EEPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1905 263 



prevailing summer haze. At a point about six miles from 

 St. Boswells a halt was called, as it had been 

 Murder arranged to send on the carriages to Whitmuir 



Moss. Hall to await the arrival of the party after their 



ramble about the edges of the two interesting 

 peat-bogs of the neighbourhood was completed. The former 

 of these adjoins the road, and lies in a hollow on the West 

 side, access being obtained through the meadow surrounding it. 

 It rejoices in the sombre name of Murder Moss, though 

 whether or not a tragedy has so aspersed it, it is diflBcult at 

 this date to determine. A local solution of the ominous 

 title hardly satisfies one's legitimate curiosity. It is said 

 that formerly the neighbours obtained their peat-fuel here, 

 and that the task of procuring it was so laborious that the 

 hard- wrought peasants regarded the operation as " fair 

 murder"! Perhaps as likely an explanation might be the 

 conjecture, that two rival botanists essayed to explore its 

 treasures, and that as they threaded their way to the 

 centre, along the rush-grown ledges which afford precarious 

 footing to the intrepid in fine weather, the one supplied 

 the necessary jerk to make the other lose his foothold and 

 plunge into the unknown depths of water and mud ! On 

 the occasion of the Club's last visit, the season had proved 

 so wet that it was impossible to gain an entrance to the 

 Moss ; but on the present occasion, owing to continuous dry 

 weather, the members had little difiiculty in reaching well 

 into the centre, so long as they made use of the somewhat 

 treacherous pathways already referred to. On crossing the 

 field encircling the Moss, egg-shells of the Curlew and 

 the Grouse were noticed, vestiges no doubt of the depre- 

 dations of the ubiquitous Rook. On the margin of the Moss, 

 Orchis latifolia var. incarnata (L.), was discovered in flower, as 

 well as Viola lutea and V. amcena. On a raised bank in the 

 middle were noted Selaginella selaginoides ; Triglochin palustre ; 

 Eleocharis ccespitosa ; and Veronica scutellata. Among Pond- 

 weeds were identified : Potamogeton rujescens ; P. heterophyllus ; 

 P.polygonijolius; P.plantagineus ; also Myriophyllum spicaium; 

 Comarum palustre; Menyanthes trifoliata ; Hippuris vulgaris ; 

 Carex filiformis ; and C, ampullacea. As on a former excursion 

 to Langmoss, which is situated higher on the hillside to the 



