Lo pos ene Bosh ' hi r ry Yep be hy j\eeh ay te A dele, 4a wiyiany 6 J + s ee rr) is phe + Vince +: Bea po Th 4p) Near seats, F de Lirdenet oe ty'? MASP sbaprae ’ it S0Poaes step nihyy \Noay er te i adi bar - ilennieat ieabs AeA Hn fed washin Arotadetine bud Lapis Be HP opy rT ow eh bbaad tec erry Pt aN al ita mele Wart) Aare Seale de he ss yy tone a MBeilhs sees ery es th 4yesta ie ay hed Hash) ately ews dad (iii Ted Wadi Ty Sot bey "Sins we 4,' veoh fa Mee de Wea LW p Mater ee Yomrlaey Bind» re 44 wb ea-5 * ba Le Hood daar by) shee) by ay, aeorgigerynes? i fi raha 4% ve sanded, wehar, 4 een eien aan NAD Oy hy aehem Ge an Z WO ey bens ' Hie 8) M Ball Vahey wy +0 on taes Stunt, Le he aul} ; Wis babes TT 4 vega gabe ttt >a Paik} ; a Wri dee, 544,44 \ qin YPa gree eo | vie vw Ves ty tee) Pal Ue re ted Adee WSO 99 ¥ in tdy oka be Fh Beatie y * e» WOOhE Grane Hie eit ‘yup Me ONE huweg, one waaoe ki + Pike FW raged ae i Hiesteoe tay hy 4 ‘wm WO Vigs Ay tge UAE, 2 ee dyn Ten) a taser rive tig mid ttT Were. J J “) 6 Cel teta, i a OAS Th ievngeg ACA Bed yey a¥ivdy te *P Aoi higre be Pvarteg hy Oath ure whiney? saith Me Feiesno vn ee ier) Pavayrd eee take wa one seit iaaettie ee sabi p OD, Ei Ue iad raven ‘ Py is 4 wt : a tay i pica Wipes Tan Urea ere} + ring i Monaned fuatayrese . Ne nant neh] a LS Wider hdbang "boas “ ‘ 4 datas ah eae Wy ws 8 oy F i An x 0 ale ¥ Ia gre 7 i. om 21) re ’ ' sy: 4 al vee Bese fl ae / { (i a mi wah Sire P - a A . i te as eve ata Aa a wh ey r a oe NATURAL HISTORY. | FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT Or THE BELFAST NATURALISTS’ FIELD CLUB, WITH Statement of Accounts, AND A LIST OF THE OFFICE-BEARERS AND MEMBERS, FOR THE YEAR ENDING 3lst MARCH, 1867. BELFAST: PRINTED AT THE DAILY ‘“ NORTHERN WHIG’ OFFICE, 1867. | RULES OF THE Pelfast Haturalists Frelh Club. I That the Society be called “Tur Betrast Naturatists’ Frenp Cus.” if, That the object of the Society be the practical study of Natural Science and Archeology. III. That the officers of the Club be a Committee of twelve members, a Treasurer, and two Secretaries. The Committee, on their first meeting, will appoint a Chairman to preside at their meetings. IV; That every candidate for membership shall be proposed and seconded at any meeting, and, on paying the subscription, become a member. Ve That the subscription be five shillings per annum, payable in advance, Vi. That the members of the Club shall hold at least six field meetings during the year, in the most interesting localities, for investigating the Natural History of the district. That the place of meeting be fixed by the Committee, and that eight days’ notice of each Excursion be communi- cated to members by the Secretaries. VII. That fortnightly meetings be held for the purpose of reading papers ; such papers as far as possible to treat of the Natural History and Arche- ology of the district. These meetings to be held during the months from November to April, inclusive. VIII. That the Committee shall, if they find it advisable, offer for competition Prizes for the best collection of scientific objects of the district. The details of this Rule to be left to the discretion of the Committee for the time being. IX. That the Annual Meeting be held during the month of April, when the Report of the Committee for the past year, and the Treasurer’s Financial Statement, shall be presented, the Committee and Officers elected, Bye-laws made and altered, and any proposed alterations in the general laws, of which a fortnight’s notice shall have been given, in writing, to the Secretaries, considered and decided upon, Notice to Mempers.—Zhe TickET oF MEMBERSHIP accompanying Treasurer's receipt for the Annual Subscription entitles the holder to free admission to the Museum of the Natural History Society. FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT oF Che Helfust ABaturalists’ field Club. Ir is not as a mere matter of form that the Committee of the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club desire to lay before the members of the Society their Fourth Annual Report. They do so under the conviction that the working of the Society for the past year having been so thoroughly successful, the results attained merit a permanent record. It is particularly gratifying to the Committee to be able to report that the programme laid down at the commencement of the year for the Summer excursions and the Winter meet- ings was strictly carried out; all its arrangements were adhered to without deviation. The excursions were made on the days and to the places named, and the Winter meetings were held regularly every fortnight, nothing having occurred during the year to interrupt the uniformity of the Society’s proceedings. By the Treasurer’s Report it will be seen that the funds of the Society are in a satisfactory condition, and the number of members is rather increased, although no special effort has been made to obtain new subscribers. The Committee, having con- sidered it more prudent to ascertain first whether their desire to permanently establish the Club could be realized, now, after four years’ experience, entertain no doubt on that point, and have no hesitation in pointing to their past success, and claim- ing a larger share of public support for the future.* * Since the Report was read at the Annual General Meeting the number of members on the roll of the Club has been very much increased. (See list appended, ) Se ee ee ee ee SSeS oe ——_ During the past year many of the Summer excursions or field meetings were well attended, and on every occasion they were thoroughly enjoyed by the members and friends who joined them. In arranging those excursions the Committee have been careful to select places in the neighbourhood of Belfast of special interest, either to the Geologist, Botanist, or Archeologist, or embracing as many objects of interest in those departments as possible, and the managers of the railways afford every facility for reaching those places without fatigue, and at a moderate cost. Hitherto the members and friends who attend the field meetings, although having no particular scientific object in view, found it an advantage to be accompanied by their fellow-mem- bers acquainted with all that was interesting in their respective localities, and willing to afford every information, and gratify every inquiry, thereby adding considerably to the pleasure always excited during a country ramble. Itis the desire of the Committee that a larger number, not only of the members, but of the friends of the Club, should avail themselves of the privi- leges thus provided. During the year now brought to a close the following excur- sions were made in the SUMMER SESSION. The First Excursion for the year was made by the members of the Society, on Saturday, the 2nd June, to Whitehead. In the morning the weather was very unpromising, and, doubt- less, prevented many from joining the excursionists. The members started by the two o’clock train, and as they proceeded on their journey the clearness of the atmosphere increased with the distance from Belfast, and the evening turned out to be as bright and favorable as could possibly be desired, so much so, that the laugh was turned against those of the party who came prepared with umbrellas and great-coats. As pre- viously arranged, the members of the Club left the train at Kilroot and proceeded on foot to Whitehead. Soon after leav- ing the station, attention was directed to the gravel ballast along the railway, and several very good specimens of flint 7 flakes, or what are supposed to have been spear and arrow heads, were picked up. The gravel was obtained from a pit in the neighbourhood of Carrickfergus, between the main road to Kilroot and the railway. This must, therefore, be added to the other localities where those flint flakes occur, on which the pre-Adamite man theory is founded. The specimens were very like those described by Sir C. Lyell, as occurring in the valley of the Somme. Farther along the line the beds of the new red sandstone were examined, and a quantity of selenite, as well as fibrous gypsum, was obtained, some specimens of the former being very beautiful and clear. At Whitehead a great variety of geological formations occur, and their mode of occurrence is highly instructive to the inquiring Geologist. The Lias is exhibited by very good sections, and also the Green- sand, and each yield a great number of fossils, some beds in the Lias, as the Avicula contorta bed, being apparently made up of shells. The bed characterised by Ammonites planorbis is very well exhibited here. The chalk, too, of the Whitehead quarries was examined, and from it several fossils obtained, particularly a few very large and perfect ammonites, so large, indeed, that the members of the Club had to assist in pairs to remove them to the station. One specimen was about 18in. in diameter, and was well marked on the outer surface by the curious windings of the edges of the sutures. The semi-columnar condition of the trap as it occurs here presented an interesting feature, and several rock specimens were obtained for the cabinets at home. Altogether the excursion was most successful, and the labor of each member was rewarded by the numerous specimens collected. The Second Excursion took place on Wednesday, 25th June, when, according to previous arrangement, the members assem- bled at the Northern Counties Railway Station at half-past nine o’clock, and proceeded to Larne. Here Mr. M‘Neill had a well-horsed long van awaiting their arrival, on which they soon took seats for the road. The horses were just bending to their work when the steward of the day called a halt at 8 Waterloo, and the whole party dismounted to examine the very excellent geological section here exhibited, showing the Chalk, Greensand, Lias, and the Keuper marls in situ. Many of the party secured good specimens of the characteristic fossils, particularly the Gryphea wmcurva, commonly called in the locality ‘ witches’ cradles.” Specimens of pentacrenites were also picked up, called ‘ wall-stones,” by the people of Larne.* Again taking their seats on the car the high level of the road afforded a general view of the day’s route. Throughout its entire length the main geological features are the same. The several headlands that embolden the coast-line owe their origin to protecting arms or branches of trap that extend outward all round the margin of the great Trappean plateau, covering the County Antrim and the greater part of Derry; inland they form the high hills of Carntogher, Benbradagh, Keady, and Benyevenagh ; while along the Antrim coast they crown the heights of Ballygally, Ticmacraven, Ardclinis, and Layd ; and thus protecting the headlands leave the intervening valleys or glens to be worn away by the influence of time and the elements ; we have, therefore, barren, rough, and rugged headlands, alternating with deep worn glens, that charm the spectator by the richness of their verdure, and reward the husbandman by the fertility of their produce. The first of these headlands from Larne is Ballygally Head, formed of perpendicular masses of semi-columnar basalt, the so-called “corn sacks” of the fanciful, Having rounded Ballygally Head, a fine open well-cultivated country, unseen before, presented itself, the surrounding hills enclosing a rich, varied, and cultivated landscape, sloping down in undulating waves to the water’s edge. Arriving at Ballygally Coastguard Station a plentiful supply of the little rue fern (Asplenium ruta- muraria) was found on the walls surrounding the premises, A rather long stay was made near the wild undercliff called the Deer Park a little further on. Here the slope from the foot * The term ‘‘ wall stones” seems to be a corruption of the term “ well stones.” The latter applied to the specimens because they were first found in a certain well near the town. They are also called “dancing stones,” because they seem to dance about when dropped into vinegar. g of the rough cliffs fronting Ballygilbert Hill down to the road is covered with fallen masses of chalk rocks that ages ago formed the continuation of the beds hundreds of feet above, and are now broken and scattered in the wildest confusion over acres of ground, covering the retreat of thousands of rabbits, and sheltering the hardy shrubs that grow in the narrow clefts between them. Many of these rocks contain hundreds of tons ; their enormous dimensions, irregularity of shape, dazzling white colour, and interspersed foliage, form a gigantic rockery of the grandest character. At Macauley’s Head, close to Glenarm, a totally different scene occurs. Instead of being scattered and broken, the pure white rocks rise up from the road on the left almost perpendicularly, and are capped by the trap, making a total height of 350 feet, great blocks of rocks overhanging and seeming ready to fall at a touch, while the sea washes close up to the road on the other side, where in storms it makes a clean breach over, and mixes its spray with the falling torrents from the cliffs. At Glenarm the party placed themselves under the guidance of Dr. Holden, who conducted them over Glenarm Park and gardens, belonging to the Earl of Antrim—in the former, a famous hunting-ground for botanists, good specimens of the bird’s nest orchis (Neottia Nidus avis) and quaking grass (Lriza media) were collected. The extensive park scenery, well kept grounds, and excellent gardens, excited the admira- tion of each of the party, and the courtesy of Messrs. Good and Brunton from the Castle was thoroughly appreciated. Passing Carnlough, and its fashionable villas, sandy beach, busy pier, and crowded shipping, they soon reached Garron Point. The two great step-like hills or masses of rocks, each . of a hundred feet rise, originally formed part of Knockore Hill, a thousand feet above their present level. The tilted nature of the strata, and the fissured condition of the masses, clearly indicate a vast slip over the surface of the underlying marls, how long ago —aye, how long? On the lower of those slips Garron Tower is built, the residence of the late Mar- chioness of Londonderry, and now the Summer retreat of Earl Vane. Between Garron Point and Red Bay, or the entrance SS A RT 10 to Glenariff, a distance of four miles, there occurs one suc- cession of vast cliffs from five hundred to eight hundred feet high, the upper two hundred feet being almost perpendicu- lar, rising from the sloping undercliff as Cave Hill rises from the Deer Park at Belfast. Here and there the very rugged cliffs are broken by deep gorges and ravines, which vary the scenery, and render it still more imposing and grand. The sheltered valleys are fringed with the hazel, birch, and bramble ; the same foliage being scattered among the fallen rocks that in some places almost cover the slope from the