6o 



The Irish Naturalist. 



May, 



six following Saturdays. At the end of the course an examination was 

 held for those who had attended regularly. In all, 23 Scouts attended, 

 representing several different troops, but unfortunately many came very 

 irregularly. Six Scouts passed the examination, and the first place was 

 obtained by Charles Gibbs, of the Harold's Cross Troop. 



The Council expresses sincere gratitude to the Hon. Secretary, Prof. A. 

 F. Dixon. At the urgent request of his colleagues he accepted that office 

 at a time not only critical in the affairs of the Society, but also one during 

 which his professional duties have been especially onerous, and the Society 

 owes much to his energy, devotion, and ability. 



As a result of the ballot, the President announced that the following 

 had been elected to fill the three vacancies on the Council : — F. Conwa}'' 

 Dwyer, M.B., Charles B. Moffat, B.A., and C. Wisdom Hely, J. P. 



At the conclusion of the formal business. Professor G. H. Carpenter 

 gave a lecture entitled " Societies and their Members." This was illus- 

 trated by many beautiful lantern slides, and followed by an exhibition of 

 two cinematograph films illustrating animal life. 



BELFAST NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB. 



March i. — Annual Conversazione. — A company of 175 members 

 and friends met at 6 o'clock in the Carlton Hall. The zoological exhibits 

 included a demonstration of the method of determining the age of fishes 

 by means of their scales and otoliths, by Professor Gregg Wilson, M.A. ; 

 cases showing trapdoor spiders, Tarantula spiders, and Trinidad snails, 

 by the Belfast Municipal Museum ; eggs of Guillemot, showing variation 

 in colour, by J. R. H. Greeves ; cases of Indian butterflies and Indian 

 birds, by W. M. Crawford, B.A. ; exotic birds, by C. B. Horsbrugh ; 

 gramophone records of songs of Nightingale, Blackbird, and Thrush, by 

 T. Edens Osborne ; animal photographs, by E. Armstrong ; and local 

 moths, by H. Malcolmson. 



The botanical exhibits included freshwater algae, with macroscopical 

 and microscopical exhibits, by Miss M. W. Rea, B.Sc. ; local mosses living 

 and the same mosses as museum specimens, by William Porter and Rev. 

 W. R. Megaw ; the Toothwort para-sitic on Hawthorn and a collection of 

 local plants, by N. Carrothers ; local Mycetozoa, by the Belfast Municipal 

 Museum ; plants recently collected in County Antrim, by R. LI. Praeger, 

 M.R.I. A. ; encrusted Saxifrages in flower and a form of Scaly Spleenwort, 

 by William Porter ; fungoid diseases of plants, by the Municipal Museum ; 

 Cavex divulsa from its three stations in County Down, and pondweeds of 

 Down and Antrim, with distribution maps, by the President (S. A. Bennett, 

 B.A., B.Sc.) ; some sphagnums of the British Isles, by J. Glover ; types 

 of local mosses in fruit, by Rev. W. R. Megaw ; the Brazil nut of commerce 

 and the artichoke in flower, by N. Carrothers ; sunflower, showing reversal 

 of geotropic curvature in an atmosphere of carbonic acid gas, by Mrs. M. 

 T. Lynn, B.Sc. 



