1908-1909.] 



37 



a holy well close by, now no longer used as such, but still giving 

 an excellent flow of fine water. A good example of a burial 

 mound is on the Lagan bank at the foot of the garden. Worked 

 flints turn up very frequently in the ploughed fields. The late 

 Father O'Laverty gives several references to the history of the 

 district under the parishes of Castlereagh and Belfast. In the 

 midst of scenes redolent of other days it was somewhat of a shock 

 to come upon a concern so extremely up to date as the Belvoir 

 Park Model Dairy. Here the visitors saw cows milked by 

 machinery and the milk cooled by refrigerators, and put into 

 bottles and hermetically sealed, all in the most hygienic fashion. 



Mr. Wilson next led the party through the gardens and 

 conservatories. Among the plants specially noted were Eucryphia 

 pinnatifida, Chamcerops excelsa, Pittosporum mayii, Arbutus 

 andrachne, Dimorphanthus mandschuricus, numerous species 

 of bamboos, Azara microphylla, Choisya ternata, Calceolaria 

 polyrhiza, Primula sikkimensis, P. sieboldi, P. japonica, P. 

 cockburniana, P. pulverulenta, Meconopsis integrifolia, M. wallichi, 

 Ramondia pyrenaica, Dondia epipactis, Sedum spathulcefolium, 

 &c. Nor were the wild flowers neglected. Not even the heavy 

 rainfall could damp the ardour of the members of the botanical 

 section, who spent a busy afternoon. Among the finds recorded 

 are Sandwort, Arenaria trinervis, Bird's Nest Orchid, Neottia 

 nidus-avis, Bittercress, Cardamine amara, Red Campion, Lychnis 

 diurna, Scale Fern, Ceterach officinarum, and Mountain Speedwell, 

 Veronica montana. Belvoir Park forms a sanctuary for numerous 

 birds, and the ornithologists of the party handed in a list of 

 twenty-five species observed during the afternoon. Among the 

 woodlice the common species Oniscus asellus and Porcellio scaber 

 were noted, and specimens were taken of the rarer Porcellio 

 dilatatus and the Rosy woodlouse, Trichoniscus roseus. But in 

 this group the surprising feature was that in the green-houses the 

 most numerous species was Armadillidium pictum, of which fully 

 fifty were seen for one of any other species. It is only within the 



B 



