president's address. 423 



45. Chickweed. 



46. Centaury (in piu'e sand) 



47. Dyer's Rocket. 



48. Thrift. 



49. Yellow Thistle. 



50. Rest-harrow. 



51. Pinpernel (red). 



52. Spinach. 



53. ,, marine. 



54. Stonecrop. 



55. Lady's Mantle. 



56. Knotted Spurrey. 



Besides Centaury, (lovely dwarf plants growing in pure sand) 



and the variety of the little Knotted Spurrey (which I had not 



found before), there were several curious sand-plants new to me. 



Also one in a damp place in the old north quarry, with yellow 



leaves and small five-petalled white flowers. In the sand plants, 



one bore pale yellow clover-like heads of flower, but all very 



dwarf. 



Aethur AVatts. 



Mr. Meek has kindly furnished a few notes of the Dredging 

 excursion, which the members were kindly invited to again this 

 year by Mr. John Dent, of Blyth. Several members left New- 

 castle by the 7.45 a.m. train to Blyth, on Wednesday, the 2nd 

 September, and were joined by others from Whitley. The 

 weather unfortunately was threatening i-ain, and the sea pre- 

 sented a heavy swell, causing some anxiety and several of the 

 party to remain on shore. Those who ventured amused them- 

 selves, and postponed threatened sea-sickness, by employing the 

 time the trawl was down with a little line fishing, capturing a 

 number of the Grey Gurnard, from which several parasites (fish 

 lice) were collected. Trawling was very difficult on account of 

 the heavy ground swell, and the fish captuied consisted chiefly 

 of immature specimens, which were quickly returned to their 

 native element. These were mostly flat flsh. Dabs and Plaice, 

 ■which the series of excursions made last year shewed plainly 

 are on the increase on the Northumberland Coast. Numbers of 

 small Gurnards were caught in the trawl, and the number of 

 small Spiny Dog-flsh was very remarkable. Among the products 

 of the trawl were a number of fine Cyprina islandica, and a host 

 of the "Livid Swimming Crab," Portimus holosatus, which is 

 exceedingly common in all the sandy bays. Several specimens of 

 Lutraria elliptica, and the fry or spat of Mytilns edulis, were 



