1914-1915.] 



i7i 



At 9 o'clock a short business meeting was held, the Vice- 

 President, Dr. A. R, Dwerryhouse, occupying the chair, when the 

 following were elected to membership : — Miss K. Phelan. M.Sc, 

 Prof. Yapp, M.A., Messrs. John K. Charlesworth, M.Sc, Ph.D., 

 F.G.S., Lachlan MacLaine, and James Dick Houston. 



Dr. Dwerryhouse then called on Mr. N. H. Foster, F.L.S., 

 M.R.I. A., M.B.O.U., who exhibited a series of 50 lantern slides 

 illustrative of British Birds and their nesting habits. This display 

 lasted an hour, during which Mr. Foster gave a lucid description 

 of the characteristics and habits of many of our birds, the lantern 

 being manipulated by Mr. A. R. Hogg. At its conclusion Dr. 

 Dwerryhouse, on behalf of the audience, thanked Mr. Foster for 

 his interesting address and the proceedings terminated. 



PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



" PROBLEMS OF DISPERSAL AND DISTRIBUTION IN THE 

 IRISH FLORA." 



The first business meeting of the Winter Session was held in 

 the Museum on 17th November, when the President, Mr. R. 

 Lloyd Praeger, B.A., B.E., M.R.I. A., delivered his inaugural 

 address. 



Attention was drawn by Mr. Praeger first to the extraordinary 

 density of vegetation over almost the whole of the land surface of 

 the globe, and then to its great variety. As regards the earth in 

 general, the most striking variation in vegetation was due to 

 differences of climate. Ireland was not large enough to show 

 conspicuous changes of vegetation of this nature, the flora of the 

 south being on the whole very similar to that of the north ; but 

 on a small scale, differences due to variation of water supply, of 

 light, and of soil, were everywhere to be seen. Each plant 

 occupied the position best suited to its growth, and changes in 



