the oldest in the west and the newest in the east.

Shortly and crisply Dr.

Ord led his audience all through the sequence-from the Lias of Lyme Regis, rich in the remains of the great saurians, and the Lower and Inferior Oolite of the West Bay Coast, through the Middle Oolite near Abbotsbury, the Upper Oolite north of Weymouth, the Chalk of the Lulworth Coast, then the Kimmeridge Clay, the Portland beds of the Purbeck coast from St. Aldhelm's to Durlston Head, just capped with the Purbecks, the Purbeck beds of Durlston Bay and the Wealden beds of Swanage Bay, with the Chalk reappearing at Ballard Down. At Swanage we for the first time leave the Mesozoic strata and enter the Kainozoic, more commonly now called by geologists the Tertiary. The Isle of Portland was an exception to his rule of the regular order of the beds, since there we have Kimmeridge Clay covered with Portland stone. Dealing next with the principal faults along the coast, due to secular cooling of the underlying strata, Dr. Ord mentioned the great fault at Eype Gap, where the Forest Marble and Fuller's Earth are faulted up against the Lias. Another fault a little to the west of Bridport Harbour has brought down the Midford Sands, which form the predominant feature of the cliffs from west of West Bay to beyond Burton Bradstock. From Bridport Harbour to the mouth of the Bredy we have only Milford Sands capped with Inferior Oolite, which is full of fossils. Dr. Ord called attention to how the summit of the sandstone cliffs east of the Bredy mouth have weathered back, a grey colour. This was due to the appearance on the top of the cliffs of Fuller's Earth, the next stratum above the Inferior Oolite. He pointed out how the Midford Sands at Burton Bradstock are characterised by calcareous bands which, being harder than the sandstone, stand out in relief owing to the softer sand. stone weathering away, thus giving the cliffs the appearance of being horizon. tally ribbed. The capping of Inferior Oolite, which had here been thinned to ten feet, contained an enormous number of cephalopods, to which all the ammonites and belemnites belong. Of these and other fossils found in the neighbourhood he exhibited specimens which Mr. W. R. Bates, the Bridport geologist, had kindly brought down for inspection. Dr. Ord concluded a most interesting address, of which only a bald outline has been given, by speaking of the Chesil Beach, its constituents, and process of formation.

The HON. SECRETARY, in the name of the members present, heartily thanked Dr. Ord for his lecture; after which the party proceeded to Bridport Harbour, where tea had been provided on the most hospitable scale by Mr. and Mrs. A. N. Stephens. At a business meeting which followed six new members were elected, and, on the motion of Mr.Philip Sturdy, sincere thanks were voted to all who had, in the capacity of guides and hosts, contributed to the enjoyment of a most successful day.

THE HON. SECRETARY'S REPORT.

The membership of the Club throughout the past year has fluctuated between 390 and 400. There will probably be a fair number of vacancies at the end of June, and members wishing to propose friends should do so at once. The summer meetings last year were less well-attended than usual, owing partly to the uncertain weather, but the attendance at the winter meetings has slightly increased. There is still a balance in hand on the Summer Meetings' Account of over £5; so for one more year we will continue the 1s. 6d. per diem levy for "incidental expenses," instead of 2s. The accounts for the past year have been duly audited, and the vouchers pertaining thereto lie upon the table.

There is one other subject to which I should like to draw attention. One sometimes hears the regret expressed that there are not more sectional committees appointed in connection with the Club. We have already, it is true, a Publication Committee with the Hon. Editor as its corresponding secretary; a Photographic Survey Committee, with Mr. Cornish-Browne as director; an Ornithological Entomological, and Botanical section of the Club directed by the President; and a Meteorological section in the charge of Mr. Stilwell. But there is no reason, if it were thought desirable, why those workers in these sections who are members of the Club should not be banded formally into sectional committees, as contemplated by Rule 22, and also other sectional committees be appointed. For instance, the formation at this meeting of an Earthworks' Committee would be an immediate help to the Hon. Secretary, as such a committee could give much valuable help in drawing up the report on the subject which he has to prepare each year for the Congress of Archæological Societies, besides doing other useful work.

The whole subject is well worth the consideration of the members of the Club, and it would be a healthy sign if, for the next few years, not an annual meeting passed without at least one additional Sectional Committee being appointed.

A wise application of Rule 22 would certainly have the fullest sympathy of the Executive of the Club.

THE HON. EDITOR'S REPORT.

In the preparation of Volume XXXI. I find myself in danger of being overwhelmed by an embarras de richesse, through the possession of an unusual number of papers, of a degree of importance that renders their omission, and even curtailment, a question of some difficulty.

The contents include the following subjects:-" Matthew Prior," by the Rev. J. M. J. Fletcher; "Dorset Privateering,' by Mr. H. Symonds; "Weymouth and Melcombe Regis during the Civil War," by Mr. W. Bowles Barrett; "The Bettiscombe Skull," by Mr. J. S. Udal; "The Pitts of Blandford St. Mary," by the Rev. C. Almack; a further contribution on British Arachnideæ from the Rev. 0. Pickard-Cambridge; the remaining sections of Mr. E. A. Fry's "Dorset Chantries; ""The Normans in Dorset," by the Hon. Editor; besides the Mansel-Pleydell Prize Essay on Geology, by Dr. W. Theophilus Ord (to whom our congratulations are due); and, we hope, a short account of this year's excavations at Maumbury, from Mr. St. George Gray. To the President we are indebted for the text of his valuable address, and for the Tables of Natural Phenomena so ably compiled by him.

The question of printing a catalogue of the great collection of Dorset Deeds given to us by Mr. E. A. Fry, upon which we have had the benefit of much learned and useful labour given by Mr. H. Symonds, is occupying the attention of the Publication Committee.

NOTE. The important Paper on "Lobsters (read by Mr. F. J. Barnes on Dec. 14th, 1909), will, it is hoped, appear in the next volume of our Proceedings.-[ED.]

REPORT OF THE HON. DIRECTOR OF THE
PHOTOGRAPHIC SURVEY.

May, 1910.

At the last meeting of the Field Club were shown the photographs contributed to the Survey of the County since the annual meeting in May, 1909. They numbered 159, and were the work of Mr. St. George Gray, Mr. Dicker, Mr. Scott Orr, and the Director. It has for some time been felt that the survey has not received the recognition and support from amateur photographers throughout the county that it dedeserves; and in order to determine what steps should be taken to make it better known, and to bring it into line with similar surveys in other counties, there was appointed a small committee, of which the members were the President, Captain Acland, Mr. Barnes, Captain Elwes, Mr. Pentin, and the Director of the Survey. The committee met at the museum on April 4th, and having taken into consideration what is being done in other places, and the methods of conducting surveys with success elsewhere, it then decided that the plan of keeping the collection in books should be abandoned for the future, and that, instead, each photograph should be mounted on a loose sheet, preferably one on a sheet, but two if the sizes are small, and the subjects suitable; that these sheets, with printed slips attached, giving full particulars of the photograph, should be stored in cardboard boxes, and catalogued after being arranged under parishes, and subdivided under the following sections :-Antiquities, Architecture, Art and Literature, Geology and Natural History, Passing Events, and Topography.

That platinotype and carbon prints should form the permanent collection, but that untoned bromides should be taken until a permanent print of the same subject was forthcoming.