XCvi PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May I904, 



county and along the southern coast of England, as will be more 

 specially remarked in a later part of this Address ; and the inter- 

 Glacial or pre-Glacial raised beaches of the whole of this region 

 doubtless stood at one time higher above the sea-level than thev 

 do now. 



The raised beaches of Ireland call for no special remark, beyond 

 an expression of regret that they are so few and so fragmentary. 

 The so-called ' 25-foot terrace ' of the Clyde Basin is prolonged into 

 the north-eastern counties of the sister-island, where it lies from 

 10 to 20 feet above the present sea-level, and has yielded so many 

 worked flints and flint-flakes that it is regarded as not older than 

 jNeolithic. The same beach has been recognized at intervals on the 

 northern shores and also down the eastern coast, at least as far south 

 as Dublin Bay. But both along the east and west sides of the island, 

 the general absence of well-marked raised beaches in sheltered bays 

 and inlets, where, had thej T ever existed, they might have been 

 confidently expected to have been preserved, cannot but strike the 

 eye of the geologist. Recently Messrs. Muff & Wright, of the 

 Geological Survey, have detected an ancient shore-line at Cork 

 Harbour which they have traced, not only within the Harbour, but 

 for a long distance on the shore to the east and west of that inlet. 

 Though only a few feet above the present high-water mark, this 

 beach has been ascertained to be older than the oldest Irish 

 Boulder-Clay, for it is overlain by the so-called ' shelly marl ' 

 which was brought in upon the land from the sea-basin. The 

 similarity of position and antiquity between this beach and that 

 underlying the Drift in Gower, is obviously as important as it is 

 interesting. A shore-line, which must be of pre-Glacial or inter- 

 Glacial age, is traceable in the South of Ireland and in South Wales. 

 It has not only survived the erosive processes of the Glacial Period, 

 but it appears to have outlived some serious alterations in the relative 

 levels of sea and land which have taken place since its formation. 

 Moreover, we have to note the fact that neither at Cork nor in Gower 

 does any younger post-Glacial terrace appear to be recognizable. 

 If we might judge from the analogy of other parts of these islands 

 where the succession of raised beaches is tolerably complete, we 

 should infer that if ever any later terrace existed here, it must now 

 be submerged — an inference which, it will be observed, is supported 

 by the evidence of considerable submergence in South Wales, and 

 on the southern coast of Hampshire. 



