Pfoceedings of Irish Societies, 107 



BKI,FAST NATURAI.ISTS' FIEI.D Cl,UB. 



FEBRUARY 19.— The President (F. W. Lockwood) in the chair. Rev. 

 Denis Murphy, S.J., lectured on Irish Art as shown on Ancient 

 Crosses. 



March 9. — A party of twenty-five, niostl}^ members of the geological 

 class, visited the various deposits to be found at I.arne. The party left 

 Belfast at 12.30, arriving in Larne Harbour at 1.40, where they were met 

 by Professor Cole, who straightway led them down to the exposure of 

 the New Red Sandstone : making this his text, he gave a ver}^ clear 

 outline of the conditions of this country in these times. No find was 

 made except a few pieces of gypsum. A little way further on was seen 

 a large section of the Rhaetic Beds, towards the top layers of which Mr. 

 William Swanston was lucky enough to hit on Putoi valoniensis, the type 

 fossil of the stratum in which it occurs. 



Professor Tate has recorded no fossils from this part. A so-called 

 oolitic structure was next discussed, but no decision was arrived at : 

 Professor Cole, however, secured several of the knots and grains, of 

 which we may hope to hear more. The Lias beds were now arrived at, and 

 the zones of Psiloceras planorbis, yEgocerasJohnstoni a.ndi podacrinus were suc- 

 cessfully crossed, each forming a halting-place for the collectors to whom 

 the Professor explained the various features. Specimens of the above 

 were obtained, and also of Lima giganfea, Gryphcea inciu-va, various Cardinias 

 and others. Perhaps the best find was a Nautilus in which the septa 

 were replacedby sulphate of iron, and of which about one third of the outer 

 whorl was practically removed, showing the chambers, divided off by the 

 gold-coloured layers of the sulphate. Another shift was then made to the 

 Greensand, of which there is a large but sand-covered exposure, a great 

 part of it being the reddened deposit, in which there were a vast number 

 of fragments of Inoceranius, so much so that Professor Cole believes 

 this bed represents the English Turonian, which is usually 

 thought to be missing in our Irish strata. Close to this is the 

 base of the Chalk, with Ananchytes ovattis, and Belemnitella mucrouata, of 

 which specimens were secured, as also some impressions of spongy or 

 polyzoan forms. Professor Cole believes our Chalk to correspond to the 

 very topmost layer ot the English Ghalk, and this belief was 

 strengthened by Mr Swanston drawing attention to the great develop- 

 ment of marine gasteropods in the Limavady district. On the road 

 back to Lame, another outcrop of Greensand was examined, yielding 

 only a Rhynchonella robusla, and the party then headed for the Post- 

 Pliocene gravel beds of the Curran, which have already been very fully 

 described in the Proceedings of the Club. One or two members of the 

 party were fortunate in discovering marine shells and worked flints 

 side by side in the middle of the section Littorina litorea, L. litoralis, 

 and Patella vulgaris were found. The estuarine clay was noticed only 

 in passing, as time was short, and the party travelled back to Belfast 

 by the 5.45 train. Tea in the Museum was followed by Professor Cole's 

 lecture on the Eocene, Oligocene, and Miocene periods, in which by far 

 the most important point raised was the discovery of worked flints in 

 undoubted Miocene deposits in India. Fuller particulars are being 

 anxiously watched for, but there seems no reason to doubt the 

 authenticity of the find. If true, it will be a final blow to the theory 

 that man sprang into existence in the last geological formation, and 

 with all his modern powers of intellect. 



March 19. — The President in the Chair. The following papers were 

 read : LT.-Coi.onei. Partridge—" Additional Lepidoptera from 

 Enniskillen." J. R. P. ManfieTvD.— " Wild Bird Protection and Nesting 

 Boxes." Subsequently the annual meeting of the Microscopicjd 

 Section was held, and there was a display of microscopical apparatus 

 and objects. 



