252 The Irish Natiiralist. October, 1904. 



out under the auspices of the Royal Irish Academy. The bulk of the 

 Irish localities are derived from this source, the balance having been fur- 

 nished by that brilliant Irish microscopist, William Archer, F.R.S., 

 whose contributions to phycology the authors acknowledge in the fol- 

 lowing words : — " From 1858 to 1885 a large series of notes and short 

 papers by W. Archer appeared in the * Proceedings of the Dublin Micros- 

 copical Society,' and the 'Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science,* 

 and in 1861 the same writer contributed the article on the Desmidiaceae 

 for Pritchard's ' Infusoria.' These are unquestionably among the most 

 valuable contributions to the literature of British Desmids, aud clearly 

 prove that Archer was second to none in his detailed acquaintance and 

 clear in sight into the structure and habits of these plants." 



GEOLOGY. 



Crocodilian remains from Colin Glen, Belfast. 



When geologizing in Colin Glen in June last, I was fortunate enough 



to secure a fossil from the Upper Greensand which has been identified 



by Dr. A. Smith Woodward of the British Museum as " a slightly abraded 



crocodilean scute, probably of Goniopholis or a related genus," I believe 



this is the first record of crocodile remains from the Iri.'^h Cretaceous 



rocks. The scute is oblong in shape, and measures 3 inches by 2 inches, 



and is about J-inch thick in the centre, thinning slightly towards the 



edges. Its upper surface is fitted with rounded depressions about ^-inch 



in diameter, placed so close together that their edges form hexagonal 



figures. The genus Goniopholis and its near allies are characteristic of 



the Purbeck and Wealden strata, occurring also in the Greensand. 



Wm. Christy. 

 Belfast. 



Coast erosion in North Antrim. 



During a walk along the coast from Whitepark Bay to Ballycastle this 

 month (September) A. W. Stelfox and I visited Kenbane, that little 

 headland of indurated Chalk that projects so boldly into the sea from 

 under the more mural precipices of basalt. This northern escarpment 

 of the Antrim basaltic plateau fringes the coast for miles west of Bally- 

 castle, disconnected from the higher cliffs of the Giant's Causeway area 

 by the broad sweep of Whitepark Bay. East of Kenbane the basaltic 

 cliffs are very bold, rising for miles mainly sheer out of the sea, and at 

 a point about a quarter of a mile from the head we noticed that there 

 had been a very heavy rock fall — a section right the whole way from the 

 water's edge to summit of cliff having collapsed into the sea, leaving a 

 new talus right along the base. This fall has tnken place at or very 

 close to the little cave in which the Causewa}' guides quarried so many 

 of the needle-spar and other specimens they sell to tourists. It might 

 therefore be worth the attention of geologists, 



K. We;i,ch, 



Belfast. 



