'fraunaciiond. 75 ■ 



Qth March, 1885. 

 Dr Gilchrist, President, in the Chair. Forty members present. 



Donations. — The Chairman presented, on behalf of Dr Grant, 

 Bey of Cairo, a number of fragments of Egyptian pottery, pieces 

 of alabaster, nummulitic limestone, fossil-wood, sandstone, Roman 

 cement, ancient glass, and flint instruments. Mr W. G. Scott 

 presented a fine specimen of the Great Northern Diver (Colymbus 

 Glacialis), which had been shot in the preceding winter at Carse- 

 thorn. The Secretary laid on the table the Second Annual 

 Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1880-81, and the Smitlisonian 

 Institution Report for 1882, as donations from the Smithsonian 

 Institution ; also nine parts of the Linnean Society's Transac- 

 tions, as a donation from Mr Robinson-Douglas. 



Exhibits. — Mr Scott exliibited specimens of stigmaria, the 

 coralline limestone, cannel coal, bitumen, and galena from the 

 Leadhills ; also a small stone ring found at Troquhain, New- 

 Galloway. Miss Reid exliibited several specimens of the rocks 

 taken from the excavations in the sinking of the Mersey Tunnel. 



Communications. 



I. Early Notices of the use of Tobacco in, Britain. 



By Rector Chinnock. 



II. TJke Rocks of the Moffat District and their Fossil Reinahis. 

 By Mr J.\mes Dairon, F.G.S. 

 I have thought it advisable to make this communication as 

 useful as possible, so that it may be available as a kind of guide 

 to the different localities around Moffat, leading to the best 

 known situations in these parts, and as near as possible to where 

 the working student may find the different genera and species of 

 the Graptolitic family in the greatest profusion, and also in the 

 best state of preservation. The finely rounded character of the 

 hills of Upper Annandale, many of them exceeding 2000 feet in 

 height, and covered with verdure to their summit, may not 

 possess the rugged grandeur of the northern or western High- 

 lands, still they have a beauty of their own, and in many parts 

 make up some of the fine-st pastoral scenery in Soctland. Under- 

 neath their grassy covering we find the prevailing rock to be a 

 Silurian gtit or Grauwucke, of a grey or greenish colour, and 



