138 The Irish Naturalist, [May, 



BeIvFast Naturai. History and Philosophicai, Society. 

 Aprie 6.— a lecture was delivered by Mr. Ernest W. MacBride, M.A., 

 of Cambridge, on " Starfish and Sea Urchins : their Haunts, Habits, and 

 History." 



Belfast Naturai^ists' Fiei.d Ci.ub. 



March 16.— Mr. Wii,i.iam Gray, M.R.T.A., in the chair. The 

 secretary was called on to read a short paper by Rev. H. W. Lett, A.M., 

 on the " Re-discovery of the plant Dry as odopetala in County Antrim." 

 Mr. Lett said that he brought the communication before the Club, as his 

 discovery of the plant had been doubted. He had come across it in 

 1886, but owing to his being hard at work on mosses at the time it had 

 escaped his memory until he turned it up in his herbarium. On publish- 

 ing the circumstance the editors of the Irish A'a^'z/^a/zi-/ remarked that the 

 record was not sufficiently authenticated. Mr. Lett, therefore, took the 

 earliest opportunity of visiting the place on Sallagh Braes last November, 

 where he found the plant still flourishing. The original specimen and 

 also the 1S96 one were placed on the table for inspection. Remarking 

 on Mr. Lett's paper, Mr. S. A. Stewart said that if the editors of the Irish 

 Naturalist had been somewhat sceptical about the discovery, it was only 

 in order to ensure the most absolute accuracy, and their remarks had 

 had the effect of placing the record bej-ond question by anyone. He 

 heartily congratulated Mr. Lett on adding this interesting plant to our 

 local flora. Mr. Gray then called on Mr. M'Cleery to read his paper on 

 "An Evening with the Miscroscope." The paper, which was fully 

 illustrated by a large number of lantern-slides, began by describing the 

 action of the instrument itself and its parts, several photographs of 

 typical microscopes being shown. The process of photo-micrography 

 was also explained by means of lantern-slides. Mr. M'Cleery then pro- 

 ceeded to show a long series of beautiful slides made by Messrs. 

 Donaldson, Firth, Stelfox, Welch, Gray, and by himself of various 

 insects and their parts, such as flies, gnats, parasites of animals, eggs of 

 butterflies, bees, wasps ; also diatoms, foraminifera, and other objects, 

 describing each slide and the reason it was shown. It was intended only 

 to give the uninitiated some idea of the vast and beautiful field of work 

 that lay before them, how varied it was, and with what ease it might be 

 studied, and his object would be attained if he could induce someone to 

 take up this fascinating study. 



Geological Section, February 24.— The geological section met to 

 see Mr. H. J. Seymour's demonstration of the admirable capabilities of 

 the rock-slicing machine just presented to the Club by Messrs. Combe, 

 Barbour & Combe. Thin slices of granites and other igneous rocks were 

 successfully cut, and a thorough explanation of the methods of grinding 

 and mounting rock-sections was given by Mr. Seymour. Arrangements 

 for the forthcoming courses of petrology and field geology, and for a 



