74 OUR COLUMNS. April, 1892. 



archaeological anD JSatural ^istorg Section. 



HE experiment of holding an exhibition of Microscopic objects, tried last 

 November, was repeated on February 25, with even more marked success than 

 before. The programme was substantially the same, but the number of 

 microscopes and objects exhibited was larger. The assistance given by lady exhibitors, 

 and the number of pu^Dils from the High School, Mrs. Carroll's, and other Schools, who 

 responded to the invitation to be present, were pleasant features in connection with the 

 Soiree. Thanks are due to the following, who kindly lent instruments and specimens : — 

 Dr. Adams, Mr. Bristow, Mr. Col vile-Brown, Dr. B. H. Coombs, Mr. Crick, Mr. Davis, 

 Mr. T. Gwyn Elger, Mr. Fuller, Dr. Goldsmith, Mr. Hamson, Dr. Phillips, Mr. J. B. 

 Taylor, Miss Ransom, and Miss Roberts. 



jl3otes on tbt T5eDforti0l)ire Jflora* 



^^^HE number of species of wild flowering plants recorded by di:fferent observers in 

 Stl^l County of Bedford is upwards of 750, and there are also thirteen ferns and 

 i^m^ four equisetums. Dividing the county into two divisions — one consisting of the 

 clay area and the other of chalk and greensand — we find that nearly 550 of these plants 

 are common to both divisions, and a hundred or more are peculiar to each of the two 

 divisions. It may be not without interest to know that no less than 33 species belong 

 to the buttercup family, 30 to the Cruciferse, 41 to the Leguminiferse, 32 to the Rosacese, 

 71 to the Compositae, 32 to the Scrophulariacea^, and 30 to the Labiatae. The county is 

 favoured by no less than 72 grasses and 34 sedges, together with 16 members of that 

 curious tribe, the orchids, which exhibit all that exquisite organization and adaptation to 

 life functions that have excited so much attention in the scientific world. There are at 

 least four insectivorous plants — the common Teazle, the Sundew [Brosera rotundifolia), 

 the Butter-wort [Pin^uicula), and the Bladder-wort [Utriculan'a vesiculosa). A station 

 for the latter has been established within the last few years by Mr. Davis, the Librarian, 

 who also continues to find in the Ouse the rare Nitella mucronata (the only station in 

 the country) discovered by his son in company with Mr. J. Saunders, of Luton. Few 

 notable records of phanerogams have been made of late years, but the writer has been 

 shown Dipsacus pilosus in King's Wood and Sapoiiaria officinalis (Soapwort) from 

 Millbrook, by Mr. Ferraby, late of Ampthill. Mr. Arthur Ransom has also found the 

 adder's tongue (^Ophioglossum vulgatum) growing in abundance within a short distance of 

 Bedford. The late Mr. McLaren, of Cardington, probably contributed more to our 

 knowledge of the local phanerogamic flora than any other botanist since the time of 

 Dr. Abbott, Mr. McLaren was a most accurate and indefatigable observer, and he was 

 always delighted to impart to others from his large fund of information, Mr. J. Saunders 

 and Dr. Adams have done good work among the mosses, the former having also well 

 investigated the charas. 



In the summer of 1885 I first gave my attention to the Fungi of the county. "While 

 searching for flowering plants and mosses my curiosity had often been stimulated by 

 those curious and weird members of the " Vegetebalia," but attempts to decipher 



