1902. The British Association in Belfast, 269 



feel themselves competent to criticise those of others, or able 

 to make a general survey of the whole field of labour. This 

 may be true, and yet the gap between the morphologist and 

 the physiologist is supposed to be less wide than in the old 

 days. But what shall be said of the gap between the extreme 

 field botanist and the pure laboratory man ? Surely the former 

 must soon cease publishing lists of all the spots in his parish 

 where groundsel grows ; when will the latter condescend to 

 come down from his stool and study the plant as a living 

 organism with a history and an environment in the field ? 

 What a meeting ground here for the physiologist, the 

 morphologist, and the field botanist, aye, and the meteorologist 

 and the geologist too, if they care to climb over the hedges of 

 their own strict preserves ! As regards general interest and 

 novelty. Professor Bose's splendid demonstration of electric 

 response to stimulation in plants probably stands first. The 

 highest number of papers was claimed by physiology, 

 morphology (including anatomy) coming next along with 

 fossil botany, followed by distribution and lastly by pathology. 



ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS 

 BEARING ON IRISH NATURAI, HISTORY. 



SECTION C^GEOLOGY. 



THB GEOI.OGY OF THE COUNTRY IN THE NE^IGHBOURHOOD 



OF BELFAST. 



BY PROFESSOR G. A. J. COI,E, F.G.S. 



The paper summarised the work of Portlock, Tate, Hume, Swanston, 

 Wright, Praeger, and others, including the officers of the Geological 

 Survey, in elucidating the geological history of the district. McHenry's 

 correlation of the Mourne granite with the interbasaltic eruptions of 

 rhyolite in County Antrim was referred to. The main interest of the 

 area for geologists lies in the preservation of Mesozoic formations, else- 

 where almost lost in Ireland, and in the volcanic and terrestrial Eocene 

 deposits, which contrast so interestingly with the marine and estuarine 

 Eocene of south-eastern England. The paper was illustrated by a 

 number of effective lantern slides, including many by Mr. Welch and 

 Mr. J. St. J. Phillips. 



B 



