184 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



There seems to be added to it yearly a few more shells, by the people 

 who visit the site of a chiu'ch, and two holy wells dedicated to St. 

 Columbkill, which are in its vicinity." 



Memoir Geolog. Survey of Ireland (Sheets 105, and part of 114), 

 1869. (iN^orth of Galway Eay . ) 



(p. 41.) — " In places along the shore of Galway Bay, peat with the 

 roots of trees is found below high- water mark ; this might not prove 

 that the land has sunk, for, at the present day, about two miles west 

 of Galway, between Blackrock and Blake's Hill, is a morass below 

 high-water mark, in which peat and shi'ubs are growing. This morass 

 is divided from the sea by a barrier of shingle. However, against this 

 theory, we find in a half tide bog west of Blake's Hill, an oak stem, 

 12 feet long and 2 feet in diameter, immediately above the ' corker ^ 

 or butt. This tree could scarcely have grown on ground below sea 

 level ; moreover on the Aran Islands at the mouth of the bay, there 

 are proofs of the islands having sunk since they were first inhabited." 

 {See Memoir Sheet 113.) 



Memoir Geolog. Survey of Ireland (Sheets, 114, 122, and 123) 

 (1863). The sheets contain the north-western extremity of the 

 County Clare, lying on the south side of Galway Bay, and the island 

 of Inishere, the smallest and most easterly of the south Isles of 

 Aran. They include the coast line from the southern shore of Liscan- 

 nor Bay to the Head of Galway Bay. 



(p. 5.) — " To the north of Liscannor Bay, in the promontoiy of 

 Hag's Head, the gi'ound rises to heights of 500 and 600 feet, especially 

 along the coast, which exhibits a line of magnificent precipices nearly 

 three miles long, and rising in one part, quite perpendicularly, to a 

 height of 668 feet ; these form the well-known cliffs of Moher (see 

 fig. 1)." 



(p. 11.) — " Much of this removal has been caused by the wearing 

 action of the sea, when the land stood at a lower level. The escarp- 

 ment which runs round the foot of the limestone hills, is as much like 

 an old sea-coast on the east side as on the west where the sea is still 

 beating on it. The action of the sea on the high Coal Measure land 

 may be well observed still going on at Hag's Head and the clifi's of 

 Moher, the waves eating away the lower part of the cliff, and constantly 

 causing fragments of the upper part to fall for want of support. This 



