394 



November 12th, 1849. 



REV. HUMPHREY LLOYD, D.D., President, 

 in the Chair. 



Lord William Fitzgerald was elected a Member of the 

 Academy. 



A collection of antiquities, found near Athlone, was pre- 

 sented by the Commissioners for the Improvement of the Na- 

 vigation of the Shannon. 



Colonel Jones, on the part of the Commissioners of Public 

 Works, presented to the Academy some antiquities found in 

 the neig-hbourhood of a cavern near Cushendall, in the county 

 of Antrim. 



Along with the list of the articles, Colonel Jones handed 

 to the Secretary a description of the cavern, drawn up by 

 Denis Black, one of the persons employed by the Commis- 

 sioners in the construction of the pier at Redbay Dike. 



According to this account the cavern consisted of two 

 parts; the first, running due south from the entrance, was fif- 

 teen feet long, four and a half high, and about four and a half 

 wide, and of very irregular formation, the whole being coated 

 with carbonate of lime from one to six inches thick. The 

 floor, which is sixteen and a half feet above the level of high 

 water mark, contained water-worn stones, with bones of cattle 

 and other animals, all firmly imbedded in the lime, and en- 

 crusted with it. The second part of the cave ran westwards 

 from the southern extremity of the first, continuing for about 

 nine feet, but so contracted by stalactites that it could not be 

 explored. This smaller gallery intersects the main trap dike, 

 in which the cavern is formed, at right angles to the plane of 

 its direction, whilst the larger cavern runs parallel to the dike. 

 Outside the entrance, and close to it, were found the remains 



