503 
At 0111 * September meeting we had two papers, one from our 
friend Mr. S. B. J. Skertchly, and the other from Mr. Earn, in 
which those gentlemen dwelt on the fact, that there still exists in 
the neighbourhood of Brandon, now, some miles in a direct line from 
the sea coast, a small colony of maritime species, comprising seven 
moths, one beetle, one bird, and three plants. The presence of 
these Lepidoptcra in the district had been previously alluded to by 
a former member of this Society, Mr. ( '. G. Barrett, in a paper 
read to us in November, 1870. Mr. Skertchly agrees with Mr. 
Barrett in considering that we have in these forms the remnants of 
the fauna and flora of the comparatively recent geological period 
when the basin of the fens was last occupied by the sea. 
In October the present writer gave an account of a visit to the 
so-called crag deposits in the neighbourhood of Antwerp. We 
have this year added to the list of our honorary members, M. 
Ernest Vanden Broeck, of Brussels, who has presented us with a 
copy of his valuable work on the Pliocene deposits of Belgium, 
which is worthy of careful study. These interesting deposits, 
whose relation to the crag beds of our own district are so close, 
would well repay a visit on the part of the geological members of 
our Society. 
Our renewed thanks are due to Miss Barnard, who has con- 
tributed so much to the interest of our meetings by the specimens 
she has so frequently sent us, as also to other ladies and gentle- 
men for similar assistance. 
Three excursions have been made this year. A very enjoyable 
one to the lovely broads of South Walsliam and Banworth, 
by the kind permission of Mr. S. Gurney Buxton, on the 20th of 
June ; a second to Martham and Hickling broads, on the 7th of 
July; and a third in August to Gunton. It has been suggested 
that an expedition for the purpose of dredging on the Norfolk 
coast, during the coming summer, would not only prove a pleasant 
change, but would give us an opportunity of investigating the 
natural history of our district, in a direction which has as yet 
received but little attention. I venture also to suggest, that an 
excursion somewhat more extended in it* range than any we have 
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