233 



anthracite is raised in sufficient quantities for the purpose of burning 

 the limestone of the adjoining districts ; and the most considerable 

 collieries, those of Dromagh, have yielded 25,000 tons per annum, 

 at from 10s. to 15s. per ton. 



The coal, and accompanying pyritiferous strata are abundantly 

 charged with the remains or impressions of plants, belonging chiefly 

 to Equisetaand Calamites, with some indications ofFucoides. Beds 

 of transition coal occur also in the county of Limerick, on the left 

 bank of the Shannon, north of Abbeyfeale, and at Longhill ; and are 

 seen, though in very small quantity, on the right bank of the river at 

 Labbasheada. Several other places where coal strata occur, are 

 mentioned by the author. 



The transition rocks of Kerry and Limerick are prolonged into 

 Cork and Waterford, preserving with certain modifications an ana- 

 logous character and composition. The carboniferous limestone re- 

 posing upon this tract, on the north, is usually unconformable to it, 

 but is conformable to the old red sandstone, wherever that rock in- 

 tervenes. In this system of strata, organic remains, such as poly- 

 paria, bivalves, Trilobites, &c. occur near the Bonmahon river ; the 

 horizontal planes which they occupy crossing the vertical cleavage of 

 the slaty grauwacke nearly at right angles. The series rests upon, 

 and passes into clay-slate, and is capped by old red sandstone and 

 strata of the carboniferous order. Metalliferous veins with indications 

 of copper and lead are seen in the cliffs of the transition series, east 

 and west of the Bonmahon river. 



II. Metalliferous relations in Kerry and Cork. 



The author having succeeded in restoring the copper mines at 

 Ross Island, on the Lake of Killarney, and in effectually draining off 

 the water, was enabled to prove that the ore did not constitute a me- 

 talliferous bed, or any real vein, but was contemporaneous with 

 the rock in which it is irregularly distributed in the form of ribs, 

 branches, strings, &c, analogous to those of calcareous spar, in 

 limestone. The rocks at Ross Island consist of blue limestone, and 

 beneath it of siliceous limestone, but the ore is confined exclusively 

 to the former ; and various trials have proved the non-existence of 

 any vein communicating with the metalliferous deposit. Copper ore 

 is similarly distributed at Crow Island : — but at the Muckruss mines 

 the ore was obtained chiefly from a metalliferous bed. The author 

 has ascertained exactly the extent of the limestone bearing lead in 

 Kenmare, where most of the unsuccessful trials in search of ore have 

 shown that the mineral deposits are discontinuous, and nearly parallel 

 to the range and dip of the beds ; and in Castlemaine mine, where 

 lead ore was formerly worked in a mass of calcareous spar and 

 quartz, it thinned out into an unproductive pipe. Near Tralee and 

 Ardfort, and on the left bank of the Shannon, lead ore has been un- 

 profitably worked in limestone, sandstone and slate. 



In the county of Cork, the copper mines are those of Allihies, 

 Audley, and Ballydehol ; and those producing lead are situated at 

 Doneen and Rinabelly* The mine at Allihies is one of the richest 

 mines in Ireland ; it was discovered only in 1812, and has already 



