The Siliiifu d ] Vood of L oia^/i Naii^^/i . 1 03 



west corner of Lough Neagh, appeared in 1S77; these clay 

 beds are there described fully, under llie liead of Pliocene Clays, 

 their thickness being estimated at above 500 feet. The results 

 of many borings and sections obtained in i)its are given. 

 Nearly all of these have records of lignites and ironstone 

 nodules, the latter in one place containing reed-like plants. 

 The writers are careful however to note that " in 110 instance 

 has any specimens of the celebrated silicified wood of Lough 

 Neagh been found in them, although a good opportunity 

 for its discovery has thus been afforded over an extensive 

 area." 



The memoirs and sheet 27 appeared in 1881, and there is 

 again another chapter on the Pliocene clays continued into the 

 area which they represent. The author says — "That the 

 fossil wood is more or less directly connected with the lignite 

 seems to be generally admitted, but there has existed diversity 

 of opinion as to the nature of this relation ;" and he then 

 proceeds to give one of Dr. Barton's definite statements, and 

 quotes the paragraph describing his digging into the lignite 

 deposit where some of his largest specimens where found, and 

 concludes with the following paragraph : — " Mr. Hardman, 

 one of the surveyors, supposes that the silicified pieces of wood 

 had their locus in the basalt, and that the silicification is due 

 to the percolation of water through the porous and easily 

 decomposible rock. That this process does take place, at 

 least to some extent, appears from a note to Dr. Macloskie's 

 paper, referring to a specimen of partially silicified lignite 

 found intercalated between beds of trap at Knocknagor, near 

 Banbridge ; and specimens are said to have been found in the 

 heart of silicified blocks at Lough Neagh, resembling lignite of 

 Knocknagor and the Giants' Causeway." Thus to a great 

 extent, all the definite statements based on the observations 

 and research of previous writers, that the silicified wood has 

 its source in these clays, are ignored. 



In company with Mr. Starkie Gardner, the writer visited the 

 Lough shores frequently in the summer of 1884, when the 

 waters were low, and while admitting the probability of 

 silicified wood being found in the basalts, we were quite 

 satisfied from what we saw, that the Lough Neagh examples 

 and the numerous specimens scattered about that area are 

 associated with the ironstone nodules, and are derived from 



