1016 REPORT—1885. 
Valley on ascale of about six miles to one inch was in preparation, and would accom- 
pany the Geological Memoir now in the press for the Palestine Exploration Society. 
The topographical survey had been made by Major Kitchener, R.E., and Mr. John 
Armstrong (formerly sergeant-major, R.E.),and the geological details had been 
inserted by the author. In addition to these, several longitudinal geological 
sections, illustrating the structure of various parts of this region, and numerous 
drawings would accompany the Memoir. 
5. On the Occurrence of Lower Old Red Conglomerate in the Promontory of 
the Funad, North Donegal. By Professor Epwarp Hutt, LL.D., .R.S., 
F.GS. 
The district in which the Old Red Conglomerate occurs is formed of ridges and 
valleys of metamorphic rocks, consisting of beds of quartzite, schist, crystalline 
limestone, and trap, chiefly diorite. It lies between Lough Swilly and Mulroy 
Bay, and is washed on the north by the waters of the Atlantic. The remarkable 
tract of the Old Red Conglomerate, recently discovered by the officers of the Geo- 
logical Survey, is far remote from any mass of the same formation, and it is un- 
represented on any geological map hitherto published. 
The beds consist of red and purple sandstone and conglomerate, made up chiefly 
of quartzite pebbles and blocks, but also containing others of limestone and trap ; all 
derived from the surrounding metamorphic series. They occupy an area of over 
two miles in length and half a mile across, extending along the northern base of 
Knock Alla, a ridge of quartzite which traverses the promontory from side to side. 
The beds dip towards the base of the mountain, against which they are let down by 
a large fault, and they terminate along their northern edge by an unconformable 
superposition on beds of quartzite and limestone. They reach a total thickness of 
about 800 feet. 
From the position of these beds it becomes evident that they are unconnected 
with any of the recognised basins of Lower Old Red Sandstone, either in Scotland 
or Ireland, and may, therefore, be regarded as having been formed in an 
isolated basin. The tract will be a new feature on geological maps of Ireland. 
6. On Bastite-Serpentine and Troktolite in Aberdeenshire; with a Note on 
the Rock of the Black Dog. Dy Professor T. G. Bonney, D.Sc., LL.D., 
F.R.S., Pres. G. S.} 
Bastite-serpentine (as noticed some time since by Professor Heddle) occurs near 
Belhelvie and on the shore near the Black Dog. The author describes the micro- 
scopic structure of this, showing that it consists of olivine and its alteration pro- 
ducts, enstatite in various stages of alteration, and a mineral of the spinellid 
group. Associated with this in the Belhelvie district is a fairly normal troktolite, 
consisting of a plagioclastic felspar allied to anorthite, olivine, more or less altered, 
and a little diallage. It closely resembles the typical Volpersdorf rock, but has 
rather less magnesia and more alumina, corresponding chemically more nearly with 
a rock described by the author from Coverack Cove, Cornwall. He is of opinion 
that the two rocks differ somewhat in age, though probably the earlier was still at 
a high temperature when the later was intruded, and he inclines to the view that 
the serpentine is the older rock of the two. 
The Black Dog has been incorrectly described as consisting of ‘crystals of tale 
matted in such confusion as to form both a tough and hard rock.’ The rock really 
consists of quartz, sillimanite, two kinds of mica, an iron oxide (hematite ?), and 
most probably some dichroite, with perhaps a little kyanite. In short, the rock 
presents a very close resemblance under the microscope to some specimens of the 
well-known ‘cordierite gneiss’ of Bodenmais. 
} Published in full in the Geological Magazine. 1885, p. 439. 
