1 
PROCEEDINGS OE THE 
undergrowth in Berkhamsted Castle failed to dislodge a single speci¬ 
men. On the Common a peacock butterfly ( Vanessa Id) was captured, 
whilst among the furze hushes that ubiquitous little tortrix, 
Grapholita ulicetana , flew in swarms. When the woods between 
Ashridge House and the Monument were reached, the force of the 
wind had somewhat abated, and in the sheltered ridings the pearl- 
bordered fritillary (. Argijnnis euphrosyne) was flying. Beating in the 
ferns , and ling was rewarded by the capture of Panagra petraria 
and Melanippe rivata in abundance, and also of one specimen of the 
barred hook tip ( Platypteryx unguicula ) and one of a remarkably 
small variety of the garden carpet moth {Melanippe fluctuata). The 
slopes of Moneybury Hill produced Pygcera hucephala , which was 
caught at rest beneath a tree, the common blue butterfly {Polyom- 
matus alexis ), the dingy skipper {Hesperia tages ), and Crambus 
pratellus. Depressaria arenella , Dasycera sulphurella , Hlachista 
cygnipennella, and one or two other small moths were caught by 
beating the hedges in the neighbourhood of Aldbury.* 
Field Meeting, 18 th June, 1887. 
ST. ALBANS. 
The object of this meeting was to record the species of plants 
seen in flower, as was done in an evening walk taken by a few 
members of the Society in the neighbourhood of St. Albans some 
years ago (28th June, 1880).f On that occasion 87 species were 
found in flower—on this the number was rather less. 
Assembling at the London and North-Western Station, the 
members walked by the Biver Ver to St. Michael’s, and then, crossing 
the Bedbourn Boad, up a lane which leads into the Harpenden Boad. 
The upper part of this lane, which was stated to have probably 
been an old British trackway, is now disused and overgrown, and, 
the afternoon being hot and bright, the shade afforded by the trees 
which here meet overhead was very welcome, and so also was the 
soft grass under foot. Taking the Harpenden Boad for a short 
distance towards St. Albans, Beech Bottom, generally supposed to 
be a pre-Boman defensive earthwork, was strolled through, and 
then Bernard’s Heath was crossed to St. Peter’s, where the members 
and their friends were entertained at tea, at The Grange, by Mr. 
and Mrs. Hopkinson. By this time the party, small at starting, 
had increased to about forty. 
After tea, which was partaken of on the lawn, a photograph of 
the party was taken, a number of Entomostraca and other micro¬ 
scopic creatures were collected from a pond in the meadow and 
examined under the microscope, and, as soon as it was sufficiently 
dark, Jupiter and Yenus were examined through an equatorial 
telescope. 
* For this account of the entomological results of the meeting I am indebted 
to Mr. A. E. Gibbs, F.L.S.— Ed. 
t See ‘ Trans. Herts Nat. Hist. Soc.,’ Yol. I, p. xliii. 