hills to the margin of the sea, With this range of magnificent cliffs extending away to Red Bay and up one side of Glenariff, a similar range form- ing the other side on the southern escarpment of Crockalough and Lurigethan mountains, the wooded hills about Cushendall in the front, and the continued headlands beyond stretching out towards the open sea, with the distant hills of Scotland marking the other side of the Channel, form one great scene of surpassing grandeur. The sun having now sunk behind the summit of Trostan, and the breeze off the sea becoming cooler than agreeable, the party gladly availed themselves of the hospitality of the Glens of Antrim Hotel, in the romantically situated village of Cushen- dall. Mrs. Martin, the hostess, soon had each comfortably provided with every requirement, the style and character of which was as creditable to the establishment as it was satis- factory to the visitors. Remaining at the hotel for the night, next morning, at half- past seven, the steward summoned all to breakfast, and the good things provided were dealt with, with a zealous determi- nation to prepare for a hard day’s work. Soon after eight the party started for Glendun. Nothing could surpass the beauty and’ grandeur of the wild hills that surround the extensive valley of Glendun. The beautiful road runs along the south side of the glen for some distance, then crosses by a viaduct at a spot that gives the best possible view of the country around. Highty feet below the Dun River flows onwards in its course from the Eagle Hill and Slieveanorra Mountain to the sea at Cushendun. ‘Looking up the glen the Craig Mountain rises to 11 the left eleven hundred feet high, and its northern slope, run- ning east and west, is so steep and high that the sun never shines on it for pine months of the year. On the right of the glen, still looking westward, mountains from eleven to twelve hundred feet high form the northern side of the valley, so situated that it catches all the sunshine of the year, and is proportionably verdant and beautiful. The intersecting river courses are embosomed in the richest foliage, and the hill slopes are covered with the most luxuriant shrubs of every form and kind, growing in harmony with the surrounding grandeur, and uniting to form a scene words cannot well describe, or pencil properly pourtray. Leaving the glen, the whole party were so enraptured with the pleasures of the trip and the character of this locality, it was proposed, and carried by acclamation, that the Committee should be requested to make this an annual trip. The subject was laid before the Committee, but they could not accede to the request, as they wish to be free to make every year’s arrangements as may be considered best for the interest of the Club. Arriving at Cushendun the curious caverns found in the rough conglomorate of the Old Red Sandstone were examined, On the face of these cliffs and overhanging precipices the sea spleenwort grows freely. From Cushendun the party came straight for Cushendall, arriving about one o’clock for lunch. This being duly discussed, they prepared for the return home, and transferred their heterogeneous collection of plants, and stones, and shells, and tools to the van, and bid the Glens of Antrim Hotel farewell, thoroughly gratified with the comfort of the house, the character of the entertainment, the attention of the servants, and the kindness of the hostess, Mrs. Martin. It was now determined that an ascent should be made to the top of Glenariff, and explore its waterfalls. Accordingly. the party left Cushendall, and soon passed under the archway cut through the Old Red Sandstone, on the road near the pier, and entered the magnificent Glenavriff, bounded on either side by precipitous hills from 1,100 to 1,300 feet high. The glen or valley extends inland for some three miles, and from summit to summit across is about a mile and a half. The surrounding 12 hills form perpendicular escarpments, from the foot of which the valley slopes on either side with an unbroken sweep to the flat below, where the Invir or Glenariff river traces its course to the sea, Being unbroken by intervening hills or undulations of the surface, the whole extent of the valley is constantly in view from the road. This was the last scene of Coxwell’s balloon exploit. Limestone quarries occur on the north side of the valley, in one of which were collected very good clear crystals of double-refracting spar. Along the banks the ladies gathered~ quantities of wild strawberries, which abounded here melting with ripeness. At the head of the glen the river, like our own Woodburn, divides into two branches, on each side of which there are some splendid waterfalls, the main branches, as well as the tributary streams, being fringed with groves of the densest foliage, where the botanists of the party collected many specimens of our native plants, including the following ferns :—The maidenhair spleenwort (Aspleniwm trichomanes), the beech fern (Polypodium phegopteris), and the brittle bladder fern (Cystopteris fragilis) At three o’clock the whistle of the steward again called the party together ; and, at the village of Waterfoot, they exchanged the hotel van for their own, and passed on for Larne, The cliffs along the road now looked imposingly grand, The craggy prominences, reflecting back the brilliant rays of the evening’s sun, stood out boldly, and cast dark shadows athwart the receding surfaces ; and all was so clear and well defined that, hundreds of feet above on the rocky face of the escarpment, the mountain sheep were seen browsing on the scanty herbage that occasional projecting ledges afforded. Reaching Garron Point the party alighted to visit the Tower, and away they went scrambling up the winding path along the face of the thickly-wooded hill directly under Garron Tower. They were received by Mr. Portens, the gardener ; and, with a rapidity that scarcely did justice to the place, they were shown over gardens, greenhouses, vinery, and rosery, and were amazed at the amount of taste and skill displayed in convert- ing this ledge of fallen rock into a paradise of flowers. Art, thus triumphing over the desolation of nature, has transformed ——— — = ———— 13 the débris of a geological catastrophe into a scene of matchless order and the rarest beauty. Hurrying down the precipice at the risk of broken necks or sprained limbs, the party once more took a car for a straight run to Larne. The day’s work was now finished, and time was afforded to reflect on the scenes passed through, the geologists being thoroughly pleased with the great variety of geological features exhibited along the route, the numerous sections of fossiliferous beds, the grand physical features of the coast line, and the stupenduous erosions, con- tortions, and landslips indicating the vast disturbances of past geological ages. Nor were the botanists less interested. With better opportunities of collecting specimens, they returned laden with spoil, and those who, on this occasion, were in quest of such, did not fail to enrich their herbaria by the addition of many rareties. The rocky cliffs afford most suitable habitats for the interesting, though difficult, family known as the Hawkweeds. Specimens were obtained of three species not of common occurrence, namely—Mieracium Murorum, H. Vul- gatum, and H. Anglicum. The heathy mountain slopes and rocky escarpments which all along the route limit the domain of Neptune were decorated and rendered still more pictu- resque by many of our maritime and rupestral wild plants, the bright blue of the sheep’s scabious contrasting with the abundant white flowers of the sea campion rendered gay many a jutting point on the coast; while more shady rocks were festooned by the trailing stems of the wood- vetch, bearing in profusion those racemes of elegant blos- soms which distinguished this species. On the beach at Red Bay were collected the sea holly (Eryngium maritimum), with its low tufts of rigid and spiny leaves. Adjacent spots were enlivened by the bright yellow heads of Trifoliwm procumbeus. Here, associated with the rest harrow (Ononis arvensis), on the margin of a small stream hard by, the botanical collectors rejoiced to find Senecio saracenicus, a plant not hitherto recorded in our local floras. Glendun and Glenariff are so situated as to afford natural habitats for sub-Alpine and marsh plants, and during the brief exploration on this occasion yielded many such, some of 14 these being reckoned among our rarest forms. We may enumerate Alsine verna, Melampyrum sylvaticum, Myosotis repens, Gymnadenia conopsea, and many others of less note. Many other localities hastily examined produced their quota to interest ; and on the whole it may be asserted that no more profitable route could have been selected to interest and instruct those who take an interest in the botany of our native country. In making arrangements for the coming year, the Committee have included this excursion again, and they hope that a good number of the members will endeavour to attend it. The Society’s Third Excursion for the year took place on Saturday, 21st July, when about twenty-five members visited Shane’s Castle. Leaving by the Northern Counties’ Railway for Randalstown, and entering the demesne by the Randalstown gate, the party walked through to Antrim, exploring by the way the very many interesting features which contribute to make this one of the most beautiful localities in the North of Ireland. The flora of the park is for the same compass one of the most varied to be found within many miles of Belfast ; and the botanical visitor, no matter how far he has travelled, need not be apprehensive of coming away from it with an empty vasculum. Its ancient groves, although interspersed with some exotics introduced in later times, include many noble specimens of our native forest trees. Amongst these some fine old oaks well worthy of admiration, throwing out their trunks of vast dimensions, and their massive branches in every form, aptly typifying that sturdy independence of character of which Britons boast as theirs in a special degree. And while surveying these princes of the vegetable kingdom, it was impossible to pass unnoticed the many elegant native wild flowers that spring up at their base. In the great plan of creation there is nothing thrown away—no waste of force or of material ; and accordingly we find the interspaces of the forest filled up with undershrubs and perennial or annual herbs, and even vacancies left by these affording habitats for moss, lichens, and fungus. The sylvan species were, of course, well repre- 15 sented. In the park the wood club rush (Serupus sylvaticus) was foundin abundance. Orchids displayed their racemes or spikes of fancifully-constructed flowers in profusion, and as many as six species were observed. The number of woodland forms obtained was large, and was augmentea by an examination of the margin of the lake, where several rare plants were collected, as the yellow violet (Viola lutea), the hemp agrimony (Eupatorium cannabi- dum), tne upright or highland cudweed (Gnaplialium sylvati- cum), the scull-cap (Scutellaria galericulata), the gipsy wort Lycopus LEuropeus), the great yellow loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris), and the tall fescue grass (estuca arundinacea), with many others of less note. At the quarry head a rockery has been recently formed, and here the members of the Club had an opportunity of examining all the varieties of ferns found in the park, including the Royal fern, so common in the South and West of Ireland, but so rare in the North East. Having examined the old castle and the adjoining graveyard, the party walked on to Antrim, and visited the beautiful Round Tower near the town. This tower has a rude cross cut in the lintel over the door, and is, therefore, claimed as a witness in favour of the Christian origin of those remarkable structures. The Fourth Excursion for the year was to the Woodburn River on Saturday, 11th August. Many interesting plants found at Woodburn have been enumerated in former reports. We only mention that on this occasion the steep banks of the waterfall were observed to be gay with the brilliant crimson blossoms of the rosebay (Zpilobium angustifolium), well known in cottage gardens as “blooming sally.” As a wild plant, this species is very rare in Ireland, and it is remarkable that this year it was met with at two of our field meetings, viz, at Woodburn, as just men- tioned, and also on rocks near Cushendall on occasion of the visit to that locality. The secondary fossils found on this day were similar to those formerly reported, but some members being desirous to see the later tertiary deposits which here cover the secondary rocks, a 16 visit was paid to the high banks of the river near Woodburn factory, where is exposed in a fine section the ‘drift clay” of the glacial era. Specimens were obtained of several species of shells, the remains of boreal molluses who had peopled the waters of the glacial sea in a period long past. These were the well known Leda oblonga, with Astarte compressa, Tellina solidula, and fragments of Cyprina islandica, and several other species not determinable with certainty. The Fifth Excursion took place on the Ist September to Castle Espie, on the borders of Lough Strangford, County Down. At Castle Espie the carboniferous or mountain limestone occurs, dipping in a North-easterly direction, and probably passing under the sandstone of Scrabo Hill, the latter belong- ing to the new red sandstone, rather than to the old red, as some have supposed. It is not likely that coal occurs any- where in the neighbourhood ; but as the carboniferous limestone of Castle Espie constitutes the base of the coal measures, and the magnesian limestone of Cultra, near Holywood, overlies the system, the intermediate beds occupy the strata-graphical position of true coal, and there only it could be found. The Castle Espie limestone occurs very low—indeed, so low as to require the quarries to be sunk very much below the level of ‘the water in Strangford Lough, on the margin of which they are worked. Formerly they were worked without any system, and when the difficulty of contending with the water increased the works were abandoned. The property has recently been purchased by Mr. Murland, and he has commenced to work the quarries properly on an extensive scale, providing all necessary plant, buildings, railway, and kilns. The latter were only in pro- cess of construction on the occasion of our visit, and at first sight looked more like the foundation of some dry dock than lime- kilns. Those kilns are on Hoffman’s principle, and consist of a series of chambers or separate kilns, arranged in an oval form or plan, and communicating separately with a main chimney shaft of large dimensions. In the present instance, there are twenty- 17 four of those chambers (forming an oval group 300 feet by 40 feet), all of which may be in operation at the sametime, charging, firing, and drawing them one after the other. Thus, after a number are charged with stone, No. 1 may be fired, during which operation it is the only one in connection with the shaft. When the stone is burnt into lime, No. 2(which has been getting heated from No. 1) is connected with the chimney shaft and fired, and so each one in succession. The charging of the remainder is thus approaching No. | as the firing of the others is going from it, and when No. 24 is charged, No. 1 is cool, after having been burnt, and ready to have its lime drawn and charged with a fresh supply of stone, thus the fire is kept continually burning, and no heat is lost ; the cooling chamber communicat- ing its heat to the next one ready for firing. The expenditure of time, Jabor, and fuel, is by this plan reduced to a minimum. Mr. Bagnall, the engineer in charge of the works, explained the details of the several operations to the ladies and gentle- men of the party, and conducted them over the quarries.