SUMMER SESSION 



The following Excursions were made during the Summer Session : 



On Saturday, 23rd May, to 



SHANE'S CASTLE. 



The weather had been very unsettled for some days previous • 

 notwithstanding which a party of about forty, including fifteen 

 ladies, assembled at the Northern Counties Railway Station, and 

 left by the 9.30 train for Randalstown. There was a continuous 

 downpour of rain the whole way, scarcely admitting of an occasional 

 glimpse of the country. As the train dashed on through wind and 

 rain, a formal meeting was organised in the saloon carriage, and 

 seventeen new members were elected. The station-masters at 

 Ballyclare Station and at the Junction, probably seeing the hope- 

 lessness of expecting to get flowers elsewhere, handed the members 

 bunches of the beautiful Woodbine that grows so profusely around 

 their stations. Indeed, the well-trimmed gardens, and the neat and 

 orderly appearance of the stations on the Northern Counties Rail- 

 Avay, might be copied with advantage by other lines from Belfast. 

 When the train arrived at Eandalstown, the rain was still so heavy 

 that the party adjourned to the hotel for consultation. There it was 

 proposed, and unanimously carried, that the day's programme should 

 be gone through, independent of the weather. Accordingly, cars 

 were ordered for a few of the ladies, the majority preferring to 

 walk ; and, having previously obtained special permission, entered 

 the park by the Eandalstown gate, the day's work was commenced 

 under circumstances that Field Naturalists only could hope against. 

 About an hour after, the rain cleared off, the sun shone forth, and 

 the latter part of the day became beautifully fine ; and, although 

 the wet weather prevented much that might have been done, the 

 party enjoyed their trip through the park, visiting several spots of 



