Anniversary Address. 133 



Selby, Esq. It would appear that the species is very local, and 

 by no means plentiful. On a steep sand-bank overhanging the 

 Heriot Burn, a large colony of sand bees (Andrena Trimmerana ?) 

 was found ; two or three species of parasitical Hymenoptera were 

 in close attendance; and the rapid motions of several tiger 

 beetles, Cicindela campestris, coursing about in quest of prey, 

 imparted additional animation to the busy scene." 



The party separated at the mouth of the Pees, the Secretary 

 and most of the Members taking their route through the deep 

 ravine of the Pees, and the President and Mr. Home climbing 

 the steep cliffs, and proceeding along the coast as far as Siccar 

 Point. St. Helen's ruined church, standing " on the lea," soli- 

 tary and exposed, and overlooking the sea, claimed from us a 

 passing notice. It is a plain erection, without any pretensions 

 to architectural beauty ; and it wants that aspect of " hoar anti- 

 quity" which gives picturesqueness to any object; for being 

 built of the sandstone of the district, which is of a deep red 

 colour, it appears, as we approach, like a common brick building. 

 A popular legend and rhyme, which have been recorded by Mr. 

 Henderson, invest, however, this church with some interest. As 

 an ordinary place of sepulture the churchyard is now deserted, 

 but bodies found on the coast are still interred here. 



To the geologist this coast is classic ground. Hutton and 

 Playfair found materials here for their bold generalizations, and 

 their descriptions have given celebrity to Siccar Point. The cliff 

 section from this point to Dunglas Burn is highly instructive, for 

 three different formations appear in succession, — the Lower Silu- 

 rian, the Upper Devonian or Old Red Sandstone, and the Lower 

 Carboniferous. The lofty and exposed headland of Siccar Point 

 itself is formed of grey wacke strata, rising nearly vertically from 

 the sea, and capped by flesh-red sandstones and conglomerates, 

 which lie unconformably on the upturned edges of the greywacke, 

 and dip away northward at an angle of 20°. This unconform- 

 ableness indicates that the greywacke had been raised into their 

 vertical position before the sandstones were deposited ; and the 

 high inclination of these sandstones proves that there had been 

 a subsequent upheaval, which lifted the greywacke rocks further 

 upward, and along with them elevated the sandstone. A broad 

 belt of greywacke rocks extends from this point across the island 

 in a N.N.W. direction, forming the Lammermuir range, and 



