6o 7^he Irish Naturalist, March, 



Prof. J. A, Scott gave an interesting account, illustrated by an excellent 

 series of lantern slides of events in the Gardens during 191 1. 



Recent gifts include : — a Rhesus Monkey from Mr. Quinton ; a Badger 

 from Mr. M. Suiton, eight Cavies from Mrs. Webber, a Goshawk from Dr. 

 Tate, a Javen Parrakeet from Mrs. Humphreys, three Grass Parrakeets 

 from Mrs. Trevor, Sulphur-crested Cockatoos from Rev. E. D. Crowe, and 

 Miss Beasley ; a Tawney Owl and a Wigeon from Mr. H. B. Rathbornc. and 

 four Bullfinches from Rev. W. F. Johnstone. A Blue and Yellow Macaw 

 has been received on deposit, and a pair of Black-necked Swans acquired 

 by purchase. 



BELFAST NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB. 



January 16. — The President (Robert J. Welch) occupied the chair. Rev. 

 W. P. Carmody read a paper by himself and A. G. Wilson on " Kitchen 

 Middens in Dingle Bay." Mr. Carmody, after a brief description of the 

 range of sand-dunes in Dingle Bay known as The Inch, proceeded to describe 

 the extensive middens which the authors discovered on these sand-hills. 



J. A. S. Stendall read a paper on Nature Study. After a brief des- 

 cription of what Nature Study really is, the lecturer referred to the way 

 schools in England have taken the matter up and to the fact that it bid 

 fair to become universal in Belfast, and at no distant date. Among those 

 who took part in the debate were the President, Mrs. Hobson, and W. J. C. 

 Tomlinson, H. L. Orr, J. M. Dickson, Robert Patterson, and R. H. White- 

 house. 



January 24. — Geological Section. — A paper was read by James 

 Orr on "Local Fossils and their Correlation with Recent Types." There 

 was a large attendance of members ; the Chairman of the section (W. 

 J. C. Tomlinson) presided. After his paper, Mr. Orr gave a practical 

 lesson on the subject by means of a collection of fossils which he had 

 obtained from our local fossiliferous rocks. With every conspicuous type 

 of fossil form he had a specimen of its nearest living representative. 



A short discussion followed, in which Dr. Dwerryhouse, W. A. Green, 

 G. Donaldson, and the Chairman took part. 



DUBLIN NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUE. 



November 21. — W. F. Gunn (Vice-President) in the chair. 



R. LI. Praeger opened a discussion on Mr. Clement Reid's paper : 

 " The Relation of the Present Plant Population of the British Isles to the 

 Glacial Period" {supra, p. 201). After giving a summary of the paper, 

 Mr. Praeger criticised certain of Mr. Reid's conclusions, the essential point 

 of which was that the whole of the fauna and flora of the British Islands, 

 with the exception of a few alpine plants, had been introduced by chance 

 dispersal, since the glacial period. The following members also took part 

 in the discussion : — Professor Carpenter, Messrs. N. Colgan, W. F. Gunn, 

 T. Halhssy, C. B. Moffat, R. Southern, and W. B. Wright. In the course 

 of the discussion it was pointed out that Mr. Reid had used onlv botanical 

 evidence and had ignored the fauna altogether, though distribution of the 



