162 COMMITTEE'S ADDRESS. 
the Messrs. Spencer, the hearty thanks of the members present, 
for their unremitting attention and kindness throughout the day. 
The Szconp Firip Merrine was held at Seaham and Haw- 
thorn Dene, on Wednesday, the 12th of July. Arrived at. 
Seaham, the numerous party at once divided into two sections, 
one following the course indicated on the programme, visited 
the ruin of Dawden Tower, now almost a nonentity, the old wall 
which alone remains forming part of a farm-yard enclosure, inf 
fact, sad to relate, it is the division between the rick-yard and 
the piggery. It was the seat of a branch of the Bowes family; 
an altar tomb of a member of which, in very good preserva- 
tion, isin Dalton Church, carved in the soft magnesian limestone 
of the district; it is a recumbent figure, with the arms on the 
breast-plate. 
That ruins of this nature should ever be allowed to be degraded 
to such ignoble uses, is greatly to be regretted; such acts of 
barbarism deserve the severe reprehension of a Society like ours; 
it is one of our express objects to strive to protect these relics of 
a bygone age and people, which as such, should be treated with 
respect, and preserved from destruction and desecration. 
Passing through the picturesque dene of Heselden, they came up 
with the other division, who had been exploring the sea-shore. 
Here many rare and beautiful objects for the aquarium and 
microscope had been collected; among the zoophytes, Tubularia 
larynx, Bicellaria ciliata, Bugula plumosa, and among the mol- 
luscs, Acmea testudinalis, and A. virginea. Fronds of Delesseria 
were also met with, to which were attached immense quantities 
of Isthmia and other diatoms. 
The coast line south-ward from Seaham, is exquisitely beauti- 
ful, and of much geological interest. The lofty magnesian lime- 
stone cliffs are capped here and there with the great glacial boulder 
drift, and intercalated with beds of the peculiar botryoidal lime- 
stone, characteristic of some portions of these rocks. <A tuft or 
two of Asplenium marinum were seen,. the last remnants of this 
once plentiful fern. 
At the entrance to Hawthorne Dene, the party was met 
by the High Sheriff of the County, (R. L. Pemberton, Esq.,) 
