i88o-i88i.] 57 



mentioned several of the rarer British moUusca, both land and 

 marine, as having been collected, and stated that the lateness of 

 the season was against much botanical work ; he could not, 

 however, but admire the luxuriance of many limestone-loving 

 ferns. Geology also had been attended to, as was evidenced by 

 a large series of mineral and rock specimens exhibited. Ice 

 action had been everywhere observed, either on the polished sur- 

 faces of the limestone or in the deposits of clay containing 

 glaciated pebbles and boulders, the latter often of immense 

 size. The principal rock exposed is the carboniferous lime- 

 stone, which is in places rich in fossils, often beautifully 

 weathered out, and is, especially in County Clare, singularly 

 terraced, possibly the result of exposure to the action of the 

 sea at various elevations. 



After the lecture a discussion took place on many of the 

 points referred to, and the election of a new member brought 

 the meeting to a close. 



On 8th March — The fifth meeting of the Society was held 

 in the Museum, College Square North—the President, Mr. 

 William Gray, M.R I.A., in the chair. A paper was read by 

 Mr. W. H. Phillips, on "Carnivorous Plants; their struc- 

 ture and habits, with notices of some of the insects which 

 frequent them." The reader commenced by stating that " The 

 carnivorous plants are a most interesting race of true vegetable 

 sportsmen, seeking their food from the decomposing bodies of 

 insects, which they capture by various methods, and digest and 

 absorb by means of their leaves, and not through their roots, 

 as do almost all other plants. These plants are numerous, and 

 are found in many parts of the world. The peat bogs in Great 

 Britain and Ireland furnish several species of Drosera, Pin- 

 guicula, and Utricularia, but in the swamps of Carolina the 

 giant forms of Drosera and Sarracenia are to be met, and in the 

 Sierra Nevada of California, the curious Darlingtonia. The 

 most common is the Drosera rotundifolia, or round-leaved 



