REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
289 
gave an address on “ Ranunculus repens : A Study.” This plant was 
chosen because it was very common and belonged to the first natural 
order. It was described from the root to the flower, the minute struc¬ 
ture of each part being enlarged upon. The concluding part dealt with 
its development, and recommended the structure and physiology of 
plants as a subject of greater interest than their mere classification. 
A large number of slides and diagrams illustrated the subject.— 
July 4. Mr. J. W. Neville exhibited a leaf of cabbage showing an 
abnormal growth ; the midrib had divided, one portion springing from 
the centre of the leaf formed a stem, on the summit of which a 
pitcher-shaped leaf was borne. There were many instances of this 
growth in the same garden. Mr. J. Madison exhibited specimens of 
Limncea glabra and Paludina contecta, from Yorkshire—the latter shell 
is said to be extinct in that county; Mr. Mulliss, ruby-tail fly, 
Chrysis ignita. Under the microscope Mr. H. Insley showed coniferous 
glandular structure.—July 11. Mr. F. Holden read a paper on “ A 
Day’s Ramble over the Marlstone of East Leicestershire.” The 
writer described the journey to Burrow Hill, where the marlstone was 
first worked on its bluff escarpment. Pickwell was next reached, and 
yielded some very perfect specimens of Ceritliium and the largest 
Belemnites he had met with. At Illstone were found five species of 
Ammonites. The journey was then continued to the railway cutting 
at Tilton, where a fine exposure of the formation was seen ; these 
rocks yielded many fossils, including a vertebral column of Ichthyo¬ 
saurus. These beds also contain iron, the lower ones in the form of a 
carbonate, the upper ones as a peroxide. The top bed was surmised 
to be the top bed also of the formation. The writer concluded an 
interesting paper by describing the percentage of iron found in the 
marlstone, which, though small in quantity, was so readily extracted 
that it opened up a wide field for commercial enterprise. The fossils 
collected were exhibited. 
CARADOC FIELD CLUB.—The third meeting of the Club was 
held on August 10th at the Breidden Hills. The interest of the 
meeting was mainly geological; the chief features of the Hills in this 
respect being pointed out by Mr. W. W. Watts, M.A., F.G.S., who has 
devoted special attention to the district, and whose paper on the 
subject appeared in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society for 
November, 1885. An address was also given by the Rev. D. P. Lewis, 
President of the Oswestry and Welshpool Field Club, on the claims of 
the Breidden to be the site of the last stand of Caractacus (or Caradoc), 
against the Romans under Ostorius Scapula, as related by Tacitus. 
DUDLEY AND MIDLAND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.—The 
fourth field meeting of this society for this season was held on August 
8th at Minsterley and the Stiperstones. On arriving at Minsterley 
station carriages conveyed the party to the Snailbeacli lead mines, 
where, by the kindness of the proprietors and H. Dennis, Esq., the 
manager, they inspected the several processes of raising, sorting, 
crushing, and sifting the ores, and also the mode of smelting and 
casting the pig lead. The ore is raised from a depth of 500yds. in the 
Llandeilo rocks, and no doubt the veins of lead ore were worked at the 
surface by the Romans both here and at other places in this neighbour¬ 
hood. A Roman pig of lead was found here by some workmen in 1851 
while sinking through a heap of slag, which bore the following inscrip¬ 
tion in raised letters: —imp. hadriani. aug. A number of interesting 
specimens of the various minerals raised here were placed at the 
disposal of the party, consisting of galena, zinc blende, quartz, 
