402 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [April 30, 



1. On the Permian Breccias and Boulder-beds of Armagh. By Pro- 

 fessor Edward Hull, P.B.S., F.G.S., Director of the Geological 

 Survey of Ireland. 



The strata of Permian age hitherto recognized in the north of 

 Ireland have been referred, doubtless correctly, by the authors who 

 have described them, to the upper division of that formation, or the 

 Magnesian- Limestone series (Zechstein). The localities where these 

 beds occur are three in number, Cultra on the south side of Belfast 

 Lough *, Tullyconnell Hill near Artrea f, and Templereagh in Co. 

 Tyrone J. The strata are for the most part dolomitic ; and the fossils 

 they contain are representative of the Magnesian Limestones of the 

 north of England, or of Lancashire. 



The beds which I have now to bring before the notice of the 

 Society are considered to be referable, both on stratigraphical and 

 physical grounds, to that Lower Permian series represented by the 

 breccias of "Worcestershire and Salop, and by the " brockram " of 

 Cumberland, considered by Professor Eamsay to be an " old Boulder- 

 clay " of Permian age §. In this view I entirely concur, and I may 

 add that the Permian beds of Armagh are not less truly a boulder- 

 formation than those in the English localities above named. 



The Permian breccias of Armagh must have been frequently seen 

 by observers, as they are well displayed in quarries ; but their true 

 significance has been strangely overlooked. My attention was first 

 called to them in March 1872, by Mr. F. Egan, the Officer of the 

 Geological Survey on duty in that district ; and I was immediately 

 struck by their resemblance to my old friends in "Worcestershire and 

 Shropshire, especially the beds at Enville and Alberbury. Besting, as 

 they do, on the denuded surface of the Carboniferous Limestone, and 

 surmounted by New Eed Sandstone, as proved by wells and excava- 

 tions in the city of Armagh itself, there was no room for hesitation 

 as regards their age and geological relationship ; nevertheless I was 

 gratified to have my own views confirmed by the opinion of the 

 Director-General himself, who, upon visiting the locality in October 

 last in company with Messrs. Egan, Hardman, and myself, at once 

 recognized in these beds the equivalents of the " brockram " of West 

 Cumberland and the boulder-beds of the west of England. 



One cause of their having been overlooked by observers seems to 

 be the remarkable fact that the older Boulder-clay is directly overlain 

 by the newer Boulder-clay of the Glacial period ; and though the two 

 deposits are sufficiently distinct to enable a practised eye to indicate 

 the line of junction to within an inch, tbey might easily be mistaken 

 for beds of one formation. The underlying breccia, however, differs 

 from both ; and as it consists principally of pieces of limestone 



* First described by Dr. James Bryce, Journ. Geol. Soc. Dublin, vol. i. part 

 ii., and afterwards by the same author and Professor King, Brit. Assoc. Rep. 

 1852, pp. 42 & 53. 



t Described by Professor King, Journ. Geol. Soc. Dublin, vol. vii. p. 67. 



% Sir E. Griffith, Journ. Geol. Soc. Dublin, vol. viii. 



| ' Physical Geology,' 3rd edit. p. 79. 



