THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 311 



Land was never out of sight, the high ground of the Isle 

 of Man being well seen before Snowdon sank below the 

 southern horizon, and the Cumberland mountains were 

 visible throughout the voyage. 



Approached from the east the island presents the appear- 

 ance of an irregular mountainous ridge rising abruptly from 

 the sea, without any strikingly lofty summits, although 

 Snaefel is QOOO feet in height, and other mountains approach 

 the same altitude. The eastern cliffs, composed of clay 

 schist, probably of silurian age, are precipitous, and in some 

 places 300 feet in height, but on the western side of the 

 island, between Peel and the Calf of Man, they reach the 

 stu])endous height of 1000 feet. 



The greater part of the surface of the island is composed 

 of clay or slate rocks, which are surrounded by a fringe of 

 tertiary deposits, both marine and fresh-water, of a very 

 recent geological period, during which the Isle of Man pro- 

 bably consisted of a chain of small islands, four or more in 

 number, the valleys running across the island (one from 

 Douglas to Peel is extremely well marked) indicating the 

 old sea-channels : through these we may suppose the ice- 

 bergs to have drifted, depositing the clay, gravel and boulders 

 with which they are now covered. There are numerous bogs 

 in hollows excavated in the tertiary strata : in these remains 

 of the Irish elk (Megacerus hibernicus) are frequently found. 

 The Rev. J. G. Cumming, in a valuable paper on the Geo- 

 logy of the island, published in the second volume of the 

 ' Geological Journal,' states that at the mouth of the Strand- 

 hall Brook there is a submerged forest, and that the trunk of 

 an oak tree obtained from it exhibited upon its surface the 

 marks of a hatchet. That the human race inhabited the 

 island contemporaneously with the Irish elk admits of no 

 question, as rude implements have been found associated 

 with the bones : the submerged forest and the hatchet- 

 marked tree speak of a still earlier age, — of a primaeval man 

 who may have witnessed the great irruption of ihe sea which 

 separated the island from the surrounding countries. 



I suppose the climate of the island to be very mild. I saw 

 Fuchsias twelve or fourteen feet in height, evidently of many 

 years' standing, growing in the open air; and from the obser- 

 vations which my short stay enabled me to make I do not 



