1868.] MURRAY VOLUMK OF TITE SEA. 495 



Europe. The implements were so like those of Europe, that their 

 fabricators seemed to have been taught in the same school. 



Mr. FooTE, in reply, stated that he regarded the laterite as a 

 marine formation, because it occurred all round the coast. All the 

 imj)lements were quartzite, with perhaps one doubtful exception, 

 which was formed of basalt. Stone circles and kistvaens had been 

 found on the surface of the laterite in some localities. 



2. On worked Flint Flakes from Carrickfergus and Larne. By 

 G. V. Du NoYER, Esq. 



[Communicated by Sir R. I. Murchieon, Bart., K.C.B., F.R.S., F.G.S., &c.] 



(The publication of this paper is unavoidably postponed.) 



[Abstract.] 



These flakes have been found by the author in two very distinct 

 positions, namely : — the older in the marine drift (sand and gravel) 

 skirting the shores of the county Antrim and county Down, the 

 maximum elevation being about 20 feet above the sea; and the 

 more recent in the subsoil-clay at all elevations up to 600 feet, near 

 Belfast, Carrickfergus, Larne Lough, and Island Magee. The former 

 are of the rudest forms, highly oxidized or white on their entire sur- 

 face, but, though imbedded in marine drift, having the chippings 

 around the sides and angles generally sharp. The latter have a 

 comparatively fresh look, though still possessing the characteristic 

 porcellanous glaze ; they are regarded by Mr. Du IsToyer as possibly 

 the rough materials out of which the historic races in Ireland ma- 

 nufactured the spear- and arrowheads which are found with their 

 sepulchral and other remains. 



3. Chi the Diminution of the Volume of the Sea dunng past Geolo- 

 gical Epochs. By Andrew Murray, Esq., F.L.S. 



[Communicated by the President.] 



(Abstract.) 



The author regards Mr. Darwin's theory of Coral islands as imperfect, 

 from not recognizing the fact of a gradual diminution of the amount 

 of water on the face of the earth. He objects to Mr. Darwin's ex- 

 planation of the mode in which the islets appear above the water, 

 namely, the dash of the waves breaking the reef, and their wash 

 piling up the debris until it forms dry land ; and he quotes the 

 objections of M. de E-ochas to the same theory. The opinion of the 

 latter author was that the islands had been raised by a movement 

 of upheaval ; but Mr. Murray considers this stiU more improbable, 

 as we are dealing with a large number of islands scattered over 

 an immense space, and all at one uniform level, only a little above 

 VOL. XXIV. — part t. 2 m 



