30 



was succeeded by W. J. Fennell, an architect. He con- 

 tributed papers on such subjects as "Half an hour in 

 Canterbury," "Bangor," "Great Burial Mounds of 

 Lough Crew." Next came W. H. Phillips, who had the 

 unique distinction of serving the Club as Treasurer 

 from 1864-5 to 1869-70, and from 1891-2 to 1912-13— 

 twenty-eight years. He was one of its original 

 members. An ardent fern lover, almost all his 

 contributions to the winter meetings were on the 

 subject of his favourite plant. He died at Holy wood, 

 comparatively recently, at a ripe old age. His suc- 

 cessor, Robert Patterson, was a grandson of Robert 

 Patterson, F.R.S., to whom I have made several 

 references. Robert Patterson (the grandson) was 

 much interested in birds. His death took place in 

 1931. 



Nevin Harkness Foster, a Tyrone man, came next. 

 He had been a member from 1899, and served as 

 Secretary from 1903 till 1905. He was President for 

 1910-11, and Treasurer from 1913 till 1917. A student 

 of Zoology, his principal interest was birds, but he was 

 also interested in woodlice, contributing an Appendix 

 on them to the Proceedings for 1917-18. He received 

 the Club Medal in 1924. Then followed another 

 Tyrone man, Robert John Welch, So much was 

 written of him at his death, little over a year ago, 

 in the "Irish Naturalists' Journal" and elsewhere, 

 that I need not dwell upon his unique personality. 

 We will not soon forget his breezy presence at our 

 winter meetings, his schoolboyish pranks at our 

 summer excursions, and at all times his intensely keen 

 sense of humour, which sometimes exasperated us, 

 but generally disarmed criticism. 



Reverend Canon Henry William Lett succeeded 

 Welch in 1912-13. He was a Hillsborough man, born 

 in 1836, and did not join the. Club until middle age, but 

 he made up for lost time. by. the enthusiastic vigour 

 with which he pursued his researches, especially as 

 regards mosses. His most important publication was 

 a "Census Report on the Mosses of Ireland," published 

 by the Royal Irish Academy in 1915. He was also 

 interested in archaeological research. He collaborated 

 with Colonel Berry in an exhaustive survey of the 

 "Black Pig's Dyke" in 1896 or 1897. Sometimes, in 

 his botanical work, he lacked caution in dealing with 



