20 Address of the President. 



proceedings are printed. I shall therefore confine myself to 

 a short notice of our summer excursions, especially as these 

 will take a very important place while carrying through the 

 History of the district under our charge. I had not the satis- 

 faction of being present at the two first excursions, and my 

 information is taken from the Secretary's notes. 



The first excursion took place, according to arrangement, 

 on the Society's day, the first Tuesday of the month " June." 

 The place appointed for the meeting was at a cave on the 

 farm of Braehead, in the parish of Kirkmahoe. For a day or 

 two previous workmen had been employed, through the 

 kindness of Mr. Jeffray the tenant, in removing an accumula- 

 tion of rubbish and stones which had been collected from the 

 adjoining fields, and thrown into the burn exactly at the 

 supposed entrance. Unfortunately a clearance was not com- 

 pleted, and the meeting was obliged to delay operations until 

 a future occasion, but satisfactory evidence having been 

 obtained that a cave really existed, and that the spot upon 

 which operations had been commenced was the entrance, 

 the sanction of the proprietor, J, M' Alpine Leny, Esq., to 

 pursue the researches was obtained, and full permission has 

 been granted to continue whatever explorations the Society 

 may think fit to make.* 



As the locality at which the party assembled was noted 

 for " Snakes," search was made, and six specimens of the slow- 

 worm, as it is provincially called, were found. This species, 

 the Anguis frarjilis, is not generally distributed over Scot- 

 land, and in Dumfriesshire is local, inhabiting only certain 

 places. At Craigie burn, above Moffat, on the stony sides of 

 the hills, it is also found. Thereafter the Society visited 

 different places of interest near, especially the old Cattle 

 of Dalswinton, and the famous " CwMmin's ash," the age of 



* " Our liill streams have in several places formed ' hermit-fancied caves' for 

 their naiads out of the living rock, in the most curious style ; and there is a 

 cave at Crofihead of Dalsivinton whicli deserves to be mentioned." — New 

 Statistical Account of Dumfriesshire, p. 53. 



