derived from a city in Crete, Kudovia.

Daffodil and eglantine do not repay exploration. Daffodil owes its origin to the French affrodille, a corruption of asphodel. Eglantine is from the old French aiglant, synonymous with the Latin aculeatus, prickly. Two English plants, treacle mustard and mithridate pepperwort, cannot fail to excite our curiosity, being so strangely labelled. Mithridates, King of Pontus, invented a marvellous concoction as a potent vermifuge and antidote to all animal poison. It was often called Triacle or Theriacum, perhaps because viper's blood was one ingredient, and these two plants are supposed to to have been used in compounding this ancient drug. Apricot is a curious word. We should have been satisfied to find it derived from the Latin apricus. Surely the glowing bloom of the Apricot suggests strongly the idea of sun ripening. Prof. Skeat will not allow us to do this. He points out that the original word was apricock, and this he derives from the Portugese allricoque, but allricoque is traced by Littré to the Arabic al-barqûq and then it is found that this latter is a corruption of the late Greek Tрaιkокio, the same word as prœcoquem, the accusative of præcox early; the apricot being thus described, with the usual want of accuracy, as the early peach, persica procox.

The genus Lysimachia (Loosestrife) is a word of which we are able to give a satisfactory explanation. Pliny tells us that it was so named from a certain King Lysimachus, whose power of appeasing strife was no doubt greater than the plant in question.

I have only time to indicate various sources not yet mentioned from which plants have taken their names. Plants named from countries in which they flourished: Arabis, from Arabia; Iberis, from Iberia; Peach, from Persia, and others. Plants owing their names to ecclesiastical legends: St. John's Wort, St. Barbara's Cress, St. Barnaby's Thistle, St. Dabeoc's Heath, and St. Patrick's Cabbage. Plants owing their names to supposed medical virtues, founded in many cases on what is known as the doctrine of signatures, that is, the idea that plants in the form of their leaves or corolla so indicate their natural fitness to cure diseases; a plant with kidney-shaped leaves would be effective in curing diseases of the kidneys. As examples of plants with supposed medical virtues may be named-barrenwort, birthwort, saxifrage, whitlowgrass, sanicle, lungwort, spleenwort, and liverwort; and with a similar notion of curative power, eyebright is said to be used by the linnet to clear its sight. Hawkweed is said by Pliny to perform a similar office for the hawk.

In the above hasty view of the origin of Plant names, it will be seen that most plants were given names in an age when scientific exactness was not possible, when superstitious ideas as to plants were prevalent, when the examinations of distinctive characters were faulty; there would appear, therefore, to be but one means whereby the botanist can assure himself of the name of any given plant, that is, by the Latin specific and generic name which botanists in all countries have agreed to assign to it; that is its name. It has no other. The popular names given to plants in England, in France, in Germany, are interesting, but they are an uncertain guide. In Britten and Holland's English Plant Names, it is stated, that "cuckoo flowers" is applied to at least ten different species,

"cowslip" to eight or nine. "Bachelors' Buttons" to many more.

It may tend to popularize the study of plants in England, to endeavour to find English names for species hitherto only known by a Latin equivalent, but it must be at best but a doubtful expedient, and in this age when the traveller on the Continent meets at every step new floral treasures, he will be compelled, in consulting books of reference, to revert to the names made use of by the scientific world, and to adopt that nomenclature which is understood by all nations.

Thanks having been given to the Rev. Sir George Cornewall for his paper, and also to the Vicar, his family, and Curate, the members employed the short interval remaining by a rapid inspection of the town, and after fortifying themselves at various refreshment rooms therein found, assembled at Berkeley Station at 5.15 for the special train to Lydney, where, after being subjected to a series of shrieking, snorting, puffing and blowing proceedings, relieved periodically by sundry stationary halts, found themselves eventually shunted on the Great Western line for a pleasant return journey home along the banks of the Severn to the junction at Grange Court, a picturesque change of scenery to the outward journey.

A list of the members and visitors attending is appended :-Sir Herbert Croft, President; Mr. H. Southall, Vice-President; Mr. Geo. H. Piper, F.G.S., a former President; Revs. J. O. Bevan, W. K. Brodribb, C. Burrough, Sir Geo. H. Cornewall, W. D. V. Duncombe, J. E. Grasett, E. J. Holloway, M. Hopton, A. G. Jones, W. H. Lambert, A. C. Lee, H. North, T. P. Powell, W. R. Shepherd, Hon. Ven. Berkeley L. S. Stanhope, Hon. Rev. W. S. Stanhope, Rev. H. W. Tweed; Capt. de Winton, Capt. Campbell; Messrs. H. G. Apperley, H. C. Beddoe, G. Cresswell, James Davies, Luther Davis, W. J. Grant, J. Lambe, C. J. Lilwall, C. E. Lilley, T. Llanwarne, B. St. J. Attwood Mathews, W. Pilley, A. J. Purchas, H. G. Sugden, Guy Trafford, H. C. Moore, Honorary Secretary, and James B. Pilley, Assistant Secretary.

