1917-18] 



34' 



day of one of the surviving original members of the Club. The 

 return journey commenced at five o'clock, the same route being 

 retraced to Upper Ballinderry, when, branching to the left, the 

 Tansey Road was followed past Killultagh to Castle Robin. Here 

 a halt of fifteen minutes was allowed while the party inspected the 

 ruins and enjoyed the extensive view of the Lagan Valley. From 

 Castle Robin an hour's drive landed them back in Belfast. 



No fresh discoveries rewarded the search of the botanists 

 but among the more noteworthy plants seen may be mentioned 

 the Greater Spearvvort, Ranunculus Lingua ; the Water-Hemlock, 

 Cicuta virosa which was observed in great profusion ; Bidens 

 cernua and the rarer B. tripartita. Only two species of Sedges 

 were found — Carex vesicaria and C. stricta. The latter is one of 

 our rarer species but here it proved to be abundant. One species 

 of Mycetozoa, Arcyria denudata, was noted. A small collection of 

 freshwater shells was made from Portmore Lough, at the southern 

 side near the church. This included Limnaapereger, L. auricularia 

 var. acuta, Planorbis glaber, P. carinatus, Bithynia tentaculata, 

 Valvaia piscina/is, Sphcerium comeum, Pisidium casertanum, P. 

 nitidum and P. sabtruntatum. The most interesting find was that 

 of Planorbis glaber (a species which appears to be dying out in 

 the North-East of Ireland) as it does not appear to have been 

 taken at Portmore since originally discovered there by William 

 Thompson in the first half of the last century. It is extremely 

 abundant as a fossil, however, in shell-marls which occur beneath 

 peaty-deposits a few miles east of Portmore. 



