4 MR darling's address. 



amusements. The President and Mr Carr wended their way to the 

 streams of Tweed, passing the beautiful seat of the Marjoribanks, and 

 crossing the verdant meads which lie between Lees and the river, re- 

 joicing in the soft rain, and prepared to do their devoir upon the mul- 

 titudes of trout with which the waters abound ; but " the best laid 

 schemes of men and mice gang aft aglee ;" and ere the creel was half 

 stocked, the bright god of day poured his radiance over stream and hill, 

 and the shy habitants of the Tweed would no longer spring at the 

 tempting fly, but sported themselves amid the rippling shallows revel- 

 ling in the sunshine. However, the President captured several of the 

 different fry of the sea-going fish, which of late have given so much la- 

 bour to many careful naturalists. He took Smelts of the salmon with 

 their silvery sides, dark purply fins, and swallow-tail. The same in 

 the stage when called Parr ; and specimens of the fry of both Bull-trout, 

 and apparently another variety, which is probably the sea or salmon- 

 trout, caught in great abundance by the nets of the fishermen, and 

 sometimes running to the weight of sixteen and even eighteen pounds, — in 

 a few instances even exceeding that. The most remarkable circumstance 

 connected with this smelt is, that although the parent is generally 

 smaller than the salmon, the smelt is invariably larger, longer,and thicker 

 than the salmon Smelt, having, instead of the dark pectoral fin of the 

 salmon smelt, a bright golden tint ornamenting these parts, and which 

 has obtained for it the appellation, among the fishermen, of Yellow-fin. 



The Rev. Mr Barnes also took his way to the River, and succeeded 

 with his rod somewhat after the same fate as his *' brother of the 

 angle." A pair of the pretty little Ring-plover were observed by the 

 President flitting about the shore of the river, and, from time to time, 

 emitting their plaintive cry. 



The rest of the members took a delightful walk down the banks of 

 the Tweed by Lennel to Milnegraden, where the lovely scenery, rendered 

 doubly alluring by the now bursting foliage of the woods spangled with 

 heaven's own diamonds, and offering to the eye all the varied tints of 

 *' many greens," and the promise of future luxuriance, amply repaid 

 all who enjoyed this walk, for the disappointment attending their search 

 for a piece of water which was expected to afford a rich harvest of 

 aquatic plants and insects in its ample bosom, to " the careful and 

 scientific explorers of its hidden treasures ;" but which the fairies or 

 good people had either spirited away or rendered invisible to the eyes of 

 the expectant naturalists. Be this as it may, no lake could be found, but 

 many other very interesting objects were seen, and duly appreciated. The 



