88 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
Bey. E. O’Meara exhibited some most interesting specimens of or¬ 
ganic remains from the Cambrian rocks of Bray Head, consisting of dia- 
tomaceous frustnles and spicnles resembling those of sponges. The 
specimen of rock operated on was given him by Dr. Carte, and seemed 
to consist of a mass of Oldhamia, regularly matted together. He ex¬ 
perienced much difficulty in operating on it, owing to the great quantity 
of amorphous silica present, which it was impossible thoroughly to 
remove. Every slide of the deposit he examined contained specimens of 
diatoms as well as the spicules. 
Professor Kinahan thought it might he interesting to the Meeting to 
know the exact locality of the specimen acted on. It was from the mass 
of green beds described by him in the Journal of the Geological Society 
of Dublin some time since, and were composed, as the Bev. Mr. O’Meara 
had stated, of a matted mass of Old. radiata , which had evidently been 
floated into some quiet nook of the Cambrian sea, and settled down there, 
the zoophytes bearing on their stems diatomaceous forms exactly as we 
find their allies, the sertularian zoophytes of our own seas, loaded with 
living forms of Diatomacese. Mr. O’Meara’s discovery was one of great 
importance, as everything which tended to throw light on the nature 
of these ancient deposits was of great value to the geologist, and it being 
found that at the present day diatoms of different and often distant 
localities are identical, we may be, perhaps, able, by an examination of 
similar deposits in Wales, to obtain another link in the chain of evidence 
as to their identity or not with Irish Cambrians. 
Mr. Bobert John Montgomery read the following— 
on peculiarities in the habits of the starling (sturnus vulgaris). 
Many members present have, I dare say, witnessed the very remarkable* 
gathering of starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), for the purpose of roosting, 
during the winter months, in the Gardens of the Boyal Zoological So¬ 
ciety in the Phoenix Park, and to which the late Dr. Ball first directed 
attention, through the means of the public press, in March, 1845, esti¬ 
mating their numbers at from 150,000 to 200,000. 
Although the great starling roost which I had the gratification of 
visiting in the county of Donegal, in the commencement of this winter, 
was far, far inferior, in point of numbers, to that in the Phoenix Park, 
yet I thought it of sufficient interest to make a note of at the time, 
and that note I now have the pleasure of submitting to the Society. 
I went to Lough Pern, a beautifully situated sheet of water, of about 
three miles in length, on the 19th of November last, with a friend, an 
ardent lover of ornithology, the Bev. Bobert Harvey. Our principal 
object in going was, to ascertain how many species of Anatidse frequented 
the lake. At the western end of the lough there are immense beds of 
reeds (Arundo phragmitis), standing many feet in height out of the water. 
Near to the inner edge of these I took my position to have a shot at the 
evening flight of ducks. 
