1878-1879.] 333 



On Saturday, 29th June, to 



CROW GLEN. 



Although within an easy half-holiday's ramble of Belfast, and 

 possessing many attractive features, Crow Glen is a terra incognita 

 to many. To the lovers of nature it has, however, long been 

 known as one of the choicest nooks in the neighbourhood. The 

 party set out from the Museum on cars shortly after two o'clock, 

 and on alighting at the Forth River Bridge proceeded to the 

 grounds of Glencairn House, the residence of J. Cunningham, 

 Esq. Adjoining the house is part of an extensive fort, the em- 

 bankments of which are covered with well-grown timber, and the 

 centre cultivated. More than a dozen similar erections are known 

 in this neighbourhood within a very limited area, and it is from 

 them that the stream which flows close by receives its name of 

 Forth River. The origin and history of these forts is but little 

 known, and their study offers a good field for the researches of our 

 local archaeologists. After a leisurely walk, the party left the road 

 and entered the almost dry bed of the stream, which is here cut 

 through the red Keuper marls of the Triassic series. Many 

 examples of trap dykes may here be seen, and the disturbance and 

 alterations which they cause to the almost horizontal strata of the 

 marls is admirably shown along the stream banks. The Rhsetic 

 and Lias beds, which in these districts usually overlie these marls, 

 are here absent, and the next beds in ascending order belong to the 

 Cretaceous formation, and are the yellow sands and marls forming 

 the central division of the Hibernian Greensand of Professor Ralph 

 Tate. The Chalk, or ordinary white limestone, rests upon these, 

 and forms a broken escarpment, capped by the traps of the Antrim 

 plateau. The junction between the Cretaceous rocks and the 

 underlying marls gives rise to many fine springs. The fissured 

 character of the former allows the water to pass through, until 



