1876-1877.] 245 



ments of sandstone, containing plant remains, were also found. 

 Chalk and flint chips were scarce, but boulders of Carboniferous 

 limestone, charged with brachiopod shells, encrinites, and corals, 

 were abundant. The glacial deposits of Strangford Lough differ 

 so much from accumulations of similar age on the mainland, they 

 require very careful study, and suggest many questions as to their 

 origin — where were the rocks located which have been denuded 

 to form the boulder clay ? and by what agency were the materials 

 transported to their present site ? The transporting and denuding 

 power of ice in some of its forms is shown by the grooved and 

 polished rocks exposed along the shore, and by the erratic boul- 

 ders scattered over the country. Interesting as the study of these 

 newer deposits may be, that of the older rocks occurring in the 

 County Down is equally so ; the latter were examined in the fine 

 sections exposed in Rademon demesne and other places along the 

 route. The history of the various phenomena connected with 

 these rocks, the changes they have subsequently undergone, the 

 study of the fossils they contain, and the examination of the igne- 

 ous rocks associated with them, afford questions of the highest 

 interest to the local geologist. 



