216 HEV. THOMAS riddell's adbeess. 



Aftei* dinner, Mr Embleton exhibited a speciuieu of the Short Sun- 

 fish, taken in Embleton Bay some years before, which he had examined 

 when it was just caught : and another of Larus minutus, the little gull, 

 shot on the same locality in March 1838, the plumage of which indi- 

 cated that it had only attained its second year. Mr Embleton likewise 

 exhibited a specimen of Comatula rosacea, taken in Embleton Bay, — an 

 interesting discovery, which will probably lead to that of the Pentac- 

 rinus Europseus, now believed to be the same animal in its earliest 

 condition. 



Mr Selby read a paper by Mr W. Forster of Newton, on the habits 

 of the mountain sparrow ; and gave notice that several specimens of 

 the pied fly-catcher (Muuicapa luctuosaj, had been killed in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Twizell in May of the present year. 



I ought not to omit noticing a continuation of Mr Henderson's 

 paper on the popular rhymes of Berwickshire, in which I am confident 

 that more than one of us must be interested. A variation, character- 

 istic of the locality, occurs in the Roxburghshire version of one of 

 these rhymes, which a friend of mine heard from a little g-irl. ' If you 

 wish to know what the lark says', said she, ' you must lie down on 

 your back in the fields and listen, and you will hear him say, 



' Up in tho lift we go, 



Tehee, tehee, tehee, tehee ! 



All the sntors in Selkirk can't make a shoe to me. 



Why so ? Why so ? 



Because my heel is as long as my toe.' 



The weather generally on our days of meeting, though far from 

 unpleasant, was yet very unfavourable for the entomologist, and there- 

 fore I regret the less that it is not in my power to lay before you an 

 account of the insects which were observed. The arrangements of the 

 animals of the district in catalogues, which has been carried on for 

 several years b}' the most scientific members of our Club, must be very 

 conducive to a complete knowledge of the natural treasures it contains ; 

 and if, in a few years, when they have been completed, they were 

 published as a fauna, with notices of the more remarkable localities, 

 especially in the case of rare species, they would furnish at once an 

 incentive and a guide to the researches of future labourers in the same 

 field. The known fiora of the district has received great accessions in 

 consequence of Dr Johnston's excellent publication, and there are now 

 materials accumulated for a more complete exhibition of the botanical 

 riches of the neighbourhood. It is most desirable that every means 

 should be employed likely to spread the knowledge and the love of 

 Natural History. 



The pleasure derived from such pursuits will not be questioned by 

 any one who has ever engaged in them, however slightly. But the 