The following is a list of the visitors :-Ladies-Lady Croft, and the Misses Croft, Mrs. Attwood Mathews and friend, Miss May Barker, Miss Beddoe, Mrs. Burrough, Mrs. Campbell, Miss Carless, Mrs. R. Clarke, Miss Davies, Miss Durrant, Miss Gee, Mrs. Glynn, Mrs. W. J. Grant, Miss Grasett, Mrs. Green, Miss Gwynne James, Mrs. Hopton, Miss Hopton, Miss Johnson, Miss Frederica Jones, Miss Lee, Mrs. Grey, Mrs. Lilwall, Mrs. Pilley, Miss Pilley, Miss Piper, Miss Prosser Powell, Mrs. Purchas, Miss Whinfield; and the following gentlemen :-Rev. E. R. Firmstone, Rev. H. B. Porter, Messrs. H. W. Apperley, Carless, Croft, Douglas Stretch-Dowse, and W. King, with many others whose names were not ascertained.

POSTSCRIPT.

It would have been considered nothing but natural had history revealed to us schemes whereby the murderers of Edward had attempted to throw off suspicion from themselves, but we are not prepared for such startling revelations to be reserved to so late a period of the nineteenth century. The following letter, signed G. G., appeared in The Times of November 4th, 1890, under the heading :

SOMETHING ABOUT EDWARD II., OF ENGLAND.

Count Nigra, not many years ago Italian Ambassador in London, sends me the following narrative, which he requests me to translate and have published in London.

"From Acqui, in Piedmont, where I am taking the baths at the winter establishment, Le Nuove Terme, I went the other day to the Castle of Melazzo, where, according to local tradition, was for two years hidden Edward Plantagenet (Edward II.), King of England, after he was dethroned, and had succeeded in escaping from the hands of murderers bribed by the King's wife to do the deed. The fact is authenticated by an inscription, here subjoined, which was put up by the present owners of the castle, the brothers Arnoldi. Melazzo rises upon a hill at the meeting of the waters of the Erro and the Bormida, on the right bank of the latter stream, and overlooks both valleys. The view from the castle is stupendous. The distance from Acqui is three English miles, and there is a carriage way.

By what strange tide of events the ill-fated English King, upon his escape from England, and after a stay at Avignon, at the Court of Pope John XXII., came for a refuge to Melazzo, during the years 1332-33, if you think the subject worth the trouble, you may inquire in the proper quarter! and if you think it may induce any of the English tourists to undertake a pilgrimage to the most picturesque mountain districts of Upper Monferrat, you can also, if you think it matter of interest, publish this letter and inscription."

(The Inscription.)

"NIGRA."

"Edward II., Plantagenet, King of England, deposed from the throne by a vote of the Parliament in 1327, and imprisoned in Berkeley Castle, having providentially escaped from the daggers of two cutthroats, Sir Thomas Gorney and Sir Simon Esberford, Knights, bribed by the King's wife, the cruel Queen Isabel of France, and afterwards hospitably sheltered by Pope John XXII., at Avignon, after long and eventful wanderings, resided secretly in this Castle of Melazzo, then a dependence of the diocese of Milan, between the years of the Lord, 1330-33."

The inscription is in one of the halls of the Castle of Melazzo, near Acqui. In reply to which the following letter appeared in the issue of November 10th.

"The information transmitted to England by Count Nigra, in The Times of the 4th inst., is certainly startling, but it is somewhat at variance with the unerring evidence of English documentary history, as I may, perhaps, be allowed to show.

In the Parliament held at Westminster in the fourth year of Edward III. (1330), proceedings were taken against Sir Thomas Berkeley touching the death of the late King. He admitted that he, being ill at the time, had placed the King in charge of Thomas de Gournay and William de Ocle. In the same Parliament judgment of death was passed on Roger Mortimer, Simon de Bereford, and others for treason; Gournay and Ocle were similarly condemned, but only these two men were expressly charged with the murder of Edward II. They both fled, and

Ocle got clear away. As to Gournay, he took refuge in Spain and was thrown into prison by the King of Castille at Burgos.

