The Scottish Naturalist. 35 



It has frequently been our experience that in seasons when the commoner 

 fungi were less abundant, greater rarities were met with. This may possibly 

 be owing to attention being more concentrated on the few ; but during the 

 excursions at Kelso, we were denied this consolation. The only fungus which 

 is worthy of being specially recorded is Agaric2ts areolatus, Kl. It was found 

 by the President at Faldonside on the day previous to the meeting, and was 

 again met with at Springwood Park. It has not been gathered, so far as we 

 are aware, since it was discovered by Klotsch, more than half a century ago, 

 in the Botanic Garden in Glasgow. 



Lichenology proved the more fruitful field, as the following species, identified 

 by Dr. Stirton, will serve to show : — Cladonia pungens Flk. ; C. digilata L. 

 and F. bra "c hy 'tes Ach. ; C. macilenta Ehrh.; C. sylvalica L. ; Ramali?ia sub- 

 farinacea Nyl. ; Platysma saepincola Ehrh. ; P. glancum L. ; Peltigera poly 

 dactyla Hffm.; Slictina scrobiculata Scop.; Parmelia physodes L. ; P. con 

 spersa Ehrh., and P. isidiata Anzi.; P. incitrva Pess. ; P. saxatilis L., and 

 var. omphalodes L.; Physcia pulverulenta Schreb. ; P. aquila Ach. ; Squa- 

 maria crassct Huds. ; Lecanora fuscata Schrad. ; L. ferruginea Huds. ; L. re- 

 cedens Tayt.; Lecidea fumosa Ach.; L. tfli^inosa Schrad.; L. stellulaln Tayl.; 

 Opegrapha atra Pers. ; O. saxicola Ach. ; Verrucaria Maura WhJnb. It is 

 worthy of note that Physcia aquila was met with about twenty miles from the 

 sea-shore, to which it is usually confined. 



The following mosses are worthy of mention : — Plcrogonium gracile, Hypnum 

 crista-castrensis, and Torttila papulosa. 



JOINT MEETING OP LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES 

 AT NAIRN. — The annual meeting of Societies in the north of Scotland was 

 held in 1884 hi Nairn, by invitation-of the Nairn Literary Institute, on Friday 

 and Saturday, 24th and 25th July, and was attended by representatives of the 

 following Associations : — Aberdeen Natural History Society, Alford Field 

 Club, Caithness Field Club, Edinburgh Geological Society, Edinburgh 

 Naturalists' Field Club, Elgin and Morayshire Literary and Scientific Associa- 

 tion, Inverness Gaelic Society, Inverness Literary Society, Inverness Scientific 

 Society and Field Club, Keith Field Club, Kirkcaldy Naturalists' Society, and 

 Ross-shire Philosophical Society. 



On Friday afternoon the guests were received in the Nairn Museum by the 

 President and other members of the Nairn Literary Society, and Mr. George 

 Bain called their attention to various objects of interest. Of these the chief 

 were the Brodie cabinet of minerals and a fine collection of Old Red Sandstone 

 fossil fishes from Lethenbar and the Clune, in Nairnshire, collected by Mr. 

 Stables, and presented by the Earl of Cawdor to the Museum. 



The Brodie cabinet had as its nucleus a collection of minerals made in the 

 beginning of this century in Greenland by the well-known Danish mineralogist 

 Giesecke. This collection was sent to Copenhagen in a Danish vessel which. 

 was captured by a British cruiser during the war between Britain and Den- 

 mark. The collection was sold in Edinburgh along with the rest of the cargo 

 as a prize, and was bought by Colonel Imrie, by whom it was presented to 

 Lord Gray. He presented it to the late Duchess of Gordon, who added largely 

 to it, and bequeathed it to the late Brodie of Brodie, who made a gift of it to 

 the Nairn Museum. Among other valuable minerals it contains two which 

 were very rare when the collection was made in Greenland— viz,, Cryolite and 



