reached, soon after passing which a road is seen bearing to the left. This road conducts to the dam over the reservoir which, collecting the waterflow from the southern side of the three Beacons supplies the town of Dowlais. Avoiding this road, the members proceeded onwards through a pelting shower for more than a mile, the road gradually ascending, until they found themselves at a pass called Bwlch-y-ddwy-allt (the pass of the two cliffs). The clothing as well as the ardour of the botanists by this time had become considerably damped, insomuch that the majority, abandoning their botanical researches with one common consent prudently kept themselves in active exercise, and seeing the summits of the Beacons in front of them, made them the goal of their pursuit. Ascending gradually and obliquely along the southern flank of the rounded hill, which in the Ordnance Map is spelled Y-Fan-big, and pursuing the same course with the next succeeding heights, the elevation of 2,910 feet above the sea was eventually reached. The two contiguous highest Beacons are within rifle range of each other. Without the aid of levelling instruments it is impossible to determine which is the highest of the two. In Transactions, 1870, p. 94, we read that the most eastern is the highest, whilst in Transactions, 1882, p. 199, we are told that the most southerly is the highest. The same locality is referred to in each statement, which will be less misleading if we say that the one which lies most south-easterly is the highest. In the Ordnance Map the name Pen-y-fan is given, but to local authorities the name Cader Arthur or Arthur's Chair is more familiar. Owing to the uncertainty of the weather only a short time was spent on the summit, but fortunately the passing away of heavy clouds was temporarily succeeded by a ray of sunshine exposing a clear but limited proportion of the grand panorama exhibiting beauties and grandeur which proved a sufficient reward to the toilers who had made the ascent. The descent was made by various routes. Some members descended into Brecon by the narrow path which skirts the intermediate Beacon upon its very steep and lofty northern slope overlooking the Cwm Serre valley so rich in rare botanical productions, thence over the shoulder of Bryn-leg into the road at Pont Cynedydd; some reached Brecon after a walk of about six miles by following the prolongation of the road from the narrow neck of Bwlch-y-ddwy. allt; others returned to Torpantau by the same route as was taken in the ascent, whilst one more adventurous, regardless of boggy ground and mountain torrents visibly increasing in volume, arrived home safely by the direct line in the valley by the stream Taf-fechan leading to the reservoir dam, a route not to be recommended after rains. The members who returned to Torpantau enjoy a grateful recollection of the thoughtfulness of the more wise ladies, who had prudently returned in the earlier part of the day and had prepared afternoon tea under the hospitable roof of the Station-master's gude wife. Here clothes were dried, and notes were compared, there being amongst the ladies some excellent botanists. The finds of the day included Saxifraga hypnoides, oppositifolia, and sponhemica ; Drosera rotundifolia in blossom, some very fine specimens of Narthecium ossifragum (the bog asphodel), Asplenium viride, Sedum Rhodiola, Silene maritima (so far from the sea), Caltha palustris, var. minor, Rubus ramosus, Galium boreale, Myosotis repens, Ranunculus Lenormandi, Hieracium nitidum, and last, but not least, a variety of this same genus whose name has not yet been determined, although it has been submitted to Rev. A. Ley, Rev. W. H. Purchas, and Mr. Hanbury. The return train left Torpantau at 5.10 p.m. Shortly after leaving Torpantau the train enters a long tunnel, on the immediate emergence from which a grand prospect is revealed. The seven miles descent is rapidly made overlooking the valley of Glyn Collwng, seven miles in length. At the bottom of the incline the pretty little village of Aber with its picturesque bridge is reached, the Brecon Beacons on the left rear occupying the back ground in all their grandeur, the Black Forest range beyond stretching far away towards the horizon, and after passing the seventh milestone from Torpantau, the station is situated at the pretty village of Talybont. There are many objects of antiquarian interest in this neighbourhood, which will at present only be casually referred to, as we are in hopes of the Club revisiting this locality before long. One of our members, Mr. Robert Clarke, promises us a list of the inscribed stones in this neighbourhood with drawings from rubbings taken by himself. Shortly after leaving Talybont upon the righthand is Llansaintfraed Church, about six miles from Brecon; its interior contains some interesting old monumental slabs, and in the