10 Beport of Meetings for 1879, by James Hardy. 



wood-rush, a quantity of London Pride witli most luxuriant 

 foliage, Saxifraga granulata among the dry rocks, and some plants 

 of Campanula latifolia. A small crag of greywacke slate on the 

 opposite bank of the Eye shews the native tendency of the rock 

 here to become clothed with the glossy moss, LesTcea sericea, as 

 well as the obscure greenery of Madotheca platyphylla, and with 

 Lecanora parella, which spreads a coating of white-wash over the 

 stones that it affects. Tufts of Asplenium Trichomanes and 

 clusters of the common Polypody issue from the dry chinks and 

 ledges, along with a crop of granulated saxifrage. 



A detached field that was passed after crossing the Eye has a 

 story attached to it, worthy of preservation, as a picture of the 

 habits of bypast times. Originally it was a pendicle of Hillend, 

 the next property. The laird of Hillend wanted a horse, but 

 had not the means to purchase it ; and the laird of Houndwood 

 possessed a horse that exactly suited his neighbour's require- 

 ments, but he was not willing to part with it on trust. To obtain 

 the horse, Hillend conveyed this field to Houndwood ; and it is 

 now incorporated with the Houndwood lands. 



Crossing the public road near a bridge, the company entered 

 Lamington dean. The under portion belongs to Hillend, and 

 is the only part of it worthy of a visit. The name Lamington 

 dean is a pleonasm. The word as written in documents is 

 Lamendene (1620), Lambdene (1621), Lamenden (1632), 

 Lamendean (1751), and Lamenden (1755). It having pro- 

 bably afforded a sheltered situation, where ewes were placed 

 in the lambing season, it was from that circumstance called the 

 Lambing dean, which name was subsequently communicated to 

 the farm-steading situated on its brink. 



At the entrance to the dean a Tree-pipit was heard in full 

 song ; and the warble of the Black-cap saluted us when within 

 its precincts. Willow- wrens were numerous and vocal. The 

 lower end of the dean is planted. It then becomes more open, 

 and there a great quantity of drift, mostly gravel, has accu- 

 mulated in an ancient fissure that formed the primordial dean. 

 A section shews that this drift consisted chiefly of rolled grey- 

 wacke, mixed with sandstones, greenstones, porphyries, and a 

 dark shale coloured clay, along with sand-beds. Some of these 

 materials have their nearest home in the Lothians ; and some 

 even of the Silurian constituents may be derived from the old 



