^O [Proc. B. N. F. C, 



church is interesting as giving us a good specimen of the early 

 English or transitional Gothic in so peculiarly an Irish type, 

 unless it would be better described as an Irish church clad in 

 an English dress. 



It is to be hoped that the small amount of care needed to 

 preserve this structure from further decay will be extended to 

 it. It has been a gratification to the writer to be instrumental 

 in procuring a permanent record of this ancient edifice secure 

 from the vicissitudes of weather, or the encroachment of 

 neglect or vandalism for the archives of the Belfast Natura- 

 lists' Field Club. 



The second meeting of the Winter Session was held on 

 15th December — the President (Rev. Canon Grainger, D.D., 

 M.R.I.A.) in the chair. 



Mr. John Vinycomb read an interesting paper on " Mythi- 

 cal and Fictitious Creatures in Symbolic Art." The lecturer, 

 in introducing the subject, expressed fear that to the members 

 of the Naturalists' Field Club he could add no new facts to 

 those already possessed, as the subject of his paper lay rather 

 outside the region of the material world, and dealt with 

 creatures that have, as yet, eluded the grasp of the naturalist 

 and man of science. The moralist may revel in Tartarus and 

 the elysian fields with the creatures of the imagination around 

 him, and pass unscathed to impart the knowledge he has 

 gained ; but from this pleasant domain the field naturalist, 

 with his scientific appliances, must inevitably be excluded. 



In the symbolic art of nearly every country, but more 

 particularly in the heraldry of mediaeval Europe, mythical 

 creatures and monsters of terrible aspect are constantly met 

 with as symbols. It may be assumed that they have been 

 adopted and used with some latent meaning or allegory 

 attached to them, as in the case of the natural animals. They 

 may, therefore, equally lay claim to our consideration as 

 emblems or types of qualities, more especially as less attention 

 has been devoted to them, their shapes and their attributes, 



