[Proceedings Belfast Naturalists' Field Club— Appendix, 1 879- 1 880.] 



THE POST TERTIARY FORAMINIFERA OF THE 

 NORTH EAST OF IRELAND. 



By JOSEPH WRIGHT, F.G.S. 



Hon. Assoc, of the Belfast Nat. Hist, and Phil. Soc. 



The first record of Post Tertiary Foraminifera having been found in Ireland, 

 was in a paper brought before our Club in 1874.* In it, the names of eleven 

 species were given, as having been found in the Estuarine Clay at Magheramorne, 

 County Antrim. That so few forms were then recorded was due to the cir- 

 cumstance, that the small quantity of Clay examined had been washed through 

 sieves with the view of preserving the shells only, and in consequence, the great 

 bulk of the Foraminifera were washed away with the fine material. Since then 

 many of our Post Tertiary clays and gravels, have been carefully examined, and 

 Foraminifera have been found to occur in abundance, not only in our Post Glacial 

 beds, but also in the Boulder Clay ; a deposit which until recently, and even yet 

 by some, is presumed to contain no fossil remains. The majority of the 

 Boulder Clays examined by me, yielded Microzoa, and it is possible that in some 

 of the few localities where none were found, a more extended search would have 

 led to different conclusions. At many places where the clay appeared unpro- 

 mising, only small quantities were brought away for examination ; and when 

 they gave but little results, these spots were usually not revisited. That the 

 Boulder Clay in many places was deposited in deep and quiet waters, reason- 

 ably favourable to the development of certain forms of marine life, may be in- 

 ferred frcm the number of Foraminifera found at some stations ; their tiny, deli- 

 cate tests being as finely preserved as if recently dredged off our coast ; and also 



* Stewart— Fossils of the Estuarine Clays of Down and Antrim. Proc. Belfast Nat. Field 

 Club, Vol. I., Appendix, p. 27, et seq. 



