1884-1885.] 3^1 



out the probability of the Silicified Wood found in the Drift 

 as having been derived from these beds.* 



Portlock, in 1843, states — "In respect to the connection of the 

 Basalts and Silicified Wood more evidence is necessary "f 



Two early members of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, in 

 1869, read a valuable joint paper before the Geological Society of 

 London, on the Iron Ores associated with the Basalts of the 

 North-east of Ireland. The iron nodules with plant remains, 

 found on the Lough shores, are referred to, and considered 

 identical in age with the then only known leaf beds of Ballypallady, 

 and all are grouped as of miocene age.t 



Dr. Macloskie, in 1873, gave an elaborate paper to the 

 Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society on the 

 Silicified Wood, and expressed his opinion that the specimens 

 found in the Drift were derived from beds of miocene age, 

 and gave a fancy picture of a vast river flowing southward 

 over a continent, of which the Hebrides and Western Islands 

 of Scotland form but a remnant, and this river brought the 

 partially Silicified Wood and scattered it along its course.§ 



In the same year, 1873, the Coal question was the all-absorbing 

 topic, and Mr. Wm. Gray, M.R.I.A., then Senior Honorary 

 Secretary of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, gave a valuable 

 paper on The Lignites of Antrim and their relation to true Coal. 

 The subject was thoroughly gone into, and many new facts 

 were brought forward ; perhaps one of the most important was 

 the discovery of Silicified Wood in the Basalt at Laurencetown, 

 where he states " there is a bed of lignite in the Basalt, about 

 30 feet from the surface, and in this lignite there are layers of 

 wood charged with siliceous matter, and resembling the wood 

 erroneously supposed to be petrified by the waters of Lough 

 Neagh. This fact supplies the evidence Captain Portlock 

 admitted was wanting."|| After summing up all the evidence 

 which Mr. Gray puts into a concise form, he comes to the con- 



* Griffith — 2nd Report of Railway Commission, p. 22. 



t Report of the Geology of Londonderry, 1843, P* 1^' 



% Tate and Holden, gJ-G.S. 



§ Proceedings Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, 1873. 



II Proceedings Belfast Naturalists* Field Club, 10th Annual Report, 1873. 



