232 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



use has been made of them up to the present time ; and very few 

 quarries have been opened, except for road and farm purposes. 

 Now, however, inquiries are being made about them, and it is 

 proposed to work them in several places. Some of the localities 

 where they have been, or might be, worked with advantage, will 

 now be mentioned. 



Granite and Gneiss Quarries. 



Barnesmore, about half-way between Donegal and Stranorlar, 

 about eight miles from each. Granite, porphyritic, red, or flesh- 

 coloured, can be raised in large blocks, and is capable of a good 

 and fine polish. 



The Barnesmore red granite was, a few years ago, worked by 

 Mr. Flynn, who transported it by rail and road to the Bessbrook 

 Granite Works, Co. Armagh, to be manufactured for monumental, 

 architectural, and other cut-stone purposes, and for polished work. 

 In the quarry, which was at or near the top of the south-west slope 

 of the Gap, large blocks were detached and rolled down into the 

 valley, there to be scabbled into blocks suitable for carriage. The 

 work seems to have been discontinued on account of the great 

 expense of the carriage. However, now that the West Donegal 

 Eailway has been opened, this cost of carriage might be much 

 diminished. 



In this neighbourhood there is also a bright-grey granite, fine- 

 grained, compact, and more or less similar in aspect to the well- 

 known Castlewellan stone, Co. Down. This grey stone has only 

 been worked for local purposes. 



[In places in this granite area there are veins of granitite, fine-grained, felspathic, 

 and nearly micaless, similar to the rock now in use in the manufacture of glass.] 



Minna gran, about nine miles from Glenties. — Gneiss ; grey, 

 coarse, gritty, loosely aggregated, and difficult to work. The 

 quartz and felspar are in nearly equal, though variable, propor- 

 tions, some beds being more micaceous than others. In the vicinity 

 this is known as the " Minnagran millstone." 



In the Glenties district there are large courses, or elongated 

 tracts, of a coarse granitic gneiss, similar to those of the Castlebar 

 district, Co. Mayo. Here, as in the Co. Mayo, the rock was 



