Prof. Haughton on the Granites of Ireland. 239 



ject, in which he described two examples of raised beaches ia the 

 Lunga Islands and one in Kerera, all having an altitude of 40 ft. 

 8 in. above high-water mark. Other raised beaches were noticed, — 

 one in Oronsay, at 38 ft. 6 in., and three in Jura, at 34 ft. 8 in., 

 42 ft. 1 in., and 105 ft. 5 in , respectively. During the last autumn 

 Capt. Bedford kindly supplied some further notes and another highly 

 finished map, comprising the raised beaches of Jura. He observed 

 that these old beaches of the Western Isles were remarkahle for their 

 uniformity of level, their uniform horizontality, their vast extent of 

 shingle, varying from highly polished pebbles to great rough blocks, 

 and for their perfect state of preservation. 



2. " On the Section exposed in the Excavation of the Swansea 

 Docks." By M. Moggridge, Esq. Communicated by Sir II. I. 

 Murchison, V.P.G.S, 



The author of this paper gave a short account of the alternate 

 beds of peat and marine clay exhibited in 1854 in the digging of the 

 docks at Swansea. The best section presented the following series 

 (in descending order) : — 1 . Made ground, sand, and loose gravel, of 

 variable thickness (from 20 to 6 feet) : 2. Peat, with leaves, 2 feet : 

 3. Blue clay with Scrobicularia piperata, 8 ft. 6 in. : 4. Peat, of 

 rather greater density than No. 2, 10 in. : 5. Blue clay with Scro- 

 bicularia, 4 ft. 1 in. : 6. Peat, with trees, 3 ft. 1 in. : 7. BroM'n clay 

 and gravel, not penetrated. The valves of the Scrobicularia piperata 

 occurred in pairs throughout the blue clays, hut chiefly in their 

 upper portions ; it still lives on the coast, and burrows in similar clay 

 in the estuaries. The plants forming the peat have in many in- 

 stances left their roots in the underlying blue clays, proving that 

 the peat was formed of terrestrial plants living and dying where 

 they now are, and not of accumulated sea- weed or drifted material. 

 Hence the section exhibits an interesting case of the frequent alter- 

 nation of terrestrial and marine deposits over the same area. 



3. " Notice of the recent Eruption of Manna Loa, in Hawaii." 

 By W. Miller, Esq., H.M. Consul-General for the Sandwich Islands. 

 From the Foreign Office. 



The late volcanic eruption in the Sandwich Islands broke out in 

 August last near the summit of Mauna Loa, which is 14,000 feet 

 high and sixty miles from Hilo, Byron's Bay, in Hawaii. The stream 

 of lava, having a breadth of from two to three miles, continued to flow 

 in a north-east direction until the end of October, when the lava cur- 

 rent, after having traversed a great part of the dense forest, appeared 

 to have been checked in its progress at about three or four miles from 

 the town of Hilo. 



4. " Experimental Researches on the Granites of Ireland." By 

 tlie Rev. Prof. S. Haughton, A.M., F.G.S. 



The first jjart of this paper described the granites of the south- 

 east of Ireland, which are reducible to three tyj)es, depending on 

 their chemical and mineralogical composition. The granite of the 

 first type, wiiich Mr. Haughton proposed to call " Potash-granite," 

 is found in the main granitic chain of Wicklow and Wexford, and 



