vSeptember. 1904. 173 



IRISH FIELD CLUB UNION. 



REPORT OF THE 



FOURTH TRIENNIAL CONFERENCE AND EXCURSION, 



HELD AT SLIGO, JULY i2Th to i8th, 1904. 



I.— GENERAL ACCOUNT. 



By R. Lloyd Praeger, B.E., 

 Hon. Secretary, Irish Field Club Union. 



Sligo was the centre selected for the fourth triennial conference of the 

 Irish Naturalists' Field Clubs. The centres of previous conferences were 

 Galway, 1895; Kenmare, 1898 ; and Dublin, 1901. Full accounts of the 

 proceedings at these meetings, and of the scientific results obtained, 

 appeared in the Irish Naturalist for September, 1895, September, 1898, 

 and July, T90T. Sligo was chosen for the 1904 meeting as offering a 

 charming variety of ground to the naturalist, and as possessing sufficient 

 hotel accommodation for the housing of a large party The County of 

 Sligo fringes one of those deep indentations of the west coast of Ireland, 

 which generally coincide with the substitution of Carboniferous lime- 

 stone for the older metamorphic series On the one hand the great 

 buttress of Mayo, on the other hand that of Donegal, projects far into the 

 ocean. The coast-line of Sligo is broken by several long sandy inlets, the 

 mouths of which are half blocked by islands and reefs of limestone. Into 

 one of these pours the River Garvogue, draining Lough Gill, which 

 approaches at its western end to within two miles of the sea. Beside the 

 ford which crossed the river, between the lake and the sea, the town of 

 Sligo has grown up. From the point of view of the modern traveller, 

 the position is a commanding one. Westward lie the promontories, 

 creeks, and islands of Sligo Bay ; northward, the imposing mountain 

 mass of Ben Bulben, formed of flat-topped limestone hill.t. Eastward 

 Lough Gill lies set in hills and woods of exquisite beauty. South- 

 ward and south-westward lie other mountains, representing a very 

 ancient fold, through a gap in which the combined railwa3's from Dublin, 

 Enniskillen, and the South find their way northward to Sligo town. The 

 port accommodates steamers of very considerable tonnage, and the 

 principal part of the carrying trade is done by sea 



Tuesday, Jui,y 12. 



The Belfast section of the party, numbering thirty, left Great Victoria- 

 street at 9.50, and the greater part of the Dublin contingent, which 

 numbered fifteen in all, left Amiens-street at 9.0, accompanied by the 



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