174 The hish Naturalist. September, 



single representative of the Cork Club. The two parties joined forces at 

 Clones, and from Enniskillen proceeded by special train, arriving in 

 Sligo shortly after 2.0. The Limerick section, eleven in number, had 

 arrived a few minutes earlier. The Imperial Hotel was the head-quarters 

 of the party during the week, while the overflow was well accommodated 

 in the Bridge House Hotel adjoining. At 3.0 the combined party, 

 reinforced by members who had arrived separately, and numbering m 

 all sixty-one, started in brakes, with an advance guard of cyclists, for 

 Rosses Point. 



Rosses forms a peninsula with a square end, which is occupied by a 

 sandy beach buttressed with rocks at either extremity. Behind the 

 beach lie sand-dunes, then a stretch of marshy ground with two shallow 

 lakelets, and then hummocky rocky country formed partly of limestone 

 and partly of mica-schist, with more lakelets. The Rosses promontory 

 consists of a low ridge of metamorphic rocks, with limestone resting on 

 both flanks. Magnesian limestone overlies the mica-schist on some of 

 the ground which the party traversed. 



On arrival, tea occupied the attention of the members for a short time. 

 Then they proceeded to an eminence (185 feet) on the golf-links, where 

 the Conductor (R. Li<. Praeger) pointed out the leading features of the 

 fine panorama of land and sea that stretched around, dealing in particular 

 with the places to be visited during the meeting, almost every one of 

 which was clearly visible from this outlook. The party then scattered 

 for a few hours for work or pleasure, the vicinity of the lakelets proving 

 especially attractive to the collectors. Here vSome interesting animals 

 were obtained, notably the water-bug Corixa Bonsdorjffi, a somewhat local 

 species. The best plant observed was the Twisted-podded Whitlow- 

 grass (Z>ra(^a ^wrawrt), an alpine abundant on the Ben Bulben range, but 

 which only occasionally descends to sea-level. Mr. J. White, junior, a 

 local naturalist, arrived with fresh specimens of the Maidenhair 

 {Adtanitit?i Capillus- Veneris), which he had collected eri route on the shore on 

 the north side of the Rosses promontory. Col. Wood-Martin, D.Iv., who 

 accompanied the party during the afternoon, was invaluable in supply 

 ing information concerning local history and archaeology. At 7.30 the 

 return journey to Sligo was made. In the evening, and on each 

 succeeding evening during the trip, members assembled in the Town 

 Hall, where, by the kindness of the Mayor (Mr. Thomas Flanagan), a 

 fine room was placed at their disposal for natural history work. 



Wednesday, Jui.y 13. 

 Heavy rain had fallen during the night, laying the deep dust of the day 

 before. The sun came out as the party started northward in brakes at 

 9,0. A halt was made at Drumcliff", to examine the antiquities there. 

 The high cross is considered one of the finest of the sculptured tall crosses 

 of Ireland. The round tower stands close to the crosses on the opposite 

 side of the road, l)ut little except a stump now remains. This round 

 tower is placed by Miss Stokes in the first or earliest style of towers, 

 being built of " rough field stones untouched by hammer or chisel," 



