375 



Buarthmeini is situated amongst the birches, and much- 

 gnarled oaks, on the opposite side of the valley. There are 

 some ancient ash trees here, too, of grotesque and twisted 

 form, which are well worthy of passing notice. Near by is 

 Clogwyn-yr-Eglwys, or " the Church Precipice," and a little 

 lower down, Bwlch-eglwys-Tudur, or the "Pass of the 

 Church of Tudor." A farm called Dolfudr is properly 

 Dol-Tudur ; and a road, or street, known as Stryt-dwr, or 

 Stryt-Tudur, still further preserves the connection of the 

 Saint with the locality. 



In the fields, and amongst the trees, huge fragments of 

 rock lie piled and tumbled everywhere, monuments eloquent 

 of times of convulsion in our earth's history. In some of 

 the many beautiful -open glades which occur in the woods, 

 many Lizards (Lacerta vipipera) find a congenial home 

 amidst this wilderness of stones. Much of the surrounding 

 ground is too wet to be to their liking ; but the crevices, and 

 sunny ledges, of the rocks afford them just the kind of 

 shelter, and basking places, they most enjoy. On the hills 

 they occur frequently amongst the heather, or on grassy 

 knolls ; but there a warning rustle, and a disappearing tail, 

 is all that one commonly sees of them. There, too, they 

 are seldom seen except singly. There was one isolated 

 rock amongst the birches, above Craig-y-tan, which I used 

 always to approach with caution, whenever I chanced to be 

 in that neighbourhood. It was nearly as big as a small 

 cottage, and its broad flat top was covered with two or three 

 feet of peat, and overgrown with heather, and whortle-berry, 

 which there flourished out of reach of the browsing sheep, 

 and cattle, that crop them close wherever they can get at 

 them. The growth of the peat in such a situation is a 

 matter worthy of attention. On the sunny side of the rock 

 was a chink inhabited by quite a large colony of Lizards. 

 I have seen half a dozen or more of them sunning them- 

 selves together, with bodies flattened against the lichen- 

 covered stone ; and on one occasion, as the result of a sudden 

 grab, had three of them beneath my hand at one time. 

 Two more were caught about an hour later, when as many 

 more had taken the place of their captured relatives, and all 



