8o The Irish Nituralist. July, 



IRISH SOCIETIES. 



DUBLIN NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB. 



May 27. — -Excursion to Donnybrook. — A large number of members 

 and friends met at the tram terminus and were conducted by Prof. A. 

 Henry first through the grounds of Nutley, which is noted for its fine 

 trees and beautiful garden. The owner, Mr. Sharman Crawford, kindly 

 received the members. Attention was directed to the profuse flowering 

 this season of many species, Fraxinus ornus being very conspicuous. 

 The party next walked to Merville, also celebrated for its magnificent 

 garden. Tiie place was laid out by Baron Foster towards the end of the 

 1 8th century, and some of the original trees remain, the finest being a 

 large Oriental Plane. From Merville the members proceeded to Woodview, 

 where tea was hospitably provided by Prof, and Mrs. Trench. Afterwards 

 various trees were observed and discussed, special attention being paid 

 a fine Rohinia Pseiidacacia, and to two gigantic Black Italian Poplars, 

 which had just come into leaf, justifying the name given to the hybrid 

 by Hartig, Populus scrotina. 



BELFAST NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB. 



May 27. — Travelling to Whitehead, the Club's first excursion of the 

 season took place to Cloughan Point. The party of eighteen were 

 conducted by R. J. Welch, an old President of the Club, who described 

 many of tlie features on the walk, calling on Captain Chase, M.A., for 

 the botany, and Robert Bell, F.Min.S.L., for descriptions of many 

 geological objects of interest to the mineralogist and palaeontologist. 

 Taking the road past the columnar basalt quarries, a section of Greensand 

 was shown, from which many fossils have been collected. Nearer the 

 tunnel, on the shore, the outcrop of Chloritic Sand, which yields many 

 specimens of fossil sponges, was pointed out by Mr. Bell, who also described 

 the high section of basaltic rocks above the tunnel, from which so many 

 fine specimens of zeolites have been obtained by him. These now form 

 part of the national collection of zeolites in the Natural History Museum, 

 London. Just south of the tunnel on a bank beside the railway, the 

 locality for the very local maritime trefoil, Trifoliiim striatum, was shown. 



Passing along by tlie old harbour, from which so much chalk (the 

 " white limestone " of County Antrim) was formally shipped from the 

 now worked out quarries above, the calcreted glacial gravels overlying 

 the Chalk and under the Boulder Clay were described by the conductor, 

 who mentioned the abundance of fossils found in them, mainly in 

 " pockets," more or less isolated in the mass, the species present having 

 a more northern facies than those living now in local waters. Portions 

 of the chalk cliffs, moved out of place by tlie ice movements and arrested 

 when starting on their journey as erratics, are here more clearly seen 



