NEWS. 



53 



The bog is the horae of the Equisdm or 

 Horse Tails, two species of which exist in 

 great profusion, viz. , E. Telmeteia and E. 

 syhaUva. The Bogbean, Menyanthes tri- 

 foliata, an exquisite wild flower, is also 

 there, and ferns are innumerable, — Lastrea 

 spinulosa, Polystichum aculeatum, Athy- 

 Hum filix-fcemina, Ble- hnmn spicant, and 

 others. Near the Swilly Hole the Eed 

 Currant Rihcs ruhrum grows very plenti- 

 fully : this is not usually supposed to be 

 indigenous, if not, it is a matter of great 

 curiosity as to how it was here introduced. 

 In a neighbouring field Orchis morio, and 

 0. maculata were abundant ; the former 

 closely resembles 0. mas' %da, but may be 

 distinguished by the greater number of 

 spots on the lip, and the green stripes on 

 the upper petals which closely reseu.ble 

 wings ; a pi-ik variety was not uncommon. 

 Cynoglossum officinale was also seen near ; 

 this plant has a curious smell of mice. 

 OrnithogaluTYi iimhellatum, a rare plant, 

 and many others were noticed. Several 

 specimens of microscopic fungi were pointed 

 out by the President. Beetles were very 

 numerous, among which may be named a 

 Click Beetle Agriotes ohscurus, Phyllobius 

 uniformis, Byrrhus pilhda, &c. The mem-^ 

 bers paid a short but interesting visit to 

 the Tertiary sands which are exposed in a 

 pit at Lane End. Here the alternate beds 

 of sands and laminated clays appear to 

 belong to the Middle Eocene formation : 

 the orange- coloured sands and the clays bear 

 a strong resemblance to the bright coloured 

 ferruginous sands and the white sands 

 laminated with pipe clay which characterise 

 the Bracklesham (Middle Bagshot) beds 

 in other parts of the country. The Eev. 

 E. Hodges, Vicar of Lane End, very kindly 

 brought out a collection of local fossils and 

 gave much information on the ,kind and 

 character of the sands which are here so 

 numerous. On the return home the rare 

 Ranunculus parvifiorus, was found on 

 Booker Common. — Hy. Ullyett, Hon. 

 Secretary. 



Death of Charles Waterton, Esq. — This 

 venerable naturalist breathed his last on 

 Saturday, the 27th May, at his residence, 

 Walton Hall, near Wakefield, at the age of 

 83. Passing the earliest and the latest 

 years of his life in this charming ' ' island 

 home " in Yorkshire, the prime of his man- 

 hood was spent in the everlasting forests of 

 the tropical portion of South America, 

 "wandering," as he delighted to call it, at 

 his own sweet will, and often for considera- 

 ble periods entirely alone, in the pursuit 

 of objects of natural history. What he 

 has done for his favourite study, his books 

 speak for him ; as a hard-working Field 

 Naturalist, and as a patient and unremit- 

 ting observer and recorder of facts, he has 

 never been surpassed, the fruits of his labour 

 enriching many a volume of periodical 

 Natural History Literature. It is a matter 

 of mournful regret that he who has had so 

 many hair-breadth escapes should at last 

 have his end hastened by an accidental 

 fall, but such was the case ; of active tem- 

 perament he was ahvays engaged in out- 

 door occupation in his garden or grounds, 

 and on the 26th, while carrying a piece of 

 wood he fell and injured himself so severely 

 that he died within a very few hours. He 

 had written his own epitaph some years ago 

 in Latin, " Pray for the soul of Charles 

 W^aterton, born June, 1782, died — whose 

 wearied bones rest here." 



Ornithological : — From a Scotch paper 

 we learn that a pair of golden eagles, Falco 

 Chyrsaetos, were shot by the gamekeeper at 

 Dalnawillan Lodge, Strathmore ; Mr. 

 Henry Hadfield also announces in the 

 Zoologist (9604,) that one of these fine birds 

 passed over Shanklin in the Isle of Wight, 

 during the month of March. The same 

 gentleman also records the occurrence of 

 the Blue-breasted warbler, Sylvia Suecica, 

 in the Isle of Wight with a description of 

 the bird and some interesting observations 

 on its habits from which w^e extract the 



