36 



anticlinal formation, whilst at the top of Snowdon, as a view of that 

 mountain showed, the strata evidently form the bottom of a syncline 

 indicating that the mountain top at one time probably formed the 

 bottom of a lake. A view of Flamborough Head was exhibited to 

 show excessive folding of the strata, and another near Lough 

 Swilly showed the curious sharp folding of clayey strata. The 

 rugged beauty of Giggleswick Scar is due to a " fault," explainable 

 by ^geological causes ; other views showed the grand forms of 

 mountains due to volcanic causes, as in Pen-y-gant, Langdale and 

 Helvellyn. A diagram of the denudation of a volcano of the 

 Vesuvian type was exhibited, showing the changes through 

 weathering undergone by the ejecta. To a volcanic origin are 

 due the hills around Edinburgh which contribute so much to its 

 picturesqueness, while the same cause has produced that wonder- 

 ful natural barrier thai separates Wales from England. The 

 action of ice was illustrated by the case of erratic rocks in Norfolk, 

 supposed to have been brought thither from Norway by glacial 

 action. The lecturer concluded by remarking that the principles 

 of geology can be applied to the most homely landscape as well 

 as to magnificent mountain scenes, and that the application of 

 them affords much enjoyment to the careful observer. The fine 

 slides by which the lecture was illustrated were kindly lent from 

 the collection of Lord Avebury. 



. . A lecture by J. F. Rayner, Esq., of Southampton, 

 ?u "l®^*""*"^ was given on the i6th January, 1909, the chair 

 the Study ^g.^^ ^^^^^ ^ Brownen, Esq., F.C.S. Mr. 



of Grasses. Rayner pointed out that if grasses displaced all 

 other plants, we should still have food in abundance. The cereals, 

 from the various kinds of which many different sorts of bread are 

 made, are all grasses, as also is rice, the principal food of many 

 peoples. Amongst tropical grasses we have the sugar-cane, an im- 

 portant source of food, besides the bamboo, pampas grass and reeds 

 of many sorts, which, though not used as food, are of great value in 

 manufacture. Grass again forms the food of cattle, which in turn 

 provide meat for man's use. There are in the world about 5,000 

 species of grasses, of which about 100 are British. They are 

 distinguished from the sedges by having round and hollow stems, 

 those of the sedges being usually triangular and solid. Grasses 

 may be annual, biennial or perennial ; grasses in which all the 

 shoots have flower stems are annual, those in which some shoots 

 have leaves only are biennial or perennial, but those which have an 

 underground stolon or creeping rhizome are perennial. The lecturer 

 described the structure of the cup and the floral characters, and 

 mentioned that, being wind fertilized, grasses required no coloured 

 petals to attract insects. The lecture was illustrated by a num- 

 ber of diagrams, by a collection of dried specimens, and by a display 

 of a number of freshly gathered specimens. 



