72 A SONG FOR SALMON-FISHERS 



florist's manipulation such as Paul's Scarlet represents 

 a sport or evolution from the original white, and so it 

 probably is ; but if the foregoing observations are any- 

 where near the mark, the converse may possibly be the 

 true sequence, white flowers supplanting the red owing 

 to their being more conspicuous and attracting more 

 frequent visits from flying insects, thereby securing 

 more complete fertilisation. 



XVII 



I was a very young salmon-fisher when I cut the 

 A son for fU wm g lines out of the Scotsman newspaper 

 salmon- i n December 1867. Coming upon them 

 lately by chance, it seemed to me that 

 although anonymous they deserved something kindlier 

 than oblivion; wherefore I appealed to my friend 

 Mr. J. P. Croal, present editor of the Scotsman, who 

 has been good enough to hunt through the records 

 of his journal, and elicited the poet's name and the 

 occasion of the poem. 



The JEsculapian Club was founded in 1783 by Dr. 

 Andrew Duncan, Professor of Medicine in Edinburgh 

 University, the members being elected from the Colleges 

 of Physicians and Surgeons. As I understand that it 

 still flourishes, it is probably the most ancient convivial 

 society in Edinburgh, 1 the original custom of frequently 



1 Two other medical clubs exist in Edinburgh the Harveian and 

 the Medico-Chirurgical, but I do not know the date of their foundation. 

 The Edinburgh Burgess Golfing Society, founded in 1735, the Hon- 

 ourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, founded before 1744, and the 



