48 Anniversary Address 



Papers were read "On the Lepidoptera of EoxburghsMre," 

 by Mr A. Elliot, (Samieston; and "On the disappearance of 

 Herons from a breeding-station on Bowmont Water," by Dr. 

 Eobson Scott, The authors of both papers received the thanks 

 of the Club, and it was agreed to print the papers in this year's 

 Proceedings, 



There were proposed as members— The Eight Hon. the Earl 

 of Home ; the Eev. Eobert Stewart, The Manse, Jedburgh ; and 

 Mr George Bulman, Corbridge-on-Tyne. 



After this long narrative, I need not detain you by lengthened 

 closing remarks of a general nature. Our Club has now com- 

 pleted its first period of fifty years, and taken the first step into 

 a new period. Will it live to celebrate its centenary ? Some 

 appear to have their misgivings and to suspect that, having 

 exhausted its territory, the Club must decay and perish through 

 sheer want of fresh sustenance. To this timorous suspicion I 

 would suggest a threefold reply. 



1 . In the first place, while it is true that to several of the older 

 members the region explored by the Club must be very familiar, 

 it must not be forgotten that there is always a new generation 

 rising up to whom these familiar scenes are not known ; and that 

 it is the delight of the older members to introduce these newer 

 men to what is so well known to themselves, and to call forth 

 and guide their enthusiasm while they make acquaintance with 

 the fauna and flora of the district, or read the ever interesting 

 story associated with ruin, and relic, and family tradition of which 

 our beautiful Border country is so productive. This younger 

 generation, ever renewed, renews the life of the Club. 



2, Then they who dread atrophy for the Club, through 

 dearth of suitable fresh food, forget the boundless fertility of 

 nature. We are pre-eminently a Natui-al History Society ; and 

 it must never be forgotten that Natural History is a science of 

 observation. Nature is an unfailing mother, and her offspring 

 is as varied as unfailing. Every year produces its own crop of 

 new facts, which, like the harvest of the farmer, must be gathered 

 in and garnered. These facts are invaluable ; and it is the pro- 

 vince of a Society such as ours to see that none of them escape 

 accurats observation and intelligent record. They are not only 

 the delight of the specialist and systematist ; but they are the 

 raw material out of which the wider theories of life and organis- 

 ation must be constructed, let the theoriser be evolutionist, or 



