14 



"FORAMINIFERA. ' 



By Mr. Joseph Wright, F.G.S. 



Mr. Wright read a very interesting paper on ' Foraminifera 

 from the Gravel Pit, Longhurst, Dunmurry, and Other Localities in 

 the vicinity of Belfast, with a Reference to the Malone Sands " 

 He said: — In April, 1906, I received from Mr. John Brown, 

 F.R.S., a ball of rolled clay from the gravel pit at Longhurst, 

 Dunmurry, similar balls frequently being met with at this place. 

 This ball, which weighed seven and a half pounds, yielded a 

 large quantity of foraminifera, about 1,500 specimens. The clay 

 of which it was composed must have been in a soft state when 

 rolled in the gravel, as the outer surface contained the gravel 

 more or less deeply imbedded in it. Three other balls were 

 examined later, and they also contained specimens in abundance. 

 The gravel pit consisted of stratified sands and gravels, at the 

 bottom of which was a deep bed of clay ; this clay contained 

 foraminifera in the same profusion as the balls of clay already 

 referred to, and which were probably derived from this or some 

 similar source. Foraminifera were also found in situ in the finer 

 sands, but in much smaller numbers. In company with my 

 friend Mr. Robert Bell, I subsequently visited the gravel pits at 

 Armagh, Lisburn, and Dundonald, the finer sands at these places 

 all yielding foraminifera. At Dundonald they occurred in great 

 profusion in a bed of clay, at the bottom of the pit, about 1,000 

 specimens being taken from a sample of one-and-a-half pound 

 weight. Having been informed by Mr. George Gough, F.G.S. , 

 that he had found foraminifera in the Malone sands at Stranmillis, 

 I visited the place myself and-brought away a large quantity of the 

 sand for examination ; this yielded forty-five foraminifera — a very 

 small number, considering the quantity of material examined. 

 This is probably largely due to rain-water percolating freely 

 through the sand, and thus gradually destroying these delicate 

 organisms. As some of the fine sands in the gravel pits already 

 referred to closely resemble these Malone sands, and as they all 

 contain foraminifera, I think it probable that both these, as well 

 as well as the eskers, represent a great series of gravels, sands, and 

 clays, which have been deposited off our coast when the land lay 

 at a lower level, the eskers being tilted up by currents running in 

 opposite directions, and to the same cause we may attribute the 

 formation of sand-banks now lying off our coasts, as the Nymph 

 Bank, off Dublin, the Bray Bank, the Arklow Bank, and others, 



