Anniversary Address. 21 



below Allanton, on the right bank going clown. On the 

 left side, we picked an Echiwni, which is very distinct from 

 the vulgare ; insomuch, that the stamina are much longer 

 than the corolla, and the plant branched in a very curious 

 manner. The late Dr. Johnston evidently alludes to this 

 plant in "Natural History of the Eastern Borders," p 147, 

 quoting Lightfoot, who conjectured that it was E. Anglicwm 

 of Hudson. Dr. Johnston had obtained it from the Gait- 

 heugh, opposite Old Melrose. We entered the Whitehall 

 Woods at the Steeple-heugh, a precipitous elevation beauti- 

 fully wooded, which rises a hundred feet from the river bed, 

 where we rested to enjoy the prospect. On entering the 

 woods, Malva moschata was in fine flower in the gravel pits, 

 and excellent specimens of its white-flowered varieties were' 

 obtained at Hutton Hall mill, about two miles farther down. 

 At the Blue Stone ford, under the planes and thorns, profu- 

 sion of Viola odorata, and farther down on the haugh the 

 same abundance of this plant, is observed. Plantago media,in 

 fine flower, was ornamental on the grassy banks everywhere. 

 Mentha arvensis is here a common weed in land — a plant 

 not seen on the coast line of the county, Mr. Hardy informs 

 me. Mr. Milne Home pointed out that the Broomdykes 

 haughs — now intersected by the river — which are now en- 

 closed by high banks, appear once to have formed a large 

 lake which had burst its barriers, traces of its ancient margin 

 being still perceptible on the north and seuth sides. This 

 will be marked in a map of the river district of Berwickshire 

 on which he is at present engaged, and in which he expects 

 to be able to trace out the contour of the country in post- 

 tertiary times, but previous to the present era, by following 

 out the directions taken by boulders and the still uneffaced 

 indications of old coast lines. On the top of the Steeple- 

 heugh, stands a tall, entirely one-sided in its branching- 

 Scotch fir, formed and modelled into shape by swirling gusts 

 of wind, which striking here with most violence have made 

 a vacancy in the plantation all round the spot. The tips of 