churchyard is a flat grave-stone to the memory of Henry Vaughan, obiit 1695, physician and poet, who wrote under the signature Siluria. About four miles and a half from Brecon is Scethrog; upon the left side of the road is a cylindrical stone, about three feet six inches high, commemorating the interment of a son of Victorinus, who is supposed to have been slain in battle between the Romans and Britons. The word VICTORINI is plain, the remainder of the inscription is illegible, but Mr. Robert Clarke by burrowing traced the inscription carefully downwards, and succeeded in obtaining a correct rubbing from the original, which he exhibited. This cylindrical stone is situated at the bottom of the little dingle on the east which is called Cwmgelleddion, or Cwmgelainion or Cwmgelanedd-the dell of the slaughter, or the heaps of carcases. At Scethrog also are the remains of an old castle consisting of a large square tower with entrenchments, now the site of a farmhouse. Approaching Brecon, at the third milestone, is Llanhamlach; in the Church is fixed a portion of an Anglo-Saxon cross with interlaced scroll work, and the following inscription:-IOHANNIS, MONIDIC, The word sunexit is peculiar! but so it is reported. Mr. Robert Clarke has taken rubbings of an interesting effigy of a female, with this inscription :-" Here lieth the body of IAN. VZ. Humfry Standley, Earle of Darby. She married Phyllip sonne of Sir William sonne of Sir John Walby Knight and Marget VZ. IOHN AP IOHN BARON OF Scethrog and Penkelly. This IAN was mother of Sir Elipot Walby." But we must leave the remainder for Mr. Clarke to present to the memoirs of the Club upon some future occasion, when they explore this ancient road leading from Y Gaer or Caer Bannau, the ancient Bannium, to Caerleon, the head quarters of the second Roman legion. Bannium is two miles and a half distant east from Brecon, on the north side of the Usk; traces of its SVNEXIT. HVNC. LAPIDEM. foundation walls and entrances still exist, and the shape of the camp is oblong. It is supposed to date from an early period of the Roman occupation under Ostorius Scapula, A.D. 54. It was destroyed by Bernard Newmarch about 1090, and its stones transferred for the building of Brecon. At Talyllyn Junction the party which had been separated now re-united, when it was found that some had found time to visit the grand old Priory Church, and many had prudently refitted themselves with purchases of stockings and boots. On the journey homewards the business of the Club was transacted, which included the election of the following four members:-Count L. Lubienski, Rev. F. R. Burnside, Mr. Harold Easton, and Mr. James Douglas Stretch-Dowse. On the return journey the beautiful scenery was viewed under the more favourable aspects of a clear sky. A list of the members and visitors attending is now given, so far as could be ascertained, the total number being between sixty and seventy. Sir Herbert Croft, President; Rev. Sir George H. Cornewall, Captain Campbell, Major Doughty, Revs. H. A. Barker, J. O. Bevan, W. Bowell, W. Elliot, J. E. Grasett, E. J. Holloway, A. G. Jones, W. H. Lambert, H. B. D. Marshall, W. H. Purchas, T. Prosser Powell, and R. H. Warner; Drs. T. A. Chapman, J. H. Wood, and A. J. Crespi ; Messrs. Robert Clarke, Luther Davis, W. J. Grant, E. H. Greenly, G. H. Hadfield, T. F. Inman, J. W. Lloyd, T. C. Paris, W. Pilley, H. Southall, Guy Trafford, H. C. Moore, Hon. Secretary, and James B. Pilley, Assistant Secretary; and the following visitors :-Ladies-Miss Davies, Miss Dawber, Miss Doughty, Miss Hayes, Miss A. Hayes, Miss Powell, Miss J. Powell, Mrs. Robinson, and Miss J. Robinson. Gentlemen- Lieut.-Col. Blathwayt, Captain Hayes, Revs. E. R. Firmstone, R. W. T. Hunt, E. B. Brackenbury, and A. G. Watson; Messrs. E. Bowell, Algernon Brackenbury, G. H. Busby, Hugh Croft, Basil Holloway, - Kelsall, F. Lindsay, John Lloyd, Walter Reeves (of the Royal Microscopical Society), J. Robinson, and Reginald Robinson. NOTES ON A FEW OF THE MORE INTERESTING FLOWERING PLANTS INHABITING THE BRECON BEACONS. By Rev. A. LEY. MR. W. BOWLES BARRETT, F.L.S., published in the Journal of Botany for 1885, a series of papers styled "A Contribution towards a Flora of Breconshire." These papers contain an accurate and exhaustive summary of the Flora of the county. They afford far the fullest list of the flowering plants of Breconshire known to exist, and but little has been added, and that little chiefly in the critical genera of Rubus and Hieracium, to the Flora of the county since the date of their publication. It is because Mr. Barrett's papers may not be in the hands of all the members of the Club, that I have thought it might be worth while to bring together a few notes upon the more interesting of the flowering plants which inhabit the range of hills upon which we stand. The following notes are taken