226 The Irish Naturalist. 



Then came dinner, and a long delightful afternoon, as the 

 party leisurely proceeded to visit the beauties of Fanad under 

 the kindly guidance of the Rector, the Rev. A. H. Delap. Of 

 course the famous Seven Arches were our first object, and 

 very marvellous and interesting are these great sea-caves, 

 carved by the restless waves, whose erosive power has been 

 assisted by the natural jointing and stratification of the rock, 

 and which are still tunnelling through long dark rifts landwards, 

 to form yet more arches for the inspection of future Field 

 Clubs. These Donegal quartzites were very interesting to the 

 party, who had recently visited Scrabo, whose ripple-marked 

 and current-bedded sandstones imitate these much older 

 rocks, with the addition of the richly varied colouring that 

 gives such a charm to the County Down Trias. Here too, as 

 at Scrabo, are great intrusive dykes running through the 

 sedimentary rocks, but in this case composed of diorite. 



But a still finer sight awaited us further on, when Doagh 



Beg met our delighted eyes— a grand arch standing in proud 



isolation, seeming to defy the elements that had carved it to 



injure or deface their work. How indescribably subtle is the 



difference betwixt arch and arch, between curve and curve, 



that makes the one or other perfectly satisfactory to the artistic 



instinct, is familiar to everyone who visits a cathedral, or 



revels in the beauty of mountain forms ! But we sat on the 



sunny turf, and gazed with supreme admiration at our arch, 



and were contented. And the landscape beyond the lough 



was a worthy background for this noble specimen of Nature's 



architecture. Innishowen peninsula lay stretched in beauty 



before us — the main range with Slieve Snaght and other 



mountains in abundant confusion, then a low sandy neck, and 



out to the north crouched Dunaff Head facing the Atlantic 



like a mighty guardian lion. Some of our party clambered 



round below upon the rocks, and others gathered shells, 



whilst Mr. Delap guided the remainder along the cliffs to 



obtain a view of the Binn, a vertical precipice of rock 



towering above the waves, said to be the finest piece of cliff 



scenery on I^ough Swilly. Thence we turned homewards, 



past the boggy hollows bright with Asphodel, Bog Cotton, and 



the pretty little pink Pimpernel, the road winding amongst 



level-topped hills capped with diorite, and the characteristically 



different quartzite hills, until we reached St. Columba's Well. 



