68 Geological Society*. — Major Austin's Notice of the 



The author then offers the following theory as affording a pre- 

 ferable explanation of the origin of coal-fields and Wealden forma- 

 tions. 



He conceives they were originally swampy islands, formed out of 

 disjointed fragments which resulted from the first elevation of the 

 rocks ; that on these islands grew a luxuriant vegetation consisting 

 of Ferns, Calamites, coniferous trees, &c. which, decaying and rege- 

 nerating, accumulated in the manner of peat bogs ; that the islands, 

 by the settling down of the disturbed crust of the earth, were de- 

 pressed beneath the surface of the sea, and covered over with drifted 

 sand, clay, and shells, till they were again, by this process, converted 

 into dry land, and clothed with another vegetation ; and he is of 

 opinion, that the operation was repeated as many times as there are 

 alternations of coal and sedimentary strata. 



A notice on " The Fossil Fishes of the Yorkshire and Lancashire 

 Coal-fields," by W. C. Williamson, Esq., was then read ; of which 

 an abstract is given in No. 65 of the Proceedings. 



A paper was last read, entitled, " A brief notice of the Geology 

 around the shores of Waterford Haven," by Major Austin. 



In this memoir, the author describes topographically the geology 

 of Waterford Haven, commencing at Bag and Bun Head, near its 

 eastern entrance, and proceeding around its shores terminates his 

 account at Ballymacaw. The formations of which the district con- 

 sists are, 1. limestone; 2. a conglomerate; 3. clay-slate; 4. various 

 trap -rocks ; and 5. alluvium. 



1. The limestone constitutes the promontory forming the eastern 

 boundary of the Haven from Hook Point to the parallel of Sand Eel 

 Bay, a distance of about 3^ miles. Some of the beds are of a dark 

 colour, and are so fissile as to be used for roofing-slate ; they are also 

 highly sonorous when struck with a hammer, and are in consequence 

 locally called the " Black Bell." In the lower part of the formation, 

 in Bryce's Bay, the limestone is yellow. Fossils, including spined 

 Productse and Crinoidese, compose the greater part of some of the 

 strata. Near the conglomerate the limestone alternates with thin 

 layers of slate, and at the immediate junction is a stratum of fine red 

 sand containing impressions of numerous fossils. The strata, where 

 undisturbed, dip to the S.S.W. at an angle of about 22°, but they 

 are sometimes considerably contorted. 



2. The conglomerate composes a band about half a mile broad, 

 stretching across the promontory from Sand Eel Bay to Herrylock, 

 and is of a deep-chocolate colour. It constitutes Broom Hill, where 

 it assumes partly the character of a compact grit, and partly that of 

 a coarse compound of fragments of schist, quartz, and other pebbles 

 imbedded in a chocolate-coloured cement ; the quartz pebbles being 

 traversed by numerous fissures. Other patches of conglomerate oc- 

 cur between King's Bay and Buttermilk Castle, and are said to overlay 

 the edges of highly-inclined strata of clay- slate. It forms also the 

 hills north of the Suire in the county of Kilkenny, where it is worked 

 for millstones, and it composes, with a few interruptions, the whole 

 of the west side of the Haven. 



3. The clay-slate is extensively developed on the east side of the 



