In this paper, the author pointed out the wonderful changes often effected upon the scenery of a country by the quiet but ceaseless energy of its streams and rivers, alluding to the picturesque features introduced into many landscapes by river-erosion. As a splendid example of such erosion, he instanced the valley of the Esk, at the famous Hawthornden, near Edinburgh, and exhibited a sketch showing the present features of a portion of this charming valley, and a diagram of how it is possible such river-erosion as this may have been produced without any convulsion or extraordinary violence, and simply by the action, during a long period of time, of the little stream itself. Mr Richardson stated that, what might be termed the ‶figure of eight″ windings of rivers formed one of their commonest phenomena, such windings being caused by the stream impinging on one bank, and being thrown off in a curve against the opposite bank, the result frequently being (as at Hawthornden) the formation of a steep cliff at the bank against which the stream struck, with a sloping earth-covered bank facing it; the space between marking the amount of land-surface removed by the river-erosion. The annexed lithograph illustrates this phenomenon, and also the progress of river-erosion at various successive stages, the river Esk here forming a cliff, ‶The Lover’s Loup,″ on its right bank, after having formed a cliff on its left bank (also with an earth-covered slope opposite it) a little higher up the stream. Allowance is