444 Report of Meetings for 1881. By Jas. Hardy. 



of the genus Phytopus that harbour in some of the leaf -buds, as 

 was first pointed out by Miss Ormerod "Entomologist," x. pp. 

 83-86. In Penmanshiel Wood, Pyrola media was the plant of 

 chief interest gathered. The places where it now flourishes were 

 formerly covered with long heather free from trees, these open 

 spaces having been planted up. On reaching the fields the Presi- 

 dent said that his attention had been drawn to the curious changes 

 of positions in the flower-buds of Spergula arvensis or Spurrey, 

 during the progress from their evolution till the seeds were per- 

 fected. From a drooping state, it erects its flower to be fertilized ; 

 that being accomplished, the stalk bearing the capsule is again 

 bent, till the seeds are matured, and the stalk rises and scatters 

 them abroad. The same provision exists in the chickweeds. 



An extensive view of the Lammermoors was obtained from 

 Penmanshiel. The sight of these familiar hills recalled to the 

 President's recollection a popular weather proverb, connected 

 with two of the most conspicuous, Cockburn and Dirrington Laws, 

 which has never been in print. 



"When Cockburn Law gets on its hat, 



And Dirrington its cowl, 

 A' the herds o' Lammermoor, 

 Ken it will be foul." 

 In the early part of the Club's history considerable attention was 

 paid to the preservation of these local sayings, and three or four 

 papers were devoted to their being recorded. 



After resting and a slight refreshment at Penmanshiel, the 

 party took the Harelawside road towards Grant's House, picking 

 up Antennaria dioica on the moor ; and Plantago maritima near 

 what was once the site of St. David's Cairn. An old flat moss 

 on the left hand still carries its old British or Pictish name of 

 Moss Maw, i.e., the level moss. The same name still adheres to 

 a moss in the hilly district to the south of Edinburghshire, once 

 the country of the Strathclyde Britons, but afterwards encroach- 

 ed on by the Southern Picts. At the side of the wall near the 

 effaced memorial which later times connected with King David, 

 there used to lie a slab of greywacke stone hollowed out into a 

 smooth circular concavity, like a shallow dish, which had come 

 from among the stones, and remnants of old fortifications about 

 the cairn. It might have been once used for husking big, or 

 four-rowed barley. At the top of the field east of Grant's House, 

 which was passed, nearly in the line of the upper wall, there 

 were formerly a collection of camps and cairns, now entirely 



