The Scottish Naturalist. 185 



collection of small stones. Some of the burrows were branched. In the dis- 

 cussion the suggestion was made that the burrows might be the work of marine 

 annelids, before the elevation of the ground above the sea-level. 3. "Supple- 

 mentary List of the Fungi of the Province of Moray," by the Rer. 

 Dr. Keith of Forres. 4. Beport by the Secretary (Mr. John Roy), 

 on the Excursions made by the Society during the Summer. 

 These were three in number — viz., on June 2nd to Strachan and across the hills 

 by Drumtochty to Fordoun ; on July 14th, to Loch Kinnord ; and on Septem- 

 ber Sth, to the Loch of Strathbeg, in Buchan, near Peterhead. The excursion 

 to Loch Kinnord was devoted to dredging the loch for pondweeds ; but the 

 results were of less interest than had been hoped. During this excursion a 

 visit was paid to an extensive deposit of Diatom earth {Kieselguhr), which is 

 now being rather extensively worked on the estates of Lords Aberdeen and 

 Huntly, to be used in the preparation of dynamite. The Loch of Strathbeg is 

 a noted resort of wildfowl in winter, and it has also attractions for botanists in 

 the plants that grow on a swampy strip of ground on its east shore, several of 

 which are of very rare occurrence elsewhere in the north-east of Scotland. 

 The loch occupies the upper end of what was formerly an inlet of the sea with 

 a wide opening at its southern end, scoured clear by the tides. At this opening 

 stood the royal burgh of Rattray, with the inlet as its harbour. In course of 

 time the upper end of the bay became cut off from the sea by a broad sand and 

 shingle bank, thrown up by storms, and a fresh-water loch replaced the bay. 

 The level of the loch is now some feet above the sea, and the only communica- 

 tion between them is by a burn. The destruction of its harbour was fatal to> 

 the burgh, and the only remaining trace of the latter is the ruin of the church, 

 one of the oldest ecclesiastical buildings in the north of Scotland. 



January 15. — Prof. H. Alleyne Nicholson gave a very clear and fully illus- 

 trated lecture on " The Organisms which occur in Limestone." 



February 19. — Professor J. W. H. Trail submitted the following papers, 

 with verbal remarks on some of the more interesting points in them, the 

 papers themselves entering too much into details to be read in full : — • 

 " Supplementary Notes on Galls and their Makers in ' Dee,' and on a 

 few from other parts of Scotland," and " A List of the ' Casuals ' in the 

 Phanerogamic Flora of the North-East of Scotland." He thereafter 

 laid on the table a paper by Mr. Roy and himself, entitled : "Additions and. 

 Corrections to the Records in Watson's Topographical Botany, Edit. 

 II., of Vascular Plants indigenous in the Counties of Forfar, Kincar- 

 dine, Aberdeen, and Banff." A considerable number of additions fall to- 

 be made to the lists for these counties in the above well-known book ; and a 

 few of the records there given are doubtful or incorrect. Mr. Roy read a note 

 on the occurrence of a small stone in the interior of the egg of a red grouse. 

 Mr. F. Ogilvie exhibited a piece of granite from Kemnay Quarries containing; 

 a very large macled garnet. 



Mr. Roy and Professor Trail, who had been appointed at the meeting on 

 15th January to represent the Society at the meeting of delegates in Perth oil 

 9th February, reported what had been done at that meeting, and urged that 

 the Society should join the Union then constituted. On the motion of Mr. 

 Forrest, seconded by Mr. Cruickshank, the Society resolved to join the Union, 

 and appointed Mr. Roy and Prof. Trail to be their representative members on 

 the Council of the Union. 



