170 Anniversary Address, 



although it is now naturalized, the suspicion remains that it has 

 come from the garden originally. A hind's garden-plot is not 

 far off, and the house was long tenanted by the blacksmith, a 

 sort of man not unlikely to cultivate a flower of its class. On 

 crossing the moor. Lister a cor data repeatedly occurred ; and the 

 Scutellaria galericulata was found in rough boggy ground, amidst 

 the alders that grow on the higher parts of Lilburn stream. 

 Here all our common Ferns grow luxuriantly ; but no rare species. 

 I crossed now to Roddam-burn, which I followed down to and 

 through its romantic and beautiful dean, without being rewarded 

 by any new discovery. Valeriana succisafolia grew here in 

 great profusion, and few plants of it could be referred to V. offi- 

 cinalis. There was really no plant of any rarity noticed, unless 

 it were Cnicus heterophyllus, which was gathered near the lower 

 part of the dean. Campanula latifolia was abundant in the 

 dean. No animal was noticed beyond the Rabbit. The 

 Carrion Crow, Grouse and Black Cock were the only birds; 

 and the rarity of the insect tribe was remarkable. This was 

 easily accounted for by the wet condition of the moors, and the 

 heavy rain that fell at intervals, soaking everything. Even the 

 Black Snail was seldom seen; and others had remarked its 

 scarcity during the season. In Roddam dean I picked Helix 

 arbustorum, caperata and fusca. I noticed Limax hrunneus oc- 

 casionally on moss-grown banks ; and Zonites crystallinus was 

 found repeatedly at the roots of such mosses as grow in tufts." 



Before quitting the chair, I would say a few words upon a 

 question which has occurred to my mind frequently and forcibly, 

 especially in my walks with the Club, when our attention has 

 been attracted by the beauty of the scenery, the luxuriance of 

 the crops, and the rich and endless variety of the natural pro- 

 ductions of this district ; — the question occurs, can this fair land- 

 scape be still under a curse, such as was laid on Adam ? 'Cursed 

 be the ground for thy sake : in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all 

 the days of thy life.' I cannot but believe that this curse, once 

 laid on the ground, has since been removed. It is for those who 

 have penetrated deepest into the secrets of nature to say whether 

 they can detect unequivocal signs of a curse or otherwise, in the 

 various productions of the earth. To a superficial observer, it 

 appears rather that all we see around us tends to minister to 



