I874-75-] IX 7 



present almost exactly the Coniston mudstones of Professor Nichol- 

 son, which are placed by the Geological Survey of England at the 

 base of the upper Silurians of the Lake District." Mr. Lapworth 

 also directed attention to beds occurring in Scotland that may have 

 been overlooked on this side of the Channel, showing that a vast 

 amount of work has yet to be done before our Silurian rocks are as 

 well understood as they ought to be. At the close of the paper 

 some interesting conversation took place, and the series of speci- 

 mens on the table were closely examined. Mr. Swanston was 

 highly congratulated on his success for so far in this new field of 

 labour, and hopes were expressed that he would continue his re- 

 searches. 



Mr. S. A. Stewart then read a paper on il The Mosses of the 

 District." Mr. Stewart said that the list recently published by the 

 Field Club was the first attempt at a moss flora of the district. — 

 The number of species ascertained as occurring in the counties of 

 Antrim and Down, with a portion of Derry adjoining, was 238, 

 many of these being reckoned as rare forms. In the list of nor- 

 thern mosses, which was just issued, nine species were for the first 

 time enumerated as Irish plants. Two of these plants had been 

 found by Dr. Moore, of Glasnevin, Dublin, but by oversight omitted 

 from his recent list of Irish mosses. The remaining seven were 

 found by Mr. Stewart — four of these on the Belfast hills, two in 

 County Down, and one in County Derry. 



On 7th April Mr. J. J. Phillips read a paper on " The Archi- 

 tectural Remains of the Cistercians in the County Down." 



In this condensed 'paper, which is purely of an archaeological 

 nature, it is presumed that the general history and puritanical aims 

 of this great Cistercian order of monks are known to the reader. It 

 is sufficient, therefore, to state that it was founded at Citeaux, in 

 Burgundy, a.d. 1098, and was a reformation of the then relaxed 

 Benedictine order. Although we owe much to these monks for the 



