lxxii 
PROCEEDINGS, 
was seen. It is one of several south, of the Bourne, there being- 
only one north of it, from Ashlyns to Bottom Farm, probably 
thence so named. 
On arriving at Berkhamsted, some of the party before tea 
at the Crown Hotel, others after it, visited the Museum of 
Economic Biology belonging to Messrs. William Cooper and 
Nephews. Here are well displayed insects and other animals 
injurious to farm and garden crops, to forest and ornamental 
trees, fruit-trees, household and stored goods, etc., and to 
domestic animals and man; beneficial insects; and fungi 
injurious to plants and animals. A special feature of the 
museum is a collection of ticks (Ixodoidea) with enlarged 
photographs of many of them. 
On the way to the railway station the ruined walls and the 
inner and outer moats of Berkhamsted Castle were inspected. 
The meeting was under the direction of the writer and 
Mr. Charles Oldham. For arranging our visit to the Biological 
Museum we are indebted to Mr. J. W.. Slioebotham. 
Visit to the Boyal G-ardens, Kew, 13th May, 1911. 
The members assembled at the Victoria G-ate, opposite Kew 
Gardens Station, Mr. Daniel Hill, F.K.H.S., acting as guide, 
and from him the following account has been received. 
The Kock Garden was first visited, and many charming Alpines 
were seen in flower, the saxifrages and primulas being especially 
noticeable; and then the Alpine House, in which are many 
plants, placed there not because of their inability to withstand 
the cold of our winters, but because the damp and fog of 
the Kew atmosphere have a very injurious effect on these 
pure-air-loving plants. Attention was called to some new and 
rare members of the Primula family being enclosed in locked 
wire-cages, this being necessary in order to prevent the pollen 
from being stolen by unscrupulous hybridizers. 
In the greenhouse a fine group of the rather new Primula 
malacoides was noticed; it is an attractive little plant which 
produces its pretty pink flowers in whorls, sometimes as many as 
twelve, one after the other, thus keeping in bloom a long time 
and producing a wealth of flowers; but unfortunately it is not 
quite hardy. 
In the Palm House attention was directed to the Lodoicea 
seychellensis or coco-de-mer, noticed in our visits in May, 1900 
(‘ Trans.,’Vol. X, p. lii), and June, 1905 (‘ Trans.,’ Vol. XII, p. lii), 
which had grown much since its removal to its new quarters. 
The collection of Cycads was also noticed, of which singular 
plants of ancient times it is believed that Kew has at least one 
of the finest, if not the finest, in the world. They are familiar 
to geologists in the Lias and Oolite formations. 
