TBANSACTIOXS OF SECTION C. 661 



were stated to range generally in N.N.E. and S.S.W. lines. It was considered that 

 the granites might belong to at least two periods — the intrusiye being distinct both 

 in age and structure from the metamorphic granite and gneiss. Other points 

 noticed were the occurrence of numerous basaltic dykes, probably of Tertiary age, 

 traversing the gneissose rocks ; and the mai-ginal representatives of the Lo'Nyer 

 Carboniferous period. 



2. Notes on the Crystalline Schists of Ireland. 

 By C. Callaway, I).8c., M.A., F.G.S. 



The author gives a summary of results obtained by a preliminary survey of the 

 principal areas of Irish metamorphic rocks, viz. — ■ 



1. Donegal, including parts of the adjacent counties of Londonderry and 

 Tyrone. 



2. Connemara, extending the term to cover the region lying between Westport, 

 CO. Mayo, and the granitic mass west of the town of Galwaj-. 



3. The south-eastern corner of the county of Wexford. 



In each of these areas the following facts were observed : — 



(«) A series of hypometamorphic rocks, consisting typically of fine-grained 



schists, altered grits, and quartzites. A clastic structure is more or less distinct 



in the three areas, but is least evident in Connemara. 



(b) A group of highly crystalline schists, displaying no trace of an original 

 sedimentary origin, dipping as if it passed below the hypometamorphic rocks. At 

 Wexford there are true gneisses. In Connemara the rocks are less felspathic, the 

 chief types being quartzose gneiss, quartz-schist, mica-schist, hornblende-schist, 

 quartzite, and crystalline limestone. This description will also apply to Donegal. 



(c) Granite, underlying {b), and in Connemara and Donegal clearly intrusive. 

 The author urges that this analogy is not due to the metamorphic action of the 



granite ; for — 



1. The mineral characters apparent in the scliists adjacent to the granite are 

 uniformly distributed through the lower series from bottom to top. 



2. The evidence collected is hostile to the view that this lower series ever 

 graduates into the upper. 



It is concluded that the balance of proof is in favour of the Archaean age of the 

 bulk of the Irish schists. 



1. In the AVexford district the schists are thrown against Cambrian and 

 Ordovician rocks by faults, and do not pass into them in the localities alleged by 

 the Irish Survey. 



2. In Connemara conglomerates of Llandovery age contain large rounded frag- 

 ments, not only of the older schistose series, but also of its intrusive igneous rocks. 



3. In the Ulster region the metamorphic area is separated from the Ordovician 

 rocks of Pomeroy by a ridge of granite and diorite three miles in breadth. 



The lithological analogies between the Irish schists and the Archsean rocks 

 of Anglesey and other British metamorphic districts are also of weight in the 

 argument. 



3. The Ordovician Kochs of Shropshire. 

 By Professor C. Lapworth, LL.D., F.G.S. 



In this paper the author gave a brief review of the history of discovery and 

 opinion respecting the Lower Palteozoic rocks of Wales and the west of England, 

 and pointed out that the results developed of late years by British and foreign 

 geologists made it clearly evident that Murchison's Silurian system, as defined in 

 the later editions of ' Siluria,' was in reality composed of three distinct geological 

 systems, and that of these three the only one which belonged to him by right of 

 discovery and correct description was the so-called Upper Silurian, which was 

 therefore the only true Silurian System. The lowest known fossiliferous system 

 (the Primordial Silurian of Barrande) was not discovered by Murchison, but by 

 Sedgwick, who regarded it as the lower half of his own Cambrian System, and it 



