72 The hish Naturalist. March, 



to attend the meetings in question. Nominations of this kind 

 are clearh^ within the powers of each Club Committee, and 

 have been accepted by the Union Committee. 



The Secretary of the Union Committee at the time of 

 appointment was Secretary of the D.N.F.C, and therefore a 

 member of Committee. When he retired from the Secretary- 

 ship of that Club, he raised the question of his ability to retain 

 the office of Union Secretar^^ The Committee decided that 

 they had the power of appointin;^ au}^ Field Club member 

 as their Secretary whether a member of Committee or not. 



GENERAL MEETINGS. 



In July, 1895, shortly after the formation of the Irish Field 

 Club Union, a general conference and excursion was held at 

 Galway under its auspices, the meeting lasting for seven 

 days. This was the first occasion on which all the Naturalists' 

 Field Clubs of Ireland met together, and was a thoroughly 

 representative assemblage, the Belfast party numbering 46, 

 Dublin 29, Cork 4, and Limerick 4. There were also repre- 

 sented the North Staffordshire Naturalists' Field Club, 

 Nottingham Naturalists' Society, Wolverhampton NTaturalists* 

 Field Club, and Conchological Societ}^ of Great Britain and 

 Ireland. On July 16 a conference on Field Club work was 

 held. Since 1895, a general excursion and conference on 

 lines similar to that at Galway has been held each third year, 

 the date and place being selected by the Union Committee, 

 and the arrangements made b}^ their Secretary. The second 

 conference w^as held at Kenmare in Juh', 1898; like that at 

 Galwa3% it was numerousl}^ attended, and was productive of 

 excellent scientific results. The third triennial conference 

 was held in Dublin in June, 1901, and visits to the various 

 scientific institutions of the metropolis replaced the excursions 

 and field work of the two previous meetings. The attend- 

 ance at this meeting of members, other than of the home 

 Club, w^as much smaller than on previous occasions, and 

 showed the greater popularity of field meetings as compared 

 with scientific demonstrations. The Union Committee has 

 provisionally selected Sligo as the centre for the fourth 

 triennial meeting, to be held in 1904. 



The proceedings and scientific results of these three 

 general conferences have been fully reported in the Irish 

 Naturalist, and occupy 82 pages of that magazine. 



