Beport of Meetings. By James Hardy. 257 



HOLY ISLAND. 



The second meeting of the year was held on Wednesday, 27th 

 June, at Beal Half-way House, for Holy Island. There was a 

 very full attendance, upwards of fifty members and their friends 

 being present from the different districts embraced by the Club 

 — Berwickshire, Boxburghshire, Northumberland, Selkirkshire, 

 East Lothian, Dumfriesshire, Edinburgh, and Durham sending 

 representatives. A substantial breakfast having been despatched 

 at the comfortable road-side inn, a start was made from the rail- 

 way station in long carts, conveyances, and on foot to cross the 

 three miles of wet sands which lie between the mainland and the 

 island. Arrived there, the party was met by several more mem- 

 bers of the Club, who had been resident on the island for a day 

 or two previous. The party now broke up into different groups, 

 following the bent of their own inclinations as to the direction 

 they took. Most, however, at first had a good look round the 

 venerable old priory, the beautiful ruins of which, no matter 

 how often visited, are ever full of interest, teeming as they are 

 with so many associations of the past. Most of the party also, 

 at some time or other during the day, climbed up to the topmost 

 platform of the old castle to enjoy the magnificent panoramic 

 view to be had from it. Mr M. G. Crossman, Berwick, having 

 his yacht lying in the harbour at the time, kindly invited the 

 visitors on board, and hospitably entertained them to lunch in 

 the saloon. 



Meantime the more ardent naturalists of the company, having 

 escaped from these fascinations, were engaged in botanising the 

 northern end of the island, where they were joined by the Presi- 

 dent and the junior Secretary, who were the latest to arrive. 

 Here the miniature meadows, hedged in by the long sand-bent 

 (several of which are very damp), were crowded with blossoms, 

 and every creek and bay and long-stretching line of coast offered 

 a rich and varied flora. The gay Viper's Bugloss was partic- 

 ularly effulgent, and along with it grew the more sober-tinted, 

 but more curious Hound's-tongue. The frequent plots of Birds'- 

 foot Trefoil were especially rich in colour ; and alongside of them 

 were contrasted the fainter hues of the Silver-weed, which is 

 very common here. Sheep-rot {Hydrocotyle vulgaris and Juncus 

 hufonius) grew in the marshes. The Sea-pink or Thrift was 

 remarkable for the size of its individual and loosely-detached 

 florets, and for the number of white and pale-tinted varieties. 



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