1886-1887.] 521 



Counties Railway Company. In the construction of these 

 railway works, cuttings were made in the Gravels, and the 

 general contour of the ground greatly altered. Irregular 

 escarpments were left in places by these cuttings, and one of 

 them, on the west side of the railway, at the point nearest to 

 Larne, was selected for investigation.* The escarpment at this 

 place is about fourteen feet high. It is composed of sand and 

 gravel, with a band distinctly clayey ; but its greatest portion 

 might be termed coarse gravel with stones, many of the stones 

 being from six to eight inches in diameter. The entire section, 

 except about 2-6 inches at the surface, which had evidently been 

 disturbed by cultivation, is regularly stratified — the lowest beds 

 being sandy. At a depth of ten feet from the surface is a band 

 of reddish clay. The dip of the deposit is to the south-west, at 

 a low angle — perhaps eight or ten degrees ; but, unfortunately, 

 no section was sufficiently exposed in a direction to allow of 

 this being accurately determined. An examination of the 

 undisturbed face of the escarpment discovered shells in some of 

 the sandy beds and in the clayey band. They are of the 

 common existing littoral species. The following were collect- 

 ed : — Cardiiim edule, Littorina rudis, L. litorea, L. litoralis, 

 Anomia ephippium, Tellina Balthica. The stones and gravel 

 were mostly of local origin — basalt, chalk, and flint forming, 

 perhaps, 95 per cent of the whole, all rounded and water- worn. 



III. — Investigation. 



The services of four workmen had been kindly granted by 

 Robert Collins, Esq., Engineer of the Railway Company, and 

 under the direction of one of the committee a portion of the 

 escarpment above referred to, about fifteen feet in length, had 

 been cleared of the talus and debris that had partially obscured 

 its base, thus leaving a clean natural face — the material having 

 been wheeled back a distance of about thirty feet. Your 

 committee first proceeded to examine the surface of the ground 

 above this escarpment. This was found to be a corn field, on 

 which a young braird of two or three inches in length had 



* Marked A on accompanying Map. 



