280 [Proc. B. N. F. C, 



and thousands of square miles with thick deposits of ash. 

 This argument may not, however, have any value when applied 

 to fissure eruptions, about which so little is known. 



Finally, the silicified wood, I am informed, has frequently 

 been met with by Mr. Gray in situ among the basalts to the 

 north-east of the Lough, and an accurate list of the localities 

 should be recorded.* 



There is little space remaining to devote to the plants them- 

 selves. Mr. Baily published the first account of those found at 

 Ballypalady, in 1869, and ascribes their discovery to Mr. Du 

 Noyer ; but Messrs. Tate and Holden state that Mr. Rowland 

 Smeeth knew of their presence in 1862, and that Dr. J. Bryce 

 had long previously discovered plants on the shores of Lough 

 Neagh. Towards their investigation, the British Association 

 contributed in 1873, and between 1879 and 1881, a sum of;^75, 

 and received in return three or more reports. This contrasts 

 favourably with the ^f 225 spent by them on Greenland plants, 

 and £2(:>o on the Alum Bay leaf bed, for no great results followed 

 the expenditure in these cases. 



The flora of Ballypalady is chiefly coniferous, and evidently, 

 when living, occupied an elevated region. Dicotyledons are 

 relatively rare, and the matrix, moreover, is unfavourable to their 

 preservation. Among the Coniferae, the prevailing species are 

 a Cypress, a Cryptomeria, and a Pine. The Cypress is adequately 

 represented by 2 or 3 exceptionally fine specimens of foliage, 

 and innumerable smaller branchlets and cones. The foliage of 

 the various living Cypresses is very similar, but ours agrees in 

 its minuter characters with the type seen in C torulosa^ 

 C.funebris^ etc., and if we had but foliage it would not be 

 possible to make any closer determination. But all these 

 species have fruits which differ considerably from each other, 

 and the presence of cones enables me to say that the Antrim 

 species was, if not absolutely identical with C torulosa^ so near 

 it that it could not be separated specifically, or even made a 



* Ferruginous wood from the Giants' Causeway proved to be Abietineous, and not 

 Cupressineous like all that from Lough Neagh. 