substantially from Mr. B. Barrett's papers, but they have had the advantage of Mr. W. P. J. Le Brocq's criticisms. He has kindly consented to look them over, and to give us the benefit of his more recent investigations in the botany of these hills. Mr. F. J. Hanbury has also kindly looked over some critical Hieracia which I recently sent him, and has allowed me to incorporate his decision with regard to them in this paper. The range of hills upon which we stand is well known for the magnificent view which is gained of their highest points from the immediate neighbourhood of the town of Brecon. These highest points are the "Beacons " from which the range takes its name. The hills conspicuously and characteristically present this double point which gives them the names of Beacons, whether viewed from the hills of Radnor or Herefordshire on the N. and N. E., or from those of Glamorganshire on the south. They form the most elevated tract of country in South Wales, reaching (by the Ordnance Map) the elevation of 2,910 feet at their highest point in the Beacons, and 2,631 feet some twelve miles further west at the Breconshire Van. This elevated tract stretches across the county of Brecon in its southern part, from Monmouthshire on the east into Carmarthenshire on the west; the straight line from the Blorenge, rising immediately above Abergavenny on the east, to the hills of the Llwchwr valley in which the range sinks down on the west, measuring about forty-two miles. The ridge, or backbone, of the hills joining these two points lies nearly due east and west, bending out however in the central and highest part considerably to the north; and, moreover, rendered a singularly tortuous and undulating line, by the lateral valleys and glens which invade it both from the north and south. These glens on the north are all, so far as Brecon and Monmouthshire are concerned, feeders of the Usk, while on the south they form the heads of the Taf, Neath, Tawe, and other rivers. Measuring from north to south, the breadth of the range, at its broadest, which is also its highest part, opposite the town of Brecon, is some ten or twelve miles. From this point the hills become narrower, each way both to the east and west, till they are found to be only a few miles in breadth at the extremities of the range. The whole range of hills has been well named, when spoken of collectively, as "the Vans :" the Welsh term "Y Fan" (one of the many words meaning a "top" or a "ridge ") being applied more frequently to the undulating "ridges" and "tops" which they present, than to those of any other group of mountains in the principality. The geological formation of the hills is mainly the Old Red Sandstone with which we are so familiar in Herefordshire. This occupies the whole of the centre of the range; and in the Brecon Beacons this formation attains, I believe, its highest elevation, and its largest mountain mass in all the British Isles. The Red Sandstone is bounded on the south by the coal and iron district of Glamorganshire; and it is broken into at Pen-y-wyllt and the hills above Cwm Amman on the west, and again in the Monmouthshire part of the range upon the east, by tracts of limestone. This mountain limestone occurs in Breconshire (and therefore within the limits of this paper) only at Pen-y-wy!lt, where it adds considerably to the number of interesting plants which have to be recorded. No attempt has been made in the following lists to record the more common species. Those only are mentioned, which on account of their greater rarity, or for some other reason, may have more interest attached to them. The nomenclature of the 7th edition of the London Catalogue of British Plants has been used in order to maintain correspondence with Mr. Bowles Barrett's paper. New county records are marked with a *: introduced plants with a †. Thalictrum minus, L. var. montanum. Very local. Confined, so far as is known, to one station. Craig-y-gledsiau, plentifully. Close to its southern limit in Wales, which is reached at Craig-y-llyn, Glamorganshire; or at Giltar head, Pembrokeshire? Ranunculus Lenormandi, F. Schultz. A moorland plant, occupying the same position on the high lands which R. hederaceus does on the lowlands. Not abundant in these hills. Southern part of the range near Hirwain. Note: the Brecon Beacon and Black Mountain forin of this plant is generally a small state, making a decided approach to R. intermedius, Hiern. Caltha palustris, L. var. minor. Spring heads at high elevations on the hills; not common. At the southern limit of its range in Britain. Trollius europæus, L. Globe Flower. Stream sides in the glens : locally abundant. Hepste glen. Pen-y-wyllt. Abundant in Cwm Serre. rare. Meconopsis cambrica, Vig. Welsh Poppy. Shady rocks and glens, * Hesperis matronalis, L. Menascin brook near Brecon. Dame's Violet. Well naturalised on the |