17 



four of those chambers (forming an oval group 300 feet by 40 feet), 

 all of which may be in operation at the same time, charging, firing, 

 and drawing them one after the other. Thus, after a number 

 are charged with stone, No. 1 may be fired, during which 

 operation it is the only one in connection with the shaft. When 

 the stone is burnt into lime, No. 2 (which has been getting heated 

 from No. 1) is connected with the chimney shaft and fired, and 

 so each one in succession. The charging of the remainder is 

 thus approaching No. 1 as the firing of the others is going 

 from it, and when No. 24 is charged, No. 1 is cool, after having 

 been burnt, and ready to have its lime drawn and charged 

 with a fresh supply of stone, thus the fire is kept continually 

 burning, and no heat is lost ; the cooling chamber communicat- 

 ing its heat to the next one ready for firing. The expenditure 

 of time, labor, and fuel, is by this plan reduced to a minimum. 

 Mr. Bagnall, the engineer in charge of the works, explained 

 the details of the several operations to the ladies and gentle- 

 men of the party, and conducted them over the quarries.* The 

 members found the limestone very rich in fossils, and, consider- 

 ing the short time spent examining the beds, several good 

 specimens were obtained, including some beautiful corals 

 (Alveolites polymorpha) and Gyathophyllum expansum. A 

 specimen of the great Orthoceras was also found, and some of 

 the smaller forms of Producta, Orthis, Spirifer, and Terre- 

 bratula. 



On Saturday, the 15th September, the Sixth and last 

 Excursion for the year was taken to Kilcorig, near Lisburn. 



Owing to the very uncertain state of the weather, the meet- 

 ing was not a large one ; but the few members who assem- 



* By the 10th of March in the present year the superstructure of the 

 kilns was completed. These kilns are an oblong structure with octagonal 

 ends, containing 2,500 cubic yards of masonry, and covering a superficial 

 area of 1,820 cubic yards. The fires were put to the kilns on Thursday, 

 the 18th, in the presence of a number of Mr. Murland's friends, who had 

 been invited to witness the formal opening of the works. The first fire 

 was lighted by Mrs. Thomson, wife of Professor James Thomson, Queen's 

 College, Belfast, and Chairman of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club. 



