1903-1910. J 261 



Near the site of the Abbey are the Falls of Assaroe (Eas-aedh- 

 Ruadh, the cataract of Red Hugh). This Red Hugh, who was 

 not the Red Hugh of Elizabeth's reign, but one of three brothers 

 appointed by the Druids to reign over Ireland in successive terms 

 of seven years each, was drowned at the Falls, and buried near at 

 hand in Mullaghnashee (the Hill of the Fairies). It is possible 

 that the tomb found in 1887 on this hill was that of this ancient 

 king, buried two thousand years ago. After viewing the site of 

 the Abbey and an interesting cave in its vicinity (known as the 

 Monk's Cave), the members visited a holy well on the river bank, 

 where Mr. William Gray gave a short lecture on Holy Wells, 

 tracing their evolution from earliest pagan times to the present 

 day. The cars left Assaroe at 12-30, arriving jn Bundoran in 

 time for lunch at 1-30. 



The 2-40 train from Bundoran was taken, and the party 

 arrived in Belfast at 6-4, thoroughly satisfied with their method of 

 spending the " Twelfth - " During the whole excursion the weather 

 was uninterruptedly fine, and a considerable amount of excellent 

 field work was done by various members. 



The famous rock-pools at the west end were, of course, 

 explored by the zoologists and botanists, and, as usual, afforded a 

 splendid hunting ground for those interested in marine natural 

 history. The Carboniferous limestone rocks were closely speckled 

 with barnacles, Balanus balanoides, and scattered about in 

 profusion were seen limpets, Patella vulgata, dog-whelks, Purpura 

 lapih'us, periwinkles, Littorina littorea, and quantities of Trochus 

 linealus. In and around the pools were great masses of the sandy 

 tubes of a gregarious marine worm, Sabellaria alveolata, with 

 other species rarely, if ever, found on our east coast, such as the 

 living fishing line, Lineus marinus, specimens several hundred feet 

 long having been found on the British coasts. 



The flat bottoms of some of the larger pools were literally 

 paved with great masses of the purple sea-urchin, Strongy- 

 locentrotus lividus, nestling in the hollows which they had 



