158 



Procecdixg-s of the Rot/al Irish Academy. 



with stools of Oak, Scotch Pir, Birch, &c,, and remains of extinct 

 Pleistocene mammals. Under this repose beds of blue marine clay^ 

 with Scrohicularia piper ata, &c., which rest in turn on an eroded 

 surface of Boulder-clay, which in certain places bears beds of peat in 

 its depressions. The conclusions which De Bance and Beade di'aw 

 from their studies of the Lancashire series are identical in all 

 essential details, and may with advantage be ranged in parallel 

 columns with the Irish results. The account of the English sequence 

 here given is abridged from a demonstration given by Mr. Beade to 

 the members of the Geological Society of Liverpool, at Leasowe, on 

 June 2nd, 1883. 



Mersey District. 



(1) . Land surface of Boulder-clay, acted 



on by subaerial denudation. 



(2) . Growth of peat ("Lower Forest 



Bed ") upon this surface. 



(3) . Submergence to a depth of 25 feet 



below present level. 



(4) . Formation of blue marine clays 



(the "Formby and Leasowe 

 Marine Beds "). 



(5) . Elevation until the land stood 



much higher than at present." 



(6) . Formation of peat now sub- 



merged (" Upper Forest Bed "). 



(7) . Partial submergence, Mith forma- 



tion of sand-dunes, silts with 

 Roman remains, &c. 



Belfast District. 



(1) . Land surface of Boulder- clay, acted 



on by subaerial denudation, seen 

 both at Belfast and at Larne. 



(2) . Growth of peat upon this surface^ 



seen at Belfast. 



(3) . Submergence to a depth of at least 



25 feet below present level. 



(4) . Formation of blue marine clays 



(the Lower and Upper Fstuarine 

 Clays). 



(5) . Elevation until the land stood 



about 5 feet higher than at 

 present. 



(6) . At Belfast, formation of beach 



deposits now buried. In other 

 places, of peat. 



(7) . Slight depression, submerging the 



beds mentioned in (6). 



A closer parallelism is hardly possible. The only discrepancy 

 between the two series is shown at (5). Here Beade contends for an 

 elevation considerably greater than that noAV prevailing, which united 

 England to the Continent. In Ireland we so far find evidence of only 

 a slight elevation above present levels. It is important to note that the 

 formation of the latest beds of the series— the silts, overlying the 

 superior peat — dates back to Boman times. 



In the Ivsle of Man, which lies midway between Antrim and Lanca- 

 shire, the post-Glacial series, so far as it goes, bears out the order of 

 events above described. G. W. Lamplugh states that the only 

 recognizable post-Glacial marine deposit is a widely extending raised 



