loo The Irish Naturalist. [April, 



The grating is dropped on to the ej-e-piece diaphragm, the field of view 

 being thus divided up into distinct areas. The sheet of paper on which 

 the drawing is to be made is divided up into areas corresponding to 

 those of the grating, and each sub-division then filled in by ej'e. 



Mr. F. M. SeIvI^ENS showed preparations of the diatom, Arachjioidiscus 

 ornatus, and of the fossil protozoan Canipilodiscm clypeits. 



Bei,fast Naturai, History and PhiIvOSophicai, Society. 



February 6. — A meeting was held in the Museum, when a paper was 

 read by Mr. Conway ScotT— subject, " Some Thoughts on Rome." 

 Afterwards Mr. W. H. Patterson, M.R.I.A., described the "Growth of 

 the Ink Blot," with illustrations. 



March 6. — A meeting was held in the Museum, when a paper was 

 read by Wii.i,iam Gray, Esq., C.E., M.R.I.A. Subject—" The Position 

 of Belfast in relation to Technical Instruction under the Agricultural and 

 Technical Instruction Act." A discussion followed, in which several 

 members of the City Council, School of Art, Technical School, Queen's 

 College, etc., took part. 



Bei^fast Naturai^ists' Fiei^d CI.UB. 



January i6.— Mr. Wii^IvIAM Swanston, F.G.S., presiding, Mr. F.J. 

 Bigger exhibited and described a vSeries of " plateau" implements lent 

 by Mr. R. D. Darbishire, of Manchester. These w^ere collected by Mr. 

 Harrison in high-level gravels in the Darent Valley, Sevenoaks, Kent. 

 Mr. Gray described the relation of these plateau worked flints to the 

 worked flints of Antrim. 



Mr. W. J. FENNEt,i., M.R.I.A.I., read a paper on the Island of Inis- 

 clerauu, in Lough Ree, and the great ecclesiastical establishment which 

 at one time flourished there. The paper was illustrated by limelight 

 views of plans, drawings, and photographs, and rubbings from the old 

 incised crosses, from views, sketches, and careful measurements made 

 on the spot by Mr. Fennell. 



Mr. F. J. Bigger, M.R.I.A., vice-president, read a paper on "A Half- 

 hour in the Garden,'' and stated that a garden should be a garden all the 

 year round, for, as Bacon says in his essay on " Gardening," " I doe hold 

 it in the royall ordering of gardens there ought to be gardens for all the 

 moneths in the years, in which severally things of beautie may be then 

 in season."' 



The paper was exhaustively illustrated by a series of plant slides, 

 taken by Mr. F. C. Bigger during the past summer in the garden at 

 Ardrie. Each slide was fully described, and the botanical details pointed 

 out. The water-lilies {Nymp/uca alba) and the tall Typiia laiifolia were 

 particularly admired ; also the different grasses, the Bullrushes {Scirpus 

 lacustris), and the Great Water-dock (^Ritiiicx Hydrolapathuni). After a very 

 animated discussion, the meeting was closed by the election of several 

 new members. 



January 20.— Botanicai, Section.— The first portion of Cyperacese, 

 the spike-rushes and their allies, was discussed. 



