86 



The Irish Naturalist. 



May, 



In the Holothnrians the closest apparent approach to a truly bony 

 structure is found in the collar of calcareous plates surrounding the gullet. 

 The structure of the collar segments of C. Hyndmani was shown in one 

 of the slides. They were seen to be made up of a close felt or net -work 

 of minute, interlocking, perforated plates, similar in form to the delicate 

 deposits found in the arborescent tentacles of this species. The collar 

 plates are, in fact, formed by a congestion of the free deposits found dis- 

 tributed in various shapes and sizes throughout the integument of the 

 animal. 



April 12. — The Glub met at Leinster House, D. INIcArdle (President) 

 in the Chair. 



Prof. G. H. Carpenter showed stained preparations demonstrating 

 the presence of the microsporidian parasite Nosema apis within the gastric 

 epithelial cells of bees suffering from " Isle of Wight disease." The 

 trophozoites or ^ceding -stages of the Nosema were distinctly visible in 

 the cells of the bee's chyle -stomach, displacing the nucleus, as described 

 and figured by Fantham and Porter {Men?. Liverpool School of Tropical 

 Medicine, 191 3). 



BELFAST NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB. 



May 9, 1914. — Excursion to Holywood. — About fifty members, 

 under the conductorship of R. May, went to Holywood, where they in- 

 spected the maypole, St. Columbkille's Church, the parish church, and 

 the ancient tumulus. They were afterwards entertained to tea by a 

 member of the Club, Mr. F. A. Heron. 



June 27. — Little Deer Park, Glenarm. — The members, to the 

 number of twenty -eight, under the leadership of R. J. Welch, left Belfast 

 by train for Larne, and drove along the Antrim Coast to the Little Deer 

 Park. Frequent stoppages were made by the wa}^ and the features of 

 geological interest pointed out by the Conductor and R. Bell. Tea was 

 served on a grassy plateau below Hunter's farm, and three new members 

 were elected. 



September 5. — Rostrevor. — Owing to the outbreak of war and 

 consequent dislocation of train service, the Committee decided to abandon 

 this excursion. 



October 29. — Conversazione. — The Winter Session opened with a 

 Conversazione held in the Carlton Hall. Tea was served from 7 till 8 

 o'clock. The following is a list of the exhibits : — Wm. Gray, Large 

 Ammonite and Chameleon ; R. May, Bed of Ammonites from the Lias ; 

 R. Bell, Local and Continental Fossils ; James Orr, Fossil Fish from 

 Italy, Lepidodendra from Roscommon, Scotch Pebbles from Ayrshire ; 

 Joseph Wright, Recent Foraminifera and Sponge Spicules from the 

 Carboniferous (under microscope) ; C. H. Waddell, Mosses ; S'. A. 

 Bennett, English Plants rare in or absent from Ireland ; Miss S. Black- 

 wood, Plants collected in the English Lake District ; A. W. Stelfox, 

 Sibthorpia europaea (living plant) from its only Irish station ; Miss ]M. W. 

 Rea, Mounted Sea -Weeds ; S. Wear, Photographs of Natural History 



