346 The Irish Naturalist. November, 



BELFAST NATURAL HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHICAL 



SOCIETY. 



September 27.— Annual Meeting.— Sir Otto Jaffe (President) in the 

 chair. The Secretary (R. M. Young) read the annual report, which con- 

 tained a reference to the resignation of the Curatorship of the Museum by 

 S. A. Stewart, A.L.S. The report was adopted, and certain re-elections 

 to Council were made. J. H. Davies then proposed — " That the most 

 cordial thanks of this meeting be tendered to Mr. S. A. Stewart, F.B.S.E , 

 A.L.S. , for the donation of his exceedingly valuable herbarium and 

 palaeontological collections, formed during the many years of his long 

 and active life, that have been devoted to botanical and geological re- 

 searches in this country." He said it seemed right that some expression 

 should be made of the Society's sense of deep indebtedness for the services 

 Mr. Stewart had rendered. To have had one of his wide general know- 

 ledge and scientific attainments in the position he occupied had been a 

 positive honour to the Society. Not only was he an eminent botanist, as 

 they all knew, but he was possessed of a close acquaintance with almost 

 every branch of natural science, being indeed the very type of a true field 

 naturalist. To all beginners in natural history studies who had sought 

 help from his wide experience it had ever been ungrudgingl}* given. 



Mr. Stewarts communication runs as follows : — " Dear Mr. Davies, — 

 Advancing years compel me to cease my botanical and geological work 

 in the field, and I have been considering as to the best means of dis- 

 posing of my accumulated specimens, that they may be helpful to others 

 who follow and carry on the local natural history studies. As the best 

 means of preserving these specimens and making them available for 

 future reference, I desire them to be kept in the Belfast Museum, and 

 I w T ish, through you, to present my flowering plants and fossils to the 

 Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society as the proper cus- 

 todians of what relates to the natural history of the North of Ireland. 

 With regard to the botanical collections, I may say the specimens repre- 

 sent the flora of the British Isles, not completely, but the exceptions are 

 not, however, very numerous. The Irish specimens have mainly been 

 collected by myself; those of England and Scotland have mostly been 

 received from correspondents. The plants are not mounted in herbarium 

 fashion, but in loose sheets, furnished with localities and dates of collec- 

 tion. As to the geological specimens, they are not so well authenticated 

 but are mainly local. Those in the Greensand and the hard white Chalk 

 may be taken to be from the local Cretaceous rocks, but exact localities 

 are absent. Knowing your interest in natural science and your success 

 as a botanical expert, I would ask you kindly to be the medium through 

 which this transfer is made. — S. A. Stewart. P.S. — I may mention 

 further that it is my intention later on to present your library with my 

 Journal of Botany (nearly 40 volumes) and some other of my scientific 

 books. -S. A. S." 



