74 The Irish Natiiralisl. April, 



buautiluUy illiihticitt.(l by lautcni slides showing the various features of 

 the island. 



Miss M. Crosbie, Miss R. M. Pollock, and Miss Edith White were 

 elected members, whilst J. P. Aiken and J. M. Sherichm were elected 

 associates of the Chib. 



Jan'UARy 27. — The President in tiic ciiair. liie lir^t of the series of 

 discussions of prol)lems raised by llic Survey of Clare fslanii was opened 

 by Messrs. J. K. 1\ilroe and I". 1 tAi.i.i.ssv, who confined their attention 

 to the geology of tlu^ island. J. R. Kilroe dealt with the physical 

 features of Clare Island and the adjacent mainland, giving illustrations, 

 whilst T. llallissy, with the aid of a scries of maps, traced the course of 

 the ice sheet over the northern part of Europe, including the British Isles, 

 and showed how it affected the surface of the land over whicli it ])assed. 

 He jiointeil out especially the ])rincipai snow-fields in Ireland during the 

 ("rlacial Epoch, particidarly those from which the ice covering Clare 

 Island was fed, and suggested that a land-connection between the island 

 and the mainland existed in post-glacial times in the form of Boulder- 

 clay which, in all prol)ability, filled uj) the whole of Clew Bay. This 

 connection was, in Ins opinion, sufiicient to allow the fauna and flora to 

 reach the island. There was also evidence to show that after the ice 

 hatl receded the floor of Clew Bay was raised above the sea-level. 



A discussion followed, in which G. H. Carpenter, G. A. J. Cole, A. 

 C. Forbes, and W. B. Wright, took part. 



February 25. — Winter Excursion to St. Doulagh's. — Under the 

 leadership of J. de W. Hinch forty members and visitors assembled at 

 Amiens Street Station and took the 1.45 p.m. train to Portmarnock, 

 from whence they walked to St. Doulagh's (juarries, where a very profitable 

 afternoon was spent in collecting and examining Carboniferous fossils. 

 Some very good specimens were obtained, the principal species being : — 

 Amplexus coralloides, Orthis resupinata, Prodiictus giganiea, P. semi- 

 reticulata, Spirijera glabra, S. Uiicata, S. puiguis, S. striata, and Eitomphaiiis 

 pentangiilatus. 



At five o'clock the members and their friends were eiitertainetl to tea 

 by Mrs. Hone at St. Doulough's I'ark, after which the party walked back 

 to Portmarnock Station and took the 6.22 p.m. train to Dublin. 



March 14. — The Vice-President (W. F. Gunn) in the chair. 



R. LI. Praeger in opening the discussion on the Botany of Clare 

 Island, said that the chief problem requiring solution was whether the 

 flora originally reached the island by a land -bridge, or across the 

 intervening space of sea, the shortest distance over which was nearly 

 three miles. He descril)ed the various ways by which plants spread 

 over the land, and considered tliat wind-borne seed could not account 

 for the present fiora of Clare Island. Water, too, would be insufficient 

 to convey seeds across, as only about 10 per cent, of the seeds of plants 

 were capable of floating. The conclusion he arrived at, therefore, was 

 that the flora of Clare Island was derived from the migration of plants 

 over a land-connection with the mainland. 



A discussion followed, in which G. H. Carpenter, N. Colgan, T. Hallissy, 

 J. de W. Hinch, C. B. Moffat, and G. H. Pethybridge took part. 



