president's address. 161 



this favourite resort till a late hour, enjoying the flight of Swifts 

 and Swallows and the rustic peculiarities of this quaint village 

 tni the time arrived for the last train home, and on reaching 

 Newcastle finding that very different weather had prevailed there 

 all day. The botanical results of the day were not extensive, 

 as the road lay chiefly along well beaten tracks. 



The Second Field Meeting was held June 29th and 30th, at 

 Middleton-in-Teesdale for headquarters. Many of the members 

 arrived there on Tuesday, and had a pleasant stroll in the even- 

 ing up the Hudeshope Burn, gathering on the way several Or- 

 chids in fine flower, and the Moonwort and two or three other 

 ferns. This burn is of great length, and forms in many parts a 

 deep fissure in the side of the main valley, and in rainy seasons 

 pours large quantities of water into the Tees. 



The excursion on the first day was fixed for Lunedale and 

 Mickle Fell, and the party on the arrival of the early train was 

 twenty-eight stong, including several ladies, properly equipped 

 for moorland travelling and the bad weather likely to be met 

 with in upper Teesdale. Lunedale is a long, wild, cold-looking, 

 straggling valley of ten miles stretch. Our route by the road was 

 on the north side, which is steepest, high up the hillside ; the 

 south side is flatter and not so lofty; the Lune lies concealed 

 below. This, no doubt, and the murky threatening weather, 

 prevented us from full appreciation of Scott's description — 



" Silver Lune from Staiumore wild." 



For the most part the views from the road were bleak and bare, 

 especially in the higher part of the valley, after passing Saddle- 

 bow and Wemmer Gill. Saddlebow takes its name from the 

 peculiar configuration of the hill, formed by two beds of basalt, 

 tilted up at a high angle, and separated by a soft shale, which has 

 been deeply denuded between them. At Wemmer Gill we met 

 with Asplenium viride and Cystopteris fragilis growing on a wall 

 by the roadside. A few distant farm houses, and cottages by the 

 wayside, and the dim outline of far distant hills, not lit up by 

 sunlight but shaded by thickening mists and showers, completed 



