226 The Irish Naturalist. 



The following resolution was thereupon adopted by the Committee of 

 each Club referred to : — 



*• Resolved : That this Committee approve of the suggestions embodied 

 in the memorandum submitted to them by the Secretaries of the four 

 Irish Field Clulxs, and they hereby appoint the President and Secretary 

 to represent them on the Joint Committee." 



The Field Club Union Committee, then created, appointed R. Lloyd 

 Praeger, Secretary Dublin Field Club, as their vSecretary, and during the 

 ensuing winter (1S94-95) an interchange oflecturers was carried out with 

 marked success. Mr. Joseph Wright, of Belfast, lectured at Dublin, Cork, 

 and Limerick; Professor Haddon, of Dublin, lectured at Belfast; and 

 Professor Cole, of Dublin, lectured at Cork and Limerick. 



The excursion which is reported in the pages which follow is the 

 second definite result of the formation of the Field Club Union, which 

 is now fairly embarked on a life of practical usefulness and scientific 

 advancement. 



Wejdnesday, July ioTh. 

 The members of the Belfast Club were the first to take the field. The 

 northern party, to the number of about fifty, took the T.45 train to 

 t)ublin, where they were met by the Secretary of the Union, and 

 despatched to the Gresham and Hammam Hotels. At 7 o'clock they 

 assembled at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, where they were 

 teceived by the President and Officers of the Dublin Field Club, and a 

 numerous company of the members of the local Society. After tea a 

 couple of pleasant and instructive hours were spent in examining the 

 many botanical treasures of the Gardens under the guidance of Mr. F, 

 W. Moore, A.L.S., Curator, and his able assistant, Mr. D. M'Ardle. 



Thursday, Jui.y iith. 



' Punctually at 9 o'clock the First Class Special Train provided by the Mid- 

 land Great Western Railway Company steamed out of Broadstone Station 

 with the members of the Belfast and Dublin Clubs, and representatives of 

 several English Societies on board, and a very rapid journey across the 

 Great Central Plain of Ireland was pleasantly spent in studying maps 

 and scientific papers relating to the districts about to be visited. 

 Shortly after noon the bogs, woods, and pastures of the Central Plain 

 gave way to the bare limestone pavements so characteristic of Galway and 

 Clare, and at 12.30 the train drew up at the platform at Galway. At 

 I o'clock brakes were mounted, and the party drove through the pretty 

 suburb of Salthill to Gentian Hill, a promontory of drift standing out 

 into the sea, where lunch was served. Here the members of the Cork 

 and Limerick Field Clubs joined their brethren of Dublin and Belfast, 

 and when lunch was over the party scattered for their first ramble. 

 From Gentian Hill a good idea of the geography of the district was 

 obtained. Eastward lay Galway and the level lands of the Limestone 

 Plain. To the southward, across Galway Bay, rose the great grey 

 terraced limestone hills of the Burren district of County Clare. To 

 the westward the Aran Islands could be dimly seen rising out of the 



