i88i-i88a.] 117 



bringing under their notice a subject of local geological in- 

 terest. It was to nlace on record the first definite notic:; of 

 the impression of the foot of an animal — probably reptilian — 

 which had been found on a rippled surface of triassic sandstone 

 of this locality. This slab had been brought under his notice 

 by John Ward, Esq., F.G.S., who obtained it in a stone-yard 

 in town, it having been brought from the Scrabo quarries for 

 building purposes. Unfortunately, portions of the impression 

 had been trimmed off by the workmen before it came into Mr. 

 Ward's hands, but in the opinion of those who had examined 

 the specimen, enough still remained to place the fact on record, 

 though insufficient to, identify the precise species of animal 

 which formed it. After giving a resume of the knowledge 

 which existed on fossil footprints in the triassic formations of 

 Britain and the continents of Europe and America, the Presi- 

 dent requested the Rev. H. W. Lett to give the communi- 

 cation which he had promised on " Records of a Former Level 

 of Lough Neagh." Mr. Lett introduced his subject by referring 

 to the dimensions and natural history of the lough, to its re- 

 puted curative and petrifying powers, and stated that ancient 

 authorities agreed in ascribing its origin to submergence. Pass- 

 ing to his own observations, he stated that the water was re- 

 markably shallow near the shore, so that a person can wade 

 out for many yards, there being a gently shelving bank for 

 some distance, and then a sudden precipitous drop from three 

 or six feet to a depth of from eleven to sixteen feet. The shore 

 population call this " the edge of the gut," and its margin can 

 be traced through the water in summer or autumn by the 

 fringe of Potamogetons which find on it a suitable habitat. 

 At one place a boat can be rowed along this edge with two feet 

 of water at one side, and nine feet at the other. The formation 

 is the Boulder Clay. It is not possible that the undercurrents 

 in stormy weather could do this, and the edge is too deep to 

 have been scraped out by the ice of any recorded frost. This 

 second margin is more or less distinct all round the south-east, 

 south, and western shores, and is, in some instances, at a con- 



I 



