Proceedi7igs oj Irish Societies. 27 



tubes In some sieve-tubes the " slime " mass lies against one of the pkitcs 

 while the filament running to the other plate is greatly clongatcl. 



Be)i.fast Natural, History and Phii^osophicai, vSociiiTv. 

 December 6th.— The President (Prof. Fitzgkram)) in the chair 

 Mr. a. Tate, C.E., submitted his report, as delegate from the Society to 

 the 1892 Meeting of the British Association. ]Mr. R. I,r qvi, pRArci-R 

 M.R.I.A., gave a lecture, entitled "Botanical Ramljles in Co -VrmaLdi '' 

 A full account of the results of the lecturer's ramifies is now aDpearinL' 

 m the pages of the Irish Naturalist. Mr. R. M. Young, lAI.R I A read a 

 paper, entitled "Antiquarian Notes on Bushfoot and Ball yniagarr>'. " 



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



November 22nd.— The President (Mr. John Vinycomb), delivered his 

 Opening Address on the subject of "The Origin and Significance of our 

 National Emblems." The Senior Secretary (Mr. R. LIvOYD PRAEGER)sub- 

 mitted the report of the sub-committee appointed to investigate the 

 glacial gravels of Ballyrudder, near I^arne, Co. Antrim. The report gave 

 a detailed account of the interesting bed in question, and lists of the 

 fossils found in the different zones ; the following are the conclusions of 

 the sub-committee : — 



"The deposits at Ballyrudder consist of a bed of stratified gravels under- 

 lying a thick layer of unstratified Boulder Clay. There is no clear line of 

 demarcation between the two beds, the one merging gradually into the 

 other. The fauna of the gravels shows that they were deposited during 

 a period of intensely arctic conditions. The gravels represent a former 

 shore-line, which a subsequent submergence has covered with marine 

 Boulder Clay. The clay, and all the zones of the gravels yield flints 

 derived from the Chalk. These are frequently broken, and flakes and 

 core-like objects are the result. The flakes are usually quite shapeless, 

 and only one was found b}^ the committee bearing a bulb of percussion. 

 None of the flints found bore any character which might lead the sub- 

 committee to suppose that they were formed by human hands." 



Mr. \Vm. Gray, M.R.I. A., then presented his report as a delegate from 

 the Club to the 1892 Meeting of the British Association, dealing par- 

 ticularly with the destruction of native plants and birds' eggs, and the 

 work of the ethnographical and geological photographs committees. 



Mr. Joseph Wright, F.G.S., then made some remarks on rare local 

 foraminifera recently found, of which he exhibited diagrams. He said 

 that on the dredging cruise which the Club had some years ago in the 

 steam-tug "Protector," one of the hauls was taken in deep water, a 

 hundred fathoms, about midway between Belfast and Portpatnck. This 

 material, which has only recently been examined microscopically, has 

 yielded a large number of foraminifera, several of them being rare and in- 

 teresting species; the most noteworty are TechniteUa legumen, J/wteramnn'mi 

 arborescens, H. elongata, very large in size, Wehbina clavata, and W. Iiniii- 

 spherica. The last of these is a very simple organism, of great rarity, and 

 hitherto only known from three specimens — one fossil from the Sutton 

 Crag, the other two from dredgings taken by Messrs. Norman and Robert- 

 son, off the Durham coast. In a dredging recently taken by a member, 

 Mr. Hamilton M'Cleary, in Strangford Lough, no fewer than eighty-five 

 different species of foraminifera were obtained, two of them, Ammodiscus 

 shoneanus and Discoj-hina parisiensis, being very rare forms. 



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

 November 15th.— Dr. E. J. M'Weeney, President, in the chair. 

 Prof. A. C. Haddon, M.A., gave an account, illustrated by lantern 

 views, of his visit to the Aran Islands with Dr. C. R. Browne, for 

 the purpose of ethnological research. The physical characters, dress, 

 occupations, and habits of the people of the island were described with 

 much interesting detail. Rev. M. H. Close, Dr. C. R. Browne, Mr. J. 

 Shackleton, and Mr. H. Wigham, took part in the discussion. 



