191 1- Stewart. — Fliuluations of Sea -level. 27 



with similar changes that have been noted as having 

 occurred in other parts of Britain, and I may say at 

 starting that I do not beheve that any of these movements, 

 whether of elevation or of depression, were at all local. 

 I believe that they were spread over the British Islands in 

 a greater or less degree, traces of them being observable, 

 not only in North Britain, but in Cornwall and Devonshire, 

 and at many immediate points.^ 



[There follows a careful review of the evidence then available (now 

 very largely augmented) of post-Glacial movements elsewhere in Ireland, 

 and in England and Scotland. Considerations of space compel us to 

 omit this, which, in any case, does not possess so much interest for us as 

 the record of Stewart's own work and conclusions. — Eds.]. 



I shall close with a summary of the points I have] 

 advanced. 



(i). Era of submerged peat. Land some thirty feet 

 higher than at present. Shore fringed with low-lying 

 woods — Hazel, Alder, and marsh plants predominant. 

 This period is synchronous with the times of the sunken 

 peat beds of the south and west of Ireland, with the Norfolk 

 and Somersetshire submerged peat and forests, and with 

 similar growths now found buried below the carse clays of 

 Scotland. N 



(2). Era of Scrobicularia. Land depressed some ten 

 feet or thereabouts lower than at present. Deposition of 

 several feet of clay on a muddy flat shore. Littoral shells 

 in the ascendant. 



I (3). Thracia convexa period. Further depression. Deep 

 water where our quays and docks are now built. Littoral 

 shells replaced by shells of the Laminarian and Coralline 

 zones. Tliis is the time that corresponds with the recent 

 deposits of clay on various points of the Irish and English 

 shores, and also with the time when the old coast line of 

 Scotland stood some forty feet higher than that now 

 existing. 



(4). Elevation. The present sea-level established here. 

 Similar upward movement in England and Scotland as 

 shown by raised beaches, and old terraces further back 

 than the existing beach. 



' On this point see Coffey and Praeger : The Larne Raised Beach, 

 Proc. R.I. A., XXV., C, pp. 157-163. 1904.— Eds. 



