FIELD CLUBS AND SOCIETIES. 
171 
North Kent Entomological and Natural History Society. —The 
members of the above Society have arranged a series of afternoon rambles for 
the ensuing season, and the first took place on Saturday March 24th, starting 
from Belvedere Station, at 1.30 p.m., the party worked the ditches to the 
river and returning through the marshes to Abbey wood. A good number of 
specimens were taken by the various members and included Hydrobia jenkinsii, 
Bythinia leachii, Physa fontinalis, Physa hypnorum, and other shells—four or 
five species of water beetles, newts, (M. vulgaris), larvae of dragonflies and man) 
other denizens of pond or ditch water. The second ramble was on Saturday, 
March 31st., and was again chiefly conchological, many of the species taken the 
previous week were again represented, and the members who attended were 
very pleased with the result of the outings. The committee have arranged the 
list of runs to cover all branches of Natural History, in which members are 
interested, and hope, at the end of the season for out-door work, to be able to 
show a good record of specimens from their own district.— Arthur S. Poore. 
Guernsey Natural Science, Society. —The attendance of the members 
at the last monthly meeting March 7th, was larger than usual. Mr. E. D. 
Marquand, president, occupied the chair. Mr. Luff mentioned that the small 
tortoiseshell butterfly was seen by Mr. Derrick and Mr. Randell, on February 
24th, which was an early date for its appearance. He (Mr. Luff) had met 
with a large number of dead sea birds, many of them being puffins, on 
March 4th, on the beach at Petit Port near Moulin Huet. The singularly 
destructive effect on vegetation of the recent extremely cold weather, was 
mentioned and many instances noted. Mr. Marquand then opened the discus¬ 
sion on “The Divining Rod” in a very interesting address, quoting a number of 
curious recorded instances in which its supposed effects, as an aid in finding 
water or minerals, were attested by credible witnesses, who seemed to be 
themselves quite satisfied with the genuiness of the results. It was largely 
believed in among the Guernsey people, and its use was frequently resorted to. 
Mr. J. Lin wood Pitts, Hon. Sec, of the Folk Lore Section, said he had 
invited a gentleman to be present, whose services were in wide request for 
finding water by means of the divining rod. This gentleman, would have come 
with pleasure to explain his experiences, but an important Masonic gathering 
that evening, had kept him and also several members of the Society away. He 
had, however, very kindly lent him (Mr. Pitts) a specimen of the rod which he 
used, and which he now handed round to the members for examination. He 
was said to have been very successful in most cases in indicating where water 
would be found. The movements of the rod in his hands, when searching for 
water, he described as being entirely beyond his control, and he could offer no 
explanation of its cause. It dipped down forcibly when passing over a hidden 
spring ; but when held over an open-well, strange to say, its deflection was 
upward. Mr. Pitts said that until recently he himself had paid Out little at¬ 
tention to the theory of the divining rod. It interested him chiefly as a 
question of folklore, and of very ancient belief. Seeing, however, that its virtues 
were so extensively believed in in Guernsey, he thought'it was well worth further 
consideration, and he regretted that this gentleman was not present to show 
them his exact method of practice when actually searching for water. Mr. A. 
Collenefte then gave his views on the subject. He had brought with him a 
considerable number of freshly cut rods, which are always of a forked shape 
like an inverted y, thus, The two forked ends are grasped firmly in the 
hands of the diviner, and the point of the rod then begins to show a downward 
tendency, however tightly the ends may be held. Mr. Coilenette said that the 
objection he had expressed at a previous meeting, to discussing the question at 
all, was based upon the fact that, for the last fifty years at least, a perfectly 
clear explanation of this so-called phenomenon, had been know to scientific 
men, and therefore he did not see the use of re-opening the discussion. The 
remarks he was about to make, would he believed, convince his hearers that 
there was nothing whatever mysterious about the appearances that were ob- 
