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MIDLAND UNION OF NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES. 
pleasant an outing combined with so good a motive, and affording the 
prospect of so much real instruction. 
PROGRAMME FOR THE FIRST DAY. 
The arrangements as at present sketched out include a meeting of 
the Council and the General Meeting of the members on Wednesday, 
the 25th of June. On this day visitors will be shown various places 
of interest in the town, the chief point being of course the Cathedral. 
In the evening a Conversazione will be held in the Fitzwilliam Hall 
(kindly lent for the occasion by Mr. Alderman Nicholls), when collec¬ 
tions illustrating the natural history of the neighbourhood will be 
exhibited, together with ancient and modern works of art, objects 
under the microscope, &c. The chief feature of the display will be an 
attempt to illustrate the natural history and antiquities of the Fens, 
so rich in relics of all kinds. Short addresses will be delivered during 
the evening. 
SECOND DAY, THURSDAY, JUNE 26 th : THE EXCURSIONS. 
Two Excursions will be arranged for the second day of the meeting, 
and it may be safely said that more interesting and inviting trips have 
never been offered. 
Excursion No. I.: to Stibbington Hall, Bedford Purlieus, and 
Castor. 
The route will be via Chesterton (the birth-place of Dryden), 
inspecting the church, and crossing the old Roman road known as 
Ermine Street; thence to Water Newton (where the river-gravels have 
yielded Roman pottery and bones) and Stibbington Hall, where (by 
the kindness of Capt. J. Yipan) the Orchid Houses and the magnificent 
collection of Indian objects will be visited. From this point the 
carriages will proceed to Wansford, visiting the beds of Inferior Oolite 
(rich in plant-remains), and so on to Bedford Purlieus—the haunt 
of many rare plants and insects. 
The return journey will be by Sutton Marsh, where such plants as 
Menyantlies , Parnassia , Anagallis tenella, Samolus , Pinguicula, Gymnadenia 
conopsea, and Eriophorum are still to be found, and Castor—the 
Durobrivce of the Romans—so famous for the discoveries made there of 
ancient kilns, still full of Roman pottery. 
Excursion No. II. : the Decoy, and Croyland Abbey. 
The second excursion will proceed to the Decoy in Borough Fen, 
where all the operations of catching wild-fowl in this remarkable 
manner will be shown. Thence the party will proceed to the famous 
Croyland Abbey, and thence again to Thorney Abbey. The entire 
route is full of special interest to the botanist, the archaeologist, and 
the ornithologist. 
Of each of the excursions, so ably planned by our Peterborough 
friends, it may be said that only fine weather is required to cause them 
to live as red-letter days in the memory of every person taking part in 
them. 
