380 [Proc. B.N.F.O., 



EXCURSION TO THE GOBBINS' CLIFF PATH. 



The second excursion of the season, under the guidance of 

 the President (Mr. W. H. PhiUips) and the Secretary (Mr. 

 George Donaldson), took place on Saturday, June loth, when 

 one hundred and twenty members and friends left by the quarter- 

 past two train to Ballycarry en route for the Gobbins. The 

 programme issued tO' the members of the Club was accompanied 

 by a copy of the pamphlet on "The Gobbins Cliff Path," written 

 by Mr. W. J. Fennell, M.R.I.A., for the visit of the British 

 Association to Belfast in 1902, and which has since been re- 

 issued by the Directors of the Midland Railway Company, who 

 courteously supplied four hundred copies for distribution 

 amongst the members, thus affording a very complete programme 

 of the scenery, geology, botany, and ethnography of the district, 

 as well as a full description of the almost enchanted walk con- 

 structed round the cliffs and through the caves of the great 

 headlands of the Gobbins. 



Arriving at Ballycarry, the party divided — half driving to 

 the "path," and the rest walking the whole distance along the 

 undercliffs tO' the basaltic bastions of the coast. The walk 

 afforded many opportunities of investigation for the botanists 

 and the geologists. The former reported that the wood vetch 

 (Vicia sylvatica) and the adder's tongue fern were found in 

 great abundance ; but much indignation was felt by them when 

 it was discovered that the sea spleenwort (Asplenium marinum), 

 which Mr. Berkeley Wise had taken so much pains to protect, 

 had almost entirely disappeared. The cretaceous beds are re- 

 ferred to by Dr. Hume as being well exposed on the shore, and 

 that every member of the series is visible. "The order of suc- 

 cession is as follows, commencing from the top: — i. Compact 

 limestone containing green sponge nodules. 2. Limestone 

 characterised by great abundance of sponge remains : Ventricu- 

 lites cribrosus and Etheridgia mirabilis. 3. Chloritic chalk and 

 sands; with Echinocorys gibbus, Parasmiha centralis, 

 Bourgueticrinus (portions of stem), Cidaris spines, probably 

 C. sceptrifera, Terebratula carnea, Spondylus spinosus, Exogyra, 

 Inoceramus fragments and numerous sponges. 4. Band of 



