laiu-mi.] ■ 427 



Glacial period; in 1869 we find him vigorously combating Du 

 Noyer's contention that the Lusitanian element in the Irish fauna 

 and flora migrated from the Peninsula over a post-glacial plain, 

 and supporting Forbes's theory of the pre-glacial age of those 

 interesting plants and animals. Just at this time extensive excavations 

 were being made by the Belfast Harbour Commissioners in the 

 recent deposits underlying the town, in connection with the 

 formation of the Spencer Basin. Fine sections were laid bare of 

 beds of blue clay whose rich fauna had already attracted the 

 attention of Magee, Grainger, and Hyndman. Stewart was prompt 

 to avail himself of so favourable an opportunity for investigating 

 these deposits, so seldom well exposed ; and the result was two 

 important papers published by the Club. The first of these, 

 entitled " The Latest Fluctuations of the Sea-Level on our own 

 Coast," must rank as his most valuable contribution to Geology. 

 Others had merely collected the numerous fossils of these 

 clays : it was Stewart who noted the occurrence of changes in the 

 character of the fauna at different depths in the deposits, and 

 showed that they bore witness to a remarkable series of recent 

 land-movements, which he traced out and demonstrated with 

 much ability. The merit of this paper can scarcely be judged 

 from the brief abstract of it, which, with characteristic modesty, 

 Stewart handed in for publication in the Proceedings of the Club. 

 Fifteen years later, when I was working at the same deposits, 

 Stewart gave me his original manuscript, and the editors of the 

 Irish Naturalist propose to publish it in the next issue of that 

 journal as a tribute to his memory. The second of the two papers 

 which resulted from the excavation of Spencer Basin was his 

 " List of the Fossils of the Estuarine Clays of Down and Antrim," 

 in which a full account is given of the fauna of these beds at all 

 the places in the district so far explored. Before leaving the 

 question of the estuarine clays, I may add that another oppor- 

 tunity for examining them occurred when the Alexandra 1 )ock was 

 in course of construction in 1886-7. Stewart was then himself 



