84 The Irish Naturalist. [ March, 



by Prof. SoUas, that the granite is a laccolitic mass overlying the Howth 

 and Bray series, requires further investigation. The zones in the Car- 

 boniferous Limestone have yet to be indicated by a study of the fossils 

 on various horizons ; and attention was called to the blocks of older 

 rocks found embedded in the limestone ; finally, the author referred to 

 the difficulties taised by the abundant shelly gravels associated with the 

 glacial epoch. He himself was inclined again to urge, as he had done 

 in an early number of the Irish Naturalist^ that the shells in these gravels 

 represent a late Pliocene (Astian) submergence, and that they were 

 brought into their present positions by the action of glacial and other 

 streams during the cold period that succeeded. 



Rev. Maxwei,!^ H. CIvOSK, in a happy and effective speech, reviewed 

 the history of many of the controversies that had been touched on by 

 the President. He described the interesting discovery of well-rounded 

 quartzite and granite boulders in the Carboniferous Limestone at 

 Stillorgan, during the making of the reservoir there, the other records 

 being granite boulders on the south of Dublin, and pieces of Ordovician 

 schist, unrounded, at Blackrock. Mr. Close described himself as a 

 sceptic, in the true sense of the word, with regard to the causes which 

 had laid down the shelly gravels as we now find them. He was quite 

 unconvinced, however, by Prof Carvill Lewis, who urged, when in the 

 field with him at BallyedmondufF, that the gravels had been pushed 

 uphill before a gigantic glacier. Mr. Colgan and Mr. PraeGER also 

 discussed the paper, after which Prof. C oi^E replied. 



Mr, H. Lyster Jameson then read his account of his explorations of 

 the caves at Mitchelstown and Knniskillen, undertaken on behalf of the 

 Royal Irish Academy Fauna and Flora Committee. The paper, which 

 was of much interest, and will shortly be published in extenso in our 

 pages, was prefaced by some remarks on the animals obtained, by Mr. G. 

 H. Carpenter; the subject-matter of his communication will appear in 

 Mr. Jameson's paper. A short discussion ensued. The following were 

 declared elected members of the Club :— Miss Dixon, Rev. C. W. Follis, 

 B.A., Joseph Maguire, B.L., Miss Sweeny. 



Cork Naturai^ists' Fiei^d Ci,ub. 



February loth. — The President (W. H. Shaw) in the chair. A very in- 

 teresting paper was read by Mr. Wm. Mii,i,er— "The Climate of Cork," 

 and a lively discussion followed. 



Professor HarTog read a note on Mr. Rousselet's method of preserv- 

 ing Rotifera. He pointed out the need of keeping specimens for 

 comparison of microscopic organisms, as is done for larger animals and 

 plants, in order to avoid the doubt due to imperfect descriptions and 

 sketches. As examples he cited the cases of Hcxarthra^ a Rotifer with 

 six articulated limbs, so described by Schmarda as to render it impossible 

 to say whether it is or is not identical with Hudson's genus Fedalion, and 

 of Flaesoma, a genus founded by Herrick twelve years ago, and since 

 described under no less than jive oth^x new generic names 1 The first 

 requisite is to stupefy the active animals ; this is conveniently done by 



