E. Hull — General Relations of the Drift Deposits. 295 



the members of the Drift series of Ireland with those of England 

 and Scotland. He shows that there exist in the East of Ireland de- 

 tached portions of an Upper Boulder-clay resting on the shelly sands 

 and gravels of the " Middle Drift," and that in other localities these 

 sands and gravels may be observed resting on the Lower Bonlder- 

 clay, which is generally supported by rock with a glaciated surface. 

 The order of succession of the members of the Di'ift series is, there- 

 fore, precisely similar to that of the North-western counties of Eng- 

 land, where we have at the base (a) Lower Till or Boulder-clay ; 

 (6) Marine Sands and Gravels; (c) Upper Till or Boulder-clay;^ 

 — an order of succession which I have for some years felt satisfied 

 would be found ultimately to hold good over the whole of England. 



In 1867 I showed how Mr. Searles Y. Wood's classification of the 

 Drift deposits in the Eastern counties exactly corresponded with that 

 of the North-western counties, and I expressed my belief that more 

 extended investigations would show that the threefold division of 

 the Drift series would be found to be a real and widely extended 

 sequence of deposits of the Glacial Epoch.^ How far this impression 

 has been verified by subsequent observations, it is unnecessary to 

 point out. 



I was scarcely, however, prepared at that time to entertain these 

 views to the extent of including Ireland, but during the last two 

 years, having had frequent opportunities of observing the succession 

 of the Drift deposits in various parts of the country (with the 

 exception of the South), I had arrived at the very same conclusions 

 with Professor Harkness, at the time he published his paper. I have 

 therefore great pleasure in adding my testimony in confirmation of 

 his views, and my purpose in this paper is to adduce some further 

 evidence afforded by a series of sections which may be observed 

 along the coast, and the cuttings of the railway between Killiney 

 and Bray, South of Dublin ; and to add some observations on the 

 general relations of the Post-Pliocene deposits of the British Isles. 

 I may here observe that, as far as my observations have yet gone, the 

 sections along various parts of the Eastern coast of Ireland are very 

 instructive ; and, when the key to the threefold classification has once 

 been obtained, are all consistent with each other. 



Along the shores of Antrim and Down, we often find the Lower 

 Boulder-clay resting on glaciated rock-surfaces, and capped by the 

 sand and gravels of the middle division. Here also we have the 

 raised beach (the representative of the 25 feet beach of the coast of 

 Scotland), rising about 12 feet above the high- water line. In the 

 neighbourhood of Howth the three divisions can be clearly made 

 out, as stated by Professor Harkness ; and the middle gravels are 

 abundantly charged with marine shells, as determined in 1837 by 



^ The Upper Boulder-clay, of whicli I first showed the importance in 1864 in the 

 district around Manchester, has since been traced and identified by Mr. de Ranee, 

 Miss Eyton, Mr. Mackintosh, and Mr. Taylor, over the district extending from the 

 Lakes to the valley of the Severn ; and by Mr. A. H. Green and the author over 

 Cheshire. 



^ " On the Parallelism of the Drift Deposits in Lancashire and the Eastern 

 Counties," Geol. Mag., Vol. IV., p. 183. 



