1915-16.] 



229 



with a fair percentage of western or American species which 

 characterize this region, and paid a high tribute to Mr. Welch's 

 skill and resource in surmounting the many difficulties encountered 

 in this branch of scientific research. The lantern was ably 

 manipulated by Mr. Alex. R. Hogg. Mr. Praeger's address 

 occupied about an hour, and shortly after its conclusion the 

 proceedings terminated. 



PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



"club retrospects and prospects." 



The first business meeting of the Winter session was held in 

 the Museum, College Square North, on 16th November, when the 

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

 address entitled " Club Retrospects and Prospects." Mr. Praeger 

 first sketched the conditions obtaining in Belfast at the time of 

 the founding of the Club in 1863. For some years previous to 

 this natural history work had been vigorously carried on in the 

 Belfast district by such distinguished workers as William 

 Thompson, Robert Patterson, G. C. Hyndman, and George 

 Dickie, especially in the domain of Marine Zoology. The Field 

 Club arose not as an outcome of this work, but among the 

 students of Prof. Ralph Tate's classes, held under the auspices of 

 the Science and Art Department. The founders were a few 

 young men, most of them apprentices, and from the beginning 

 the work of the Club was marked by simplicity, economy, and a 

 certain directness. Having briefly sketched the earlier years of 

 the Club's existence, the speaker dealt with the period of the 

 'eighties, interesting both as the beginning of changes necessary 

 to accommodate the Club's work to changing conditions, and also 

 on account of the publication in 1888 of the "Flora of the 

 North-east of Ireland," one of the most important of the Club's 

 publications. A review was given of the monumental labours of 

 its author, S. A. Stewart, and his methods of work were examined 



