234 



yielded more than 2000 tons of copper ore per annum. The ore occurs 

 in a large quartz-vein, which generally intersects the slaty rocks of the 

 country from north to south, but in some places runs parallel to the 

 stratification. It is remarked that all this portion of the county of 

 Cork indicates a very general diffusion of cupreous particles, so much 

 so, that in the year 1812 there existed a cupriferous peat-bog on the 

 east side of Glandore harbour, forty or fifty tons of the dried peat 

 producing when burnt, one ton of ashes, containing from ten to fifteen 

 per cent of copper. The lead mines of Doneen and Rinabelly are in 

 slate. 



In concluding a long series of observations on the mines of the 

 tracts described in this paper, the author remarks that the diffusion 

 of metallic substances throughout the mass of rock* is far from being 

 an uncommon occurrence — the metalliferous matter .appearing in 

 isolated particles, and in strings, veins or filaments, more or less con- 

 nected with each other, but not continuous or persistent, and there- 

 fore of contemporaneous origin with the rock itself. 



III. Carboniferous series of Clare. 



The clay-slate formation in this county is bordered by a belt of old 

 red sandstone, to which succeed, in ascending order and conformable 

 position, the mountain limestone and coal measures, both of which 

 occupy flat and undulating hills, and the strata usually dip from the east 

 of north to the west of south ; but seldom at a greater angle than 5°. 

 The best sections are seen in the cliffs of the west coast, where shale, 

 sandstone and sandy-flag-stone overlie limestone. Coal, however, 

 is there of very rare occurrence, and when disclosed is of very indif- 

 ferent quality ; and the author infers, that the lower part of the series 

 in the county of Clare is comparatively poor in this mineral : he, how- 

 ever, suggests that the best chances of discovering valuable seams 

 must lie in the elevated regions of Mount. Cullun ; where if coal be 

 found, the beds being nearly horizontal, it might be worked with ad- 

 vantage. 



The Memoir concludes with some observations on the distribution 

 of diluvial matter in the South of Ireland. 



1. Boulders, gravel and sand, derived from the transition series are 

 lodged along the borders and sides of the mountains in Kerry. 



2. In a small district of Limerick and Tipperary, situated between 

 the Gaultees and Slieve-na-rnuck, the rolled debris consist not only 

 of portions of the contiguous rocks, but contain also porphyry, which 

 is not to be found in situ near the vicinity of Pallis Hill. 



3. In the peninsula of Renville, near Galway, the surface of the 

 carboniferous limestone is strewed over with numerous boulders of 

 red and gray granite, syenite, greenstone, and sandstone, which must 

 apparently have been conveyed from the opposite side of the bay of 

 Galway. 



June 18. — Robert Dawson, Esq. of the Royal Engineers, and em- 

 ployed on the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, was elected a Fellow of 

 this Society. 



A letter on the Basin of Alhama, in the Province of Granada, in 



