176 The Irish Naturalist. September, 



was most enjoj'able, the colouring of land and water being of those 

 dazzling hues only seen after rain in the West ; and before Sligo was reached 

 the high wind and strong sun had thoroughly dried all wet clothes. The 

 opportunity was taken of visiting the famous hoi}- well of Tobernault, 

 and other antiquities lying on the line of route. Meanwhile the main 

 bod}' also diN^ded, one section remaining about Doonee Rock, while the 

 others walked round the lake-shore to Rockwood, where a couple of 

 hours were spent in this old native forest of Oaks. The evening turned 

 out beautifully fine, and the row back to Sligo was most enjoyable. 



The country about Doonee and Rockwood, with its thick covering of 

 native wood, proved highly productive ; but the high wind rendered 

 useless any attempt at finding the rarest insect recorded from this neigh- 

 bourhood — namely, the Mountain Ringlet butterfly {Erebia epiphron). 

 The best plant seen was the Yellow Bird's-nest (^Monotropa Hypopithys), of 

 which two small specimens were found during the last few minutes at 

 Doonee Rock, where one specimen had been prev-iously obtained by Mr. 

 Colgan in 1896. The entomologists made some interesting discoveries. 

 The rare Arctic ground-beetle Pelophila borealis proved quite common under 

 stones at the edge of the lake. These stones were also the home of 

 numerous springtails, and among several common kinds a single ex- 

 ample of a North European species [Xenylla brevicaiida), hitherto unknown 

 in the British Islands, was of especial interest. The Holly-boring Weevil, 

 Mesites tardyi, occurred under decaying fir trunks at Doonee Rock. In 

 addition toother interesting species a new British water-mite, Arrheniinis 

 Moebii, was secured in pools on the shore of the lake. In the same 

 locality Corixa Germari was not uncommon, this being apparently the 

 first record of the species from Ireland. 



A prize offered by Mr. Jaffe for the best collection of hydrophytes made 

 during the day was in the evening awarded to Miss Effie M'Intosh, who 

 showed 21 species— not a very large number, but a more unfavourable 

 day for collecting water-plants could not be imagined. 



FiEivD CivUB Conference. 



On Thursday evening, at 8.30, a Conference was held on matters re- 

 lating to Field Club work. The chair was taken by W. J. Fennei,!,, 

 M.R.I. A. I., President of the Senior (Belfast) Club, 



The Chairman, in opening the meeting, welcomed the members of 

 the various Clubs, and also the local friends who had shown their 

 interest in the proceedings of the Union by attending that evening. He 

 mentioned that the Field Club Union represented a membership of al)out 

 850 persons interested in natural science and in archaeology, resident in 

 every part of Ireland, and combined into four clubs — with their head- 

 quarters in Belfast, Dublin, Cork, and Limerick respectively. The Field 

 Clubs represented a body of opinion of consideral)le weight, and had 

 frequently made their voice heard, especially in the matter of saving from 



