76 Guide to Belfast. 



thicknesses of the coal vary in the various districts from a 

 few inches up to six feet. In the Salt Pans colliery, coal 

 varying from six to nine feet was found about forty yards 

 below sea-level. 



The Murlough Bay colliery contains six coal seams, 

 four of which are bituminous : two of these, known as the 

 White Mine and Good Man's Vein, are two feet six inches 

 thick. 



The sandstone of the Ballycastle district has been used 

 locally as a building stone with success ; and if the beds are 

 carefully selected, a durable building stone may be obtained. 

 The weathering properties of the stone may be seen in the 

 Boyd Church, Ballycastle, built in 1756 ; in some of the old 

 tombstones at Bonamargy Abbey ; and in many of the local 

 fence walls. 



Many fossils are recorded from the Lower Carboniferous 

 rocks of Ballycastle. Plant remains are particularly num- 

 erous — Sigillaria and Stigmaria. Sphenopteris flabellata is 

 recorded from yellow ochreous shales at Fair Head. Lmgiila 

 sguamiformis is abundant in the shales, while the limestones 

 yield fish remains referred to Ctaiacantlius and truly marine 

 types of shells. 



At CuLTRA, on the southern shores of Belfast Lough, 

 there is a small outcrop of Lower Carboniferous shale, dip- 

 ping north about 20'. These rocks have yielded numerous 

 specimens of Modiola MacAdami in the darker shales, while 

 numerous fish remains, chiefly scales of Holoptychius Port- 

 locki, have been obtained from the more massive beds of 

 lighter-coloured limestone near the battery wall. A line of 

 fault, running north and south, bounds the rocks on the 

 west, separating them from Triassic sandstones ; while to 

 the east the rocks are, or were, covered by Permian. These 

 Permian beds are, however, only to be observed at low ebb 

 tide. 



Castle Espie. — Further south, at Castle Espie, near 

 Comber, is found an exposure of Carboniferous limestone, 

 resembling closely the Carboniferous of the central plain of 

 Ireland. The rock rests unconformably on the Silurian, and 

 has a considerable dip. Extensive lime-works were started 

 here about thirty years ago, but at present operations are not 



