14 REV. MR BAIRB's ADDRESS. 



not to me, as a member of this society, to celebrate its praises ; but it 

 certainly belongs to me, in the honourable situation I now hold in it, 

 to congratulate j'ou, as I do most cordially, on its increasing prosperity, 

 When such an institution was first proposed, it certainly was hoped, 

 and fondly hoped, that it might prosper, and that we might do some- 

 thing towards the elucidation of the natural history of this interesting 

 county ; but even the most sanguine of its original promoters could 

 hardly have anticipated that its establishment should have been so 

 cordially welcomed, and that it should have excited an interest so 

 general and so great. It is, therefore, with no ordinary satisfaction 

 that I either contemplate the present list of our members, or that I 

 turn to the review of their labours since the celebration of our last 

 anniversary. 



These labours during the past year, though hardly perhaps so inter- 

 esting, in some respects, as those of the preceding one, have, neverthe- 

 less, been far fi-om unimportant. In some departments, indeed, they 

 have been even more satisfactory. The most numerous contributions 

 have been those of Dr Johnston : To our Secretary we are also indeb- 

 ted for various interesting communications ; while to Messrs Selby, 

 Mitchell, Brown, AV. Baird, and Dr Thomson, we are under additional 

 obligations. But these contributions wiU be best emimerated by taking 

 a brief review of the transactions of our several meetings during the 

 past year. 



And of these the first we have to notice is the Anniversary Meeting 

 held at Coldstream in September last, — a very pleasant meeting, and 

 at which many interesting communications were read. The day was 

 spent in examining the Hirsel Woods, Birgham Muir, and Leithtillum, 

 and Hirsel Lochs ; and to those who were present at this meeting, I 

 need not recall either the very agreeable nature of the excursion, or 

 the beaixty of the scenery we were so often called upon to admire. Nor 

 need I recall the pleasure with which we listened to our President's 

 address on leaving the chair which he had filled so ably — a pleasure, 

 however, which prevented us not from duly appreciating the value and 

 importance of various other papers which were laid before us. These 

 were, 1 . A notice of a Merlin {Falco JEsalon) shot near Blanerne, on the 

 Whittadder, by Mr Dunlop. 2. Notice of the occurrence of Grantia 

 nivea, Pleming, on the coast near Embleton, Northumberland, by Mr 

 Embleton. 3. Notices of plants hitherto unnoticed in the district, by 

 Messrs Dunlop and Brown, and Dr Johnston. 4. An account of the 

 Birds observed during the excursion at St Abb's head in July, by P. 

 J. Selby, Esq. 5. Cases of children poisoned by the seeds of Laburnum, 

 by Dr Johnston. (See Mag. of Nat. Hist. v. 6. p. 74.) 6. A 

 paper on the Geology and Botany of the coast of Northumberland, 

 between Bamborough and Dunstanborough Castles, by Mr Embleton. 

 7. A list of the Zooph}i;es of the same coast ; and a Meteorological 

 Table from April to August, by Mr Embleton. 



