35 



Report of a Field Meeting- held at Byfleet, July 23rd, 



1904- 



By W. J. Lucas, B.A., F.E.S. Read January Z2th, 1905. 



Three years in succession this Society has organised a field meet- 

 ing on the bank of the Basingstoke Canal, and on each occasion, 

 though the morning was fine, rain came on in the afternoon. On the 

 date of the last excursion, however, the rain was neither heavy nor 

 lasting — it was necessary to keep up a reputation, and that being 

 accomplished, the weather speedily improved. 



Thirteen members and three visitors arrived in detachments by 

 various trains, the last one patronised being that reaching Byfleet 

 station at 3.18 p.m. Collecting, observation, and photography were 

 the order of the day, till 7 p.m., when full justice was done to an 

 excellent meat tea at a very moderate charge served at the Victoria 

 Inn at Woodham on the further side of the canal. Most of the party 

 returned to town by the 8.19. 



Anyone who has not seen the Basingstoke Canal, and has in his 

 mind the recollection of some unlovely midland canal, laden with 

 coal-barges, will be delightfully surprised should he visit the T-shaped 

 piece of water having Woking, Weybridge, and A\'isley at its three 

 extremities. 



That stretch of the canal passing between the villages of Byfleet 

 and V\"oodham which has for three successive years been visited in 

 July by our Society lies on a low-lying part of the Bagshot beds of 

 the Upper Eocene geologic age, the height of the land above sea- 

 level being roughly from sixteen to thirty yards only. The district is 

 more or less swampy, there being much higher ground bordering the 

 valleys of the Wey and the Bourne, both of which streams flow near 

 on their course to the Thames by Weybridge. Though geology 

 proper is out of the question, yet the botany and zoology of the 

 district, which depend upon its geological formation and situation, 

 are particularly interesting, species, both vegetable and animal, being 

 numerous, and often worthy of more than ordinary attention. 



As regards the botanical side of the life of the district, some 

 of the most noticeable plants met with were : The white water lily 

 {Nvmphiea alba), yellow water-lily {Niiphar /ufea), arrowhead {Sagit- 

 taria sagittifolia), a rather local plant, water plantain {A It's ma 

 plantago), branched bur-reed {Sparganium ramosum), smaller cat's- 

 tail {Typha angi/stifo/ia), great reed {Phragmites communis), lesser 

 reed {Calamagrosfis epigeios\ yellow loosestrife {Lysimachia vulgaris), 



