REPORT OF THE MEETINGS FOR 1897 161 



between this point and the mouth of Dowlaw Dean, Asplenium 

 marinum continues to maintain a footing. Dowlaw Dean, 

 which is a rich botanical station, was traversed by a number of 

 the party, and many rare and interesting plants were found. 

 No new discoveries, however, were made. The deau is 

 singularly wild, and it was quite an adventure which some 

 of the elder members scarcely dared to undertake, to climb from 

 its rocky lower end, upward to where it commences in the 

 arable land of Dowlaw farm. In more than one place it was 

 necessary to leave the burn, and by a divergence avoid the face 

 of the rock over which the water falls ; now with the sweet 

 charm and soothing melody of the gently flowing stream, but at 

 other times when the rivulet is swollen, the roar of the torrent 

 must change by sight and sound the whole picture and its ideas. 

 Now it was a scene of sylvan beauty, a peaceful retreat, but it 

 required no great effort of the imagination to hear the rushing 

 torrent tumbling with noise and tumult over its rocky bed, and 

 leaping as if in fierce strife over the boulders that oppose its 

 course, or carrying them down the steep declivities that here 

 and there occur in the descent of the ravine. The upper part 

 is fairly well clothed with trees and shrubs, and we readily 

 yielded to the temptation to rest on one of the spurs which reach 

 into the dean, just where the water from the bogs on Colding- 

 hara Moor had begun to cut its way down to the sea, and 

 linger over the charm of a view down the wild and picturesque 

 glen to the sea beyond. We could only pause to think for a 

 moment of all the force and beauty there contained, half-hidden 

 and half-revealed to sight, but laden with botanical and other 

 treasures of natural history. 



The scattered parties assembled at 3-30 in the granary at 

 Dowlaw for dinner. Truly admirable arrangements had been 

 made, and even if a long drive, the fresh sea breeze and an 

 exhilarating walk had not given a keen edge to appetite, he 

 would have been a veritable dyspeptic who would not have been 

 tempted by the feast spread before him. 



During dinner the President said he had an important piece 

 of business to bring before the meeting. It was a proposal to 

 change the date of their next meeting. It appeared that if they 

 adhered to their original arrangement for the last Wednesday in 

 September, there was a risk of their being lost in the fogs of 

 Lammermoor. It was unanimously agreed that the meeting 



