
TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 51 
means by which the carburetted hydrogen was obtained, and the passage of this through 
red-hot veins may have produced the graphite at Almorness Head. 
An Account of the Researches of German Geologists. By H. Hennessy. 
On Devonian Rocks in the South of Ireland. By J. Beets Juxzs, F.G.S. 
The object of the following paper is, first of all, to bring before the Section the physi- 
cal facts connected with some very remarkable fossils discovered by the Geological Sur- 
vey of Ireland during the past year; and secondly, to take the opinion of the Section 
on a difficulty that has arisen as to the classification and nomenclature of the rocks. 
For the first part of the paper, a description of the structure of the south-east part 
of the county of Kilkenny will suffice; for the second, the description must be ex- 
tended from Kilkenny through Waterford into Cork. 
[Mr. Jukes then described this portion of the southern part of Ireland from Mr. 
Griffith’s map, of the general accuracy and admirable character of which he spoke in 
high terms, and from some enlarged sections copied from those constructed by the 
Geological Survey. ] 
in Kilkenny, the total thickness of the rocks between the mountain limestone and 
the Silurian and granite does not exceed 1000 feet. In the neighbourhood of Knock- 
topher, south of Thomastown, these rocks are principally composed of red slates and 
sandstones, The mountain limestone has some beds of dark shale interstratified with 
its lower parts, beneath which are some brown and yellow sandstones, containing casts 
of bivalye shells; these do not exceed 150 feet in thickness, and below them are 
about 300 feet of red slates, with a few yellow sandy beds occasionally, when we 
come to some alternations of red and green “ slate-rock,” a smooth fine-grained 
argillaceous sandstone without cleavage. In these greenish beds are some large 
slates containing ferns, and also casts of some large bivalve shells resembling Anodon. 
These fossils were discovered by Mr. Flanagan, fossil collector to the Survey, the 
country being mapped, and the details of its structure made out by Mr. Andrew 
Wyley, my able and zealous colleague on the Geological Survey, a native of Belfast, 
and who I regret is not able to be present on this occasion. These red and green 
beds are about 100 or 150 feet in thickness, and below them are about 350 feet of red 
slates and argillaceous sandstones, below which are 100 feet of coarse conglomerates, 
resting on the subjacent Silurian and granitic rocks. 
Reckoning from the base of the mountain limestone to the latter, the beds con- 
taining these fossils are about in the middle of the included series :— 
In the north part of the County of Waterford, near Carrick on Suir, for instance, we 
get below the mountain limestone,— 
Thin-bedded yellow sandstones and greenish and yellow shales........ 150 
Alternations of yellow sandstone and hard red shale, often cleaved .... 350 
Red shales and sandstones with conglomerates, fine at top, and getting 
COBKSEr BS WE ESCENA sisieesicecessceveccudcesesreveccsens . 1800 
In other parts of Waterford further west, these beds thicken out to a total of 4500 
feet, of which the upper, consisting of yellow sandstones alternating with red shales, 
is about 900 feet. 
In the northern part of County Cork, about the south flank of the Galtee Moun- 
tains, and thence to Fermoy, we get a similar section, consisting of,— 
Feet. 
Yellow sandstones alternating with red shales and slates ....... esau i LOOR 
Red shales or slates, and red sandstones, with an occasional band of yellow 
sandstone ..... era Be Rialststsig. ab sis tease e een ceeesdobes 400 
Red sandstones and slates passing downwards into thick red sandstones 
and conglomerates, resting unconformably on lower Silurian........ 
In the central part of County Cork the lower part of the formation is not seen, 
but the rocks immediately below the mountain limestone still consist very largely of 
yellow sandstones, split up not only by red shales and slates, but also by blue and gray 
shales cleaved into slate. In these bluish slates are found casts of marine shells. 
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