MII SELBY'S ADDRESS. 37 



Bell, was, unfortunately, in a great measure disappointed, towards noon, 

 t>y a heavy and continued rain, which compelled the party, however re- 

 luctant, to seek the shelter of the village inn, but not before that rare 

 and lovely plant, the Pyrola sccunda, had been culled by Dr Johnston 

 and Rev. Mr J. Baird. Communications from both these gentlemen 

 were afterwards read ; that of Mr Baird referred to a plant found near to 

 Kirk-Yetholm, and which he endeavoured to prove was the Anemone 

 ranunculoides, and not the Ranunculus auricomus, as had been suggest- 

 ed by Professor Graham. It, however, appears, that doubts still remain 

 upon this point, which we may hope to have resolved, by the reappear- 

 ance of the flower in the same locality where it was first discovered by 

 Mr Baird last spring* who has undertaken to watch narrowly its pro- 

 gress the ensuing season. Dr Johnston's paper contained a notice of 

 the plants and insects observed at Abbey St Bathan's in April last. 

 Among the former, he particularizes the Populus tremula, which grew, 

 evidently in a wild state, upon a bank of natural brushwood, nearly oppo- 

 site the little inn, and the Morchella esculenta (Morel), a rare fungus in this 

 district, but which was that day gathered in considerable abundance in the 

 woods around the " Retreat." He also added to his former list of Ber- 

 wickshire fishes four new species, among which we notice the Blenniw 

 tentacularis,* a fish new to the Scottish Fauna, and of rare occurrence upon 

 the English coast. Mr Armstrong mentioned to the Club the fact of the 

 ring-ouzel breeding upon the hills in the neighbourhood of Wooler, from 

 whence he had procured the nest ; and that a hooded crow ( Corvus cor- 

 nix), had this last spring paired with a carrion crow ( Corvus corone) at 

 Fowberry, where it was killed from the nest, containing eggs. Examples 

 of a similar nature have also been known to occur in Dumfriesshire, by 

 our colleague Sir W. Jardine ; and Temminck remarks, that in the 

 northern countries of Europe, where the C. corone is rare, a mixed breed 

 is sometimes produced between it and the C. comix. I cannot, how- 

 ever, entertain a doubt as to the specific difference of the two birds, al- 

 though Dr Fleming, I believe, hesitates in considering them distinct ; the 

 marked and constant difference of plumage, the form and size of their 

 bills, their different cries, easily distinguished by the accurate observer, 

 and the dissimilarity of habits and manners, evidently separate them too 

 far, to warrant us in considering them as mere varieties of the same spe- 

 cies. This is indeed further strengthened by the rarity of such associa- 

 tions, and the circumstances under which they always take place, viz. 

 when one of the species is rare and thinly disseminated, as in those parts 

 quoted by Temminck, or in our own country, where some accident has 

 detained the C. cornix, and prevented it re-migrating at the usual period 

 with its congeners. Circumstances again unfortunately prevented my 



Of Brunuich. Cuv. Hog. Anim. ii. '237. The Cmteii Mcnny of Pennant Vr 

 Yarrfll, to whom the specimen was presented. 



