306 [Proc. B.N.F.C, 



NOTES ON THE SLIGO CONFERENCE (JULY, 1904). 



In the course of his remarks Mr. Fennell said — Anyone 

 who has taken part in the Conferences of the Irish Field Club 

 Union, since they first came into existence, will be inclined 

 to agree with me that the idea of holding such Conferences 

 was a good one, and has been abundantly justified by the 

 results. 



The fourth Triennial Conference was held this year at 

 Sligo, and although the Official Report of same appeared in 

 the " Irish Naturalist " for September it occurred to me 

 that, as President of this Club, being bound to open the 

 Winter Session with a Presidential Address, I might be 

 allowed to shake off the purely scientific aspect of the Con- 

 ference and its field work, and bring the more popular aspect 

 of the time occupied before you. 



The choice of Sligo for a visitation was a happy one, and 

 to it, as well as to the arrangements, and the conducting of 

 the party, our thanks are due to Mr. Robert Lloyd Praeger, 

 who seems to have been born to be a leader and to whose 

 vast scientific knowledge — ^ever and always at the disposal of 

 any member — as well as to a genial good heart and a 

 never ceasing courtesy to all, the Conference owes its great 

 success; and Mr. Praeger's name will be long and gratefully 

 remembered by every one of the sixty-two members who so 

 cheerfully followed his standard. 



The 12th of July saw Naturalists wending their way from 

 Cork, Limerick, Dublin, and Belfast to Sligo, the Belfast 

 contingent travelling through the historic associations of the 

 twelfth in a diminishing ratio till Sligo was reached, where 

 " not a drum was heard." I think I am correct in saying 

 that every section of Field Club workers was well re- 

 presented, and if the party was a miscellaneous one it also 

 comprised a good working one, and the results tell their own 

 tale in the Official Report. 



Of course it goes without saying that nothing can be done, 

 or ever was done in Ireland, without being immortalised in 



