1875-1876.] i61 



their departure for Glynn, near Larne; the majority being intent 

 on botanical pursuits, though geology and entomology had each 

 their votaries. The manager of the railway, with his usual 

 courtesy, placed a saloon carriage at the service of the Club, and 

 thus enhanced the pleasure of the trip. During the railway jour- 

 ney it was announced that one of the members offered two prizes 

 to be competed for on this occasion, the first prize to be awarded 

 to the member who collected the greatest number of native flower- 

 ing plants, ferns, and fern allies during the day, the second prize 

 for the next greatest number. The conditions were read out, and 

 judges appointed to make the award ; and, as will be seen, the 

 contest was keen, and the number of plants collected very large. 

 On arriving at Glynn, the party proceeded at once to visit the ruins 

 of the old church at that place, a considerable portion of which still 

 remain. The walls of unhewn stones, cemented by a mortar now 

 nearly as hard as the stone itself, claim a considerable antiquity 

 for this building, which was examined with much interest, as also 

 the tombstones in the churchyard, some of which are very ancient. 

 The party now proceeded on their way to Glenoe, and for a con- 

 siderable distance followed the course of the stream, gathering as 

 they went such of the rarer plants as were required for herbaria, 

 and the common forms for the competition. At the outset the 

 search was rewarded by the discovery of a very rare plant — the 

 dog's mercury ( Mercurialis pereiinis ), a species which, in Ireland, 

 occurs only in a very few localities. This plant, which grows in 

 some plenty on the south bank of the stream, was in good flower, 

 and was considered quite an acquisition. The Glynn river finds 

 is way to the sea through a rather wide glen that opens out from 

 the hills, and displays broadly rounded undulating banks that tell 

 of the work of an ancient glacier, gliding down from the higher 

 lands above, deepening, widening, and smoothing the original 

 water-course. In these degenerate days, when ice can seldom be 

 found to skate on, it is difficult to conceive, yet geologists inform us 

 of a time long, long ago, which they call the glacial period, when 

 ice was actively engaged as the great agent in modifying the face 



