38 MR selby's addeess. 



day and an interesting excursion, in a district rendered classical l»y tKe 

 magic pen of Sir AValter Scott, appears to have given unalloyed satis- 

 faction to the assembled members of the Club, and to their visitors 

 fi'om the Tweedside Physical and Antiquarian Society. The principal 

 object of the excursion was the examination of Whiter ig Bog, remarkable 

 for its extensive deposit of shell-marl, used by the agriculturists of the 

 district as a manure, or alkaline coiTcctive. The Peel or Tower of 

 Smailhohn, one of the Border defences in earlier times, was afterwards 

 visited, and the botanical treasures of the morass, at the foot of the 

 rocky steep upon which it is perched, where several interesting plants, 

 such as the cranberry ( Vaccinium Oxycoccus), sundew {Drosera rotundi- 

 folia), &c., were gathered. Several additions to the Berwickshire 

 Flora were announced, as the discoveries of ouj colleagues, Miss 

 Hunter and Miss Bell, whose exertions and success in enriching the 

 Flora of the district have before been adverted to. A pleasing and 

 graphic account of the excursion of the Club in June was afterwards 

 read by Dr Johnston, and the business of this meeting was concluded 

 by some remarks upon a deposit of marl by Mr Mitchell, which he 

 further illustrated by specimens of the shells composing it. 



Such, gentlemen, is a rapid, but inadequate recapitulation of the 

 labours and proceedings of the Club during the third year of its 

 existence, but from which, however imperfect it may be, we can 

 gather that much important information upon various subjects con- 

 nected with the objects we have in view has been brought before it, 

 and that many interesting additions in the various departments of 

 natural history have rewarded the zeal of our colleagues, and en- 

 riched the catalogue of our local Pauna. It may perhaj)s be objected 

 that the excursions of the last year have not been so productive as 

 those of the two former ; but, even allowing it were so, can we feel 

 disappointed or even surprised that such should be the case, when we 

 consider the limited district to which we are confined, and that the 

 greater part of the ground has already been trodden by the Club ? 

 Besides, it is by a closer and more minute investigation than we can 

 afford to bestow, during our appointed walks, that the zeal of the 

 entomologist, the botanist, or the cultivator of any other department 

 of natural history, can expect to be fully rewarded. But even should 

 our walks afford nothing new, or that we had not previously met with, 

 still I hold that one great object of our meeting remains in full force, 

 and its utility is but slightly, if at all, restricted, for it is the associa- 

 ting together in friendly communion of individuals engaged in similar 

 scientific pursuits who otherwise have but few opportunities of inter- 

 course ; it is in the interchange of opinion and sentiment thus person- 

 ally enjoyed, and to those friendly discussions tending to elucidate 

 truth, or correct erroneous views, that, in my humble opinion, the 

 expediency, as well as the chief utility, of such associations as our own 

 are to be estimated. Let it not, however, be supposed that I imagine 



