14 Address of the President. 



This butterfly, very rare in Scotland, has been taken several 

 times about the Carse at the mouth of the Nith upon the 

 same line of coast, but has not previously been observed so 

 far northward. 



The stake nets frequently take specimens for which they 

 are not properly set. Birds are occasionally drowned there- 

 in : diving after fish they get into the netted houses and 

 cannot find their way out. 



The tunny, Thynnus vulgaris, has been taken in them ; 

 and Mr Beattie has in his lobby the head of a swordfish, 

 Xiphias gladius, which was entangled in 1852 or '53 in the 

 net opposite the house. 



I have thus run rapidly over the principal work of our 

 summer excursions. I have omitted any antiquarian history 

 of the old keeps or towers which almost always come in our 

 way, both because I am not sufficiently versed in these sub- 

 jects, and also that it would lead to a length of historical 

 description and detail much beyond our time at these meet- 

 ings ; and, thirdly, that we have members among us who are 

 eminently qualified, and who, I trust, will draw up accounts, 

 and gradually exhaust the history and legends of those inte- 

 resting remains, and, assisted by the pencil or photography, 

 we may have it in our power to illustrate them and preserve 

 some records of what yet remain. 



I have tried to impress upon our members the value of 

 the Natural Sciences, and that antiquarian research was now 

 so intimately connected with them that the study of both 

 could not be separated. They must be worked hand in 

 hand. These pursuits do not interfere with business, witness 

 the many able men in public life who have worked much and 

 well. They destroy superstition ; attest the power and design 

 of the Almighty, and so draw man nearer to God ; explain 

 popular errors, such as the belief that a horse hair if put into 

 water will turn an eel. Many of you may have tried this, 

 though I doubt if you succeeded. That, besides supplying 

 a relief to the overworked mind, they may also assist 



