542 Prof. Harkness — On the Middle Pleistocene Deposits. 



counties, he will be liable to some such muttered interruption from 

 an incredulous old farmer, as that of Edie Ochiltree to the Antiquary's 

 far-fetched assertions — " Sea-beach here, sea-beach there ; J mind the 

 bigging of 'em." 



IV. — On the Middle Pleistocene Deposits. 

 By Professor Harkness, F.R.S., F.G.S. 



THE superficial deposits of the Co. of Wexford, containing a 

 rich marine fauna, have been referred to in Professor E. 

 Forbes's Memoir on " The Geological Relations of the existing 

 Fauna and Flora of the British Isles." ^ 



In an appendix to this memoir the several shells which have been 

 obtained from the superficial deposits of this portion of Ireland are 

 mentioned. A list of the fossil contents of these deposits had been 

 previously given by Sir Henry James, who first pointed out the 

 occurrence of these shell-bearing strata in the Journal of the Dublin 

 Geological Society, Vol. HI. The fossils mentioned in this list have 

 been also determined by Professor E. Forbes. 



The strata affording these fossil shells are described by Sir Henry 

 James as very extensively developed in the Co. of Wexford, and occu- 

 pying an area forty miles in length, by from eight to nine miles in 

 breadth. They consist of sands and gravel and drift, and repose 

 upon rounded pebbles." On the sides of the Firth Mountain they 

 attain an elevation of 400 feet above the level of the sea. Their 

 thickness near Blackwater is said to be 174 feet, and their base is 

 nowhere seen. 



On four of the sheets of the Geological Survey Maps of this part 

 of Ireland (sheets 47 S.E., 47 N.E., 41 S.E., and 41 N.E.), these 

 strata are referred to as follows : — " The low lands of this coast and 

 the interior up to a height of between two and three hundred feet are 

 covered by I'leistocene deposits, consisting of marls interstratified 

 with sand and gravel, containing Arctic and other shells, chalk-flints, 

 pebbles of Antrim chalk, jasper, coal, etc., and magnetic iron sand." 

 Many of the species of shells which occur in these beds are in the 

 Museum of the Geological Survey of Ireland, and the several 

 localities from whence the specimens have been obtained are 

 recorded on the underside of the slabs upon which they are mounted. 

 By the kind assistance of Mr. Baily, Paleontologist to the Irish 

 Survey, I have been able to give the following as localities from 

 whence these specimens have been derived : — Ballyteige, Killiley, 

 Eathaspick, Castle Ellis, Killisk, Bailyhuskard, Artramon, Bally- 

 valdon, Ballyknockan, Killmackridge, St. Margaret's, Killinkorley 

 Clonmure. 



The portion of the Co. of Wexford where these superficial deposits 

 occur is marked by a circumstance which at once recalls, to the minds 

 of those who have seen them, the Boulder-clays of Lancashire and 

 Cheshire, and their associated strata. Great numbers of pits are 

 seen scattered over the parts of Wexford where the superficial 

 ^ Memoirs of the Geological Survey, Vol. I. 



