1835.] Berwickshire Naturalists Club. 393 



of course, will be attended to in another editioji, which from the 

 value of the publication, as an elementary book, may be required. 



Ill . — Procceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, p . 64 . 



The Club whose proceedings are now before us was instituted in 

 1831, for the purpose of examining the natural history and antiqui- 

 ties of the county and its vicinity. The members meet in different 

 parts of the district, tive times within the year, and after making an 

 excursion in the neighbourhood of the place of meeting, accounts are 

 given of the discoveries which have been made in the different 

 branches of science, during the interval, from the preceding meeting. 

 The object of this association has been well described by Dr. Johnston, 

 its first president, anAtfte author of the Flora of Berwick. * It 

 affords," says he, " a point of rendezvous for the naturalists of the 

 district, where they may cultivate a mutual acquaintance ; where 

 .they may talk over their common pursuits and all its incidents ; where 

 they may mutually give and receive oral information ; where each 

 may nourish his neighbour's zeal ; where we may have our ' careless 

 season ' and enjoy f perfect gladsomeness/ " 



That its establishment has not been in vain, is proved by the facts, 

 that several new zoophytes have been discovered by Dr. Johnston, 

 viz. Plumularia Catharina, Fleminea muricata, &c. While a 

 new plant the Tragopogon major has been added to the British 

 flora, and new habitats detected of some of the rarest plants, by 

 members of the club. 



The first number of the transactions contains the addresses of the 

 two presidents, -Dr. Johnston and Mr. Baird on retiring from the 

 chair, in which they 'give a succinct account of the proceedings of the 

 association. In Dr. Johnston's address, a fact is mentioned in reference 

 to plants, similar to what has been subsequently noticed by Dr. 

 Johnson of Shrewsbury. The former gentleman says, " During our 

 excursion to Cheviot, it was accidently observed that where speci- 

 mens of the butterwort ( Pinguicula vulgaris) were somewhat 

 rudely pulled up, the flower stalk previously erect, almost imme- 

 diately began to bend itself backwards, and formed a more or less 

 perfect segment of a circle, and so also if a specimen is placed in the 

 botanic box, you will in a short time find that the leaves haye curled 

 themselves backwards, and now conceal the root by their revolution. 

 Now, the butterwort is a very common plant, yet I am not aware, 

 that this fact of its irritability has ever been mentioned." 



This fact, * and those which Dr. Johnson has brought forward 

 are interesting, but can only be considered as an extension of our 

 knowledge of that principle of irritability which is so remarkable 

 in many plants. 



The second number begins with the address of Mr. Selby, the 

 author of Illustrations of British Ornithology, in which the proceed- 

 ings of the club during 1834 are detailed. The same gentleman 

 mentions that he had succeeded in capturing the Macroglossa 

 stellatarum or humming bird moth, one of our rarest insects, in his 

 garden at Twizell House. 



In a notice of facts relating to the Tormcntilla officinalis, by the 



* Phil. Mag. vi. 164. 



