TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 49 



Carnsove point on the coast of Wexford, crossing the quartz rock mountain of Forth, 

 and afterwards the entire suite of the fossiliferous clay-slate which terminates on the 

 eastern boundary of the great granite district of Wicklow and WeXford. The strata 

 which form the lowest part of the series, and which rest on the granite of Carnsore 

 point, consist of gray micaceous, or shining slate (probably metamorphic), alternating 

 with beds of gray slaty quartzite. These strata are succeeded by the quartz rock of 

 Forth mountain, situated close to the town of Wexford. This quartz rock is arranged 

 in thick beds, alternating occasionally with shining slate; it is followed in an ascending 

 order by alternations of red and greenish-gray clay-slate, with occasional beds of gray 

 quartzite, and also with beds of greenish-gray brecciated quartzite, above which are 

 strata consisting of dark gray clay-slate, with occasional beds of gray quartzose flags. 

 These dark gray slates may be considered as the commencement of the fossiliferous 

 strata; for, ascending in the series, the dark gray slate is found to contain in abun- 

 dance Graptolites, apparently a new variety of the Graptolites foliaceus, which fossil 

 has been discovered in several localities in the counties of Wexford, Wicklow, find 

 also in Meath and Tyrone. Still proceeding north-westward in the line of the section, 

 and apparently ascending in the series, the same dark gray slate continues, and in 

 several localities in the same strike it was found to contain fossils belonging to the 

 lower Silurian series, particularly the following : — 



Trinucleus caractaci. Orthis canalis. 



,, fimbriatus. ,, protensa. 



„ radiatus. „ radians. 



„ seticornis. „ rugifera. 



Calymene blunienbachii. „ sericea. 



Asaphus corndensis. „ testudinaria. 



,, latifrons. „ triangularis. 



„ marginatus. Fenestella milleri. 



Isotelus powisii. Favosites fibrosa. 



Orthis actoniae. Tentaculites annulatus. 



The dark gray slate continues above these fossiliferous beds, when it is succeeded by 

 a series of strata consisting of greenish-gray and red slates, with occasional beds of 

 quartzite ; these strata are frequently calcareous, and in such localities encrinite stems 

 are abundant, and occasionally we find obscure casts of Orthides and Trilobites, with 

 traces of Zoophyta, the specific characters of none of which were sufficiently perfect 

 to be recognized. On the north shore of Walerford Harbour, these greenish-gray and 

 red slates form a trough nearly in the centre of the district, to the west of which the 

 dark gray clay-slates rise up from beneath, and extend to the eastern boundary of the 

 great granite district of Wicklow already mentioned. 



The strata throughout the whole of "the slate district of Waterford, Wexford, and 

 Wicklow, are very much disturbed and contorted ; consequently it will be difficult to 

 trace with certainty the same beds by following the strike ; but judging from the 

 similarity of the fossils found in Wicklow, Mr. Griffith was inclined to think that the 

 same system of fossils occurs there. 



Mr. Griffith further observed, that there was still a very extensive schistose district 

 extending through the counties of Down, Armagh, Monaghan, Cavan, Louth, and 

 Meath, in which no fossils had been hitherto discovered, excepting on the southern 

 border, near Slane in the county of Meath, where Graptolites, similar to those of 

 Wicklow and Wexford, had been discovered by him, and also Orthides. He thought 

 it probable that the whole district was fossihferous, and probably belonged to the same 

 portion of the lower Silui'ian series to which we must attach the schistose district of 

 Wicklow, Wexford, &c. 



Notice of the Discovery of a large Specimen of Plesiosaurus found at Kettle- 



ness, on the Yorkshire Coast. By Edw^ard Charlesworth, F.G.S. 



The subject of this notice had been found a short time previously in the lias shale, 



quarried for the manufacture of alum, in the Kettleness Cliff, a few miles north of 



Whitby ; and the lessees of the works, Messrs. Li'ddell and Gordon, had permitted the 



author to remove it, for the purpose of examination, to the museum of the Yorkshire 



Philosophical Society. Its total length was fifteen feet; that of the head above two 



fe«t ; the neck, double that of the head ; length of the humerus, thirteen inches ; length 



1844-. E 



