igro Irish Societies, 135 



May 7. — GeoIvOGical Section.— Tardree and Sandy Braes. The 

 quarries at Tardree Moiintaiu, and the excavations in the plateau lavas 

 around it, were examined. 



The members took train to Ballyclare, where they were met by J. 

 Strachan, who acted as conductor. Thence they drove to Sandy Braes 

 where specimens were obtained of banded and fluidal pitch-stones, and 

 of small spherulitic nodules of silicified rhyolite filled with opal. Con- 

 tinuing the drive to the north quarry on Tardree, the conductor pointed 

 out a red, stony rhyolite worked at present, and in the disused main 

 part of the quarry, drew attention to the apparently massive columnar 

 structure. Driving a short way up an adjacent cross-road, a quarry 

 showing a beautifully banded lithoidal rhyolite was examined and 

 photographed. The south quarry on Tardree was then visited, and 

 specimens of the typical lithoidal rhyolite secured. 



May 21.— Casti^EROCK. — The party, numbering 85, was conducted, 

 by N. H. Foster and W. J. C. Tomlinson. During the day the botanists 

 of the party were busy, and reported the following : — Raniinadus tticho- 

 phyllus^ Erophila vulgaris, Sisyvibrua/i Thaliajiuvi, Cerastiutn seviidecandi-um, 

 Saxifraga tridactylites, Antennaria dioica, Myosotis coUina, Sdlla verna, Asple- 

 nhwi viariman, Draba muralis, Arenaria trinervia and Arabis hirsuta. 



The deep-wooded ravines at Downhill were found excellent collecting 

 grounds for land mollusca. That member of the northern fauna. Helix 

 hortensis, so rare in Ireland, especially in the south and west, was found 

 to be plentiful under ivy along the top of an old wall. Pupa anglica 

 occurred at the base of the cliffs, and a rather local xerophile. Helix 

 caperata, on the sandhills near Magilligau. In the pond in Downhill 

 demesne, Planorbis coniorhis was common. Some of the conchologists 

 who were collecting on the strand at Downhill cliffs were delighted to 

 find a tidal fringe of a rare pelagic Atlantic shell, Limacina retroversa, 

 which occasionally comes ashore in immense numbers on the west coast. 

 It was the first time any of the party had ever been fortunate enough to 

 find it though looked for for many years ; its only previous record for the 

 district rests on dredgings by the late Dr. Chaster in Rathlin Sound in 

 1896. On the Downhill strand numbers of CypHna islaitdica, LtUraria 

 elliptica, Area tetragona, Venus fasciata, Solen siliqua, Donax vittatiis. Capuhis 

 hungaricusy Cypraa eicropaa, JVassa incrassata, Ttirrilella conuminis, and Scalaria 

 covuminis were found. The ornithologists handed in a list of forty-three 

 species noted during the day, chiefl}- in the demesne, showing that birds 

 are not molested there. It was noted that the Siskin has increased 

 there as a nesting species. At five o'clock the various groups of workers 

 met by arrangement at the Golf Hotel, Castlerock, where they were 

 entertained to tea by Miss Kidd. 



A short business meeting was held on the hotel grounds after tea — the 

 president, R. Welch, M.R.I. A., in the chair. Three new members— Miss 

 M. Stewart, Miss Iv. Ivowry, and Mr. Frank Johnston, J. P. — were elected. 

 Shortly afterwards the party took train at 6.57, arriving in Belfast shortly 

 after nine. 



