446 Eeport of Meetings for 1881. By Jas. Hardy. 



' Adiantum-nigrum, A. marinum, Lastrcea dilatata and Polypodium 

 Dryopteris. Leaving Pease Bridge, they proceeded to visit Cock- 

 burnspath Tower, a ruined strong liold of tlie Dunbars, Earls of 

 Marcb. By order of tbe Privy Council in 1581 and again 1584, 

 Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, was commanded, under pain 

 of bigb treason, to deliver over to tbe King's officers, tbe castles 

 of " Tbomptalloun, Douglas, and Cokbrandispetb." Tbe old 

 f ortalice is now in a toppling state ; a large portion, twice in suc- 

 cession, fell during tbe autumn and winter of 1880-81, and tbe 

 rest will surely follow, unless means are taken to preserve tbis 

 relic of a bygone age. Tbe approach to tbe castle from tbe east 

 bas been from a curious old bridle bridge, of wbicb few suspect 

 tbe existence, being bidden in tbe depths of tbe dean a little 

 above the modern bridge. 



Of tbe day's work accomplished by tbe fifth, and by far tbe 

 most numerous party, Mr Thomson has given tbe detail, and as 

 it wears tbe stamp of a fresh and vivid impression, I shall with 

 slight alterations adopt it. Tbis party walked from Grant's 

 House to tbe Pease Burn mouth. " Tbe ramble was most de- 

 lightful. For perhaps a mile and a half the way lay along tbe 

 road, with the railway on tbe left, and the splendid old natural 

 wood on the right. Tbis wood, which formed part of the original 

 forest wbicb once covered tbe banks in this part of the country, 

 is composed mainly of oak, birch, hazel, and willow, (in tbe 

 Pease dean partly of elm), and the gnarled appearance of tbe 

 oaks is in itself a sufficient proof of its antiquity, while their 

 great knotty roots upon which successive generations of oaks 

 have grown were a study to the- curious. There were also not a 

 few bushes of sloe and juniper, and the ground was covered by 

 interesting plants and shrubs. Most noticeable was Rosa spinos- 

 issima, whose pure white petals and yellow stamens and anthers 

 lay in profusion on every twig of the parent shrub. Tbe pretty 

 yellow rock-rose {BeliantTiemum vulgare) was seen on every sunny 

 bank, and the red bloom of Lychnis diurna, and the green bracken 

 (Pteris aquilina) held almost undisputed sway up in the heart 

 of the wood. By the roadside, and flourishing among the furze, 

 brambles and raspberry bushes, or near the little marshy strips, 

 were Corydalis claviculata, lEqmsetum sylvaticum, Pyrola media, 

 Luzula sylvatica, Valeriana officinalis, etc. On our left the warb- 

 ling of the sedge warbler {Sylvia phragmitis) was beard in a 

 clump of stunted willows, at whose roots grew half developed 



