MR SELBV'S ADDRESS. 35 



on account of the intrinsic value the papers may individually poueM, 

 and which are thus made available to others ; but, as an evidence that 

 the Club is really earnest in its intentions and pursuits, and that the ad- 

 vancement of science and knowledge, however limited in degree, is the 

 principal object, and the ultimate aim, of our association. At this meet- 

 ing we were favoured with communications, connected with zoology, 

 botany, and meteorology. In the first department, Dr Johnston gave 

 excellent descriptions of two species of the genus Delphinus, viz., the 

 Ddphinus phoccena (common Porpesse), and the Delphmus melcu or 

 deductvr (Ca'ing whale). His account, which embraced the anatomy 

 and peculiarities of structure observable in these marine animals, was 

 further illustrated by beautiful figures and drawings from the pencil of 

 his amiable lady. The occurrence of the Phalaropus lobatus, a rare 

 British bird, was also mentioned as having been killed within the precints 

 of our district ; and a rare moth,* from the wooded glen of the Pease 

 Burn. A list of localities of rare plants was furnished by our accomplished 

 coadjutrix Miss Bell ; and a second list of the same nature was also read 

 by Dr Thomson, who added three species of fungi to the cryptogamic 

 catalogue of the district. The same gentleman favoured the Club with 

 an analysis of a ball of iron-pyrites found near Eyemouth. The business 

 of this meeting was concluded by a paper from the pen of Mr William 

 Baird, who delighted the assembled members by his admirable and 

 poetic description of the Aurora Borealis, as it had appeared on various 

 evenings during the late autumnal and winter months. Upon one occa- 

 sion he adverts to a noise he heard during the brightest corruscations of 

 the meteor, resembling, as he describes it, the gushing of a sudden 

 breeze among trees, or the noise produced by the quick flight of a bird 

 overhead. This peculiar sound, he adds, was heard the same evening 

 by other observers in the neighbourhood ; but whether it actually origi- 

 nated with, and was caused by the aurora, or proceeded from some other 

 extraneous source (though nothing occurred at the time to account 

 otherwise for its production), he ventures not to decide, knowing that a 

 discrepancy of opinion exists upon this point, which can only be set at 

 rest by repeated and long- continued observation of the phenomena. I 

 need scarcely recall to the recollection of those who attended the Spring 

 Meeting, the pleasant and instructive day we passed at Abbey St Ba- 

 than's, so sweetly situated upon the secluded and quiet banks of the 

 silvery Whitadder, where, while some amused themselves, with dexterous 

 art and well- trimmed flies, in deceiving the finny tenants of that limpid 

 stream, others resorted to the woods and fields in search of Flora's 

 treasures, or those insect tribes which, recalled to life and activity by 

 the revivifying influence of the season, had already quitted their hyber- 

 nacular retreats. Several specimens of a trout were taken, in form and 



Hipparcbus Papilionarius, taken by Mr William Dunlop. 



c 2 



