REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1904 115 



since the formation of the Club, to have been found upon 

 the Bell. Unfortunately the search-party before starting 

 were not in possession of the facts as recorded by Dr 

 Johnston in his "Botany of the Eastern Borders," and devoted 

 their labours to a section of the hill below the accredited 

 station. Th^^ facts are as follows: — "During an excursion 

 of the Club in June 1834, two specimens were picked, of 

 which one was presented to the late N. Winch, Esq., of 

 Newcastle, and the other is preserved in my herbarium. In 

 a subsequent excursion the plant was not observed. It is 

 therefore a point for the district botanist to settle, — Were 

 the specimens gathered by the Eev. J. Baird and myself the 

 last of their race, or was our research incurious and careless? 

 The latter alternative may well be the correct one, for the 

 days of our visits rained heavily." In describing the hill 

 and its surface, he speaks of it as " well covered with green- 

 swarded turf and heather," and adds particularly, '"it was 

 just where this heather touches on the shingle that we found 

 the Pyrola." In the belief that the plant would naturally 

 flourish in the shade of the forest trees, a considerable time 

 was occupied in examining all the likely nooks and corners 

 there, without any attempt being made to survey the hillside 

 lying above the zone of heather, and hence it is not surprising 

 that the efforts of the party proved fruitless. A private 

 excursion, organized for the purpose later on in the season, 

 also met with a similar disappointment. Skirting the slopes 

 of the neighbouring hill of Akeld, where the footing was 

 rendered very trying and difficult by the abundance of loose 

 boulders encircling its base, the members reached the gorge 

 through which the burn of the same name sparkles towaids 

 the Glen, and descended through an old fir-plantation upon 

 the site of an ancient peel tower, with a vaulted under-chamber, 

 mentioned in the Border Survey of 1542, which is still in a 

 good state of preservation. Striking the main road at this 

 point they made their way towards Wooler, some three miles 

 distant. During their ramble they noted the following plants, 

 which may be mentioned: — Oxalis acetosella rubra Jormae ; 

 Lysimachia nemorum ; Lastrma dilatata ; Asplenium Adiantum- 

 niyrum ; Polypodium Dryopteris ; Carex praecox ; Areiiaria 

 trinervia; Montia fontana ; Viola lutea; Lathyrus macrorrhizus. 



