108 BEPORx— 1880. 



after by the Company for its value in certain mannfactures, was entirely 

 lost shortly after obtaining this section, although a whiter variety was 

 discovered towards the base of these deposits, on making a further exca- 

 vation in another direction. 



The leaf-bed was found, as shown in the above section, at the base 

 of this series of clays, marls, and conglomerates, proving by its fossil con- 

 tents the entire series, including the basalt, to be of Middle Tertiary^ 

 Miocene Age. The deposit so designated is a light grey-coloured clay or 

 marl, more or less arenaceous, and highly charged with plant-remains, 

 most abundant amongst them being the branches of a Sequoia, which 

 appears to be identical with the species found at Ballypalady, near An- 

 trim, named by the Secretary of this report S. Du Noyeri, and which he 

 considered to be intermediate between S. Lannsdorfii and 8. Coaltsice 

 (Heer).i 



From the condition of these formations it would appear that they 

 Avere the result of successive deposition on the shores of a lake, the iron- 

 ore having probably been formed in deeper water. Under the boulder 

 clay the Miocene marls were found to contain broken pieces of lignite, 

 indiscriminately distributed through them, the plant-bed containing the 

 remains of a terrestrial vegetation, which evidently flourished at or near 

 the spot where they are now found, and from their complete state of 

 preservation aflbrdiug satisfactory evidence as to the character of that 

 Flora. 



Several additional specimens were procured at the extensive excava- 

 tions still in progress for obtaining iron-ore, found in connection with the 

 Miocene deposits at Ballypalady, on the Belfast and Northern Counties 

 Railway, near Antrim. Amongst them are many impressions of fruits 

 and seeds, which require closer examination, in order to their determina- 

 tion, than we have as yet been able to give them. 



Other specimens have also been obtained from drifted masses of iron- 

 ore found on the eastern shore of Longh Neagh, containing vegetable 

 remains, evidently of a similar age, and which, from the condition of the 

 deposits, are also in fine preservation. Some of these have been drawn, 

 and added to the series of plates preparing for publication. 



A series of the lignites found connected with these deposits and the 

 silicified wood of Lough Neagh has been procured, which it is intended 

 to examine microscopically by means of prepared sections. 



In addition to the list of plants from these beds read before the Asso- 

 ciation in 1879, and published in the Report, we have to add the follow- 

 ing :— 



ADDITIONAL LIST OF SPECIES.— NOETH OF IRELAND. 



PLANTS. 



Fam. Cupressina. 

 Taxodium sp Ballypalady, co. Antrim. 



AhietiiKe. 

 Pinus Graingeri, n. s. (Baily) „ 



Taxina. 

 Torellia rigida (Heer) „ and Spitzbergen. 



Salininp. 

 Salix sp „ 



QuaH. Journ. Geol. Sac. Land., vol. xxv. pp. 357, etc. 



