62 



The Naturalist. 



water, which indeed the name, " Isle of Axholme," shows that it has once 

 actually been. The hill is composed of the variegated red and green marl 

 of the triassic series, but covered up first by a gravel made up of frag- 

 ments of the marl, and above that by a bed of yellow alluvial sand. 

 Islets of new red sandstone, capped as usual with a gravel bed, occur at 

 Hatfield, Hatfield Woodhouse, and Wroot. The alluvial strata, which 

 form the flat ground between these hillocks, are similar to those about 

 Goole ; the warp, however, is only found near the Trent, and west of 

 Haxey the peat is the uppermost bed, hence the surface soil in the fields 

 is black, as in the fen district of Cambridgeshire. On Hat'field Moor the 

 peat bed attains a great depth, as on Thorne Waste. The forest bed is 

 found under the peat on Hatfield Moor, and as far at least as Haxey ; the 

 remains of many large trees were seen in the ditches. Under the peat are 

 sand and laminated clay, as at Goole. In one place near Haxey the loose 

 sand was blown by the wind into a hillock, like the dunes on the coast. 

 The fen land is drained by large dykes which run in pairs, the water in 

 the two baing at different levels, the low level dyke is for the drainage of 

 such lands as lie too low to get a natural outfall, and the water has to be 

 lifted by engines at pumping stations. Owing partly to the wide extent 

 of ground covered during the day, in spite of the lateness of the season, 

 a large number of plants were observed, several being of very uncommon 

 kinds ; the total number of flowering plants was 308, considerably more 

 than at any previous excursion of the society. The flora of Hatfield Moor 

 closely resembled that of Thorne Waste, with which it was no doubt 

 formerly continuous. The white beak-sedge and the Andromeda, so 

 characteristic of the Goole moors, occurred there, but only the common 

 species of sundew were seen. The flora of the turfery at Haxey more 

 resembled that of Riccall Common, though differing by the presence of 

 some species and the absence of others. Among the more interesting 

 plants found during the excursion were Cladium mariscus, a large sedgy 

 plant with tough saw-Hke leaves ; Peiicedanum palustre, now becoming 

 very scarce through the drainage of the fen districts ; and Utricnlaria 

 vulgaris, an aquatic plant with finely-cut leaves, buoyed up in the water 

 by a number of air bladders. A good many mosses and fungi were seen. 

 Four or five well-marked brambles were plentifully met with, and it was 

 noticed that the fruit of each species " or " variety " — whichever it may 

 be called of this puzzled genus of plants — possessed a distinct and easily- 

 recognised flavour. Few birds were seen during the day, and nothing was 

 done in the other branches of zoology. 



HcTDDERSFiELD SCIENTIFIC Club. — Meeting October 11th, Mr. G. T. 

 Porritt, president, in the chair. — Mr. C. P. Hobkirk exhibited Licranella 

 squarrosa and Oligotrichum hercynicum, from Harden Moss Wood — 

 two mosses new to the locality ; Mr. George Brook ter. , a series of slides 

 prepared by Rev. W. Yize, of the species and varieties of Sjjhagnum, 

 from Dr. Braithwaite's monograph of the genus ; Part ii. of Mosley's 