* The members found the limestone very rich in fossils, and, consider- ing the short time spent examining the beds, several good specimens were obtained, including some beautiful corals (Alveolites polymorpha) and Cyathophyllum expansum. A specimen of the great Orthoceras was also found, and some of the smaller forms of Producta, Orthis, Spirifer, and Terre- bratula. On Saturday, the 15th September, the Sixth and _ last Excursion for the year was taken to Kilcorig, near Lisburn. Owing to the very uncertain state of the weather, the meet- ing was not a large one; but the few members who assem- * By the 10th of March in the present year the superstructure of the kilns was completed. These kilns are an oblong structure with octagonal ends, containing 2,500 cubic yards of masonry, and covering a superficial area of 1,820 cubic yards. The fires were put to the kilns on Thursday, the 18th, in the presence of a number of Mr. Murland’s friends, who had been invited to witness the formal opening of the works. The first fire was lighted by Mrs. Thomson, wife of Professor James Thomson, Queen’s College, Belfast, and Chairman of the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club. ed 18 bled enjoyed one of the best meetings for the year. Although the effects of the past week’s storm were unmistakably indicated by the saturated ground, swollen rivers, and scattered corn, and even several drenching showers fell during the day, yet there was nothing in the weather to cause more incon- venience than was amply compensated for by the clear sunshine that broke out between the showers, and lightened up the landscape as far as the eye could reach. Nowhere was the effect of the previous rain more evident than in the well-named ‘‘ Bog Meadows,” near Belfast, which appeared from the rail- way one sheet of water, in which the tree-tops served to mark the hedge-rows beneath, and the haycocks, half submerged, seemed floating over the fields where the crop was grown. Leaving the train at Lisburn the party had a good open country walk of. about three miles to the limestone quarries, the property of Bennet Megarry, Esq., of Kilcorig House. At Kilcorig the limestone or chalk immediately overlies the New Red Sandstone series, without the Greensand and Lias which usually occur between these formations. The latter two occur between the chalk and the Keuper marls of the Red Sandstone group at Larne, Whitehead, and Belfast ; and at Colin Glen they make up a thickness of about ninety feet; and, as they increase in thickness from east to west, it is not likely that their absence so near Colin Glen as Kilcorig should be owing to any thinning out of the beds. The probability is, that at Kilcorig the whole suit of rocks occurring there are portions of a landslip which became detached from the White Mountains, and, sliding over the Lias clays and shales, rested permanently on the Keuper marls below, as we now find them. Over the marls the several beds of chalk make up a total thickness of about thirty-five feet, the upper surface of which exhibits evidence of long exposure to atmospheric denudation, and the deep hollows worn on the surface are filled with gravel and blocks of flint, which, with the accompanying clay, became subsequently burnt, or indurated by the intense heat of the trap rock, when in a melted state it overflowed the district. The trap in the section exposed attains a thickness of about fifteen feet, and is semi- columnar, somewhat like the trap of Whitehead. Between this 19 fifteen feet bed of trap and the chalk below there occurs at Kil- corig a carbonaceous band of from three to twelve inches thick. This band is composed of lignite, or semi-coal—like charred wood ; indeed, the woody nature is quite evident, and several good specimens of the deposit were secured. This band was origi- nated probably by the overturning of some forest, as the melted trap flowed from its source. A more extensive bed of the same kind occurs at Killymorris, a few miles from Ballymena, where it is extracted as from a regular coal mine and sold for fuel. The Kilcorig quarries furnish a very excellent assortment of fossils, more remarkable -for the great variety of species than for the number of individuals, and the collectors of the party obtained several species new to their cabinets; indeed, the gathering on this excursion was the richest made for the year, and included good specimens of the following species :—Am- monites Gollevillensis, Nautilus radiatus, N. levigatus, Helico- ceras Hibernicum, Belemnitella mucronata Turritella unicari- nata, Trochus cirrus, Pleurotomaria perspectiva, Lima elegans, Pecten nitidus, Pholadomya cordata, P. obliquissima, P. Stewarti, Ostrea vesicularis, Arca, albs-crete, Terrebratula abrupta, T. semiglobosa, T. carnea, Rhynchonella octoplicata, R. plicatilis, Ananchytes ovatus, Micraster cor-anguinum, and Galerites abbreviatus. The weather-worn surfaces of several of the chalk rocks are covered with the beautifully ornamented spines of fossil sea-urchins, and with fragments of corals that once lived together in deep seas, at the bottom of which the limestone itself was deposited as mud, and the closer the rock is examined, the more it is found to be made up, as it were, of deep sea forms of animal remains. Sponge remains are also common at Kil- corig ; and one species, Guettardia stellata, assumes the shape of a distinct cross, of the form which ecclesiologists would call the ‘Calvary cross,” in contra-distinction to the Greek, Latin, and crosslet types. Amorphospongia ramosa ramifies over some of the beds, and specimens of the Paramudra Bucklandi occur in great abundance—indeed, more frequently than is profitable to the quarry owner, for, being composed of flint, they are useless for lime. After thoroughly exploring the quarries, Mr. Megarry very kindly took the party to his 20 residence, Kilcorig House, where he entertained them most hospitably, and prepared them for the walk back to Lisbuva. The evening was beautifully fine, and from the high level of the road a most extensive and richly-cultivated landscape presented itself. The belt of country bordering the Ulster Railway formed the foreground, and several towns—Lurgan, Moira, Hillsborough, and Dromore—were distinctly visible ; and even the fields on the slope of Slieve Croob, beyond Ballynahinch, could be clearly traced, and the whole range of the Mourne Mountains well marked in the distant horizon, while Carlingford “Mountain blended with the more distant hills of Monaghan and Louth. The following papers were read before the Society during the WINTER SESSION. The meetings were unusually well attended, and great inte- rest was taken in the papers introduced, and was frequently manifested by the animated discussion that followed the read- ing of the respective papers. The Session was opened on Thursday Evening, the 22nd November, with a paper on “The Recent Elevation of the Land in the Vicinity of Belfast,” by Robert Young, C.E. Belfast is peculiarly favoured in many ways, and, among others, it is a highiy interesting field for the geological observer. Within a very few miles of the town a very exten- sive series of rock formations are exposed to view, at many places easy of access, and many of the beds abounding in fossil remains. Mr. Young referred to those, and stated that the more recent and superficial phenomena which, under the various titles of alluvium, diluvium, drift, boulder, clay, &c., as used by various authors, are now occupying a very large share of the attention of geologists, both at home and abroad, are also well displayed in this neighbourhood, as well as the Fo oR TS ES ES 21 evidences of the extensive denudation of the secondary and trappean rocks, and the markings of the former sea lines. This part of the paper was illustrated by a large section of the district, taken between Divis Mountain and Castlereagh, passing across the valleys of the Blackstaff and Lagan rivers, and shewing the succession of strata from the trap in Divis downwards through the Chalk, Greensand, Lias, Keuper marls, and New Red Sandstone, to the Silurian rocks of the County Down, and the enormous amount of material that must have been torn away to give the present contour of the country. The various agencies that are known to be capable of wearing down rock were then discussed, and the opinion of eminent geologists on this point were cited, and the conclusion was expressed strongly, that such denudation as there is evidence of in this district could only have been accomplished by icebergs on the gigantic scale of those observed at the present days around the coast of Greenland ; the whole country being sub- merged 2,000 feet or more, and strong ocean currents sweeping over it from north to south. The various levels at which the land had paused on its subsequent emergence from the ocean was then referred to, and among other evidence of one of the more ancient sea levels was adduced the fact of the caves in the Knockagh, Carnmoney Hill, and first cave of Cave Hill, being about the same general elevation of 600 feet above present sea level, and being characteristic of sea-worn caves at present being hollowed out on the Antrim Coast. The action of glaciers in wearing off the edges of the earlier beaches was mentioned, in explanation of the difficulty of identifying the higher ones, except under very peculiar conditions. This difficulty does not exist in respect of the latest sea margin, which can be readily traced around the entire district, and, indeed, around the whole coast of Ireland and Scotland, at a height of about twenty feet above present high water mark. The evidence of the Roman wall, at the Firth of Clyde, not having changed its relative level to the Firth since its erection, was given, in connexion with the observed rate of wearing of sea- 22 caves on a coast line, as proof that the last elevation was at least 2,000 years ago. He next described the lowest level in connection with some discoveries that had lately been made in the Valley of the Blackstaff, where the elevation of the marine silt, abounding in recent shells, had been exposed in making a large reservoir. A large number of the bones and horns of the red deer, in good preservation, and the remains of several other animals had been found, together with several horns and bones, exhibit- ing evident marks of their use by man.* A very curious discovery, also, had lately been made in the boulder clay, in a brick field off Dover Street, where large oak piles, rudely fashioned, were found embeded on solid clay, and having all the appearance of being there prior to the deposit of the superincumbent mass. These piles, he believed, had formed an ancient dwelling of the earlier inhabitants of the country, as they exactly resembled those that had been found in other parts of the country. Mr. Young exhibited a large number of the horns of the red deer. The remains of about fifteen individuals were found, also bones of the horse, dog, pig, and several other animals. The silt also contained shells not now living in the locality. Mr. Gray exhibited at this meeting a beautiful group of serpulee from Belfast Lough. At the Second Meeting for the Session, held on Thursday Evening, 6th December, Mr. Robert Smith read a paper on “Glacial Periods: their Causes and Effects.” The history of the world, written in the great stone book of the earth’s crust, proves that change, constant change, has been the characteristic feature, not only in the forms of life, but also in the conditions of existence. There have been periods of intense heat, changing slowly to periods of cold, equally in- * One bone was evidently cross cut as if by a rude saw, and several of the horns had artificial marks on them. 23 tense. The last leaf in the great volume—the latest deposit of sedimentary matter just underlying our vegetable soil—tells us of an icy period which, at its commencement, found the Continent of Europe much higher above the level of the sea than it is now; and the shallow sea which now divides the British Islands from the main land, was then a great plain, covered with vegetation, and teeming with multitudes of living beings. As the cold became more intense, the land began to sink, and continued till not only was that great plain submerged, but also the greater part of what now constitutes the dry land of England, Scotland, and Ireland ; and all that remained of the British Islands was a little archepelago of rocky islets, formed by the tops of our mountain ranges. Over this glacial sea floated icebergs from the Scandinavian mountains, dropping over the submerged land the mud and stones and boulders, which are known now as the glacial drift. Slowly there came a diminution of the intensity of cold, and slowly the land began to rise, till ultimately it had attained its former height, again to sink to its present level. That this change in the level of the land was intermittent, is proved by the existence of inland cliffs which mark the action of the sea when the land was lower. The rocky, almost perpendicular, face of our Cave Hill and the Knockagh Mountain, point to a period when the move- ment was arrested for a great length of time. Between Larne and Glenarm we have an inland basaltic cliff at the same height ; and above the present limestone cliff at Glenarm we have a basaltic one, which belongs to the same period of arrested movements. It can be traced all along the coast of Antrim, During the glacial period the glaciers which now fill our Alpine valleys were far more extensive than now ; that of the Rhone filled the whole of Switzerland with a mass of ice 100 miles long by 50 wide, depositing its boulders on the flanks of the Jura, above the lakes of Neufchatel, and extending on the right to Soleure, on the left to Geneva. That the area of extension of cold was at this period very great, is proved by the discovery by Dr. Hooker, in his travels in Syria, of the moraines of great glaciers. On these moraines grow the cedars of Lebanon. 