31 
Members are again reminded that they must not gather flowers which are rare. 
Suspicion has fallen on our Society for the disappearance of Turritis glabra from 
the site where we visited it. Members of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight 
Naturalists' Trust will have read in the December News Letter the very urgent 
appeal on this matter made to all who care for the preservation of rare plants. 
A. K. Hunt 
(geograpfjp 
During the year the section had 9 lectures and 4 field meetings. The Chair- 
man would like to thank the lecturers and especially Mr. W. C. Thomas who 
maintained the sections activities during part of the Summer. 
The 3-day field meeting to North Devon in May gave members an oppor- 
tunity to study the varied and beautiful scenery of Exmoor and of the coastal 
region from Hartiand Quay through Clovelly, Bideford, Barnstaple and Lyn- 
mouth to the Quantocks. 
Following the practice of the last few years, the Chairman gave a lecture on 
the geographical background of an area of topical interest, and at another 
meeting members gave their personal impressions of the same region. This year 
the subject was the United States of America. 
F. M. Exton 
THE ISLE OF WIGHT 
The aim of the scientific geographer is to show the relationship between 
physical conditions and man's activities and the Isle of Wight is especially suited 
for such studies. This was proved when a party of members spent three days in 
the island in May, 1967 and found there so much of geographical interest. 
Although only covering an area of 150 square miles, this small island contains 
geological formations ranging from the sea and river deposits of the present day 
to the Wealden beds which are some 140 million years old. The Isle of Wight 
forms part of the southern rim of the Hampshire basin and until geologically 
recently was joined to the English mainland. Then the sea broke through the 
rampart of chalk between the Needles and the Isle of Purbeck, separating the 
Isle of Wight from the mainland. Three main geographical regions may be 
recognised. 
(1) THE CHALK RIDGE, which extends from Culver Cliff in the east to 
the Needles in the west. The hills reach over 600 feet in several places and 
exhibit a typical rolling downland with little surface drainage and many dry 
valleys. This upland is broken in three places) by river gaps of which that of the 
Medina in the centre is the largest, while those of the East and West Yar on either 
side are much smaller. The chalk cliffs at both seaward ends of the ridge are 
steep, with little or no beach, and on the west are continued westwards by the 
stack formation of the Needles. Here wave action at the base and sub-aerial 
erosion at the top of the joints have separated large masses of rock. Caves and 
the Arch Rock in Freshwater Bay are intermediate stages in this process. In the 
past these dry uplands provided sites for early settlements and there are many 
lynchets and tumuli, while the Long Stone above Mottistone is reputed to be part 
of a burial place over 2,000 years old. However, modern man does not find these 
exposed hills attractive for habitation and there are only isolated farmsteads in 
some of the more sheltered valleys where arable farming is possible. 
The largest settlements are in the gaps. Carisbrooke, with its ancient historic 
castle, strategically placed to defend the Medina gap, has developed down the 
slope into Newport which is still accessible to small ships and which is the centre 
for roads from all parts of the island. During the Middle Ages and even until 
the end of the nineteenth century Brading in the East Yar gap was a port, for 
the estuary extended up to the foot of the slope on which the town is built. Then 
an embankment was built near Bembridge to reclaim the lowland and so Brading 
was completely cut off from the sea. The small settlement of Freshwater lies in the 
gap made by the West Yar on the low and narrow strip of land between the river 
and Freshwater Bay. 
(2) THE NORTHERN PLAIN is north of the chalk ridge and here the 
rocks are mostly sands and clays of the early Tertiary period. These produce a 
