50 



The Conversazione was held at the Museum, College Square. The upper room 

 was tastefully decorated for the occasion, and in the room where the articles 

 were exhibited tables were placed round the walls, which were covered 

 with specimens of general interest. From the centre of the ceiling festoons 

 were suspended to each corner of the building, and a star made of yew 

 hung from the centre of the festoons. The tables were profusely ornamen- 

 ted with pots and vases of flowers, most of which were kindly supplied for 

 the occasion by Mr. W. Hooker Ferguson, curator of the Botanic Gardens. 

 The flowers were all in full bloom, and in the gas-light produced an agree- 

 able and pleasing effect. The specimens laid on the tables by the members 

 of the club were much admired during the evening, and great care and at- 

 tention had been apparently bestowed on the several collections. On the 

 front wall Mr. S. A. Stewart displayed a number of flowering plants, in- 

 cluding ferns, grasses, orchidacese, lichens, &c. He also exhibited 74 species 

 of shells, collected at the new docks during the recent excavations. Mr. 

 Stewart obtained the Plimmer prize for the best collection during the 

 season. In addition to those already referred to, he displayed a number of 

 recent and fossil shells, which were carefully selected. Mr. Wm. Gray, 

 one of the honorary secretaries, exhibited a collection of flint-flakes and 

 celts from Toome Bridge, and flint-flakes from Lame and Kilroot. These 

 specimens, owing to their number, occupied the greater portion of one of 

 the tables ; and such a collection is rarely to be met with. Eminent geo- 

 logists have spoken of seventy or eighty being collected in one place ; but 

 Mr. Gray has been fortunate enough to collect the flint-flakes in hundreds. 

 Mr. George Donaldson displayed a number of land and fresh water shells, 

 which obtained one of the prizes from the club. Mr. Hancock exhibited 

 a beautiful collection of corals and marbles. Some specimens of fossil 

 wood, from Lough Neagh, were exhibited by the same gentleman. Some 

 elegant specimens of coral from the Navigator's Islands were contributed 

 by Mr. Tomlin, and the different varieties tastefully arranged presented a 

 pleasing appearance. An interesting and rare specimen in the fossil de- 

 partment was presented from the Castle Espie Lime Works, in the form 

 of the A ctinoceras gigantea, which is on its way to the Museum of the 

 Queen's College, but was kindly lent by the authorities of that institution 

 to the Naturalists' Club for exhibition. The fossil is very large, and, in 

 the raising of it, it has been broken up in pieces, but each piece presents 

 the appearance of the shell. Mr. H. Morrison showed a specimen of quartz 

 conglomerate, or "pudding-stone," from the vicinity of Bradford. In 

 connexion with the large fossil to which we have adverted, Mr. Swanton 

 exhibited a large ammonite, about two feet in diameter, found in the lime- 

 stone quarries at White Head, on one of the excursions. Mr. Young, C.E., 

 exhibited a number of bones, marine shells, antlers, and ox horns, 

 which were found at a depth of fifteen feet below the surface of the earth, 

 while excavating the reservoir for the Northern Spinning Company, in 

 July, 1866. Mr. Walshe, of Dromore, contributed a great variety of 



