i88o-i88i.] II 



Taylor while he was re-building the one at Dromore, which, 

 with the greater part of that town, was destroyed in the great 

 rising of 1641. The party returned by rail from Moira, having 

 spent a most instructive and enjoyable day. 



On 5th June, to 



C ULTRA. 



The second excursion of the Society for the season took 

 place on 5th June, the place selected being Cultra. A party of 

 about twenty members met at Marino, and proceeded at once to 

 the shore, where are exposed rocks of various formations, ex- 

 ceedingly interesting to geological students. As an examination 

 of these rocks constituted the main feature in the afternoon's 

 programme, many of the party were provided with hammer 

 and bag. Zoology had also its votaries : the recent gales had 

 favoured their pursuits by scattering a rich harvest of marine 

 life along the beach. The arenaceous cases of several species of 

 Tubicola were in immense profusion, and many specimens of 

 Alcyonium digitatum — the dead man's fingers of the fishermen 

 — ascidians, sponges, &c., were secured for microscopic examina- 

 tion. The mud and sand left in the rock pools by the receding 

 tide is known to be rich in microscopic life, especially that 

 interesting group, the Foramanifera, upwards of eighty species 

 of which have recently been detected in gatherings made in 

 this neighbourhood by Dr. Samuel M. Malcomson, among 

 which was a specimen of Ammodiscits Shoneana, new to our 

 Irish coasts, and but recently discovered in England, and named 

 in honour of Mrs. Shone, an eminent English lady naturalist. 



The rocks exposed at the point where the road from the 

 railway station debouches on the shore are reddish, clayey 

 sandstones of the Triassic age. Passing along towards Cultra, we 

 find the strata varying slightly in character, and dipping sea- 

 ward at a low angle. Near the old pump they are well seen in 