24 What are the causes which have produced these great changes in temperature ? To this question there have been various answers. All of them seem inadequate. The most recent discoveries in astronomy and physics seem to offer some clue to the solution of the problem. Herschel discovered, from apparent changes in the position of the fixed stars, that the sun, with all its attendant planets and satellites, was steadily moving in a given direction in space. Argelander, of Bonn, M. Altho Struve, of Pulkova, in Russia, and his associate, Peters, have further investigated this wonderful discovery, and have deter- mined that our sun is at present moving in the direction of the constellation Herculus, with a speed of thirty-three million miles in a year. They have further determined, that the star Alcyone, one of the Pleiades, is the central star round which our system is moving. This star is so distant. that the light by which we see it has been five hundred and thirty-seven years on its journey. The nature of heat, and its relation to mechanical motion, has been investigated by many experimenters. Count Rumford, Mr. Joule, of Man- chester, Dr. Mayer, of Heilbron, in Germany, Professor Tyndal, and Sir William Thomson, have all contributed to prove that heat is molecular motion among the particles of a body ; that arrested sensible motion becomes converted into heat, and that heat is convertible into equivalent sensible motion. The mechanical equivalent of heat has been deter- mined, and with the data thus supplied, it has been calculated that the stoppage of the earth in its orbit would produce an amount of heat equal to the combustion of fourteen globes of coal, each equal to the earth in magnitude ; its subsequent fall into the sun would generate an amount of heat equal to the com- bustion of 5,600 worlds of solid carbon. The investigations arising out of the discovery of Fraunhofer’s lines in the solar spectrum have shewn that the substance of the sun is identical with that of the earth, and that if it do not receive new accessions of heat it must become cooled. Sir William Thomson (our respected Chairman’s brother) believes that the fall of meteors into the sun is the source whence the sun derives new accessions of heat; that the zodiacal light 25 is but a vast collection of meteoric masses revolving rapidly round the sun, very near to its surface; the fall of these into the sun adds to its heat by the amount of sensible motion arrested. In the great circle traversed by the sun there will be blank spaces, where the supply of fresh fuel will be deficient, and a diminution of its heat will produce a glacial period. In other parts of its orbit the supply will be great, and the consequent increase will produce a warm period. We are at present enjoying one of the warmer periods, the mid- summer of which may have been about the 11th century of our era. For, since then, the glaciers of the Alps have been slowly descending. In the 17th and 18th centuries they stopped up roads formerly open, and covered forests of ancient growth, and the early Arctic explorers found the Arctic Seas much more free of ice than they are now. We are again slowly approaching a cold period ; whether it may be equally intense with the last one who can tell ? The effects of the last glacial period are clearly apparent in the form of the surface in Northern Europe. Our rivers flow through broad valleys that have been scoped out by ice; our lands have been covered with sediment, the grindings of the rocks of ancient glaciers, which has given richness and fertility to our vegetable soils. Lakes of exquisite beauty have been hollowed out by the grinding power of ice,which now, filled with water, are slowly silting up, yielding broad meadows on their shores, and proving that liquid water was not the agent that formed them. The gradual advance of living forms from the lowest to the highest, which the rocks disclose, has probably been greatly promoted by the constant change in the conditions of life, which alternate cold and warm periods must have pro- duced. Sir Charles Lyell has shown that man’s existence on the earth can be traced to the close of the glacial periods. If the doctrine of the continuity of life, so ably advocated by the great Darwin, and so well sustained by Mr. Grove, at the recent meet- ing of the British Association, be true, then man’s predecessors must have existed through all that epoch. How the difficulties of that period may have acted on his intellect it is very easy to see. The necessity for shelter, for clothing, for mutual intercourse and 26 language, the ultimate necessity to migrate, all would tend to develope his highest powers, and his migration southwards would be that of a conqueror and civilizer of inferior races. He thus reached the shores of the Mediterranean, Egypt, India—the builder, perhaps, of the cyclopean monuments—to return again northwards when a warmer period gave life and fertility to the re- gions he had left. Philology tells us of an Aryan race whose lan- guage was the parent of Sanscrit, Greek, Latin, Zend or Bactrian, Lithuanian, old Sclavonic, Gothic, and Armenian. The roots of this old language are found in all our modern languages. To that old race we, perhaps, owe that intellectual development which has placed the western nations first in the ranks of pro- gress and civilization. When we consider that the tendency to improve increases with improvement, what may we not hope for humanity. Should the slow advance of another glacial period again render these islands uninhabitable by man, the great English speaking race have already made themselves a home in other lands—in America, Australia, New Zealand, and India. The great continent of Australia would by such a change become more moist and fertile. It is yet to people; and the mighty rivers of South America are yet destined to bear on their broad bosoms the noble ships of commerce. Its wild savannahs, unpeopled, save by wandering tribes and lonely squatters, will yet echo with the ring of the hammer, the adze, and the song of an English speaking race, and fields and gardens, rich in corn, and fruits, and flowers, will replace the gloomy forest, and the far extending but now silent prairie. The usual discussion followed the reading of Mr. Smith’s Paper, after which a number of geological specimens were exhibited, including one of the six species of Woodocrinus, from the mountain limestone of Yorkshire. The species exhibited ( Woodocrinus macrodactylus), was a very beautiful specimen, obtained by one of the members from the discoverer, Edward Wood, Esq, F.G.8., of Richmond, in exchange for specimens forwarded to him from this locality. / On the 20th December, a paper on “The Roman Antiquities of Bath,” was read by Mr. Hancock, who explained that having 27 lately visited that city, and been introduced to the Secretary of the “Bath Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club,” he had the pleasure of attending a field excursion, and also of hearing a paper read, besides frequent opportunities of inspect- ing the Museum of the Society, and, in company with one of the members, of visiting places of interest in the neighbourhood ; thus he was induced to bring forward a subject in no way con- nected with our field of observation ; for although we find nothing of Roman origin in Ireland—except, perhaps, a few Terra colla beads, or coins—yet it is very desirable to know something of a people so closely connected with the early history of Britain. He then proceeded to read one of the several curious traditions relating to the discovery of the hot springs and subsequent build- ing of the baths upon their site. A record of the city is found in the history of Antonine, where it is called “ Aque Solis,” a name which might have passed for pure Latin, were there not strong evidence to show that it was probably ‘“‘ Aquee Sulis,” Sul being the name of the British Sun Divinity. In Ptolemy’s Geography Bath is reckoned amongst the towns of the Belge. The city probably sprung into importance about the year 43, being nearly the centre point of the district of country con- quered in the third Roman expedition to Britain, under Aulus Plautuis. There seems also little doubt that it rapidly increased about the year 79, for it was in that year that Agricola over- came the British natives by milder measures than those of his predecessors, particularly encouraging them to settle in towns, build halls and temples, adopt the Roman dress and manners, &ec. And indeed the mixture of British and Roman remains in Bath has given rise to much speculation as to whether the city was originally of British or Roman origin. In favour of the former view, the pentangular form of the walls has been urged, but on the other hand, their construction is generally declared to be of Roman character. As to the more important antiqui- ties discovered in and around the city, the specimens of lead in pigs are some of the most interesting. Of these the first found some years ago bears the impression of the Emperor Hadrian’s name, and weighs 195 Ibs. It was, no doubt, brought from the Mendip 28 Hills, where the Romans had extensive mines, and where, also, a very perfect pig of the reign of Claudius, about a.p., 45, was found, showing at what an early period this portion of the Island was brought under tribute—the natives being always compelled to work the mines, a degredation commented on by the British chief Galgacus, when addressing his followers previous to an engagement with the Romans. Although Bath was evidently a large city, there is nothing to show that it was a military stronghold, like Chester, for instance. The funeral monuments to soldiers found at different times appear to have been those of veterans and invalids, who came for the benefit of the waters and died there. The numerous and extensive villa remains, which have been discovered within a mile or two of the city, would seem to show that the inhabitants lived in security and even luxury. No less than sixteen of these are at present known. The form of the walls, as before observed, is pentangu- lar, the medieval resting on the Roman. There were four gates at the cardinal points, and the Avon protected the city on two sides, the walls being adapted to the bend of the river. From the fact of certain remains, believed to have belonged to boats, having been discovered close under this wall, it is supposed that in the Roman times the river actually touched it, and also that the tide was probably felt here; this, if precisely ascertained, would be a matter of great interest in a geological point of view. One of the four great Roman roads, the “ Fosse Way,” which connected Lincolnshire and Devonshire, passed through the city. These roads bore a strong resemblance to the great mili- tary ways of Peru, constructed by the Incas. In the reign of Henry Eighth, Leland, the Antiquarian, was authorized by the king to make a tour through the kingdom, in order to investi- gate the national antiquities. In the walls of Bath he describes having seen many Roman antiquities which now are for the most part obscured by buildings. In the year 1790, when dig- ging for the foundations of the present Pump-room, there were discovered the remains of a temple, of which some fragments of columns of the Corinthian order, and hollow, are preserved in the Museum. Portions of the pediment, very beautifully sculptured to represent flowers and foliage, were also found, and on the 29 tympanum is carved a figure of a face evidently intended to represent the sun; the rim of the shield is ornamented with oak leaves and acorns. But of the antiquities found in Bath, perhaps the most interesting is a bronze head of Pallas, of exquisite form and in perfect preservation, evidently broken off from a statue. Antiquarians are inclined to fix the date at about the year 180, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Stone coffins, or sarcophagi, have at different times been discovered. A few years ago, when digging for some foundations, workmen came upon two of these, one of them containing a small skeleton imbedded in a quantity of fine white sand, which on exami- nation proved to be the same as that found in the mineral rivers, which produce lead ore in the Mendip Hills, about thirty miles off, none being found nearer. The discovery of stone coffins above the ruins ef the baths has given rise to the sup- position that after the destruction of the city, probably about 577, the site of the baths was used as a place of interment. The present level of the city varies from ten to sixteen above the Roman. Many altars have been found, generally about three or four feet high, and square. Unlike those from other localities, the sides of the inscribed altars in Bath are generally quite plain. It was in the year 1755 that the foundations of the Roman baths were laid bare. Some idea may be formed of the magnificence of this pile of buildings, from the fact of its being upwards of two hundred and forty feet in length, and one hundred and twenty in breadth, the walls from six to seven feet thick. The details are too long to enter into in this brief sketch. Of other antiqui- ties there have been discovered coins, medallions, armlets, amphore, seals, rings, keys, and large quantities of Samian ware. The climate of Bath is extremely mild, and perhaps more like that of Italy than any other part of England. ‘This fact, together with the healing properties of the springs, doubtless formed a strong inducement to the Romans to settle here. The Fourth Paper was one from Dr. Holden, of Glenarm, on Epidermis and Epidermal Appendages, : Analogies of structure may be traced throughout the entire 30 animal kingdom, from the lowest protozoa up to the highest vertibrata, man ; and even the extremes meet in some respects, as, for instance, the ameeba has its investing membrane, which it tucks in, improvising a stomach when required to absorb its food. Man has also an investing membrane, or skin, and this is directly continuous with the mucous covering on lungs, stomach, and intestines ; it is the external lining pushed in to form the internal, and only changed so far as adaptation to its position requires. In the structure of skin, two layers are well marked, viz., the scarf skin, or epidermis, and the true skin, or derma. The epi- dermis is without blood vessels or nerves; the derma is well supplied with both, hence, the former is a covering of defence to the vascularity and sensitiveness of