1 48 Geological Society. 



are most numerous in the Muckruss and Killarney limestones. At 

 the foot of the Slieve-meesh range this limestone includes Asa- 

 phus caudatus, Calymene macrophthalma, and perhaps a third crus- 

 taceous animal, with Orthoceratites, Ellipsolites ovatus, an Am-, 

 monite, Euoraphalites, Turbinites, Neritites, Melanites, and seve- 

 ral species of Terebratula, Spirifer, and Producta. Other bivalves 

 irt this locality are referribie to species figured by Schlotheim, as 

 from transition rocks on the Continent. 



Near Smerwick harbour, similar organic remains are abundant in 

 slate, and fine-grained grauwacke, together with Hysterolites, and 

 many genera of polyparia ; the whole resembling both in mineral 

 and zoological characters the rocks of Tortworth in Gloucestershire, 

 formerly described by the author, as well as those of the Taunus in 

 Nassau, more recently described by Sir Alexander Crichton. Again, 

 the same fossils are found in the limestone of Cork, associated 

 with impressions of vertebrae of fishes ; and analogous remains are to 

 be met with aho in a portion of the slate of that neighbourhood. 



Transition coal. — All the coal of the province of Munster, except 

 that of the county of Clare, is referribie to one of the earliest periods 

 at which that mineral has been produced ; the true coal overlying 

 the mountain limestone being found in that county alone. At 

 Knockasartnet, near Killarney, and on the north of Tralee, thin an- 

 thracitic beds, inclined at various angles from 70 degrees to verticality, 

 are included in grauwacke' and slate. In the county of Cork this old 

 coal is more extensively developed, particularly near Kanturk, ex- 

 tending from the north of the Blackwater to the Allow. The gorges 

 of the latter river, and various other neighbouring defiles, expose 

 clay-slate, grauwacke, shale, and sandstone, in nearly vertical beds, 

 directed from west to east. This transition tract extends to the 

 river Shannon on the north-west. As the systems range from west 

 to east, in a series of parallel, acutely angled troughs, the beds have 

 great diversity of inclination, dipping rapidly either to north or south, 

 and bending to horizontality between the ridges. This coal or 

 anthracite is raised in sufficient quantities for the purpose of burning 

 the limestone of the adjoining districts ; and the most considerable 

 collieries, those of Dromagh, have yielded 25,000 tons per annum, 

 at from 10s. to 15s. per ton. 



The coal, and accompanying pyritiferous strata are abundantly 

 charged with the remains or impressions of plants, belonging chiefly 

 to Equisetaand Catamites', with some indications ofFucoides. Beds 

 of transition coal occur also in the cOunty of Limerick, on the left 

 bank of the Shannon, north of Abbeyfeale, and at Longhill ; and are 

 seen, though in very small quantity, on the right bank of the river at 

 Labbasheada. Several other places where coal strata occur, are 

 mentioned by the author. 



The transition rocks of Kerry and Limerick are prolonged into 

 Cork and Waterford, preserving with certain modifications an ana- 

 logous character and composition. The carboniferous limestone re- 

 posing upon this tract, on the north, is usually unconformable to it, 

 but is conformable to the old red sandstone, wherever that rock in- 

 tervenes. In this system of strata, organic remains, such as poly- 

 paria, 



