138 THE REV. ME. BAIRD's ADDKESS. 



ings, wliicli education, the object which brings lis together, or some- 

 thing better than either, has implanted in the bosom of gentlemen, than 

 any complicated or compulsory code of enactments. The motives which 

 induce our attendance are, not the fear of pecuniary penalties, nor of 

 any disgrace attached to non-attendance ; but the pleasure, gratification, 

 and instruction we derive from our meetings, — the pleasure of social 

 intercourse, — the gratification of beholding and admiring the beautiful 

 scenery of nature, — and the instruction, moral and intellectual, which 

 are to be derived from the study of the works of the great Creator, 

 whose goodness, and wisdom, and power, are conspicuous in them all. 

 In the discoveries which are made, we all feel a common interest ; and 

 though all cannot be equally fortunate, the least successful has the 

 same enjoyment as the happy discoverer himself. And though, as we 

 might naturally have expected in so variable a climate as our own, 

 clouds and tempests have occasionally darkened our days of meeting, 

 and some of us have had many a weary mile to travel, yet have we 

 never failed, except, I believe in a single instance, to have a respectable 

 attendance of members. 



The contributions which have been made to the Flora and Fauna of 

 the district and country during the past year, have been more scanty 

 than, I believe, during any preceding year of our existence as a Club. 

 This, however has arisen, neither from any lack or decay of zeal among 

 our members, nor from our past discoveries having exhausted the limited 

 sphere of our observation ; for a vast unexplored field still lies before 

 us; but from the extremely unpropitious weather of the autumn of 1836, 

 and of the spring of the present year, — weather so ungenial and so re- 

 markable for cold in particular, that the oldest inhabitant of the country 

 scarcely remembers a parallel to it. Yet, that our labours and researches 

 have not been altogether in vain, will be seen from the following short 

 notices of our meetings. 



Our Anniversary Meeting in September 1836 was at Yetholm, a vil- 

 lage, or two small villages, embosomed among the lower hills of the 

 Cheviot. The day was most unlike the season, being one of great 

 beauty, and the excursion, though productive of no discovery of im- 

 portance, was by no means destitute of interest. Our walk was first 

 over Yetholm Law — a hill cultivated to its summit — down to Yetholm 

 Loch, — a handsome sheet of water of about 40 acres in extent. Here 

 were observed in considerable abundance, — Ranunculus Lingua, Typha 

 latifolia, Nuphar lutea, Cicuta virosa, Scutellaria galericulata, Lytlirtim 

 salicaria, &,-c. Linton Loch, or what at least is so called, a few deep, 

 dark, mossy pools of a few yards in diameter, being the only water 

 visible, was next visited. Here, besides the greater number of the 

 plants observed at Yetholm Loch, the Lycopus evropceus, &c. and a few 

 specimens of Hieracium denticulafum, were gathered ; and several insects 

 and larvae of some rarity were obtained in both situations. Ascending, 

 then, the lofty and classic hills of T^ldeopen and Crookedshaws, the 



