Lower Palceozoic Bocks of the South-East of Ireland. 585 



miles from the nearest Cambrian outcrop, and the beds in contact witli the 

 granite appear to be the upper part of the Cambro-Silurian series, that which 

 is above the traps ; while in North Wicklow the granite gradually approaches 

 nearer and nearer the Cambrian outcrop, rising at last within a mile of it, and 

 the beds in contact with the granite are apparently the lower part of the Cam- 

 bro-Silurian series, those that rest directly on the Cambrian rocks. 



It would appear, also, that under the waters of Dublin Bay the granite must 

 come in contact with the Cambrian rocks themselves, cutting through those 

 that lie between Bray Head and Howth Hill. 



It is true that the beds and boundaries of the Cambro-Silurian area E (that 

 of Kildare and Wicklow) run parallel to the direction of the longest extension 

 of the granite area F ; but even here it appears as if the granite cut into the 

 higher beds, rather than brought up the lower beds of the series, and there- 

 fore does not serve as a geological axis. 



All the evidence, in short, goes to show that the intrusion of the granite, 

 both that of the main area, and that of the smaller detached bosses and bands 

 of granite, though doubtless a powerful and forcible intrusion, was neverthe- 

 less an equable and gradual one, the molten mass working its way slowly up- 

 wards into the overlying beds, without producing any distiu-bance. beyond its 

 immediate sphere of action. Its motion would, perhaps, be more fitly described 

 as a burrowing upwards, an undermining and eating its way up through what- 

 ever it chanced to meet with, rather than as a great elevating power lifting up 

 the rocks above it, and rending them asunder, in order to burst a passage for 

 itself towards the surface. 



G. The Carnsore Area. — We have yet to say a few words on the district south 

 of Wexford Harbour, that of Carnsore. This is separated from the area D by 

 the Wexford Cambrian area A, and also by the overlying beds of Old Red 

 Sandstone and Carboniferous Limestone, that stretch from Wexford Harbour 

 to Ballyteigue Bay. 



The area is one of very low ground, and the details of its geology are con- 

 sequently very obscure. Both its beds and boundaries seem to strike about 

 E. N. E. and W. S. W., the dip of the beds being generally at angles approach- 

 ing the vertical. Graptolites were procured on the shore near Greenore Point, 

 and several species of Bala fossils (Orthis, Pentamerus, &c.) were found in a 



