day's walk. Mr. Sanders then proceeded to give, as requested, 
a brief geological sketch of ttie sections passed through that 
morning, and concluded by calling on 
Professor Buckman, who was received with applause. 
After referring to tbe fact of his having been secretary for 
seven years to the Cotswold Field Club, the speaker said 
that he had naet that day with a greater variety of plants 
than usual in a walk of the same extent, and especially was 
this the case with the grasses, which were his peculiar study. 
He considered it very necessary to pay great attention to the 
varieties and species among grasses, because the kind of 
grass which grew on any piece of land was a better guide to 
the agricultural condition of that land than any chemical 
analysis of the soil, as whatever tended to make poor meadows 
rich, drove out the poor grasses, the law of extermination 
holding good with them as with other plants. Although 
there were about 150 species of grass, it was rare to find more 
than eight or ten in any one meadow, and yet from a list of 
the grasses in a field, a practised botanist could tell the 
nature of the pasture. He also advocated the study of 
grasses from the wonderful perfection of, and variety in, 
their forms, although they possessed no beauty of colour ; 
and considering that the greater part of our food in England 
was derived, in one way or another, from the grasses, he 
thought that such societies would do much good by directing 
their attention to the study of this class of plants. The 
speaker concluded by observing that he should not have 
trespassed so much on their attention, had it not appeared to 
him that Bristol had become bucolic all at once, from the 
great interest she had evinced in the Agricultural Show\ 
Arrangements had been made with Mr. John Jones, owner 
of the Fairy Queen steamer, both by letter and personal 
interviews with the secretary, Mr. Leipner, for the party to 
return to Bristol by the Fairy Queen, which was to have 
called at Hooper's slip. We very much regret, however, to 
have to state that though the two boats were filled with 
passengers, in readiness for the steamer to call on her way up 
from Portishead, and the remainder of the party were waiting 
on the slip, those in charge of the steamer failed in their 
engagement, and the ladies and gentlemen who had relied on 
a pleasant voyage home, had the mortification of seeing the 
Fairy Queen— or, as a witty member of the party proposed 
tore-christen her, the Vixen— steam calmly up the river, 
leaving them no resource but to walk back to Bristol as 
they had walked out, the only fly procurable in Shirehamp- 
ton being, of course, given up to the most fatigued among 
the ladies. 
We are requested to state that since the annual meeting 
in May, an entomological section has been formed in the 
society, and that it is in contemplation to form botanical, 
geological, and microscopical sections, 
WM. LANT CARPENTER, 
Honorary Reporting Secretary. 