Edward III, at once took active steps to obtain possession of Gournay's person by writing letters to the King of Castille, issuing writs to persons in authority, and sending, on May 30th, 1331, Egidius de Ispannia, "dilectus valettus noster," to take Gournay captive and bring him to England. Impediments of all sorts were placed in Egidius's way, and it was not until February, 1332, when success seemed assured, that he found the prisoner had contrived to escape. Egidius returned home in June, and, Gournay being heard of at Naples in January of the following year, Edward, not to be deterred, despatched Sir William de Thweng thither, who obtained possession of the prisoner and conducted him as far as Bayonne, where Gournay fell ill and presently died. His body was brought by ship to England, ariving July, 1333. We know from the irrefragable testimony of contemporary documents that the search for and capture of Gournay were conducted with great persistence and vigour. They show how strong was the anxiety of Edward III. to bring his father's murderer to justice, and it is utterly impossible that there was any idea at that time that Edward II. was alive and in shelter in Italy.

Moreover, six years before the pursuit of the murderer was set on foot another and more significant scene had been enacted in Gloucestershire, between the dates October 22nd and December 20th, 1327. The accounts of the expenses for conveying the dead body of Edward II. from Berkeley to the Abbey of Gloucester still exist in full detail, and the Cathedral itself, with its Norman work overlaid, as it were, with a veil of perpendicular, is a witness of the culte of the murdered Monarch which, bringing such treasures and offerings to the Abbey, made the grave of a King the cradle of a new style.

The authors of the inscription at Melazzo have given us a chapter of history, new and curious indeed, but not, perhaps, of such a kind as to induce English students to make a pilgrimage so far as Melazzo to study it."

I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,

Bradbourne-hall, Ashbourne, Nov. 6th.

ALBERT HARtshorne.

And another letter from G. G. appeared on the same date.

"With respect to King Edward's escape from his would-be murderers' hand (as mentioned in The Times of November 4th) and surviving for years at Avignon, in France, and near Acqui, in Piedmont, there is a second inscription on the walls of Melazzo Castle (Acqui) stating that the document correcting the account of the King's death by the hands of assassins is by Manuel Fieschi, the Pontifical Notary at Avignon, a contemporary of Edward III., son and successor of Edward II., and was discovered by the French historian, Germain, in a mass of papers of the Bishopric of Maguelonne, compiled in 1368, and laid in the archives of the Departement de l'Hérault in 1879.

The names of the alleged murderers of the King are given in English histories as Sir Thomas Gornay and Sir John Maltravers. In the Melazzo inscription the latter is described as Sir Simon Esberford (Elberfeld ?)

Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club.

AUGUST 26TH, 1890.

ON Tuesday, August 26th, the Club visited the Breconshire Beacons. By a singular fatality circumstances have always combined to thwart the projects of the Club in their visits to these Beacons, the elements even lending themselves as it were to join in a conspiracy of disapproval. Profiting by the experience of former years, which has shown us the futility of relying upon Brecon for a supply of carriage conveyance equal to the large demand when so attractive a locality is opened for exploration, it was determined to try the route by Railway, and the experiment proved so favourable as to recommend itself for repetition upon any future occasion. Tickets were accordingly taken at Hereford by the Midland Railway through Hay (where a contingent of fifteen members and visitors, including ladies, from the Golden Valley district joined) so far as Talyllyn Junction, whence, by arrangements with the Brecon and Merthyr Railway authorities, a special train conveyed the party to Torpantau, where they found themselves landed on the platform at an elevation of 1,314 feet above the sea-level.

The scenery between Talyllyn Junction and Torpantau is very grand. Upon the left are seen: Llangorse Lake, the largest lake, except Bala, in the whole of Wales, being three miles in length, one and a half miles broad; the Mynydd Troed range of hills, and in the left back-ground the range of the Black Mountain, terminating in the conical peak of Crow's Foot, stretching far away in the distant horizon; the Allt standing proudly ahead. The river Usk is crossed, and near the junction of the river Cavanog the station of Talybont is reached after a run of three miles. From this point the scenery increases in grandeur, and can be viewed leisurely as the train is slowly creeping along, and up, the hill on the left as it makes the ascent for a distance of 7 miles to Torpantau. Upon the right is the valley of the Usk, the river Collwn winding its way down the mountain; the valley Glyn Collwng, seven miles in length; innumerable hills, of varying magnitude; with the noble Tor in front, and the splendid heights of the Breconshire Beacons in the background, presenting a prospect gloriously grand.

From Torpantau the line continues to ascend as far as Dowlais Top, six miles further, on the road to Newport. The highest inhabited cottage in Wales— 1,600 feet above the level of the sea-Twyn-y-waun, is close to the Railway line here, between Pant and Dowlais Top.

At Torpantau the road leading to the Beacons was entered without delay. After proceeding for a distance of a mile and a half a farmhouse on the left is