I04 The Irish Naturalist. 



the lignite-bearing clays in question, but no positive proof 

 could then be gained, and the older writers stood unsupported. 

 In December 1884, however, Mr. S. A. Stewart, of Belfast, and 

 the writer again visited the ground, and found that a pit had 

 been sunk on the margin of the lough at the spot so precisely in- 

 dicated by Dr. Barton, that is to sa}" Ahaness, half a mile south 

 of Glenavy river. The pit had been sunk to obtain lignite for 

 trial in some manufacturing process. We found the hole, 

 about three feet deep, full of water, but after no small labour we 

 cleared it. Under a foot of surface gravels, and some of the 

 white tenacious clay which characterises these beds, was a solid 

 stratum of lignite, that is, vegetable matter such as branches 

 and roots of trees, twigs, and earth}' matter, probably leaves, 

 etc., much decomposed and all greatly compressed, and of a 

 black or dark-brown colour. With a good deal of difficult}^ it 

 could be dug, as so accurately described by Dr. Barton. We 

 could not work long at the digging, as the water could not be 

 kept out, but after throwing out several hundredweight had to 

 abandon the work. On asking the very intelligent farmer who 

 assisted us if he could tell us where the silicified wood came 

 from, he at once said it came from the lignite, and could prove 

 it. He said he had carted several loads of the lignite to his house 

 for fuel, and on burning a large woody piece he found the heart 

 of it was stone. The calcined remains of this important speci- 

 men he gave the writer, and pointed out the heap he had 

 carted up, and in it w^as then found a piece, part wood and 

 part stone, that had not reached the domestic hearth. Resi- 

 dent for a long time on the spot, he said there could be no 

 doubt but the specimens found along the lough side had 

 originally come from the lignite beds. Several pieces on his 

 garden wall showed part still wood, although they had been 

 there exposed for years. 



All this is, after all, only corroborating what has already 

 been described by Dr. Barton, and re-asserted by Dr. Scouler, 

 our wish being to place it again on record, believing it to be 

 the proof necessary to show the relation between the fossil 

 wood and the lignites, as required by the writer of " Explana- 

 tory Memoir to Sheet 27 " of the Geological Survey. 



Having thus pointed out the source of what for accuracy 

 may be termed the I^ough Neagh wood, and at the same time 

 admitting the occurrence of examples from the basalt, it is 



