144 



PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



The occurrence of so much earthy sediment in 

 the old seas, of course, was unfavourable to the life 

 of the clear-sea-living animals, whose remains are 

 found in the pure limestones ; while other creatures 

 who preferred a muddy sea, such as Posidonia, &c, 

 inhabited it instead. Generally, however, the Calp is 

 poor in fossils, though locally they do occur; and where 

 the Calp is merely a dark limestone, I am not aware 

 of its having any essential palseontological peculiari- 

 ties — except paucity of fossils — different from those of 

 the upper and lower limestones. 



In the second Part of the sixth volume of our 

 Journal, my former colleague, Mr. Andrew Wyley, has 

 described the constitution of the Carboniferous for- 

 mation of Kilkenny so accurately and well as to ren- 

 der it unnecessary for me to go over the same ground. 

 I have only to say, that the one-inch maps of the dis- 

 trict are now published, and to be had at Messrs. 

 Hodges and Smith's; and to point to those on the 

 wall, as presented to this Society by Sir R. I. Mur- 

 chison on the part of her Majesty's Government ; 

 and also to the section through Gowran, which Mr. , 

 Du Noyer has constructed for me, from the six-inch 

 data maps preserved in our office, in support of Mr. 

 Wyley's conclusions. This section, however, would 

 induce me to diminish the thickness assigned to the 

 groups by Mr. Wyley, and to give the following as 

 more probable : — 



Feet. 

 7. Coal-measures, . . upwards of 1000 



6. Upper Limestone, 1000 



5. Middle (or Calp) Limestone, . . 600 



4. Lower Limestone, 1000 



3. Lower Limestone Shale, or Carbo- 

 niferous Slate, 150 



2 . Upper Old Red Sandstone, or Yellow 



Sandstone, 250 



1. Lower Old Red Sandstone, ... 300 



Total thickness, 4300 



This thickness is one-third less than that given 

 by Mr. Wyley in Nos. 4, 5, and 6, and two-thirds less 

 in No. 3. As groups 1 and 2 are evidently thinning 

 out towards the north, it is possible that group 3 

 is thinner in the above section than it is further south, 

 where Mr. "Wyley took his data from. 



About eighty miles due west of Gowran is the vil- 

 lage of Foynes, on the south bank of the Shannon, and 



0L O 



