446 [P'oc- B. N. F. C, 



D.D., M.R.I.A., in the chair — when an admirable paper was 

 read by Mr. R. LI. Praeger, B.A., entitled " Notes from Lough 

 Sheelin, County Cavan." 



As soon as the chair was taken, the Rev. H. W. Lett rose 

 and begged leave to make the following remarks, which he 

 was sure would meet with the concurrence of all present : — 

 During the present session the Club has lost a student of 

 nature, whose heart was with us when he lived, and whose 

 memory we should value. On Wednesday, the 12th August, 

 1885, there passed away from the world one of the early 

 members of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, and one who 

 for four successive years was elected as our president. I allude to 

 the regretted death of the Rev. CanonMacIlwaine,D.D.,M.R.LA. 

 Distinguished as a clergyman of the Church of Ireland, gifted 

 with literary, poetical, and musical talents, he was also endowed 

 by nature with that refined veneration which constitutes the 

 true antiquary. I would just mention that much of the 

 ecclesiastical and archaeological information contained in the 

 Club's " Guide to Belfast and Adjacent Counties" was the 

 contribution of his learned pen. But his investigating mind 

 and necessary craving for knowledge did not search only 

 amongst the relics that tell of a far-off past. The wide world 

 of nature, plants and animals, claimed a large share of his 

 attention, and not seldom did he go on the Club's excursions 

 in the early years of its existence, while his presence and 

 microscope were well known at our winter meetings in the 

 Museum. In our ''Proceedings" will be found abstracts of 

 papers by him on " Scientific Nomenclature," on " Sponges, 

 an Account of their Structure and Growth;" and on ''Life, as 

 treated in the Theories of Modern Biologists;" whilst his able 

 reply to the attacks of Professor Tyndall on Christianity, 

 which formed the subject of his first address from the chair, 

 was thought worthy of being published in extenso in the Club's 

 annual report. Canon Macllwaine was also a contributor of 

 valuable communications to the Ulster journal of Archceology, 

 Science^ Gossips and other publications. A great and useful 



