Prof. Cole & T. Hallissy—The Wexford Gravels. 501 



no such discrimination is possible in the field in the ai'eas selected by 

 him as typical. Since he held, in common with most geologists at 

 that time, that the gravels were deposited in a shallow sea, he 

 regarded ' the boulder-clay above them as an aqueous derivative from 

 islands of the Lower Boulder-clay which stood out above the water. 



Kinahan returned to the subject in 1884,^ and certainly added to 

 the discussion by his clear realization (p. 272) of the conditions that 

 prevail where pure and stone-bearing masses of ice melt away side by 

 side during the decay of a continental ice-sheet. 



Since the Newer Pliocene character of the faima of the Wexford 

 gravels had been emphasized by Forbes (see ante), an important 

 remark was made in 1886 by P. F. Kendall & R. G. Bell.» 

 Following the stratigraphy established by Kinahan, these authors 

 point out that the Wexford gravels are of Glacial age. In spite of 

 this, A. Bell has since maintained that they are pre-Glacial,* and his 

 statements as to the succession of the strata deserve especial mention. 



A. Bell is clearly "the writer" referred to in the report on the 

 " Manure Gravels of Wexford ", by R.. Etheridge, H. Woodward, and 

 A. Bell.^ It is to be regretted that the associated authors were not 

 in a position to unite in observations in the field. In their first 

 report it is stated that the Wexford gravels are " purely local and 

 bear no marks of ice action, and it is very questionable if this part 

 of Ireland has ever been subjected to glacial action as ordinarily 

 understood". In the second report^ the succession, in spite of 

 Kinahan's work, is given as " (1) ' manure ' gravel series; (2) marls 

 and clays; (3) an illusory or fictitious drift". The marls and clays, 

 which in reality form the base, are said in part to cover the gravels. 

 From pp. 134 and 135 it is clear that the deposit styled an "illusory 

 drift " is identical with that correctly determined by Harkness as 

 boulder-clay abounding in striated blocks. 



On p. 138 the section at Killiney in Co. Dublin is discussed, and 

 here an older drift is recognized, with gravels resting on it. The 

 upper portion of the Killiney cliff is unfortunately described as 

 consisting of " smaller gravel ". 



The third report of the British Association Committee (1889) is 

 merely an interim record of progress. The fourth report ' emphasizes 

 the large number of extinct mollusca in the Wexford gravels (p. 423), 

 as compared with nine other localities of shell-bearing gravels. 



In 1892 A. Bell summarized his conclusions.^ He again (p. 662) 

 makes the remarkable assertion that the series of Wexford sands 

 "rests directly upon Palfeozoic rocks and is remarkably free from 



1 Mem. to Sheets 169, etc., 1879, p. 12. 



- "Note on the Classification of the Boulder-clays and their associated 

 Gravels" : Journ. Roy. Geol. Soc. Ireland, vol. vi, p. 270. 



2 "On the Pliocene Beds of St. Erth " : Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, 

 vol. xlii, p. 208. 



* Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., ser. Ill, vol. ii, 1892, p. 621. 



* Rep. Brit. Assoc, 1887, p. 210. 

 ^ Rep. Brit. Assoc, 1888, p. 133. 

 ' Rep. Brit. Assoc, 1890, p. 410. 



^ ' ' Note on the Correlation of the Later and Post-Pliocene Tertiaries on either 

 side of the Irish Sea" : Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., ser. Ill, vol. ii, p. 620. 



