i897-] Proceedings of Irish Societies, 23 



result. A strong protest was made by Professor Johnson, of Dublin, 

 against the suggestion that the ciirators of the local museums should be 

 converted into mere caretakers ; he referred in terms of high com- 

 mendation to the abilities of a curator in the North of Ireland, but 

 expressed his surprise that his services were not adequately remunerated. 



Dr. J. Lindsay, m.a., read an essay on the poet Dante. 



Mr. W. H. Patterson, m.r.i.a., then read an account of a recent 

 discovery of worked flints in submerged peat at Portrush. He explained 

 that the West Bay at Portrush had long been known as the site of an 

 exposure of submerged peat. The winter storms of the last two years 

 had, by washing away great quantities of sand, caused a much larger 

 section of peat to be visible. The thickest masses of peat were at high- 

 water mark, in one place forming a perpendicular face of nearly six feet 

 high. In other places the peat showed an exposed face of three or four 

 feet, and from that down to one foot or less, according to the extent to 

 which the sea carried away the shelving sand which sloped from the 

 peat down to the sea. There was also a good exposure of the peat and 

 numerous remains of large trees between tide-marks. Here one walked 

 on the to]) of the deposited beds, which were probably thinned away by 

 marine denudation. The beds of compact peat higher up on the beach, 

 and which present faces of various heights, as referred to before, were 

 overlaid by banks of sand from fifteen to twenty feet high, and with vege- 

 tation on their surface. The sand was fine, and seemed to be chiefly blown, 

 but in some places a slight stratification showing pebbles was noticed. 

 This sand had been deposited over the peat, but was now being removed 

 bv the action of the winds and waves. The peat was exceedingly com- 

 pact, but contained sand, showing that it was formed within the 

 influence of winds carrying sand, doubtless from some sea-strand. The 

 peat could not possibly have been formed at its present level as regards 

 sea ; the land here had probably experienced a downthrow, or possibly 

 alternations of level had taken place, and thus the sea had been enabled 

 to encroach very considerably upon the land. The remains of the forest 

 of large fir-trees between tide water-marks at a level where such trees 

 could not be grown made the matter of the downthrow ver}' evident. In 

 many places around our shores submerged peat with tree-remains was 

 found. On the occasion of a visit to Portrush in April, 1896, he was 

 examining the exposed sections of peat at the West Bay, when he noticed 

 the point of a piece of flint projecting from the weathered face, and on 

 pulling this out it proved to be a well-formed flint-flake. A little exami- 

 nation with the blade of a knife showed that there were more flakes 

 behind the one first noticed, and the result was that in two visits he 

 collected about eighty flakes, about twelve cores, and a considerable 

 quantity of chips, but no axes, scrapers, nor any example showing 

 secondary workmanship. With the exception of two or three outliers, 

 the flints were confined to an area of not more than two feet square. 

 They formed a flattened heap ; they rested on peat, and were overlaid by 

 about one foot of exceedingly compact peat, and this in turn had been 

 covered by about twenty feet of sand, now partially removed by sea-action. 



