394 



of coarse limestone, presenting on the surface large, detached blocks. 

 Col. Brown's account of the excavation agrees with those already 

 given. He notices the springs of fresh water, and the fact, that when 

 the sluice is first shut the pool is drained to a much lower level than 

 that at which it afterwards stands, and this phaenomenon he conceives 

 may be explained on the principle of natural siphons. 



He says that there are three other openings on opposite sides of 

 the promontory, through which sea-water flows into the land, and he 

 is of opinion that there may be many more. 



With respect to the question what becomes of the water. Col. Brown 

 has always believed that the streams are conducted to subterranean 

 fires, and that the earthquakes so common in the island are caused 

 by the expansion of the gases generated by the action of those fires 

 on the sea water. 



A notice accompanying rock specimens from the caves of Bally- 

 bunion, on the coast of Kerry, by Lieut. Col. W. H. Sykes, F.G.S., 

 was then read. 



The author states that his principal object in bringing this commu- 

 nication before the Society is to induce geologists to examine a part 

 of Ireland seldom visited, but which he conceives to be highly deserv- 

 ing of attention. 



The coast of Kerry, in the neighbourhood of Ballybunion, presents 

 a series of cliffs varying from 100 to 150 feet in height, and is in- 

 dented by numerous bays. The stratification consists of several feet 

 of debris, composed of angular fragments of silicious rocks and earth ; 

 a bed of alum shale follows, breaking into rhombs; then a stratum 

 of lignite or carbonaceous schist, and another of iron shale. These 

 strata are occasionally repeated, and said, on the authority of Mr. 

 Ainsworth, to rest on limestone, 



A principal feature in these beds is a disposition to separate into 

 rhombs ; and the cliffs in several places present the solid angles pro- 

 jecting beyond the vertical line of the cliffs, while the roof of some 

 of the caves is groined like the intersection of Gothic arches. The 

 general inclination of the strata is about 13° to the east, but it is 

 frequently altered by faults, and sometimes presents anticlinal 

 dips. 



- Of the exact age of the beds the author offers no opinion, but he 

 thinks that it is not posterior to the carboniferous series. 



Among the specimens which accompanied the memoir were some 

 from the west end of the Isle of Innisfallen, in the Lake of Killarny. 

 The strata at that point consist of narrow vertical and alternating 

 ridges of a silicious rock and limestone : the former projecting beyond 

 the surfiice of the latter. 



A paper was last read, entitled, " An Account of some fossil vege- 

 table Remains found in the sandstone which underlies the lowest bed 

 of the carboniferous Limestone, near Ballisadiere, in the County of 

 Sligo, Ireland," by Sir Alexander Crichton, M.D., F.G.S., &c. 



in the county of Sligo there are no coal deposits, the nearest being 



