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



to our local geology ; his reputation as an original and pains- 

 taking worker, and writer, was well known ; and as he had for 

 many years directed his attention to the basaltic rocks and the 

 associated floras of Antrim and Mull, we were always sure to 

 hear some new facts and discoveries on the age and origin of 

 this wonderful but puzzling series of rocks. In his absence this 

 evening they had an admirable substitute in their senior hon. 

 Secretary (Mr. Swanston), whom he would now call upon to 

 read the paper. Mr. Swanston, before commencing, pointed 

 out on a large geological map the areas of basalts referred to by 

 the author, and also drew attention to the sequence of all the 

 beds, recognised by geologists, above the chalk, as it was with 

 some of them that the paper specially dealt. 



The reading of the paper, which was followed with great 

 interest, was then proceeded with. The following is an 

 abstract of it : — 



" The Trap Formation which covers so large a part of Ulster, 

 and with which members of the Club must be especially 

 familiar, is believed to have originally had an enormous 

 extension in a northerly direction. In examining the traps of 

 the Inner Hebrides, of the Faroes, and of Iceland, we are indeed 

 forced to the conclusion that they are but fragments of a 

 formation, once probably dry land, but now sunk beneath the 

 waves. . . . The extensive tract of basalt, one edge of 

 which hangs frowning over Belfast, does not yield in interest 

 to those outside the limits of Ireland. Standing on Fair Head, 

 when the air is extremely clear, we are just able to discern 

 another of the fragments of our trap formation, its position 

 being fixed by the far peaks of Mull, round whose flanks its 

 level sheets are piled to a height of 1,200 feet. Around Belfast 

 we have in all probability the very southernmost original 

 termination of the series. In Mull we have a portion of their 

 original eastern boundaty. But while in Ireland the flows 

 seemed to have passed over a merely undulating country, in 

 Scotland the molten lavas surged against mountain tracts 

 around which they were piled in vain endeavours to submerge 

 them, until their summits came to stand out like islets in a 



