BAILr ON FOSSIL PLANTS FROM THE SOUTH OF IRELAND. 51 



of genera, such as occur in corresponding strata in the North of Eng- 

 land, having been procured by Mr. A. M'Henry, one of the collectors of 

 fossils to the Geological Survey, from the cliffs near Ballybunnion, county 

 of Kerry. I have also to allude to several localities in the coal forma- 

 tion of the county of Clare, which I visited in company with Mr. E. J. 

 Foot. Near Ennis, in the River Inch, the lower shales were found to be 

 full of fossils, consisting of Plant stems, and marine shells, the latter 

 being the most numerous; and near the mouth of the Shannon, at 

 Kilrush, large Plants, Stigmaria, several feet long, were observed in 

 sandstone rocks on the shore ; other plants, with marine shells, occur- 

 ring in the shales. 



The importance of the question as to the probable duration of the 

 supplies of coal from the British coal fields demands serious attention ; 

 and although, perhaps, likely to be but little affected by the amount 

 derived from the Irish coal fields, which are said to have lost from de- 

 nudation the upper and more valuable portion of these deposits, there 

 may perhaps yet be entertained hopes even for Ireland, as well as for 

 England, of increasing the supply by deeper sinkings in the North, 

 where good gas coal prevails, and by penetrating untried ground. 



In conclusion, the opinion of so eminent an authority on fossil bo- 

 tany as Dr. Hanns Bruno Geinitz, Professor in Dresden, and Keeper of 

 the Eoyal Mineralogical Museum, whose acquaintance I had the great 

 pleasure to make some years back, will, I feel assured, receive that at- 

 tention which it deserves, he having devoted an article to the conside- 

 ration of the coal district in Ireland, in his truly national work on the 

 coal fields of Europe, published in conjunction with Drs. H. Eleck and 

 E. Hartig, at Munich, in 1865, from which, with permission, I shall 

 read the following extracts, translated from the German : — 



" THE COAL DISTRICT OF IRELAND. 



" Although Carboniferous Limestone is spread over the greater part 

 of Ireland — and we may assume that the coal-bearing strata of the Car- 

 boniferous formation may also have at one time exhibited a considerable 

 extension — there is, however, very little of it remaining, in consequence 

 of the subsequent denudation observable in that country. In the South 

 of Ireland the Carboniferous Limestone is accompanied by a series of 

 black slates, or grey sandstones, and arenaceous shales, which con- 

 tain thin beds of anthracite coal in the upper strata." " An extensive 

 working is carried on in the Castlecomer coal field. According to the 

 plans and sections of shafts referring to this field, which we owe to Pro- 

 fessor Jukes, as illustrations of the Sheets 127, &c, of the Geological 

 Maps of Ireland, five beds of coal are exhibited in this district, of which, 

 however, the upper, in consequence of denudation, are only present 

 over a very small area. The richest deposit in the domain of the lower 

 beds is found north-east of Castlecomer, at the Jarrow Colliery, in the 

 neighbourhood of Clonbrock, in the Queen's County. On the occasion 

 of my visit, a coal-bearing seam, three feet ten inches thick, was being 

 worked, which yielded excellent anthracite coal, the normal Kilkenny 



