390 [Proc. B.N.F.C., 



locality. Saturdays, however, proved unfortunate this season, as 

 respects weather, and this Saturday was no exception. A con- 

 siderable proportion of those who had intended to avail them- 

 selves of this opportunity of becoming somewhat acquainted with 

 the natural history and geology of Islandmagee, assembled at the 

 Northern Counties Terminus shortly after nine o'clock ; but, as 

 the rain descended in torrents, and the weather-wise predicted a 

 bad day, a small number only mustered up courage to carry out 

 the programme. As has so often been the case in the history of 

 the Club, the more hopeful few were rewarded by a much better 

 day than could have been expected. Shortly after mid-day the 

 rain ceased, and soon the sun broke out bright and warm, drying 

 up the damp ground, and sending forth the lark with his cheering 

 carol. The butterflies were soon to be seen in numbers fluttering 

 along the hill-sides and hedge-banks, while busy bees were every- 

 where extracting the sweets hidden away in fresh and fragrant 

 flowers. 



The party were conveyed, as arranged, to Ballycarry station, 

 whence they proceeded on foot to the seashore on the eastern 

 side of Islandmagee. The course lay northward by the shore for 

 a distance of about two miles, over the very rough and broken 

 ground which intervenes between Blackhead and the Gobbins 

 cliffs. Pedestrianism is the only possible means of locomotion 

 over this rugged tract, and progress is not only slow, but laborious ; 

 nevertheless, the toil is well repaid by seeing the geological 

 structure of the country laid bare all along the shore, exposing 

 rocks of several geological formations, from the Boulder Clays of 

 the Glacial epoch to the gypsum-bearing marls ot the Triassic era. 

 The Cretaceous rocks that crop out along the shore are underlain 

 by the Lias clays, and the slippery character of the latter has 

 caused the superimposed masses to slide down, and thus the sea 

 margin is strewed with great blocks of chalk and greensand, in 

 which are embedded numbers of shells, corals, sponges, &c, once 



