Geology around the shores of Waterford Haven. 69 



Haven from Temple Bay to Great Island at the confluence of the 

 Suire with the Nore and the Barrow, forming a series of cliffs, in 

 which the strata are excessively contorted. It also forms the cliffs 

 from the west shore of the Nore opposite Little Island and the right 

 bank of the Suire ; a small patch of it occurs likewise south of 

 Passage. The contortions in the cliffs on the east side of the Haven, 

 Major Austin ascribes to lateral pressure, and he states that the 

 ridges of clay-slate range at right angles to the band of conglo- 

 merate which traverses the promontory at Sand Eel Bay. These 

 contortions are more especially marked and numerous between 

 Dollar Bay and Bluff Head, ranging from the top to the bottom 

 of cliffs 250 feet in height. At the south point of Booley Bay 

 the slate affords beautiful examples of ripple marks. It is stated to 

 be perforated along the whole line of coast, by hollows varying in 

 size from a pin's point to five inches in length, and to the height of 

 20 feet above high-water mark. On the hill above the Roman Ca- 

 tholic chapel, north of Duncannon sands, the slate has a prismatic 

 structure. It is stated to have been altered by igneous operations 

 on the west side of Great Island and in Little Island. Near Bally- 

 hack the cleavage is diagonal to the plane of stratification. 



4. Trap forms at Herrylock a mass protruding from the beach ; 

 also the narrow point on which Duncannon Castle stands, where it 

 is stated to rest on the tilted edges of clay-slate, and to have altered 

 that rock into an indurated, stratified, yellow stone. A basaltic dyke 

 occurs opposite Great Island on the Kilkenny side of the Nore. It 

 rises abruptly to the height of 100 feet, and from its white colour, 

 due to the decomposition of the felspar, is called the White Horse. 

 A considerable mass of trap is also at the Orphan School House ; and 

 other masses at Cheek Point in the bend of the Haven to the south- 

 ward, and at Newtown on the western shore of the Haven. 



5. Alluvium. Modern accumulations occur in Dollar Bay ; Aid- 

 ridge Bay ; to the north of Bluff Head, where a layer of slate shingle 

 is converted into a coarse conglomerate by carbonate of lime ; be- 

 tween Bluff Head and Duncannon, constituting the Duncannon 

 sands, and extending inland up a small valley, in which is a peat 

 bed ; the narrow valley at King's Bay or Arthurstown ; to the south 

 of Dunbrody Abbey ; and in Woodstown valley, on the west side of 

 the Haven. Major Austin states, that greenstone boulders occur in 

 all parts of Wexford, but that no rock in situ of character similar to 

 them is to be found in the county. 



December 4, 1839. A paper was first read, entitled "A Descrip- 

 tion of the Soft Parts and of the shape of the Hind Fin of the Ichthyo- 

 saurus, as when recent," by Richard Owen, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S. 



The osseous frame-work of the fin of the Ichthyosaurus, Mr. Owen 

 observes, having alone been the subject of direct examination, the 

 exact shape and the nature of the soft parts had been matters of 

 conjecture. A very striking deviation from the reptilian and mam- 

 malian types had, indeed, been recognised, and resemblance also to 

 the fins of fishes had been admitted in the digits of the fin exceeding 

 five, in their being sometimes bifurcated, and in consisting of an ex- 



