46 Mr. Weaver on the Geological Relations of the South of Ireland. 



adjacent limestone plains; the rivers which intersect it east, south, and west ; 

 the. roads which traverse it in various directions ; the ravines which furrow 

 its escarpments, and the limestone knolls which protrude within its area, 

 afford such means of observation that many valuable beds of coal could scarcely 

 have escaped detection. In fact, the more important appear confined to a small 

 district lying north of the river Blackwater and south-west of Kanturk. 



I propose, in the first place, to trace the contact of the limestone with the 

 coal rocks around the border and in the interior, and then to give a general 

 view of the position of the coal measures in different parts of the tract; con- 

 cluding with further notices of their composition and structure, and of the 

 coal mines hitherto wrought. 



(59.) In making the circuit of the South Munster coal tract, the carboni- 

 ferous limestone, wherever apparent, is almost invariably found following the 

 foot of the hills, seldom rising up a small portion of the escarpment ; and 

 when it does, the position appears to proceed from an undulation in the beds. 



The following observations show the corresponding dips of the limestone 

 and the superjacent coal measures, on the western and eastern sides of this 

 coal-field. 



In the West, on the Ballybunian coast (§. 55.), the ascending order of suc- 

 cession is from limestone to shale, and from shale to sandstone. The shale 

 first intercepts, at intervals, a solitary bed of sandstone; but in proceeding 

 north-east sandstone gradually becomes predominant, as in the headland at 

 Lick Castle, where these beds, with slight interposed layers of shale, dip 30° 

 to the north-east ; and this arrangement is traceable in ravines to the hilly 

 range of Knockanore, on the east'. In proceeding, however, further east 

 toward Listowel, the beds, Ijoth of the limestone and the coal rocks, approach 

 the horizontal position, e.g. in the banks of the river Feale to the east of that 

 tOAvn, dipping there only 5° to the south-east. 



The limestone and coal measures 

 In the northern side of the ridge, on the south-west dip 



of Ardfert, and within three miles of the town . . 20° to 25° to the southward. 

 While in the southern side of that ridge and north 



of Tralee they incline gently to the northward. 



North-eastward of Castle Island 30° north-eastward. 



East of ditto horizontal or 1 0° to 1 ,5° eastward. 



South of ditto, at Dicksgrove, beyond the Brown 



Flesk 40° to 50° southward. 



' From this headland we perceive with the naked eye that the position of the coal rocks near 

 Kilcordan lighthouse, on the opposite coast, in the county of Clare, corresponds with that of the 

 beds under Lick Castle, dipping likewise to the north-east. 



