1904. pRAEGER. — Field Club Confereiice, Sligo. 181 



The Committee appointed to adjudicate awarded the palm to Dr. A. 

 D'Evelyii for his discovery of the remains of Neolithic man among the 

 sands of Raghly. 



Shortly after the meeting broke up. 



Sunday, Jui.y 17. 



There was no fixed programme for this day, but a great deal was done 

 and seen. At lo.o a.m., W. J. Fennei^i, conducted the majority of the 

 party to Sligo Abbey, the picturesque ruins of which are situated close 

 to the hotels, and under his skilled guidance the various points of in- 

 terest were demonstrated. 



Another party spent a long day in Gleniff, exploring the great cavern 

 known as Dermot and Grauia's bed. The cave has an entrance of 

 enormous width, which forms a conspicuous land-mark near the top of 

 the precipitous scarp on the south side of the valley, towards the head of 

 the glen. The climb to it is steep, but not dangerous. The floor and 

 roof of the cave slope steeply upwards as one enters. The main chamber 

 is short, and opens into widely diverging passages to the right and left. 

 That on the right is the larger, and contains on its right-hand side a re- 

 markable narrow fissure of great height, with a floor which descends 

 precepitously for some distance. The floor of the whole cave is exceed- 

 ingly irregular. The passage on the left-hand side of the main chamber 

 is short. A branch of it, with a remarkablj- level floor, runs out to the 

 cliff" face, and opens thereon by a tolerably large arch. On this expedi- 

 tion the zoologists were specially successful. The Whinchat, an ex- 

 tremely local bird, was watched for some time, and about the cave the 

 rare snail Helix arbiistorum was found in abundance. 



A small party of zoologists and botanists .spent the day in the woods 

 by the river above Ballysadare, where a number of interesting plants 

 and animals were obtained. 



Other members of the party visited Dromahaire and its interesting 

 ruins, where they were fortunate in having the guidance of Father 

 Meehan. Lough Gill, the demesne of Cleveragh, Cairns Hill, and 

 Tobernault also came in for a share of attention. 



Monday, Jui,y 18. 



On this morning the party broke up. The majority of the Belfast and 

 Dublin members left by the 10.5 train for Bnniskillen, where, on arrival, 

 they were most hospitably entertained by Mr. Thomas Plunkett, M.R.I.A., 

 and Mr. W. N. Tetley, of Portora Royal School. At the end of an hour 

 the journey was resumed. The Limerick party left Sligo a couple of 

 hours later. Other members branched off" to various parts of the west 

 coast. Mrs. and Miss Leebody went to Rosses Point, and during the 

 week found some interesting plants, which are included in the botanical 

 results of the excursion given on a subsequent page. 



