250 Chronicles of Science. [April, 



Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street) were picked up by 

 the author from the gravelly cbift and subsoil clay of the north of 

 Ireland, in Antrim and Down. Mr. Du Noyer describes the method 

 of forming the flakes, and points out that they appear to belong to 

 two different periods, viz: — 1. In the drift-sand and gravel which 

 skirt the shores of Belfast and Larne Loughs, in the Co. Antrim, 

 and the coast from Holywood to Donaghadee in the Co. Down, 

 about 20 feet above high- water mark. These are rude in form and 

 are always oxidized on the surface, and are often much abraded. 

 2. In the subsoil clay at all elevations up to 600 feet or so, on the 

 northern slopes of Cave Hill at Belfast, the Common of Carrick- 

 fergus and the high-ground around Larne Lough, and the Island 

 Magee, they often occur in groujjs so that hundreds can be col- 

 lected over a surface of fifty square yards, and their appearance 

 is fresher than the httoral specimens. In Island Magee they , 

 would appear to have manufactured some, judging by the hoards 

 found. Mr. Du Noyer considered that the great abundance of 

 flint-implements in this region was due to the aborigines seeking 

 the natural outcrop of the chalk to obtain the raw material ; he 

 further suggests that the leaf-shaped flint-flakes of this second 

 epoch (found in the bed of the river Bunn) were known and used 

 by the earliest of the historic races in Ireland, and by them worked 

 into those dehcately-chipped and symmetrically-formed winged ar- 

 row-heads, spear and javehn heads which are found so often, 

 associated with rude pottery, beads of amber, glass, and sheUs, 

 in the sepulchral tumuli and megalithic chambers of Ireland. 



In Mr. Bauerman's paper on Arabia Petraea,* he gives an ac- 

 count of the ancient Turquoise-workings in the Wady ]\Iaghara, 

 which, although much encumbered by clift-faUs at the outside, are 

 for the most part accessible for a considerable distance from the 

 surface, and in many instances the old faces of work can be seen. 

 These are covered with small and irregular tool-marks, of such a 

 character as to leave no doubt that they have been made Avith flint- 

 flakes, great numbers of which are found strewing the valleys and 

 hill-sides, as well as within the workings themselves. Most of these 

 flakes are of a triangular or trapeziform section, brought up to a 

 point, which is generally well-worn and rounded, and the shape of 

 which, when blunted, corresponds perfectly with the grooves on the 

 face of the rock. In one of the smaller caves, carefully examined 

 by Mr. J. K. Lord, the floor was covered to a considerable depth 

 with a coating of impalpable dust, which, when disturbed, rose in 

 suflbcating clouds. On sifting this, numerous fragments of stone 

 hammers and pieces of wood, some partially carbonized, but which 

 had evidently been fashioned into tools, were found. 



* Also in the February number of the 'Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc' 



