348 [Proc, B.N.F.G, 



the results of his exploration in the sand dunes of Portstewart and 

 Ballintoy. Mr. Knowles' last communication referred to a num- 

 ber of additional facts and observations in confirmation of what 

 had been published in our reports with reference to flint imple- 

 ments, and shows, as Mr. Gray had previously done, that many of 

 our Irish forms are almost identical with the well-known palseo- 

 litic implements of England and the Continent ; and he concludes 

 from this that in Ireland we must carry man farther back than the 

 so-called neolithic period, or else give up some of our theories 

 regarding the distinguishing characters of the palaeolithic and neo- 

 lithic implements. There were many questions yet unanswered 

 even in connection with the few topics which Mr. Gray had just 

 referred to, and similar questions will arise in connection with 

 every subject which may be discussed in the wide domain of natural 

 science, the solution of which is the object of the Club, and a pro- 

 mising source of interesting employment for all members who will 

 only work. 



On 17th December — Mr, William Gray, M.R.I. A., Vice- 

 President in the chair, two papers were read — the first in order 

 being by Mr. William Swanston, F.G.S., on "The Supposed 

 Pliocene Fossiliferous Clays near the Shore of Lough Neagh." 

 The reader, after mentioning the circumstances which led him to 

 examine the beds in question, stated that the extent of these beds 

 and their geological age had been the subject of a paper read 

 before the British Association in 1874 by a gentleman connected 

 with the Irish Geological Survey, and again before the Royal 

 Geological Society of Ireland in 1875. The substance of the 

 papers referred to had also been embodied in the explanatory 

 memoir accompanying sheet thirty-five of the Geological Survey 

 map of Ireland. The author of the paper to which reference had 