the latter. ‘The growth of epidermis, and its nourishment, is by inbibition into the nuc- leated cells lying on the papillary eminence of the true skin ; as new ones form, the old cells are pushed to the surface, and are rubbed off as flattened scales. In some animals, as the snake, the entire epidermis is shed at once, and periodically. The physiolo- gical uses of skin in the economy was referred to and explained. The colouring matter of skin lies in the deep cells of epidermis, marking the distinct races of men,as much as the effects of climate, Heat tends to develop an increased growth of pigmentary de- posits. As most living tissues secrete something for the use of the economy in which it is placed, so epidermis has its secretion in the shape of appendages, hairs, horns, hoofs, feathers, scales, nails, and claws. Though so varied, yet all are the same structure, and essentially the same as the membrane that produces them. Hairs grow from little pouches in the skin of tucked-in epider- mis; the accumulation of cells push out themselves in the form of ahair. The microscopic appearance of hairs differ in the various animals. The imbrication of the scales are best marked in the bat, approaching in one species to rudimentary feathers, which is remarkable in this flying animal, thus manifesting a continuity of form in these appendages. The medullary part of hairs is well seen in those of the mouse and hare. Such a variety in detail is presented by hairs microscopically, that it is quite possible to determine by it the species of animal from 3l whence it came. The blanching of hair suddenly from some nervous excitement or prostration was referred to as veritable, and instances given. As to how a cut hair grows again, some proof is still required ; short hairs being near the source of nourishment get pointed, but long hairs, having less vitality at their extremities, often split. Hairs of some animals are so modified as to lose the character of hairs—such are the horny plates of armadillo, formed of hairs matted close together. Feathers at first grow like hairs, but the follicle is continued to some distance outside the skin, and the young feather is well formed before it is set free by rupture of the capsule, in which act the bird assists by picking at it. Horns may be divided into four varieties. 1st, Solid horn, without osseous core, arising only from integument, as rhinocerous. 2nd, Osseous protuberances, covered by integu- ment, as giraffe. 3rd, Osseous protuberances, covered by horn; as sheep, cow, ¢c. 4th, Osseous protuberances, without either integument or horn covering them ; these grow to a large size, and are the antlers of deer, and, being bone, are not to be classed with true horns. Horns seem to be but a collection of hairs, united to give strength and durability. Nails, claws, and hoofs only differ in shape. They grow from a depression in true skin, or matrix, in which the cells are aggregated over large and highly vascular papille. Scales in the reptiles are true epidermic appendages, being developed upon the surface of the true skin; but scales of fish are not so, being imbeded in the substance of true skin, and covered over with a layer of it, as may be readily observed in the eel with the microscope. The otenoid and cycloid scales of the fish of our present seas are cartilaginous and calcareous more or less; while the ganoid scale of fossil fish is essentially bony, and the placoid scale of the shark and ray, with their fossil analogues, are of a dentine structure. At the Fifth Meeting of the Society the Rev. William MaclIlwaine read an elaborate and well-considered paper on “The Continuity of Creation.” 32 The lecturer commenced his address by remarking that, since the days of Butler’s immortal work, the argument from analogy had been frequently employed, and that it was a popular one on many accounts. It was, however, always to be employed with caution. Unless founded on a real resemblance between the facts or things compared, it would mislead ; and even when legitimately used, its conclusions never could attain to the certainty of mathematical proof, but at best only to a high amount of probability. These remarks were intended to intro- duce a subject which was of late much debated, and which he would name ‘‘ The Continuity of Creation.”” Various theories had been advanced on this subject from the most remote periods, and of late the argument of analogy had been attempted by Mr. Darwin and his followers. The object of this paper was to point outthetruechannel wherein this analogical argument should flow, and to examine the statements made by those who had so employed it. The lecturer went on to take a rapid but extensive view of the laws which prevailed in the world which we inhabit, bearing on the matter of continuity, and, in so doing, examined at considerable length these laws, which were reduced to the following heads :—1. Uniformity with variety ; 2. Stability and periodical mutation ; 3. Continuity and segregation; 4. Origination and extinction. . These features of nature were all prevailing, and along with their exercise was noted the links of connexion which bound into one whole the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. Life and death, arising from the last two named laws, characterised all known organism ; but even in these the continuity of creation was preserved, inasmuch as. whole generations became extinct only to re-appear—changed, yet in a sense the same in their offspring. Mr. MaclIlwaine next proceeded to examine the Darwinian theory, as it had been most recently expounded by two of its ablest advocates in as many very remarkable treatises—viz, the inaugural address of the President of the British Association at Manchester—W. Grove, Esq. ; and the opening address to the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, by Joseph John Murphy, Esq. The lecturer spoke in high terms of commendation of these papers, both as regards their matter and the spirit that pervaded them, —— EEE SY 33 while dissenting from their conclusions, The ina of argument adopted in both was that of analogy, and the lecturer went. on to examine the examples of this adduced. In so doing, he re- marked on the known facts of Creation as it was presented to our immediate experience, and denied that throughout it a single instance could be produced of any individual departing from its special place and rising into another. On the contrary, he asserted that the law of segregation brought forward previously was rigidly enforced, as in the case of the sterility of hybrids, which might be looked on as a sort of penalty for any attempted transgression of it. The case of the great variety in the family of the columbide, all said to be derived from one original, the rock pigeon, which was so strongly insisted on by Mr. Darwin, in reality gave no countenance io his theory, while it confirmed the opposite one, inasmuch as all the varieties above referred to remained pigeons still. The question under consideration was reduced to a simple alternative, as Mr. Grove himself fully ad- mitted and clearly stated. They had to choose between the existence of species by means of an original Creation, or else by means of development. Both Mr. Grove and Mr. Murphy, along with Mr. Darwin, argued for the high amount of proba- bility which existed that all living beings, vegetable and animal, are descended possibly from one, certainly from a smaller number of simply organised original germs. Mr. MacIlwaine then proceeded to examine at length the arguments adduced in favour of this latter hypothesis, more especially the alleged analogy insisted on by its advocates. He showed that Mr. Grove had made a palpable mistake in demanding “ ocular demonstration” in the proof required for the Creation theory. According to his own statements it was a matter of inference, andin pursuing this the lecturer showed that Mr. Grove, and Mr. Murphy also, left out of their consideration the only sufficient testimony in the case—this was revelation, both the possi- bility and necessity for which few could deny. Mr. Grove and Mr. Murphy, as well as Darwin, repudiated the Atheistic theory of spontaneous generations, and the origin of life by chemical action, while they all admitted the act of Creation. If this had taken place, a record of it was not only possible, but highly 34 ¥ probable, and he claimed for Moses the character of a historian in recording that fact. This reference to the Book of Genesis was made, the lecturer said, notin a theological, but in a purely historical sense ; but, while so saying, Mr. MacIlwaine alleged that it was most unphilosophical, on the part of the advocates of the development theory, utterly to ignore the Mosaic record. It was the oldest in existence, and the only one deserving atten- tion and respect. Why were not its claims and statements even noticed by Darwin and his followers? The lecturer next proceeded to apply the test of sound analogy to the arguments of Mr. Murphy; and showed that, in every instance adduced by that gentleman, no real resemblance existed. Thus Mr. Murphy argued that because individuals were marvellously developed, each from a cell, therefore species might be expected to develope in a similar manner. Mr. MacIiwaine showed that this develop- ment was of a totally different nature from that which Mr. Murphy could argue from,and that experience the most universal showed no such development of species to exist. He met the case of animals having aborted members, such as serpents with concealed legs and the apteryx, and Mr. Murphy’s assertion that these appendages were useless, by stating his belief that such abnormal appendages could not be shown to be useless ; and, moreover, that according to the attempted analogy, we had as much right to expect to see the animals in question develop- ing into others more perfectly organised as to assert that they were the descendants of such. The paper closed with a reference to the admission of all the advocates of the development theory that there was as much difficulty in believing creative power to have been exerted in producing their primordial germ as races of fully organised beings, and in further commending to the society the adoption of the Mosaic account of the origin of the world in preference to the Darwinian hypothesis. The Sixth Meeting of the Society was held on Thursday Evening, 7th February. It is usual at the ordinary meeting to have a paper similar to the above read and discussed. On this 39 occasion, however, the evening was devoted to the consideration of “The Microscope and its Uses,” without any formal paper. Dr. Holden, of Glenarm, and Dr. Burden, with Messrs. Anderson, Patterson, Ferguson, Gray, Murphy, and Smith, exhibited and explained their respective microscopes and microscopic objects. Of the latter there was a most extensive and varied assortment, consisting of—1st, Animal substance, in- cluding sections of bone, horn, hairs, &c., with animal tissues and injected preparations, shewn by Dr. Burden. Mr. Gray also exhibited insect remains from the submerged peat below the beach at Portrush. 2nd, Vegetable preparation, of which Mr. Ferguson had a most interesting collection, including sections of wood, dissections of flowers, and vegetable hairs. 3rd, Living forms, including the circulation in plants and living diatoms, shewn by Dr. Holden; and eels (Vibrio Tritict) obtained from grains of wheat, shewn by Mr. Gray. There was also a good exhibition of fossil deposits, such as the curious diatomaceous earths found near Toome Bridge, Lough Mourne, Stoneyford River, and the Mourne Mountains. Similar de- posits from all parts of the world were also exhibited. Of opaque objects, there was also a good collection, and Dr. Holden, with Messrs. Anderson and Gray, had a series of most beautiful objects shown by the polariscope. A great variety of micro- scopes and microscopic apparatus was exhibited and compared. The instruments present were principally those made by Smith & Beck, and Charles Collins, of London. Collins’s Bockett lamp was also shewn, and answered its purpose remark- ably well. The simplicity and efficiency of Collins’s apparatus were particularly noticed. In addition to the microscopic subjects, Professor Thomson, the chairman, exhibited a most excellent collection of specimens, showing very distinctly the glacial markings from the surface of the limestone of Castle Espie, County Down. The Seventh Meeting was held on Thursday, 21st February, when Mr. W. H. Patterson brought forward a short paper en- titled, “Notes on a visit to Carlingford.” The paper was 36 illustrated by an enlarged map of the neighbourhood, and by sketches of the scenery, including some views of the mountains and ruined castles that abound about there, and a drawing of Carlingford Abbey. Mr. Patterson described his ascent of the mountain above Rostrevor, as far as Cloughmore Stone, a huge boulder perched on a shoulder of the mountain, and from which point the views in different directions around Carlingford Bay are the most lovely that can be imagined. The tourist visiting this neighbourhood for a few days should make Warrenpoint his head quarters, as from this as a central point there are facilities for visiting, either by land or water, the surrounding places of interest in the Counties of Down and Louth. Mr. Patterson then gave an account of his visit to Carlingford, by boat from Warrenpoint, and described the ruined castles and other buildings, including the remains of the Abbey, &c., of that interesting old town. Mr. Patterson after giving a brief account of the history of this ancient borough, from the building of the castle, either by De Lacy or De Courcy, by order of King John, in A.D. 1210; the founding of the Dominican monastry by Richard De Burgo, Earl of Ulster, in a.p. 1305 ; the establish- ment of a mint by Act of Parliament in a.p. 1467 ; and the repeated burnings the town suffered from down to the year 1689 ; concluded by urging on the members of the club to arrange one of their excursions for the coming summer to this beautiful and interesting locality. On the same evening, Mr. J. W. Forrester read a very in- teresting paper on “ Tintern Abbey.” Without apparent connection with the former paper, there was a certain interest in the fact that the founder of Tintern Abbey was an ancestor of the famous Strongbow, who estab- lished English supremacy in Ireland. Some allusion was made to the family of Strongbow, the De Clares, and the founding of Chepstow Castle—a fine specimen of -the old Norman strongholds. A description of the drive from thence to Tintern Abbey, and the impression produced by the first glimpse caught in the sudden bend of the road of the interesting and 37 magnificent ruins, leading the visitor to doubt which he should admire most, the