38 MR SELBY'S ADDRESS. 



presence at the July meeting of the Club at Smailholm, where a lovely 

 day and an interesting excursion, in a district rendered classical by the 

 magic pen of Sir Walter Scott, appears to have given unalloyed satisfac- 

 tion to the assembled members of the Club, and to their visitors from the 

 Tweedside Physical and Antiquarian Society. The principal object of the 

 excursion was the examination of WhiterigBog, remarkable for its extensive 

 deposit of shell-marl, used by the agriculturists of the district as a manure, 

 or alkaline corrective. The Peel or Tower of Smailholm, one of the Bor- 

 der defences in earlier times, was afterwards visited, and the botanical 

 treasures of the morass, at the foot of the rocky steep upon which it is 

 perched, where several interesting plants, such as the cranberry ( Vacci- 

 nium Oxycoccus), sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), &c. were gathered. 

 Several additions to the Berwickshire Flora were announced, as the dis- 

 coveries of our colleagues, Miss Hunter and Miss Bell, whose exertions and 

 success in enriching the Flora of the district, have before been adverted 

 to. A pleasing and graphic account of the excursion of the Club in 

 June was afterwards read by Dr Johnston, and the business of this meet- 

 ing was concluded by some remarks upon a deposit of marl by Mr 

 Mitchell, which he further illustrated by specimens of the shells compo- 

 sing it. 



Such, gentlemen, is a rapid, but inadequate recapitulation of the la- 

 bours and proceedings of the Club during the third year of its exist- 

 ence, but from which, however imperfect it may be, we can gather, that 

 much important information, upon various subjects connected with 

 the objects we have in view, has been brought before it, and that many 

 interesting additions, in the various departments of natural history, have 

 Rewarded the zeal of our colleagues, and enriched the catalogue of our 

 local Fauna. It may perhaps be objected, that the excursions of the last 

 year have not been so productive as those of the two former ; but, even 

 allowing it were so, can we feel disappointed or even surprised that such 

 should be the case, when we consider the limited district to which we are 

 confined, and that the greater part of the ground has already been trod- 

 den by the Club ? Besides, it is by a closer and more minute investiga- 

 tion than we can afford to bestow, during our appointed walks, that 

 the zeal of the entomologist, the botanist, or the cultivator of any other 

 department of natural history, can expect to be fully rewarded. But 

 even should our walks afford nothing new, or that we had not previously 

 met with, still I hold that one great object of our meeting remains in 

 full force, and its utility is but slightly, if at all restricted, for it is the 

 associating together in friendly communion of individuals engaged in si- 

 milar scientific pursuits, who otherwise have but few opportunities of in- 

 tercourse ; it is in the interchange of opinion and sentiment thus person- 

 ally enjoyed, and to those friendly discussions tending to elucidate 

 truth, or correct erroneous views, that, in my humble opinion, the expe- 



