76 
tage was taken also of his kind permission to walk about the grounds 
attached to the house, and in a little pond in one of the gardens, the Rev. 
W. W. Spicer collected in quantity that beautiful object for the micro- 
scope, Spirulina oscillarioides, a little alga allied to the Oscillatariacese. 
After spending an hour and a half very pleasantly in the examination of 
the various objects of interest presented to their notice, the members re- 
entered the breaks, and were driven back to the place where they had first 
assembled, and on returning over the Suspension Bridge, the hearts of the 
members of the Bristol Naturalists' Society were gladdened by the sight 
of their respected and kind-hearted President, Mr. W. Sanders, F.R.S., 
F.G.S., sitting out in the fresh air, showing great interest in the proceed- 
ings of the part}', no doubt wishing to join them, and to resume that 
esteemed leadership, of which his severe and long-continued illness has 
deprived the Society for several months. 
That portion of the day's work for which the excursion had been 
specially arranged, was now commenced, and the members proceeded to 
walk over that division of the Carboniferous rocks which Mr. Stoddart 
had ably described in the paper previously alluded to, and which few, if 
any, were more competent to explain and exhibit their peculiarities, and 
the special points of interest in connexion with them, than that gentle- 
man himself, whose obliging and courteous demeanour, combined with his 
great local knowledge of the beds and fossils, tended greatly to the en- 
joyment as well as to the information of the members. 
While descending the zig-zag, the Upper Limestone Shales were pointed 
out, but it was observed that the section on the opposite bank of the 
river exhibited their peculiar structure better. After this, the thick upper 
beds of limestone, over which the well-known Ilotwell spring flows, were 
noticed; and the localities where the fine corals and mollusca occur, with 
which the upper strata abound, were marked, together with the beds 
which, being full of fossil Foraminifera, contain so rich a treat for the 
microscopist as their examination is sure to afford. 
The next in order were the St. Vincent's Rocks, and much time was spent 
(as its educational value fully demanded) in the examination of the Great 
Fault existing here, and the regret of every one was strongly expressed at the 
ruthless and even goth-like destruction of this noble geological specimen — 
or monument — which is now being demolished in a manner painful to all 
lovers of scientific illustrations. The continuance of the St. Vincent's 
series with that of the great quarry was shown and explained, and it was 
remarked that the intervening ground was filled up with a mixture of coal- 
measures, shales, and mill -stone grit, all of which were well exposed in 
one of the cuttings for the Port and Pier Railway. The Black-rock 
