4^ [Proc. B.N.F.C., 



or, as is more probably the case, the work of centuries. The 

 animal remains which encrust the surface include two species of 

 corals {Astroides and Caryophyllia), several sponges, and a 

 variety of Serpulce, Polyzoa, and nullipores. Mr. Bigger 

 wished now to publicly thank Mr. Young for his kindness in 

 sending down these exhibits and allowing him to describe them 

 to the Field Club. 



Mr. R. Lloyd Praeger, M.R.I.A., senior secretary, then drew 

 attention to a skull of the Irish elk (Cervus giganteus) which 

 he exhibited. It was found in December last by the workmen 

 engaged in excavating for the east wall of the new branch 

 floating dock which opens off Spencer Basin, in the centre of a 

 bed of peat 3 feet thick, and at a depth of 34 feet below ordinary 

 high-water mark. Above the peat was a deposit some 30 feet 

 deep of blue marine clay. The skull is broken across at the 

 orbits, the lower front portion being absent ; the fracture is 

 evidently an old one. Both antlers are broken off at the base, 

 one of the fractures, however, being recent. The skull is of 

 large dimensions. In spite of diligent search, no other remains 

 were found in the vicinity, nor were the missing portions of the 

 skull discovered. Mr. Praeger then briefly drew attention to 

 the series of strata occurring underneath the lower portions of 

 Belfast, and the changes of conditions which they speak of. 

 The peat represents an old land surface. It extends under a 

 considerable portion of the city ; at Sydenham, Holywood, 

 Bangor, and Kilroot its level is higher, and it may be seen on 

 the shore between tide-marks. It is full of remains of Scotch 

 firs, hazel, willows, and marsh plants. At Alexandra Dock 

 bones of the red deer and wild boar were found in it. At the 

 time of its formation the land must have stood from 10 to 40 

 feet higher than at present. Resting on the peat is a bed of 

 clay full of shells which live on muddy shores between tides, 

 showing a subsidence of the land and the breaking in of the sea 

 over the former surface. Above this littoral clay is a deposit of 

 very fine blue clay containing numbers of shells which live in 

 from five to ten fathoms of water. This bed furnishes proof of 



