Reports and Proceedings. 321 



The following specimens were exliihited : — 1. A collection of 

 Eocks and Fossils from the neighbourhood of Mount Sinai; ex- 

 hibited by the Eev. F. W. Holland. 2. A series of Crustacea, 

 illustrating Mr. Woodward's papers ; exhibited by D. J. Brown, 

 Esq., W. Carruthers, Esq., F.L.S., E. F. Tomes, Esq., F.Z.S., Charles 

 Moore, Esq., F.G.S., the Eev. P. B. Brodie, M.A., F.G.S., and Captain 

 Hussey. 



n.— June 6, 1866.— Warington W. Smyth, Esq., M.A., F.E.S., 



President, in the Chair. The following communications were read : — 

 1. " On the Metamorphic and Fossiliferous Eocks of Co. Galway." 

 By Prof. E. Harkness, F.E.S., F.G.S. 



A great portion of the area under consideration was described as 

 being occupied by contorted gneissose rocks, striking east and west, 

 with a prevailing southerly dip towards the granitic area of Galway 

 Bay. Quartzose rocks, exhibiting great folds, give rise to the bold 

 mountainous scenery of Connemara ; and reposing on these, and 

 passing underneath the gneissic strata, is a band of serpentinous 

 limestone, the structiu-e of which is not of animal origin, but results 

 solel}'' from mineral association. The gneissose rocks on the north 

 are covered unconformably by sandstones, the fossils of which indi- 

 cate the horizon of the Upper Llandovery rocks. These metamor- 

 phic rocks correspond with those of the Highlands of Scotland, 

 representing the Upper Quartz rocks, Upper Limestone, and Upper 

 Gneiss, the positions of which are known in consequence of the 

 Lower Limestones at Durness having been determined to be not 

 lower than the Llandeilo Flags. 



2. " On the Metamorphic Lower Silurian Eocks of Carrick, Ayr- 

 shire." By J. Geikie, Esq. Communicated by A. Geikie, Esq., 

 F.E.S., F.G.S. 



In surveying the southern district of Ayrshire, the author and his 

 colleagues recognized the metamorphic character of certain Diorites, 

 Serpentines, and crystalline felspathic rocks independently of each 

 other; and Mr. J. Geikie had also been enabled to trace passages 

 between the various altered rocks, which seemed to him to throw 

 light upon the obscure process of metamorphic action. In this paper 

 he first gave a generalized description of the metamorphic strata, 

 dividing them into four groups, namely, (1) Felspathic Eocks, (2) 

 Diorites, (3) Serpentines, and (4) Altered Limestone and Calca- 

 reous Greywacke, and again subdividing the Felspathic rocks into 

 Amygdaloid, Porphyry, Breccieeform rocks, and finely crystalline 

 Felstones, and the Serpentine into Schistose and Compact. He also 

 described the association of serpentine with diorite, and stated that 

 the only igneous rocks of the district, consisting of a few dykes of 

 felstone and greenstone, are of much later date than the metamor- 

 phism, and have not altered the strata in contact with them. These 

 and other facts described in the paper had enabled him to arrive 

 at the following conclusions : — (1) That the strata owe their meta- 

 morphism to hydro thermal action. (2) That the varying minera- 

 logical character of the rocks is due principally to original differences 

 VOL. III. — NO. xxy. 21 



