360 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



distinct species resembling those of some of the smaller Carabidae, 

 one of them (fig. 14) having an arrangement of puncta like that on 

 some of the weevils or small diamond-beetles. The only two speci- 

 mens observed are very minute, and are figured on PI. XIY. figs. 

 14, 15. 



So far as can be judged from a preliminary examination such as 

 this, these plant-remains from between the Basalts of Antrim appear 

 to differ as a group from those obtained in corresponding beds at the 

 Isle of Mull. 



The majority of the plants from the Ardtun Head, as stated by 

 Professor Forbes, consisted of palmate leaves having three or more 

 lobes, referred by him to Platanites*, from their resemblance to the 

 Plane or Sycamore. Throughout the collection from the north of 

 Ireland there is at present no evidence of any leaves of this form, 

 the majority being simply ovate or lanceolate with entire margins ; 

 there is, however, considerable resemblance between some of these 

 and the leaves he figures under the name of Mhamnitesf. 



A generic identity may also be found to exist between the plant 

 I have referred to Sequoia and that doubtfully assigned by Forbes 

 to Taa^itest; in the former, however, the leaves are more numerous, 

 surrounding the stem more closely; and it approaches so nearly 

 Sequoia Sternhergi, Heer, that I have but little hesitation in including 

 it in the same genus. 



No indication of Ferns or Equisetum-like plants, such as were 

 described from the leaf-beds of the Isle of MuU, has yet been ob- 

 served amongst these Antrim fossils. The presence of large frag- 

 ments of wood is also a distinctive feature amongst these plants from 

 the north of Ireland, the Duke of Argyll in his description having 

 specially remarked on the absence of any fragments of trees larger 

 than the merest twig in the plant-deposits of the Isle of Mull. 



Although the specimens are not generally in a sufiiciently perfect 

 state of preservation for specific identification, there is perhaps 

 enough to indicate their alliance with mid- European forms ; and 

 though not specifically identical vHlth those from the Isle of Mull, 

 like them, they most probably belong to a corresponding epoch in 

 geological time, that of the Miocene. 



Description of the Species named. 



PiNTis Plutonis, Baily. Plate XY. fig. 1, a & 5, and fig. 2. 



Fruit or cone of a Fir, ovate and elongate, composed of large broad 

 scales, each marked with a semicircular and central ridge ; base of 

 scales striated. Length of cone about 3 inches ; diameter at widest 

 part 1| inch. The separate scale (fig. 1 h) and the section on the 

 same Plate (fig. 2) most probably belong to one species. 



* PlatanUes hehridicus, Forbes, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vii. pi. iii. f. 5, 

 and pi. iv. f. 1. Sir C. Lyell suggests the identity of this species with P. aceroides, 

 ' Elements of aeology ' (1865), p. 240. 



t Quart. Journ. G-eol. Soc., vol. vii. pi. iii. figs. 2, 3, 4. 



;|; See antcy p. 359, and footnote. 