grandeur of the ruined pile or the wondrous beauty of the surrounding scenery, environed by mountains wooded to their summit, so interlaced and locked into each other as to leave no apparent egress from the valley. Amida wild seclusion, singularly still, placed on a very gentle eminence, about one hundred feet from the river, stands Tintern Abbey, with all the accessories to the perfection of scenery, of wood, water, and mountain ; the graceful architecture of the ruins, enhanced in picturesque effect by a profuse drapery of the richest and purest ivy, has caused that eminent antiquarian, Sir Richard Colt Hoare, to declare that “this Abbey had exceeded every ruin he had seen in England or Wales.” Through the praiseworthy care of the lord of the soil the ruins are kept in the neatest order. A detailed description of the present appearance of the Abbey, and the adjoining monastic offices, and the interesting archeological remains preserved therein, was then given. ‘Tintern derives its name it is said from two Celtic words, Din, a fortress, and Teyrn, a chief. It is stated in Welsh history that a hermitage belong- ing to Theodoric or Tendric, King of Glamorgan, stood in the site of the present Abbey, and that the royal hermit, having resigned his throne to his son, led here an eremetical life amidst this wild and peaceful solitude. The Abbey of Tintern was founded for Cistercian or White Monks, and dedicated to St. Mary, by Walter Fitz Richard de Clare, a.p. 1131 or 1132, as an expiation for his sins. He was succeeded in his titles and estates by the father of Strong- bow, who, succeeding to the throne of his father-in-law, Dermot Macmorrough, died, leaving an only daughter Isabel, who espoused William, Lord Marshal of England, conveying there- by to him the English possessions of her father. Her son William, the younger Earl of Pembroke, confirmed in 1223 to the abbot and monks of St. Mary de Tynterne, all the lands, possessions, and free customs heretofore granted by his prede- cessors, and founded the Abbey of Tintern in the South of Ireland. This nobleman and his five brothers all dying without issue, the large estates of William, the Marshal, came ] 38 | into the hands of Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, by his marriage with Maud, his daughter, and it was his grandson, Roger Bigod, who erected the present structure, as mentioned by William of Worcester. From acharter, dated August 4th, 1301, we learn he too had some qualms of conscience for his past misdeeds, for he says, ‘‘ Be it known to your community that I, in the sight of God, and for the health of my own soul, and the souls of my ancestors and heirs, have confirmed to you divers lands and possessions,” which are then enumerated. A story is told of this nobleman, very characteristic of the bold and insolent demeanour of the Norman nobles of that day. With another baron he had the temerity to refuse to go to the wars without the presence of his sovereign, alleging that his duty was to attend only on the king’s person. An angry altercation ensued, in which the King, Edward First, swearing by his Maker, cried out he should either ‘go or hang,” to which the other, repeating the oath, replied, Sir King, “TI shall neither go nor hang.” The order of White Friars or Cistercian, for whom the Abbey was founded, opened in England about 1128. They professed to follow the stern simplicity of the rules of St. Benedict, only that some of the hours devoted to studies by the Benedictines were by them appropriated to manual labor. As they be- came possessed of immense revenues, and rose to power and eminence, a taste for luxury was cultivated, and in their splen- did abbeys, where they lived like princes, the severity of their discipline became relaxed, until at last the stern, rigid, and professedly abstemious Cistercians became notorious for their depravity. When the Abbey of Tintern was suppressed at the dissolution, there were only thirteen inmates, and the revenues were estimated by Dugdale at £192 1s. 44d. per annum, and by Specd at £256 11s. 6d. It was granted by Henry Highth, to Henry, second Earl of Worcester, and is now the property of his descendant, the Duke of Beaufort, with all the granges and other valuable property originally belonging to the Abbey. The legend of the first foundation of the Abbey, by De Clare, was then given. The story runs that, actuated by remorse, 39 haunted by the ghost of his murdered wife, the founder sought to expiate his sins and enormities by the endowment of this monastry ; and in the seclusion thus afforded, endeavoured by a life of asceticism to atone for his previous misdeeds. It is interesting to know that the founders of Tintern, in Monmouthshire, were connected with Ireland by family relation- ship, and that the Earl of Pembroke (son-in-law to Strongbow) founded a similar Abbey in the County Wexford, still known as Tintern Abbey. He was in very great danger of shipwreck off the coast of Ireland, in the year A.D. 1200, and made a vow that if he landed safely he would build and endow an Abbey, and his ship having been driven into Bannow Bay, Co. Wexford, he carried out his promise, built the Abbey, filled it with Cistercian Monks, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary. Having been confiscated in Henry Highth’s time, it fell into the hands of the Colclough family, who are said to be under “ the curse of fire and water” for holding what was once the property of the Church. An animated discussion followed the reading of the papers, in which several of the members joined. The meeting was closed by an exhibition of objects of scientific interest, obtained since last meeting, and included specimens of iron found near Glenariff, County Antrim, glacial markings from the chalk rock quarry, west of Ballintoy, and a skull of a sheep almost entirely encrusted with stalagmite, as is usual with the remains found in the ossiferous caverns of the South of England and the Continent. The Committee desire that the members should more fre- quently introduce short papers, so that two or even three could be read during the evening, as on the above occasion. By this means a greater variety of subjects could be discussed with Jess trouble to individual members. The Eighth Meeting of the Society was held on Thursday Evening, 7th March, when a paper was read by Mr. William Gray, on the ‘‘ World’s History in Stone.” Mr. Gray stated that there were two records of the world’s history in stone— 40 first, the geological, or the record written by the Creator; and then the architectural, or the record as written by man ; and, dwelling more particularly on the latter, he gave an interesting account of the architectural monuments of past nations. Commencing with the architecture of the great Assyrian monarchy, he described its character as exemplified by the wonderful monuments disinterred by Layard and others. Mr. Gray described the magnificence of Babylon in the brilliant reign of Nebuchadnezzar, and its subsequent overthrow by Darius, Alexander, and the Romans, each in their turn spreading destruction in their path, and doing their part in bringing about the desolation spoken of by the prophets. Those gorgeous temples have lost their beauty, and the palaces of kings are now desolate ruins, which with heaps of brick- work, tiles, and pottery, supply by their decay the mould that buries them. In Egypt, the large masses of stone which the granite quarries of Nubia readily afforded decided the system of statics adopted, which was the simplest mode of construction, and it was the policy of the priesthood to perpetuate those original simple forms, and they jealously endeavoured to realise in their works the idea of eternal duration. Among them the ordinary dwellings were considered merely as inns or places of sojourn, while the tombs were called the eternal abode. The architecture of Egypt was, therefore, ponderous and massive in construc- tion, firm, enduring, changless in its character, producing astonishment and awe in the mind of the beholder, as manifested by those time-honoured monuments of human skill and human pride—temples, tombs, and palaces, that crowd the valley of the Nile. In tracing the further progress of the history of architecture, Mr. Gray noticed the establishment of the Persian Empire, which having triumphed over Egypt, Media, Babylonia, and Lydia, extended its dominions from the Nile to the Tigris, and from the deserts of Tartary to the Colonies of Ionia. The progress of architecture was followed into Greece, where, during the incessant contests with Persia, it was brought to the highest degree of perfection, The increase of the revenues of Greece ee ee 4] by the success of her military enterprise, prompted the desire to enjoy what her victories had won. They, therefore, under the brilliant administration of Pericles, indulged in a perpetual scene of triumph and festivity, and reared the numerous temples that arose around the Acropolis of Athens. Architec- ture, with sculpture, became to the Greeks the medium through which the actions of the gods were presented to mortal view. The early history of the states, clothed with a garb of imagry, was the basis on which the poets founded their mythology. The genius of the sculptor removed the veil, and his chisel presented the multitude with visible forms of their faith. The Grecian artists yearned for the full realisation of the beautiful which they detected throughout nature. Her sculptors sought to interpret this by their efforts to give the charm of reality to the fanciful creations of her poets ; and, by their peculiar treat- ment, exhibited their intellectual pre-eminence, refinement, and beauty of execution. Greece having at length fallen into the hands of the conquering Romans, she became the mine from which the Romans drew their intellectual wealth. Vast num- bers of statues, architectural embellishments, and works of art, were taken as spoil from the cities of Greece, and collected into Rome, so that she became an assemblage of superb buildings— a great architectural museum. But her works address them- selves more to our admiration than to our judgment. Engineer- ing skill, a display of costly materials, and a vastness of extent, chiefly characterised the architectural grandeur of Imperial Rome. As Greece fell before the Romans, so also the Romans were overrun by the northern barbarians, who, bursting like a flood along the northern boundary of the empire, poured into Italy, and destroyed, without reserve, its noblest monuments and its choicest treasures of art. Mr. Gray then described the establishment of the western empire, the spread of Christianity, and the influence of both on art—particularly architecture— until at length the modification of Roman architecture that prevailed in Normandy was introduced into England by Edward the Confessor and the followers of William ; and thus the Gothic architecture of England took its rise. Having traced the distinctive characteristics of the various styles of nN 42 Anglican ecclesiastical architecture, Mr. 'Gray referred to numerous examples, and stated that the study of those petrified ideas of the past, and the historical associations with which they stand connected, would embrace the whole history of the world, and that the peculiarities and national characteristics of all nations are impressed upon the architectural monuments they have left behind. Thus, the stern massiveness of Carnac and Luxor tells of the rigid rule of the Egyptian priesthood, The ruined temples of Greece reflect the intellectual refinement of the Gréek. The ostentation, ambition, and ‘vain glory ‘of Rome may yet be perceived in her architectural remains; and the unrivalled compositions of Gothic art, show forth: the romantic devotion of the medizeval Christian. Mr. Gray hav- ing thus traced the history of architecture from the earliest time to the present, and pointed out the peculiarities of style, construction, and expression, that distinguished the architecture of the several nations, closed his lecture by comments on the several modifications of former styles that now prevail. The Ninth Meeting of the Society was held at the Misses ‘on Thur rsday Evening, 21st March. . Mr. W. H. Ferguson, one of the secretaries, read a paper on “The Flora of Ireland, with special reference to Ulster,” com- municated by Ralph Tate, Esq., F.G.S., F.A.8., Associate of the Linnean Society, &c. Mr. Tate stated the object of his paper to be :— yin 1. To give a short review of the Cybele Hibernica, a very im- portant work on the flora of Ireland, lately issued under the auspices of the British Association, and to submit his' own criticisms thereon. 2. To lay before the club some ideas as to the wi ‘of the Irish flora. 3. To direct the attention of local botanists to additions that have been made since the publication of the Cybele. The British Association, at the meeting held in Bath, ap- pointed a committee of seven gentlemen, for the purpose of in- — 43 vestigating the distribution of plants in Ireland, with a grant of money at their disposal towards the expenses incurred... This resulted in the publication, last autumn, of the ‘Contributions towards a Cybele Hibernica,’ under the editorship of Dr. D. Moore and Mr. Alexander G, More, both of Dublin. This work was stated to be a great advance on Mackay’s Flora Hibernica, published thirty years previously, many species being now added, the range of a large number much extended, whilst others again have come to be better understood. A highly instructive sketch was laid before the meeting of the several types of British vegetation, as given by Mr. H. C. Watson, in his great work, the Cybele Britannica, and by the late Professor Edward Forbes, in his masterly essay. on the sources whence the flora of Great Britain and Ireland was de- rived. The prevalence and range of these types were shown, and some leading forms enumerated. One of these types of vegetation, appropriately designated by the authors of the Cybele the Hibernian type, numbers twenty-two species, some of which ally the Irish flora to that of Western Europe. Some other species—the name of which were given—point to a former con- nexion of our plants with the North American flora. As might be expected, these species are found only on our western coast. Other groups of plants derived through England or Scotland connect Irish vegetation with that of France, and that of Scandinavia, while the great mass of the common forms are the same, and had the same origin as the general flora of Great Britain, By an outline map of Ireland improvised on the black-board, Mr. Tate’s plan for dividing the island into botanical provinces was shown. These provinces would not be merely arbitrary divisions of the country into so many areas, but would corres- pond to those regions where certain well-defined groups of plants prevail—these groups being in the main those of Professor Forbes—these botanical provinces to be sub-divided into smaller districts. By such an arrangement the numerical value of the districts in which any species is found would be a better expression of its prevalence, than that obtained by the plan adopted in the Cydele Hibernica. 