70 The hhh Nahaalist. April, 



BELFAST NATURALISTS FIELD CLUE. 



December 7. — Zoological Section. — Several members spoke of 

 their work during the year. N. H. Foster (Chairman of the Section) 

 spoke on Birds and Woodlice, F. Balfour Browne on Water -beetles, 

 H. L. Orr on Wasps, R. Welch on land and freshwater Mollusca, and 

 J. Maxwell on pond life. George Donaldson spoke on the capture of 

 Gonepteryx rhamni at Newcastle, Co. Down, a butterfly rare in the North 

 of Ireland. 



January 17. — R. J. Welch (President) in the Chair. The evening 

 was devoted to appreciations of the life and work of the late S. A. 

 Stewart, A.L.S., by several members. Rev. C. H. Waddell gave an 

 account of Stewarts life ; R. Lloyd Pracger of his work in botany and 

 in geology ; R. Welch of his work in zoology. W. Gray, George 

 Donaldson, W. Swanston, J. Brown and J. Hamilton also spoke, 

 contributing interesting reminiscences of their late fellow-member. 



February 8. — Archaeological Section. — Miss Andrews read a 

 paper on " Folklore from Donegal." She gave traditions of fairies, 

 giants, Danes, Finns, and Firbolgs, and mentioned that the fairies of 

 Tory Island are said to dress in black. She reminded the section that 

 Tory Island or Toirinis was a stronghold of the Fomorians, whom Keating 

 describes as " sea rovers of the race of Cain, who fared from Africa." 

 The inference was drawn that the fairies of Tory Island represent a dark 

 race. She mentioned the belief that men and women can change 

 themselves into animals, and narrated a story told thirty-five years ago 

 by John Sweenej, an Inspector of National Schools, of a Highlander 

 who as a seal visited a cave in Arranmore, and there received a scar on 

 his head. In conclusion Miss Andrews urged the necessity of collecting 

 these old tales, as if they are allowed to perish one link with the past 

 will be irretrievably lost. 



January 21. — Botanical Section — Rev. C. H. Waddell, continuing 

 his series of studies on the ecology of plants, gave a paper entitled 

 •' Plant Life in a Marsh." 



February 15. — The Geological Section. — A. R. Dwerryhouse, 

 F.G.S., read a paper on glacial lakes and their overflow channels. The 

 lecturer introduced the subject by referring to certain existing lakes 

 whose waters are held up by a dam of glacier ice, and as an example 

 cited the Merjelen Sea, on the flanks of the great Aletsch Glacier in 

 Switzerland. He then described certain well-known examples of such 

 deserted overflow channels in Great Britain, referring particularly to 

 those described by Professor P. F. Kendall, from the Cleveland Hills, 

 and those of Teesdale, Weardale, and the Tyne Valley. The North of 

 Ireland, it was stated, contained fine examples of these overflow channels, 

 produced during the Glacial Period, several of which had been described 

 by the ofUcers of the Geological Survey in the Belfast Memoir, 1904. 

 In conclusion Dr. Dwerryhouse stated that he was engaged in working 

 out the distribution of these valleys in the counties of Antrim and Down, 

 and hoped to be able to lay the results of his work before the Society 

 at a later date. 



