igxi. Irish Societies. 35 



he wished to call special attention to the evidence which the distribution 

 of many animals afforded of old land connections— or land -bridges, as 

 they were sometimes called — between this country and the Continent, 

 and especially between the Britannic area and America, the latter being 

 a connection questioned by many geologists. He was afraid the geologist 

 too often ignored the help which the zoologist and botanist could give in 

 this direction. Wliile the modern student in these groups had usually 

 obtained a fair knowledge of general geological facts, the average geologist 

 seemed to take little interest in many zoological or botanical facts which 

 had a distinct bearing on geology. Among others he need only point 

 to the enormous multiplication of species in fossil nomenclature, wlrich 

 would be avoided if the palaeontologist gave more attention to variation 

 due to environment or other causes. The President then proceeded to 

 explain a series of illustrative and diagramatic slides which were thrown 

 on the screen, commencing first with the Lusitanian or southern types 

 of animals and plants which seem to have entered the country in very 

 ancient times over a land connection, long now gone, between the South 

 of Ireland and the Spanish peninsula. Examples, such as the Arbutus, 

 the Kerry Saxifrage, the Spotted Slug of Kerry, and the Hyaena, were 

 given, the last having left its remains in some of the southern caves. 

 Next the western or American elements of our fauna and flora were 

 referred to, such as the Ivillarney Fern and the not long extinct Great 

 Auk, with some land shells. Passing to the northern or arctic survivals 

 in our fauna and flora he showed the distribution of such animals as the 

 Fresh-water Pearl-mussel, the Irish Hare, the Mountain Avens (Dryas), 

 and among the extinct animals the Reindeer and Mammoth. The eastern 

 or Germanic tjrpes followed, when animals such as the Irish Elk, the 

 Beaver, Swallowtail Butterfly, and Roman Snail were touched on. A 

 few interesting cases of very restricted distribution and references to the 

 glaciation of the Brandon mountain range in Kerry closed the address. 



At the conclusion of the address an animated and interesting discussion 

 took place, in which the following took part : — N. H. Foster, W. J. C. 

 Tomlinson, F. Balfour-Browne, H. Lamont Orr, and William Swanston. 



The President then read a list of the various sectional meetings to 

 be held during the present session, and a new member, R. H. Whitehouse, 

 M.Sc, was elected. 



November 19. — Botanical Section. — Rev. C. H. Waddell, B.D., 

 in continuation of the subject of the ecology of plants which had been 

 commenced the previous season, gave an account of plant life in the 

 woodlands. 



November 23. — ARCH.ffiOLOGicAL Section. — A. Milhgan in the chair. 

 W. J. Fennell, F.R.I. B.A., read a paper on Bangor, County Down, and 

 the great abbey formerly existing there. 



December 14. — Geological Section. — Lecture by J. Strachan on 

 " The Onyx of Spanish Bay, Giant's Causeway ; its Occurrence and 

 Origin," illustrated with micro -sections, and specimens. W. »J. C. 

 TomUnson, Chairman of the Section, presided. In the course of this 

 communication, the Lecturer said that onyx, a banded opal, is found 

 with chalcedony and other minerals in the gas -cavities of a lava at the 

 east end of Spanish Bay, Giant's Causeway. The rock is of the basaltic- 