44 Mr. Tate gave the names of a large number of plants recently added to the local lists by members of the club, several of which, in fact, were new to the flora of Ireland. He announced that since the publication of the Cybele two more plants not hitherto observed had been found in Ireland—one of these, the ‘‘ sweet flag” (Acorus calamus), was discovered by members of the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club, growing in profusion not very far from this town. The paper, which was one of great interest to Irish and to local botanists, referred at length to the necessity of considering the geological features of a country in connexion with the spread of its flora, and expressed the writer’s disappointment on ac- count of the authors of the Cybele Hibernica having ignored such an important element in discussing the range of our plants. On Thursday Evening, 4th April, the last ordinary meeting of the Society was held. On this occasion Mr. William Gray read a paper on “The Flint Flake Foundation of the pre- Adamite Theory.” Mr. Gray commenced by referring to the great variety of tastes, dispositions, and qualities of mind that existed, and contended that all were necessary for the investi- gation of truth. If all minds were similarly constituted, our very existence would become monotonous, and the progress of knowledge would be retarded. It is by the differences in mental qualifications that man is enabled to sweep the universe, and gather knowledge from every source. Difference of taste, then, must necessarily create difference of opinion, but this should not be made a blemish. The rainbow is all the more beautiful by the variety of its tints, and so man’s intellect is all the more useful by the variety of its manifestations ; and as it requires the blending of all the rainbow tints to form white light, so also it requires the concurrent testimony of different minds to elicit the pure light of truth. Difference of opinion, then, on scientific subjects should be respected, no matter how opposed to each other, or how contrary to ourown. We should not allow the discrepancies that our ignorance discovers to a 45 shake our confidence in the Scriptures, or to shut our eyes to the marvellous unfoldings of scientific facts. In the broad daylight of truth no doubts will arise to clog our understand- ing ; but it is in the darkness of ignorance we become startled and affrighted by our own groundless imaginings. Mr. Gray noticed the progress of science, and the contentions with the theological school, and noted some of the disputed questions, particularly that of man’s antiquity. All the processes of nature by which the geologist is enabled to account for the formation of the several strata of the earth’s crust are still in operation, producing, in a limited degree, similar results. Where those operations effect man or his works the geologist must investigate them hand in hand with the archeologist, but in the absence of written records, neither can determine with certainty the element of time. The order of the deposition of strata can be ascertained, and their thickness measured ; but as the energy of deposition is unknown, the time required for their production cannot be calculated. Nor is the archeologist furnished with any better data to enable him to correctly estimate the age of the works he examines, when they con- fessedly are ignorant of the origin of such important works as our own Round Towers, or the celebrated ruins of Stonehenge, and many other similar remains, we can understand how difficult it must be to form correct theories upon such rude im- plements as the flint flakes under consideration. Written history itself is often ambiguous and doubtful. Tradition is necessarily more mysterious, and when we go behind history and tradition to gather from the rude works of a primitive people a knowledge of their condition, our efforts must at best be theoretical and unsatisfactory. For these reasons, and with our present limited knowledge of the nature and origin of those flint flakes, Mr. Gray contended that it was premature to attempt forming a correct opinion regarding them. He then described the classification of stone implements generally, in- cluding celts, hammers, arrow heads, knives, &c., of which a large variety was exhibited, and explained the distinction between those of the early or Paleolithic age, and those of the later or Neolithic age, shewing that the chipped and rubbed 46 implements, unquestionably manufactured, belong to the later age, and the mere flakes of doubtful origin belong to the early, or what is called the Paleolithic age. Both kinds of weapons are found frequently in mounds, graves, tumuli, and other | works of ancient man, and both kinds are still used by certain tribes in many parts of the world ; but flint flakes and articles of the Paleolithic age are sometimes found in drift gravels, and associated with the remains of extinct animals, thereby indi- cating a remote antiquity for their origin, and, consequently, an equally remote antiquity for man their supposed manufacturer. Mr. Gray then described in detail the Swiss Lake dwellings, the Irish Crannoges, the Danish kitchen heaps, and the mounds of Scotland, and explained the classifications of the various remains found in them. He explained that the antiquity of man, as proved by the Swiss Lake dwellings and Danish kitchen heaps, rested upon certain changes that had taken place on the earth’s surface since the deposition of the remains recently discovered ; but contended that those changes may have taken place within the generally-received chronology. The ossiferous caverns were next described as they occur in | various parts of the world, including Ballintoy, Rathlin, and Carrickarede, in the County of Antrim. Mr. Gray described more particularly the caves of Devonshire and Dorset, examined by himself, and also the caves of the South of France and Belgium. In some of these caves a vast quantity of the re- mains of extinct animals are found, and in some cases the bones of man. Man’s bones, and the undoubted evidence of his handiwork, are only in questionable association with the extinct mamumalia; they are not mixed with them, but rest upon them, and may not, therefore, be of the same age, more particularly as the contents of those caverns are admitted to have been washed into them by rivers, &c. Flint flakes are, however, found intermingled with the bones of the lion, elephant, hip- popotamus, hyena, wolf, and other animals, in the caves and drift gravels, but the human origin of the flakes must be first proved, and then that they were contemporary with the extinct ani- mals, before any theory of man’s remote antiquity is rendered acceptable. Mr. Gray protested against the inferences frequently 47 drawn from insufiicient facts ; as, for example, when it is said ‘that the absence of corn, or the remains of domestic animals in Danish kitchen heaps, prove that they were unknown to the depositors of the heaps. If the absence of the remains of certain animals or plants from those deposits, prove that they were unknown, or did not exist at the period of the formation, then both the Danish kitchen heaps and the Swiss Lake dwellings must be pre-human, as there are no human remains found in. them, He then exhibited a large quantity of the flint flakes gathered around Belfast, from Toome Bridge, Lurgan, Larne, Holywood, and Carrickfergus, and wherever flint. gravels occur ; and suggested the probability that they were natural flakes, and not manufactured—first, because they are always found in flint gravel; secondly, because they are found of all forms and sizes, and graduate from a mere lump upto a finished flake ; thirdly, because the best formed are mere flakes, while the badly shaped are chipped all over ; fourthly, because, to manufacture the shapes found, intentionally, would require such skill as would lead to the formation of a far more perfect implement. The constancy of character was very re- markable. All the specimens had one flat side, the other being formed of two or more faces, with acentral ridge. At the blunt end on the flat side there occurs a bulb formed by the con- choidal fracture of the flake, whatever may be the size or shape of a specimen, it had those well marked characters. All the flakes from the Bann, at Toome Bridge, were the natural colour of the flint, and were rather sharp and well shaped. The specimens from the gravels at Larne and Kilroot (near Carrick- fergus) were irregular in form, and a white surface like por- celain. In each case the flakes occur in darge numbers. At Toome Bridge they are found in the river, the bed of which is a submerged peat bog, and celts and other wrought forms are found with them. At Larne and Kilroot they occur in the gravel of a raised beach near to, but several yards higher than, the shore. A great variety of the specimens were exhibited to illustrate the paper, and included two splendid stone hatchets and a beautiful cinerary urn from the collection of Samuel Barbour, Esq., found last summer at Notting Hill, Belfast ; 48 a large number of flint flakes found by Mr. Gray in various localities around Belfast ; also, some of the pierced fossils (Coscinopora globularis) from the Valley of the Somme. The foregoing abstracts will enable the members of the Club to form an idea as to the character of the papers expected from them, and as the Committee have no other resource but the members, the latter are reminded that they should record the result of their Summer’s observations, with the view of bringing it before the Society at their Winter meetings. The Committee do not expect long papers on every occasion. On the contrary, they prefer a number of short papers, embodying the result of the writer’s study or observation on some special point of scientific interest. The Committee obtained the assistance of Professor Thom- son, Robert Patterson, Esq., F.R.S., and Mr. Ferguson, in awarding the prizes for the collections sent in for competition ; and on the recommendation of those gentlemen, Mr. George Donaldson was awarded the prize for Land and Fresh Water Shells; Mr. William Gray, the prize for a collection of Archeologic objects ; and Mr. Samuel Stewart, Mr. Plimmer’s prize, for the best collection of objects collected at the Excur- sions or Field Meetings of the year. COLLECTION OF S. A. STEWART. BOTANICAL SPECIMENS. I. Flowering Plants, He 73 species, II. Ferns, sid ie Drie, 91 species. IIT. Mosses, we ia Ate, GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. I. Cretaceous Fossils, 22 species, If. Liassic do., Bai (ho ae 32 species. III. Palzzoic do., ue Se ZOOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. I. Marine Shells, i 38 species, II. Land and Fresh Water, 94 \ 62 species. 9 i Bi al 49 MR. GRAY—ARCHAOLOGICAL. Several Hundred Flint Flakes and Celts from Toome Bridge. Several Dozen Flint Flakes from Larne. Do. do., from Carrickfergus. Do. do., from Lurgan and Holywood. A beautiful stone cup, and several other bronze and stone articles. MR. DONALDSON—LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS. 64 species, and 6 varieties. Prizes similar to those of last year will be offered for com- petition during the next year. The Committee hope to have the pleasure of meeting the members and friends of the Club at the Annual Conversazione, which is arranged to take place on the 2nd May next.* Ar- rangements have also been made for the Summer Excursions. In carrying out those arrangements, and in all other efforts to further the interests of the Club, the Committee desire the co-operation of the members, as the surest means of attaining ultimate success. W. H. FERGUSON. WILLIAM GRAY, J How. SEcs. * According to arrangement, the Conversazione was held on the 2nd May. The Committee issued a large number of invitations, and about one hundred and sixty members and friends assembled on the occasion. These interesting re-uvions are set on foot by the members for the pur- pose of giving the public an opportunity of witnessing the result of the operations of the club during the year, and the articles exhibited—the majority of which belong to the members of the club—have particular reference to the papers read during the session. Last year, besides the papers read in the winter season, the members had six field excursions to places of interest in the neighbourhood of Belfast and throughout the country, as will be seen by the Report, and the specimens exhibited were collected at the excursions, which made the exhibition more interesting 00 The Conversazione was held at the Museum,College Square. The upper room was tastefully decorated for the occasion, and in the room where the articles were exhibited tables were placed round the walls, which were covered with specimens of generalinterest. From the centre of the ceiling festoons were suspended to each corner of the building, and a star made of yew hung from the centre of the festoons. The tables were profusely ornamen- ted with pots and vases of flowers, most of which were kindly supplied for the occasion by Mr. W. Hooker Ferguson, curator of the Botanic Gardens. The flowers were all in full bloom, and in the gas-light produced an agree- able and pleasing effect. The specimens laid on the tables by the members of the club were much admired during the evening, and great care and at- tention had been apparently bestowed om the several collections. On the front wall Mr. 8. A. Stewart displayed a number of flowering plants, in- cluding ferns, grasses, orchidacez, lichens, &c. He also exhibited 74 species of shells, collected at the new docks during the recent excavations. Mr. Stewart obtained the Plimmer prize for the best collection during the season. In addition to those already referred to, he displayed a number of recent and fossil shells, which were carefully selected. Mr. Wm. Gray, one of the honorary secretaries, exhibited a collection of flint-flakes and celts from Toome Bridge, and flint-flakes from Larne and Kilroot. These specimens, owing to their number, occupied the greater portion of one of the tables ; and such a collection is rarely to be met with. Eminent geo- logists have spoken of seventy or eighty being collected in one place ; but Mr. Gray has been fortunate enough to coilect the flint-flakes in hundreds. Mr. George Donaldson displayed a number of land and fresh water shells, which obtained one of the prizes from the club. Myr. Hancock exhibited a beautiful collection