2^2 The 17 ish Naturalist. December, 



Downs, Co. Wicklow, recently, with the water moss Fontinalis antipyrc- 

 tica attached to stones. Further investigation may prove this to be 

 the variety inundatum of Bridel, which has been found in North Wales 

 and in the north of England. 



W. N. Allen exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Alfred E. Hilton of the Queket 

 Microscopical Club, as a macroscopical object, a fine specimen of Badhamia 

 utricularis. Berk., the plasmodium of which had been found in Highgate 

 Wood, North London, creeping over the stump of a Hornbeam. The 

 equally spinulo.se spores were shown under the microscope. 



Professor G. H. Carpenter showed a specimen of the pycnogon 

 Paranymphon spinosum, Caullery, dredged from a depth of 700 fathoms 

 off the south-west coast of Ireland, by the Fisheries cruiser " Helga." 

 This species is remarkable for its exceedingly long abdomen and eye- 

 eminence, though eyes are entirely absent, and for the prominent processes 

 on the leg-bearing outgrowths of the segments. It has hitherto been 

 recorded only from the northern seas (Faeroe Channel; off Greenland), and 

 from the Bay of Biscay. 



BELFAST NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB. 



September 21. — Geological Section. — Excursion to Ballyclare. — 

 On arrival at Ballyclare the members were met by James Strachan, 

 who acted as Conductor. The area marked on the Survey map as Lower 

 Basalt supplies interesting problems. It includes dolerite formations, 

 two types of wliich were visited. The first at " Crag Hill," or " The 

 Craigs," lies directly N.E. of Ballyclare. It is an intrusive sill of fairly 

 coarse holocrystalline olivine -dolerite, identical in petrographical charac- 

 ter with the dolerite of Ballygally Head, about ten miles eastward. 



Sections of the Lower Basalt of Ballyeaston were then examined in 

 Mr. Dickey's quarries ; near to these quarries, the second type of dolerite, 

 found on Mr. Gilmour's farm, was investigated. It is an intrusive boss, 

 so finely grained that it may be called a true aphanite. A small exposure 

 on the summit showed two marked sets of glacial striae, running respec- 

 tively N. and S., and E. and W. 



October 5. — Geological Section. — Excursion to Ballymurphy, — 

 By kind permission of Messrs. Thomas Murphy & Son, a large party 

 visited the Springfield Brickworks, Belfast. Robert Bell acted as Con- 

 ductor. The Triassic strata underlying the Boulder -clay were first ex- 

 amined. They consist of banded red, grey, and greenish Keuper marks, 

 streaked with large veins of massive gypsum. It was here that Mr. 

 Bell, 'a few months ago, discovered, for the first time in this district, 

 fine specimens of crystallized gypsum or selenite, and further good speci- 

 mens were obtained on the excursion. In some of the grey layers pseudo- 

 inorphs after crystals of rock-salt were obtained. Surmounting the 

 Triassic marls, a fine exposure of Boulder-clay was examined, Ailsa 

 Craig riebeckite rock, with other erratics, being noted. The excellent 

 bricks made at Ballymurphy have been largely used in local buildings, 

 and are also exported to the neighbouring provinces. 



