19 1 3' Irish Societies, 77 
Plover, a Short-cared Owl, a Gadwall and a Merlin. A White-collared 
Mangabey has been received on deposit. 
The Aye-a^'c {Chciromys nixdagascaricnsis), the only species of a 
most remarkable lemuroid family, is one of the most interesting animals 
received in the Gardens for many years. Very few of these mysterious 
nocturnal creatures from the deep Malagasy forests have ever been shown 
alive in Europe. The Aye-aye enjoys sponge-cake soaked in milk, a 
somewhat unnatural food, and it is instructive to watch how this substance 
is handled with the excessively long and slender middle finger, whose 
normal function is to draw succulent grubs out of their burrows in the 
trunks and branches of trees. 
A pair of Dublin-bred Lion cubs have been selected by the Council for 
presentation to the newly established Scottish Zoological Society, whose 
gardens at Edinburgh will be opened in the summer. 
DUBLIN MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. 
February 12. — The Club met at Leinster House. D, M'Ardle 
(Vice-President) took the chair, and showed fertile specimens of Lejeunea 
serpyllifolia Lib., var. cavifolia Ehrb., which he had recently collected 
in Co. Wicklow. In this country it is extremely rare, being previously 
recorded only from Co. Kerry, where it grows among mosses and 
mixed with L. serpyllifolia, wdiich is common through the country. The 
Co. Wicklow specimens of the var. cavifolia are larger than those pre- 
viously found ; and the plant grows in some quantity on the trunks of 
old trees at about 800 feet elevation. An account will appear in a paper 
now in preparation on the Musci and Hepaticae of the Glen of the Downs, 
with observations by Professor Kaalaas, of Christiania, and Professor 
A. Evans, of Yale, Newhaven, Conn., who have examined specimens 
from Co. Wicklow, as it is also native in both countries. 
Dr. B. B. Ferrar showed young living larvae of Salmon and Trout 
from the fish hatchery at the Dublin Zoological Gardens. 
BELFAST NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB. 
January 29. — Geological Section. — Lecture on " Some Features of 
the Co. Antrim Basaltic Plateau," by James Strachan. W. J.C.Tomlinson, 
Chairman of the Section, presided. The lecturer gave a general de- 
scription of the main features that characterise the basaltic lavas of 
Co. Antrim, and a petrological classification of the various types of ba- 
saltic rock found in the county, and showed the relationship existing 
betw^een the lava-flows and the intrusive vents from which they issued. 
The interesting tube-amygdaloid from the base of a lava-flow was ex- 
hibited and discussed. The lecturer referred to the superiority of the 
dolerite as a material for roads, as compared with basalt, and showed 
