NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 257 



and continued to the end of the month, dispersed all these hopes. 

 June, which is the great swarming month, began with fine 

 weather, and again excited the hopes of beekeepers that the 

 season was to be a productive one; but as July came in, the 

 days were dull, cold, and rainy, and man}'- of the stocks would 

 have suffered had they not been fed, a procedure contrary to all 

 former experience. August, which it was trusted would redeem 

 the disasters of the past months, and enable the bees to make up 

 for lost time, proved no better than July, and honey shows, both 

 here and in England, were abandoned, the usual supply of food 

 having miserably failed, and honey being consequently almost 

 absent. In September, the usual Scottish honey harvest 

 month, half of the bees in the country were in a starving 

 condition ; and instead of the usual cry, — What are we to do 

 with our honey 1 it was, How are we to preserve our bees 1 

 During this month and October, artificial feeding had again to be 

 resorted to, and the result was that 1877 proved to be the most 

 disastrous season for beekeepers since 1862. 



At the close of his paper, Mr Bennett presented to the library 

 of the Society a beautifully written letter he had received from 

 Miss Clementina Stirling Graham of Duntrune, the last re- 

 presentative of the Grahams of Claverhouse, written in bed, 

 shortly before her death, in her ninety-sixth year. Miss Graham 

 was probably the oldest beekeeper known, having taken an 

 interest in the culture of honey for three quarters of a century ; 

 and this document, amongst the last of her correspondence, he 

 thought well worthy of preservation. 



November 27th, 1877. 



Mr John Young, F.G.S., Vice-President, in the chair. 



Messrs. David Eiddell, Robert Marshall, David Marshall, and 

 Alexander Buchanan Dick Cleland, were elected ordinary mem- 

 bers. Mr Gavin Miller was elected a life member, and in addition 

 to paying the life composition, he stated his willingness to give 

 a donation of five guineas to the funds of the Society. It 

 was resolved to record a vote of thanks to Mr Miller for his 

 liberality. 



