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LINCOLNSHIRE NATURALISTS AT FRIESTON. 



Rev. EDWARD ADRIAN WOODRUFFE-PEACOCK, L.Th., F.L.S., F.G.S., 

 Vicar of Cadney, Organising and Botanical Secretary, Lincolnshire Naturalists' Union. 



On Bank Holiday, August 7th, 1899, Boston Station was the 

 rendezvous of a number of members of the Lincolnshire 

 Naturalists' Union, including- Mr. F. M. Burton, Vice-President 

 (Gainsborough); Rev. Sumner C. Wood (Ponton); Mr. and 

 Miss Stow (Brandon) ; Mr. B. Crow, Miss Crow, Mr. R. Muir, 

 Mr. T. Gelsthorp, Mr. and Mrs. J. Larder (Louth) ; Mr. J. S. 

 Sneath, Mr. and Mrs. G. A. Grierson (Lincoln) ; Mr. H. Preston 

 (Grantham) ; Mr. W. H. Kirkby (Swansea) ; and the Honorary 

 Secretaries, Rev. E. A. Woodruffe-Peacock (Cadney) and Mr. 

 R. W. Goulding (Louth). At Frieston Shore the party received 

 an accession of numbers, Mr. J. C. and Miss Lane-Claypon, of 

 Tytton Hall ; the Rev. Canon and the Misses StafTurth, and the 

 Rev. H. A. Barker, of Wrangle, joining it. This was the 23rd 

 field meeting of the Union. 



The object of the meeting was a visit to Frieston Shore, 

 whither the party proceeded by drag. Three of those present 

 were entomological workers, the others interesting themselves 

 in the botany of the locality. The first halt was made at 

 Skirbeck, where, after a short examination of the principal 

 features of the church, the party paid attention to the Witham 

 Bank, keeping a diligent but unsuccessful look-out for Atriptex 

 pcdunculata , Statice reticulata , and Lysimachia ihysiflora, which 

 have been lost for years, though there are existing localised 

 specimens for Boston or Frieston. 



The whole of the ground worked was the richest fenland 

 alluvium, carrying magnificent crops, amongst which the Woad 

 (/satis tiiictor/a), a plant now rarely cultivated in England, but 

 grown from the most ancient times about Boston, was carefully 

 observed; along with Mangel-wurzel, Turnips, and Swedes 

 flowering for seed-production. 



Though not particularly interesting to field geologists the 

 fenland deposits are to botanists, for there, better than else- 

 where, are preserved the records of our past flora and the fauna 

 it supported. During the Great lee Age, when the Boulder 

 Clay and greater part of our surface rocks were brought into 

 their present state, subsequent denudation being allowed lor, at 

 a period variously estimated at from [5,000 to 100,000 years 

 ago, the whole of .the before-existing British vegetation was 



