610 REPORT— 1902. 



basalt fragments prevail on the sea-floor between Ireland and Rockall. Tha 

 granite of the Mourue Mountains was intruded in the same period of unrest, and 

 the pinnacles and rocky walls of the group are a siga of youth when compared 

 with the older granite areas in Ireland. 



The existing surface of northern Ireland was determined by the falling-in and 

 dislocation of the volcanic country that once spread northward to the Faroe Isles. 

 Lough Neagh thus lies in a shallow basin formed during this epoch of subsidence 

 and decay. The long sea-inlets of the north and west, including Belfast Lough 

 and the 'rias' and 'fjords ' of Connemara and Kerry, originated about the same 

 time ; but Ireland, now cut ofl" from the lost continent on the north-west, became 

 joined on to the growing continent of Cainozoic Europe. The spread of ice in 

 glacial times is marked by numerous hiUs of gravel and eskers, especially in 

 the central plain, where they form green ridges rising from the bogland and the 

 prairie. The oscillations of level that occurred between the glacial epoch and the 

 present day finally left Ireland cut off from Scotland, Wales, and England, with 

 which her fundamental geological structure so obviously connects her. It is inter- 

 esting to note that the most prominent features of her landscapes at the present 

 day depend on structures impressed upon the area far back in Palaeozoic times. 



2. On the Fossil Fishes of the Lower Devonian Roofing-slate of Gemiinden 

 in Germany. By R. H. Tkaquair, M.D., F.R.S. 



The fossils of the Lower Devonian beds, known as the Hunsriick Slates in 

 western Germany, are marine in character, and mainly represented by starfishes, 

 crinoids, trilobites, cephalopods, and bivalve shells, corals and brachiopods being 

 rare, while at one locality, namely, Gemiinden, beautifully preserved fish-remains 

 occur. These fossils are all pyritised, and consequently microscopic examination 

 is impossible. The fishes chiefly belong to Drepanaspis gemiindenensis of Schliiter, 

 a singular ostracoderm fish witli a mailed body, a scaly tail, and heterocercal taU- 

 fin, but no limbs, no teeth, and no true jaws. It is allied to the Pteraspidse. The 

 author next showed photographs of a new and remarkable fish to which, he gave 

 the name of Gemiindina stiirtzi, the affinities of which were doubtful, though on 

 the whole pointing in the direction of the Selachii, or sharks and rays. It had 

 expanded pectoral fins like a ray, a pointed tail, a vertebral column with ring-like 

 centra, while the skin was covered with ossifications, passing on the tail into 

 longitudinal rows of scutes. A new species of Coccosteus {C. angustus, Traq.), 

 characterised by the narrow contour of the ventral cuirass, was next described. 

 This is the first record of Coccosteus in the Lower Devonian strata of Europe. 

 The fourth form shown belonged to the genus Phlyctcenaspis, characteristic of 

 the Lower Devonian rocks of Herefordshire and of Canada, and was represented 

 by a portion of the head of a new species, Ph. germanica, Traq. The last of these 

 fish-remains treated of in the present paper was an interesting vertebral column, 

 to which, however, the author did not deem it advisable to affix a name in the 

 meantime. 



3. On the Prolongation of the Highland Border Rock into Co. Tyrone. 



By G. Barrow. 



The author gives a brief account of the rocks, Jasper and Green Rock Series, 

 occurring along the southern margins of the Highlands in Kincardineshire. He 

 then notes these occurrences along the southern Highland border. 



The occurrence of the same rocks in Anglesea and in N. Wales is also noted 

 and the evidence as to their age briefly referred to. 



A brief account is then given of their widespread outcrop north of Pomeroy, 

 and it is shown that they bear the same relation to the Highland rocks as in 

 Kincardineshire, i.e., the two series are separated by a persistent thrust plane. 

 This had been previously traced by Mr. McHenry, though his work is not pub- 

 lished 



