MEETING OF NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES. 
235 
close to and sometimes even mixed with the marsh plants occurred 
Brachypodium pinnatum , Polygala depress a, and Bromus ercctus , but 
this was only where the stony soil was close to the surface. 
Having traversed some miles of this interesting strip of marsh, 
I visited the quarries of Southorpe; here occurred Asperula cynanchica, 
Verbascum nigrum , Anting llis, Onobrychis , Marrubium vulgare , etc., but 
the drought had spoiled the place for botanising. Chlora perfoliata 
was gathered near Ufford. 
The river side near Peterborough was not particularly rich ; Siam 
latifolium, Zannicliellia palustris , (Enantlie Jluviatilis, Potamogeton per- 
foliatus , P. lucens , P. pectinatus, and P. crispus; Ranunculus fiuitans 
and P. pseudo-fluitans were plentiful in the Nene. 
In the dyke east of Peterborough, Hydrocharis, Polygonum maculatum , 
Ranunculus sceleratus (most abundant), (Enanthe Phellandrium, Polygonum 
mite, Rumex maritimus, Callitriche platycarpa, and Iris acoriformis were 
the representative plants. 
It will be seen from the above list that a fair quantity of specimens 
may be found even in a short visit to an unpromising-looking neighbour¬ 
hood, and there is little doubt that systematic search of the district 
would add several plants to the Northampton Flora. 
I must conclude these rough notes by expressing my thanks to the 
Peterborough Society for their well-planned excursions paid meetings, 
which afforded their visitors much pleasure. 
[The following is communicated by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley.] 
If we look back forty or fifty years, it would be impossible to fix on 
a more hopeful point than Peterborough for interesting research. 
Three members of the household of the late Earl Fitzwilliam worked 
out the whole country in almost every point of interest. Mr. Artis, 
the house steward, made an especial study of the site of Durobrivae, 
and though the text of his work was never published, the illustrations 
command the attention of archaeologists to this day. Mr. Simmons, 
the head cook, made, with considerable intelligence, a large and varied 
collection of the insects; while Mr. J. Henderson, the head gardener at 
Milton, a man of extensive information and original research, worked 
out not only the botany but zoology, and his paper on the “ Germination of 
Ferns,” in one of the earliest volumes of the “Annals of Natural History,” 
still bears witness to his power as an observer and draftsman. This 
was, of course, before so much of the Fens had been drained, and though 
perhaps it would be difficult now to obtain specimens of such plants as 
Liparis Loeselii, Malaxispaludosa, Viola lactca, and the rare fern Aspidium 
cristatum , or Andromeda polifolia , diligent research might afford us in 
Holm Fens Teucrium Scordium, and other varieties. But the Soke 
country, with its woods and varied geology, will still yield us a good 
harvest of Lepidoptera and other insects, while the woods give us 
Inula Helenium , Melampyrum cristatum , with Listera Nidus-avis. And 
if we extend our view as far as Wansford and the neighbouring 
Bedford Purlieus we might still get, on the outskirts of Tliornhaugh, 
Chlora perfoliata ; and, if the planting of conifers in the old stone pits 
at Southorpe has not altered altogether the locality, there would 
certainly he Anemone Pulsatilla , Ilypochceris maculata, Sedum Telephium , 
and possibly, for it was once abundant, Ophrys aranifera. Beyond 
Wansford there is a tract of thin soil, which yields every year a rare 
assemblage of species of Phascum, with other mosses, when the corn 
crop has been secured, while also growing a multitude of annual corn 
plants, such as Caucalis daucoides, Silene noctijlora, Antirrhinum 
