1899O Proceedings of h is h Societies. 121 



Belfast Naturalists' Field Club. 



March 21. — H. L. Orr and R. Welch exhibited a series of minute 

 land-shells— genus Vertigo— from various localities, including a number 

 of Vertigo antivertigo recently collected at Shaw's Bridge, Belfast, where 

 there is a very large colony in the marsh. Mr. M'Kinney exhibited 

 coral found in clay near Glenarm. Mr. Vinycomb taking the chair, 



Mr. Gray submitted his report as delegate from the B.N.F.C. to the 

 meeting of the British Association at Bristol. He described the object, 

 constitiition, and method of procedure of the Association, and stated 

 that the committee of corresponding societies was framed for the 

 purpose of securing the co-operation of all such local scientific societies 

 publishing transactions and papers calculated to further the advance- 

 ment of science. The Belfast Naturalists' Field Club was one of the 

 first local societies registered as a corresponding society by the British 

 Association. At the Bristol meeting the subject of coast erosion was 

 recommended for consideration. The question of geological photography 

 was also considered, and a high compliment was paid to the B.N.F.C. 

 for the very excellent photographs already contributed by Mr. Welch, 

 Mr. Phillips and other members of the Field Club. The desirability of 

 having all reports and, if possible, all transactions published of uniform 

 size was recommended to facilitate the orderly binding for reference. 

 The Ethnographical Survey Committee recommended the subject for 

 the investigation of the corresponding societies. The work already 

 done in Ireland was acknowledged, but one branch of the subject had 

 not received in Ireland the attention it merited — namely, the archaeo- 

 logical survey of this country. It was pointed out that with the number 

 of capable organizations now operating in Ireland there should be no 

 difficulty in compiling a very complete catalogue of all the ancient 

 monuments of Ireland. The Conference Committee resolved at Bristol 

 to write to the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, pointing out the 

 necessity for undertaking this work. Mr. Gray referred to the fact that 

 two meetings of the British Association had been held in Bristol since 

 the last meeting in Belfast, in 1S74. Since then the Association met 

 several times in England, Scotland, Wales, and Canada, as well as in 

 Dublin. It was, therefore, time to ask the Association to come to 

 Belfast again. Mr Gray described the various places of interest in and 

 around Bristol, as well as the places visited on the excursion, including 

 Stan don Drew, Raglan Castle, Tintern Abbey, Salisbury, Old Sarum, 

 and Stonehenge. His descriptive sketches were very fully illustrated by 

 original lantern slides, with special reference to Anglo-Norman invasion 

 of Ireland under Strongbow. After the lecture the Chairman and other 

 members joined in a short discussion, and the meeting closed by the 

 election of some members. 



Botanical Section. — March 25. — The study of the British Grasses, 

 which was carried on at the monthly meetings during the winter, was 

 concluded by Rev. C. H. Waddell who described the fescues, brome and 



