54 REPORT—1852. 
county of Antrim deposits of lignite frequently occur, as around the shores of Lough 
Neagh, at Carnaghliss, between that lake and Belfast, at Libbert near Glenarm, at 
Kiltymorris and at Ballintoy: associated with them is an impure fire-clay. At several 
of these places the lignite is covered with trap, proving that this trap is of tertiary or 
post-tertiary age, as the wood from which the lignite has been derived was in all 
likelihood coniferous. There is also lying under the trap in different parts of Antrim 
considerable beds of ochre, which sometimes contains thin seams of impure lignite. 
It has been long known that at Lough Neagh, in the alluvial covering that lies upon 
the lignite beds, there are found many pieces of silicified wood, sometimes of a con- 
siderable size. Between the trap and the subjacent chalk there is very generally a 
bed, varying from a few inches to a few feet, consisting in many places of iron-shot 
elay and loose flints, and in others of a grayish clay, like impure fire-clay; in this 
last case it sometimes contains lignite. 
The Chalk of Antrim contains a number of fossils resembling in a great measure 
those obtained from the same formation in England. The upper beds of the Antrim 
chalk are not so prolific in organic remains as the under, which are mixed with parti- 
cles of greensand; under these lower beds, and quite conformable to them, are beds 
resembling the Fire-stone of Surrey, and lowest of all is a soft bed of pure greensand. 
In the upper strata of pure chalk the prevailing fossils are some species of Belemnites, 
Ammonites, Pleurotomaria, Terebratula and Turbo; also several kinds of Echino- 
dermata and Sponges, which fossils not unfrequently are found also in the imbedded 
flints. In the lower or chloritic chalk are remarked, in addition to the above, Arca, 
Avicula, Inoceramus, Natica, Ostrea, Pecten, Pholadomya, and Trigonia; and the 
same are observed even in greater abundance in the subjacent fire-stone. Some fine 
specimens of Ostrea carinata have been got in the fire-stone, to which rock this fossil 
seems to be confined; also the Hxogyra Columba appears in it in great numbers, and 
rarely in the upper or lower beds. The Ezogyra levigata is very abundant in the 
lowest bed of soft greensand, where it is often the only fossil to be met with: in this 
lowest bed there is less variety of organic remains than in the others ; from it however 
were procured some teeth and bones of Saurian animals by Mr. MacAdam; and in the 
Philosophical Magazine for 1831, there is an account of the discovery of saurian 
vertebre near Belfast, in lias, by Mr. Bryce; but it has since been ascertained that 
they had been found in the soft greensand bed which immediately overlies lias. 
Teeth of the Shark family, sometimes very perfect, occur in all the beds from the 
upper chalk to the pure greensand, and some obscure remains of entire fishes of a 
small size; also portions of crustacea, and several zoophytes. In some places fucoids 
were got in the fire-stone, and small pieces of fossil wood in the soft greensand, 
These lower beds are apparently equivalents of the upper greensand of England. 
Thin beds of lias underlie the greensand, but not everywhere, as they are wantin 
in various localities. This lias abounds in organic remains, almost identical wit 
those of the same formation in England. In the beds near Belfast there are several 
ammonites, and great numbers of the Cardium striatulum, with a few other fossils, 
In the beds near Larne the same fossils are found, and a great variety of others, as 
the Gryphea incurva and obliquata, Plagiostoma giganteum and punctatum, Pachyodon, 
Mya, Amphidesma, Pecten, Mytilus, Modiola, Arca, Lutraria, Avicula, Trochus, Tur- 
ritella, &c,; also numerous fragments of the Pentacrinus. At Larne a bed of oolitic 
structure rests upon lias, and in it are found Avicula contorta and Lima Proboscidea, 
with some others. At Ballintoy, on the north coast of Antrim, there is a lias deposit 
very rich in fossils, several of which are described in Portlock’s ‘ Report:’ several 
new ones have been obtained by Mr. MacAdam from that deposit, some of which 
seem not to have been as yet described. In the beds at Larne and Belfast several 
fish remains were obtained, and a few saurian vertebrzee. The hardened lias of Port 
Rush has been often described; it contains many fossils, but they are not easy to 
determine from their obliteration ; in all probability they are nearly the same as those 
found at Ballintoy. ; 
Mr. MacAdam has discovered, resting immediately on the variegated saliferous 
marls of Woodburn, near Carrickfergus, a bed containing many fish remains, among 
which were recognized the Gyrolepis Alberti and tenuistriatus and others, which have 
been referred to the upper parts of the Trias. In the marls and subjacent sandstones 
no fossils have as yet been discovered. 
On the south, or County Down side of Belfast Lough, at Cultra, there are small 

