6 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



heart. As one of a small committee appointed at that 

 meeting, it fell to the lot of the writer, a short time ago, to go 

 through some of the papers left by the subject of this notice, 

 and to say that the quantity of MSS. discovered was a 

 surprise is to convey but an inadequate idea of its extent. 

 Whenever a rare book, or document of interest, came within 

 his reach it had been carefully, and literally transcribed, and the 

 amount of physical labour entailed in this respect alone must 

 have been enormous ; but in addition to the copied matter, 

 a large quantity of original, and collated material was dis- 

 closed, and from this it is hoped to publish as soon as possible 

 one or more memorial volumes. 



GEORGE BOLAM. 



NOTES ON THE EFFECTS OF THE RECENT 

 OCTOBER GALE UPON MARINE LIFE ON 

 THE COASTS OF THE LOTHIANS. 



By WILLIAM EVANS, F.R.S.E., M.B.O.U. 



THE outstanding feature of the weather experienced on the 

 east side of Scotland during October 1898 was the severe 

 easterly gale which set in on the I4th, and, but for a 

 temporary lull on the i6th, continued without cessation till 

 the morning of the I Qth. A natural result of so protracted 

 a gale from the direction of the open ocean was, of course, 

 an exceptionally heavy sea in the Firth of Forth. The fact, 

 too, that the storm was coincident with the spring tides 

 rendered it all the more destructive. The i/th and 1 8th 

 were particularly stormy days, and it was during full tide on 

 the morning of the latter day that the bulk of the extensive 

 damage to property took place. Harbour works, sea-walls 

 and embankments, shipping, etc., were everywhere more or 

 less seriously damaged, while many houses in the low-lying 

 parts of the coast towns and villages were flooded to an 

 alarming extent. Sandhills and natural embankments 

 closely abutting on the beach were in many places very 

 considerably encroached upon, and numbers of pine trees 