of corals and marbles. Some specimens of fossil wood, from Lough Neagh, were exhibited by the same gentleman. Some elegant specimens of coral from the Navigator’s Islands were contributed by Mr. Tomlin, and the different varieties tastefully arranged presented a pleasing appearance. An interesting and rare specimen in the fossil de- partment was presented from the Castle Espie Lime Works, in the form of the Actinoceras gigantea, which is on its way to the Museum of the Queen’s College, but was kindly lent by the authorities of that institution to the Naturalists’ Club for exhibition. The fossil is very large, and, in the raising of it, it has been broken up in pieces, but each piece presents the appearance of the shell. Mr. H. Morrison showed a specimen of quartz conglomerate, or ‘‘pudding-stone,” from the vicinity of Bradford. In connexion with the large fossil to which we have adverted, Mr. Swanton exhibited a large ammonite, about two feet in diameter, found in the lime- stone quarries at White Head, on one of the excursions. Mr, Young, C.E., exhibited a number of bones, marine shells, antlers, and ox horns, which were found at a depth of fifteen feet below the surface of the earth, while excavating the reservoir for the Northern Spinning Company, in July, 1866. Mr. Walshe, of Dromore, contributed a great variety of EE 51 archeological specimens, consisting of bronze spear-heads, flint arrow- Heads in great variety, flint spear heads of superior workmanship, jet and bronze ornaments, and a great variety of glass and amber beads, found in the vicinity of Dromore. Professor Wyville Thomson, LL.D., kindly furnished some specimens of the glass sponges, regarding which he read a paper during the session. Mr. Murphy supplied some large photographs of architectural and other scenery, and Mr. Young exhibited some beauti- ful water-colour drawings. The members of the club brought their microscopes, and displayed some interesting specimens of animate and inanimate life. This department showed one of the advantages of the club, as persons who would never have thought of the instruments have, by their connexion with the club, been induced to purchase microscopes. Messrs. Ward, Magill, and Mayne contributed stereoscopes and appropriate views of British and continental scenery for the occasion, and Mr. Mayne, in addition, lent a large album with photographic views of Belfast, and interesting scenes in the North of Ireland. Mr. Walker, of Bridge Street, supplied the refreshments on the occasion. Br. BELFAST NATURALISTS’ FIELD CLUB IN ACCOUNT WITH TREASURER, 1866-7, Gr. To Balance from 1865-6,... sa ae A te Love ere “ Sixty-one Subscriptions, 1866-7, lo 5 ‘0 “ Five Subscriptions, 1865-6,... a Th. Blaise (0, “ Mr. Plimmer for Prize, ies ce eee OM IG “ Committee’s Contribution to Conversazione, 1866, ae ce ae ose ae 215 0 “ Tickets for do., if nb oe ane 316 6 £38 13 3 Audited and found correct, By Prizes, (ise RY, ** Use of Museum, a “ Gratuity to Curator, ... “ Delivery of Circulars, ... “ Stationery, Ps A “ Printing and Advertising, “ Postage Stamps, ae ** Expense of Conversazione, “ Balance,... ais Ane A AR va ee, OO ssa eae BOs: 0 sas p20-30 —— 8 0 0 “oe Be ras od LO 0 A 2 4 6 Sf (fea ee) ve 1-0-0 —— 10 8 38 sec a cay Ap Nee) soe iA ie oe, ACY. £38 13 3 WILLIAM GRAY. a Se SS SSS Sn ensennnnnnerirereereneeresreeeereeeee Helfast Aaturalists’ Fielb Club. FIFTH SEASON, 1867-8. LIST OF OFFICERS. Committee. PROFESSOR JAMES THOMSON, C.E., CHairman, WILLIAM CAMPBELL. SAMUEL A. STEWART. W. H. PATTERSON. ROBERT YOUNG, C.E. JOHN W. FORRESTER. SAMUEL SYMINGTON. WILLIAM M‘MILLAN. JOHN ANDERSON. HUGH ROBINSON. WILLIAM AICKIN, M.D. WILLIAM HANCOCK. OGreasurer. WEMLMLIAM HH. EPHRLDLLIES. Secretaries, W. H. FERGUSON. | WILLIAM GRAY. LIST OF MEMBERS. John Anderson, F.G.S., Holywood Wm. Aickin, M.D., Chichester St. William Alderdice, Donegall Place. Miss Alexander, Vicinage Park Robert Anderson, Donegali Place H. Burden, M.D., Alfred Street Robert Boag, jun. Charles H. Brett, Richmond Miss Bellis, University Square Thomas G. Browne, Arthur Street James Morgan Barklie Charles E. Bagnall, C.E., Comber J. Stanley Bruce, C.H., M.S.E., Howard Street William Campbell, Donegall Place. Wm. J. Clarke, Joy Street D. Cunningham, Ulster Model Farm G. V. Du Noyer, M.R.I.A., (Geologi- cal Survey), Carrickfergus George Donaldson, Academy Street Samuel M. Dill, Fisherwick Place John Darragh, Museum Robert Day, Cork William Hooker Ferguson, Botanic Gardens James Forgan, Botanic Road J. W. Forrester, Windsor Terrace Michael Fitzpatrick, The Cottage Ballynafeigh Wm. Gray, Office of Public Works Rey. John Grainger, M.A., Blackrock Miss Greer, Henry Street George C. Hyndman, Howard Street H. Greenhill, Wilmount Terrace Mrs. Greenhill, Wilmount Terrace W.H. Greer, Newtownards Alexander Hunter, Northern Bank John 8. Holden, M.D., Glenarm Henry Holden, Holywood W. H. Greer, High Street, Belfast John Harbison, Newtownards A. F. Herdman, J.P., Chichester St. Miss Sarah Herdman, Donegall Sq. South William Hancock, Carlisle Street Alexander Hall, Mountpleasant H. 8. Harland, Sydenham Miss Anna Sophia Henderson, Windsor James Henry, Crumlin Road Professor Hodges,M.D.Mountcharles Miss M. 8. Hodges, Mountcharles Dr. Hill, Ulsterville Harry Hardy, Howard Street Thomas Hunter, Holywood W. D. Henderson, Victoria Street Miss Johnston, Dalriada House H. H. Jamieson, Waring Street Dr. Keown, Dundela Terrace Syden- ham Henry Knight, Falls Road Rev. J. A. Kerr, A.B., Whiteabbey James Kindall, Victoria Street, _John Love, Donegall Square West W. W. Lamb, Devis View Miss Lamb, Devis View Alderman Robert Lindsay, J.P., Sans Souci Miss Lindsay, Sans Souci John M‘Crea, M.D., Alfred Street Wm. MacMillan, Regent Street Thomas M‘Clure, J.P., Belmont Miss M‘Clure, Belmont Dr. Wm. Macormac, Howard Street John Mackenzie, Malone Joseph J. Murphy, President Belfast Natural History Society, Old- forge oe a J. W. Murphy, Stranmills George M‘Auliffe, Whiteabbey Daniel M‘Kee, Adela Place Robert M‘Kee, Adela Place Rev. Wm. M‘Ilwaine, A. M., Windsor Greer Malcomson, Shamrock Lodge James Mortimer, Donegall Street Hugh Morrison, jun., Trinity Street Alderman William Mullen, J.P., Willowvale Alexander Moore, Prospect Terrace William Mackey, Windsor John Musgrave, Drumglass, Malone John Miller, Lisburn Miss Miller, Lisburn T. M‘Ilroy, I.N.S., Belfast North Wm. Miller, Institution Place Robert Patterson, F.R.S., College Square North Wn. H. Patterson, Dundela Terrace David C. Patterson, Holywood Thomas Plimmer, Bangor William H. Phillips, Lemonfield, Holywood George Phillips, Sydenham Francis Ritchie, Mountpottinger Malcolm Ritchie, Mountpottinger Miss Robinson, Thorndale R. Ross, M.D., Wellington Place Wm. A. Robinson, Donegall Square Hugh Robinson, Donegall Street Ninian Robinson, Donegall Street Philip F. Richardson, Knock R. 8. Smyth, Londonderry Wu. Swanston, University Street Miss Mary Swanston, University St. 5d Samuel Symington, Landscape Terrace S. Alexander Stewart, North Street Robert Smith, Hughes’s Buildings George K. Smith, Whiteabbey Wm. 8. Simpson, Crescent William Scott, Prince’s Dock J. Stelfox, jun., Gasfield House John Shelly, Whiteabbey, Wm. Shepherd, Holywood Bryce Smyth, B.M. A. O’D. Taylor, Murray’s Terrace Ralph Tate, F.G.S., A.L.8., London Professor Wyville Thomson, LL.D., &e., Queen’s College Professor James Thomson, C.E., Queen’s College Miss Thomson, University Square Henry Thomson, Windsor Mrs. Thomson, Windsor Robt. K. Tomlin, University Square Alexander Threlkeld, Botanic Road George Thomson, Woodburn Jas. W. Valentine, Fortwilliam Park William Valentine, J.P., Glenavna Thomas Workman, Windsor T. K. Wheeler, Clarendon Place John Ward, Hillbrook, Holywood Robert Workman, B,A., Windsor Edward Weldon, Linen Hall E. Wren, Model School H. J. Wright, Donegall Street T. R. Walkington, Sydenham W. Wylie, Mountpleasant Robert Young, C.E., Richmond Samuel Young, Roselands, Belfast Helfast Aaturalists’ Field Club. FIFTH YBEBAR- Tue Commitree offer the following Prizes, to be competed for during the Session ending March 31, 1868 :— I. For the Best Herbarium of Flowering Plants,... a5 ok a0 0 II. For the Second Best, doses <.. “A ne ss JORGE :0 III. “Best Collection of Mosses, as ae .. 010 0 Ine “Best do. Seaweeds, 010 O V. S Best do. Ferns, ... bis eee Js) OBO O VI. Best Collection of Cretaceous Fossils, ... ae --» 0910) 70 VII Do. Liassic dO. y ies eR r= OL 104.20 VIII Do. Paleozoic do. ... sed .. 010 0 IX. Do. Marine Shells, =" vn 20 10-50 Xx. Do. Land and Fresh-water Shells, 50 LORLOTSO XI. Best Collection of Archeological Objects, ... 010 0 XII. Mr. Plimmer offers a Prize of 10/6 for the Best Collec. tion of any or all the above, collected at the Excursions or Field Meetings of the year. All Collections to be made personally during the Session, within the Province of Ulster. Each species to be correctly named, and locality stated. The Flowering Plants to be collected when in flower, and classified according to the natural system. The Prizes to be in books, or suitable scientific objects, at the desire of the successful members. SDLP UO S:Poe Cul Ade joRupuZ E:. Professor James Thomson, Chairman of the Club, offers a Prize, open for competition to all members of the Club, for the best’ satisfactory expo- sition of any way in which flint flakes can be made, having all the special features of configuration which are remarkable for their frequency of oc- curence together in the same flake among the Toome flakes already well known to the Club, and called unwrought flakes, and among similar ones found at Belfast. The Prize to be OnE Gurnnma, if the best candidate shall exhibit to the Club the making of such flakes without the use of 56 5%. metallic tools, or of any tool, implement, or means, other than that what could be available to savages unaided by civilsation ; and to be half a guinea if the best candidate shall exhibit the making of them by aid of steel tools, or in any way whatever. THE FOLLOWING EXCURSIONS HAVE BEEN ARRANGED FOR THE SESSION. On first week of June to Toomr Briper. On third week of June to CusHrnDALL and CusHENDUN, by the Coast Road. On second week of July to Purpy’s Bury. On first week of August to WoopBURN WATERWORKS. On third week of August to Castine Espre. On second week of September to DOWNPATRICK. Due notice will be given to the members as to the day and object of each Excursion ; and the members are invited to avail themselves of the arrangements to be made at each meeting for giving information to inquirers. W. H. FERGUSON WILLIAM GRAY, Hon. Szcs. BELFast, lsé May, 1867. ss OOS | 26 NOY 23 | NATURAL HISTORY. FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BELFAST NATURALISTS FIELD CLUB: WITH STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS, AND A LIST OF THE OFFICE-BEARERS AND MEMBERS, FOR THE YEAR ENDING 3lst MARCH, 1868. BELFAST : PRINTED BY PHILLIPS AND SONS, BRIDGE STREET. 1868. m UL Es OF THE Gelfast Naturalists’ Field Club. I. That the Society be called “Tur Betrast Narurauists’ Firtp CLus.” II. That the objects of the Society be the practical study of Natural Science and Archeology. : III. That the officers of the Club be a Committee of twelve members, a Treasurer, and two Secretaries. The Committee, on their first meeting, will appoint a Chairman to preside at their meetings. EVE That every candidate for membership shall be proposed and seconded at any meeting, and, on paying the subscription, become a member. Ve That the subscription be Five Shillings per annum, payable in advance. VI. That the members of the Club shall hold at least six field meetings during the year, in the most interesting localities, for investigating the Natural History of the district. That the place of meeting be fixed by the Committee, and that eight days’ notice of each Excursion be communicated to members by the Secretaries. VII. That fortnightly meetings be held for the purpose of reading papers; such papers, as far as possible, to treat of the Natural History and Archeology of the district. These meetings to be held during the months from November to April, inclusive. 4 VITI. That the Committee shall, if they find it advisable, offer for com- petition Prizes for the best collection of scientific objects of the district. The details of this Rule to be left to the discretion of the Committee for the time being. IX. That the Annual Meeting be held during the month of April, when the Report of the Committee for the past year, and the Treasurer’s Financial Statement, shall be presented, the Committee and Officers elected, Bye-laws made and altered, and any proposed alterations in the general laws, of which a fortnight’s notice shall have been given, in writing, to the Secretaries, considered and decided upon. Norice to Memprrs.—The Ticket or MEMBERSHIP, accompanying Treasurers receipt for the Annual Subscription, entitles the holder to free admission to the Musewm of the Natwral History Society. - Peek ae 0 ab tee get nard~*4 THE FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF Ghe Helfust Aaturalists’ Field Club. Srxcr the Annual Meeting, held on the 18th April last year, the numerical strength of the Club has been considerably augmented, the number of Members now enrolled being 156. This increase is chiefly due to the growing popularity of the Club, and the interest excited by the Summer Excursions and the Annual Con- versazione. ‘This success, it is to be hoped, may also be con- sidered as a proof that the Officers of the Society have efficiently discharged their duty. The following places were visited by Members of the Club during the past year: Toome Bridge and Church Island............. on the 1st June. Cushendall and the adjoining Glens, ...... » 19thand 20th June. Mr. Valentine’s Fernery, at Whiteabbey, and the Duncrue Salt Mine, ......... » 20th July. BRS SOEOEO Ss oisccecvesacesveaescevs sstelgure See » 98rd August. Castle Espie and Reagh Island,............... » 24th August. MMU ALTA CLO wags scien cin eas seeniadnctsonsecatenil » 28th September. During the Winter Session the following Papers were read at the ordinary meetings of the Society : Sth Dec., 1867.—* Notes on the Remarkable Discoveries of Eugene Conwell, Esq., M.R.I.A., in the Megalicthic Chambered Tumuli, on Slieve-na-Caillighe, Co. Meath,’ by Mr. G. V. Du Noyer, M.R.LA. 19th Dec.—“ Scientific Nomenclature,’ with some suggestions for its improvement, by Rev. W. M‘Ilwaine, D.D. 30th Jan., 1868.—“ Notes of a Visit to the Peak of Derbyshire,” by Mr. W. 4H. Patterson. 6 On 18th February, a Meeting was held for the Exhibition of Microscopes and Microscopic objects. 27th Feb.—Three Papers were read, namely: «A run through Galway witha Vasculum,” by Mr. 8. A. Stewart. “Vegetable Parasites,” by Mr. W. H. Ferguson. « A notice of recently observed Glacial Markings near Belfast,” by Mr. William Gray } 12th Mar.—“