Annwersary Address. 303 



ranunculoides, AnagalUs tenella, and Statice limonium were 

 again recognized by some of tlie older botanists. 



Dinner was served al fresco in the nave of tbe priory to a 

 larger party than any room in the Island could accommodate, 

 and therafter some interesting botanical notices were read 

 from Mr. Embleton, followed by a paper by Mr. Tate on the 

 antiquities and geology of Holy Island. Mr. George Bailes 

 laid before the club a section and map of the carboniferous 

 strata of northern Northumberland, and the Rev. T. Leish- 

 man read some "Illustrations of Ancient Customs and Super- 

 stitions, extracted from the records of the Presbytery of Kelso 

 between 1609 and 1687." 



Besides these regular meetings of the club, excursions to 

 the valley of the Ale, a tributary of the Eye, to Newham 

 Loch and to Learmouth Bog were made by myself. Dr. Clay, 

 and Mr. W. B. Boyd. The Ale water appears to have been 

 little known to, or even been visited by, the club, but here we 

 had the guidance of Mr. William Shaw, a hind on the neigh- 

 bouring farm of Gunsgreen Hill, the discoverer of Corallorhiza 

 innate, a self-taught botanist, who devotes his leisure hours 

 to the delightful study of plants, and has acquired no mean 

 experience in discriminating them. Many rare plants occur- 

 red during our forenoon ramble. At Learmouth Bog Carex 

 filiformis was discovered, new to the district, and on a 

 gravelly eminence to the south of the bog, Spiroea Jilipendula 

 was found abundant. I may likewise mention having found 

 Goodyera repens in great profusion in a fir wood on the 

 Smailholm road, four miles from Kelso. The members of 

 4;he club will learn with regret that draining operations are 

 about to extinguish Learmouth Bog, the stronghold and only 

 habitat in this district of Aspidium thelypteris. With this 

 fern too will disappear Cladium mariscus, Pyrola rotundi- 

 folia, Utricularia minor, Salix purpurea, Carex filiformis, 

 Hippuris vulgaris, and other plants of interest to the botanist. 



Such, gentlemen, is an account of the field operations of 

 the club during the past year, and if discoveries of no very 

 brilliant character have been made, enough has been observed 



