4 The Naturalist in Siluria. 



dwelling is contiguous to its northern edge, Penyard 

 Hill being but an out-lier of it, and, though my house 

 and grounds are on the Old Red, a cannon fired from the 

 front door, with sufficient elevation of aim, would fling 

 its shot over the wooded brow of the Forest, into the 

 " lower coal measures/' But before it rolled to rest among 

 these, the ball, obliquing upwards, would first pass over 

 a bed of Red Conglomerate, mixed with marl and other 

 sandstones ; next cutting across a belt of yellow sands 

 with red marls, and sands of this same colour; then a 

 tract of Mountain Shale and Mountain (carboniferous) 

 Limestone ; after this, a strattfm of Millstone Grit, and 

 another of Upper Sandstone, with seams of clay and 

 marls; crossing the crest of this elevated plateau, and 

 passing on finally to fall among the above-mentioned 

 " coal measures " ; which, quoting the words of an eminent 

 geologist, ''are a relic of the most profuse vegetation the 

 world has ever beheld." 



It may seem strange that a section of country so sig- 

 nalized in the countless ages past should still possess a 

 character in correspondence. But it is even so, its flora 

 being abundant beyond any other I know of. Within a 

 circle of 20 miles radius around my house, I find between 

 600 and 700 species of phanerogamous plants, while the 

 cryptogamia are alike plentiful. If the theory advanced 

 be admitted, it would follow that the fauna is proportion- 

 ately rich; and so, in reality, it is. As proof sufficient 

 and, to me, rather more than satisfactory the fox and 

 badger prey upon my poultry, assisted in their depreda- 

 tions by the pole-cat, weasel, and stoat; while hares and 

 rabbits crop the cabbages in my kitchen-garden. The 

 otter bathes its sleek body in a brook an influent of the 

 Wye which meanders through my ornamental grounds ; 



