39 



tunnel is cut through the Cambrian Rocks, and appears 

 from the Hill of Killiney like a white spot on the side of 

 Bray-head, the light being distinctly seen at the farther 

 extremity. It is in this tunnel and the adjacent cuttings 

 that Professor Kinnahan, one of the most active and 

 indefatigable of the Dublin naturalists, has discovered in 

 great abundance the curious and interesting fossil Old- 

 hamias, the oldest of all created animals which have left 

 traces of their past existence, like an elegant vignette, 

 imprinted on the first leaf of that Great Book which has 

 existed from the beginning, and whose pages contain a 

 faithful record of the past, written by a hand which 

 cannot err — His who created all things. 



From the railroad we descended to the beach, over 

 immense masses of granite, forming rocks of the grandest 

 appearance, on whose surface, wherever a small quanity 

 of soil was collected, were growing plants in bloom of the 

 beautiful Aster tripolium (L.), usuallj'- found in marshy 

 places near the sea-shore, but here growing in greater 

 luxuriance and beauty than ever we saw before. So also 

 the Statice liraonium (L.), another salt marsh plant, was 

 growing with extraordinary luxuriance, Plantago coro- 

 nopus, (L.) grew in every crevice, and many of the pre- 

 cipitous faces of the cliffs glittered in a golden and 

 emerald mantle of samphire, (Crithmum maritimum, L.) 

 Asplenium maritimum produced its fronds haxuriantly in 

 the deeper crevices, whilst nearer the shore a carpet of 

 the pink Armeria maritima (Willd.), formed an agreeable 

 relief to our feet after scrambling over the sharp rocks. 

 Amongst the blocks of shingle on the shore we saw a 

 large quantity of water-worn fragments of Micaceous 

 Schist, in which crystals of Chiastolite of considerable 

 size and beauty were profusely imbedded. After 

 an interesting exploration of the beach, which would 

 have furnished ample materials for days instead of 



