152 PROCEEDINGS OF FHE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dee. 22, 
nature and geognostic relations of the iron-ores associated with the 
basalts, and the present seems a fitting occasion to submit to the 
Geological Society the results of our observations. 
The occurrence of ferruginous ochres in the midst of the basalt 
of the Giant’s Causeway was pointed out at an early period by tne 
Rey. Dr. Hamilton*, and has been noticed by subsequent writers on 
the geology of the County Antrim. Dr. Hamilton, in his section of 
the Pleaskin, represents ‘‘a thin course of iron-ore amid a bed of 
ochre ;” and it is to beds of this character that we would now 
direct attention ; for beyond the mere record of the occurrence of an 
iron band in the basalt of the Giant’s Causeway, no further account 
of this phenomenon has been brought before the notice of geologists. 
The railway-cutting at Ballypalidy, near Templepatrick, exposed 
an extensive ochreous mass, the working of which was commenced 
by Dr. Ritchie, of Belfast, in 1861; but with the last three years 
new and richer deposits have been discovered and worked in other 
parts of the county. A list of the localities where operations are 
now carried on will be found appended. Shortly after the diseovery 
of the ferruginous beds at Ballypalidy, our attention was directed to 
the nature of the ore there; and in the spring of 1868 one of us 
communicated to the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club an abstract of 
this paper in part, which is published in that Society’s Proceedings 
for that year. 
We may be allowed to state that the examination of these iron- 
ores, the subject of the present communication, has been undertaken 
solely in the interest of science. And we would record our obliga- 
tions to the Earl of Antrim, Dr. Ritchie, and Mr. T. Fisher for per- 
mission to inspect the mines respectively worked by them, and for 
statistics of produce relating to the same, also to Dr. Apjohn and 
Professor Hodges for analyses of basalt and iron-ores. 
II. Prrrotocy or tur TRon-oRES AND ASSOCIATED Rocks. 
As regards the origin of their present condition, the iron-ores 
may be divided into two groups; to the one belongs the ore of 
Ballypalidy, whilst all the others known to us are included in the 
second group. The former is of sedimentary origin, but the latter 
are the direct products of metamorphic agencies. 
As a remarkable similarity is exhibited by all the sections of the 
iron-ores of the second group and their associated rock-masses, it 
will be unnecessary to describe each of them; we select, therefore, 
for illustration the following, which are the most instructive of the 
series. 
1. Section on Slievananee.—On the south slope of Slevananee 
mountain, situated 6 miles from Cushendall, on the road to Bally- 
mena, a rich mine of iron-ore was opened three years ago beneath 
the basalt, at an elevation of 1095 feet above the sea, and 687 feet 
vertically below the summit of the mountain. The present face of 
the workings presents a horizontal section of nearly half a mile; the 
* Natural History of the Basaltes and its attendant Fossils in the Northern 
Counties of Ireland, 1790. 
