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



In looking over, with Professor Phillips, such specimens as 1 was able to pro- 

 cure and bring away with me, the most distinct appeared referable to 



(Two species appa- "j by Sternberg, (Flora der Vorwelt) ; Ad. Brongniart, (Vege- 

 rently undescri- V taux Fossiles); or Lindley and Hutton, {Fossil Flora of 

 bed J Great Britain.) 



Lepidodendron erosum. Lindley and Hutton, PI. 7. fig. 1. 

 Impressions of Lepidodendra and their leaves. 

 Asterophyllites longifolia. Lindley and Hutton, PI. 18. 

 Stigmaria ficoides. Ibid., PI. 31 to 3G. 

 Sigillaria, apparently undescribed. 

 Bechera grandis ? PI. 19. fig. 1. Lindley and Hutton. 

 Sphenophyllum Schlotheimii. PI. 27. Ditto. 



The colliers stated also, that in a few places shells have been found in the 

 shale, but that, from their perishable nature, they soon wasted away on expo- 

 sure to the atmosphere. Two such beds are indicated in the Dromagh section, 

 (Plate. I. fig. 6.) under the name of " muscle slate." 1 had not, however, the 

 good fortune to find any of these shells, as few pits were at work during my 

 different visits to this district. But in the black shale of Ardnagragh, si- 

 tuated about three miles east of Castle Island, and near to the subjacent 

 limestone, I found impressions of small indistinct bivalves, and of convoluted 

 shells, the latter resembling in form small Goniatites*, together with some 

 impressions of plants. This shale is partly employed as black chalk. 



(67.) The anthracitous coal of the Kanturk district, is so ill adapted to culinary purposes, that 

 English or Welsh bituminous coal, is consumed in preference, even so near as in the town of Mal- 

 low. The native coal is employed chiefly in burning limestone to provide manure for land, and 

 especially in the reclaiming of waste land, in which application it has rendered most important ser- 

 vice to the agricultural interests of the neighbourhood. But as upon these demands, which fluc- 

 tuate according to circumstances, the supply of the coal necessarily depends, so the quantity 

 annually raised, has varied considerably. During the last war, when a great impulse was given to 

 agriculture, the quantity disposed of from the Dromagh collieries alone, which are the principal, 

 amounted to as much as 25,000 tons per annum. The culm sells at the pit mouth, according to 

 its quality, at an average from ten to fifteen shillings per ton. The collieries of this district are 

 chiefly wrought during the summer months, when labourers can be best spared from agriculture, 

 and the works are least heavily watered. 



(68.) A large portion of the South Munster coal tract, is covered with peaty 

 soil ; but it may be remarked, that wherever limestone is adjacent, and a facility 

 of intercourse is secured by the construction of good lines of road, the conver- 

 sion of waste land into productive soil is progressive 



* Bearing some affinity perhaps to the Goniatites sphcericus or G. striatus, discovered by Sir 

 Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton, Bart., and Viscount Cole, in the carboniferous shale of the county 

 of Fermanagh. (Geological Proceedings, No. 32. 12th June, 1833.) 



