are of opinion that very many more collections might be made, 

 with direct advantage to those who engage in the work, and 

 with no small aid towards the advancement of Science. 



Your Chairman, Professor James Thomson, C.E., has kindly 

 offered a special Prize for the best satisfactory exposition of the 

 way in which Flint Flakes can be made. This Prize will be 

 adjudicated upon at this meeting. 



The Treasurer's report shows a balance of £4 18s. 8d. to the 

 credit of the Club. 



Arrangements have been made for the Annual Conversazione, 

 which your Committee, now retiring from office, must leave to 

 their successors to carry out. 



W. H. FERGUSON. 

 WILLIAM GRAY. 



Hon. Sees. 



THE SUMMER EXCURSIONS. 



On Saturday, 1st June, the Excursion Season was opened, by 

 a trip to Toome Bridge, on the River Bann. A number of ladies 

 and gentlemen left by the Northern Counties Railway, and 

 reached Toome a little after eleven o'clock. Having employed 

 some of the flat bottomed boats of the place, they proceeded to 

 Church Island, in Lough Beg, and examined the ruins of the 

 church, the old graveyard, and the " Rag Tret." The latter had 

 a great number of rags of all kinds tied to its branches, the 

 votive offerings of the faithful who came to pray around a 

 curious itone, with a hollow, or sort of well, on its surface, 

 beneath the shade of the Rag Tree. The party returned to Lord 

 O'Neill's cottage, beautifully situated on the river bank, but 

 utterly deserted. Art seems long ago to have ceased its efforts 

 to beautify the place, but Nature has asserted its sway, and 

 more than makes up for the neglect around, A brisk walk 

 brought the party again to Toome bridge, and they examined the 

 locality where the flint flakes occur in such large quantities ; they 

 are found in the bed of the river, at the point where the lower 

 Bann leaves the Lough, and over a deposit of peat ; they are 



