Frof. Harkness — On the Middle Pleistocene Deposits. f>43 



deposits are formed ; but by far the greater portion of these have 

 been abandoned for many years, and are now full of water. From 

 these pits have been derived materials used in the improvement of 

 the land, and in every respect they are analogous to the marl pits 

 in the English counties above alluded to. There are now very few 

 dry pits in the northern portion of the area occupied l)y the super- 

 ficial deposits in the Co. .of Wexford ; and those in the southern 

 portion of the county afford very little evidence concerning the 

 relative position of the strata which they exhibit. 



Sir Henry James has stated that the base of the superficial deposits 

 in this part of Ireland is not seen ; and to this might be added, that 

 for the most part we have little information as to the strata which 

 are newer than the shell-bearing sands and gravels of the Co. of 

 Wexford. There are, however, a few localities where strata of 

 a different nature, and with well-pronounced features, are seen rest- 

 ing upon the shell-bearing deposits. 



One of these localities is in Castle Ellis, about a quarter-of-a-mile 

 north of the Post Office, in a field on the east side of the high road. 

 Here there are two dry pits, one of which has recently been worked 

 for material for the land. The sides of this pit exhibit a mass of 

 reddish-brown Boulder-clay, about forty feet in thickness. This 

 clay rests upon sandy and gravelly strata in some instances, almost 

 consolidated by the infiltration of carbonate of lime. These sands 

 and gravels forming the lower beds of the pit, are only exposed to 

 the depth of about twelve feet. 



The Boulder-clay above them abounds in angular, subangular, and 

 rounded blocks of rocks, derived principally from the Cambrian and 

 Silurian formations ; and, in many instances, these blocks are beauti- 

 fully striated. 



Some of the sandy layers are very strongly impregnated with 

 small particles of shells ; and it is from these layers that the mate- 

 rials which are used for the improvement of land are obtained. 



In Castle Ellis, on the same side of the road, a short distance 

 south of the Post-office, there is another largo dry pit, the upper 

 portion of which also consists of Boulder-clay. Here, however, the 

 Boulder-clay is not more than twelve feet in thickness, and the rest of 

 the pit, which is of considerable depth, is made up of sands and 

 gravels. A little further to the south, on the opposite side of the 

 road, another dry pit occurs. The latter consists of sands and gi-avels 

 exclusively, the Boulder-clay having thinned off before reaching this 

 spot. The sands and gravels in the last mentioned pit are now 

 largely worked, and, in common with the same deposits in other 

 parts of the Co. of Wexford, they are known as " Manure gravels." 

 It is to the abundance of fragments of shells, which occur in these 

 deposits, that they owe their value for agricultural purposes. 



Some other spots on the road from Castle Ellis to Wexford afford 

 also '•' Manure gravels." One of these is at Pulregan, near Castle- 

 bridge. Here, and in several other localities, the '' Manure gravel" 

 deposits exhibit a rounded outline, having much of the contour of 

 Eskers. At Pulregan, besides numerous fragments of bivalve shells, 



