Coffey and Praeger — The Antrim Raised Beach. 163 



as recorded by Thomas Brown, ^ Sir A. Geikie^ considers that the 

 evidence for post- Glacial submergence of even a small extent is not 

 convincing, and agrees with Fleming, ^ who, long before, referred the 

 formation of the peat (which in that district occurs as low as low- 

 water mark) to accumulation in lagoons. 



In central Scotland, then, as in north-western England, we find a 

 series of oscillations closely corresponding with those of our district. 

 Opinion as to the date of the several movements in England and 

 Scotland is not concordant. It seems clear that the material for a 

 thorough investigation of the question is available on the ground, and 

 such a research appears highly desirable. 



Limits of the Area affected hy the Fluctuations. 



Jamieson's observation concerning the decrease in elevation of the 

 post-Glacial raised beach northward of the Eorth is highly interesting, 

 and may excuse a brief divergence from the subject immediately at 

 hand. His observation is borne out by the absence of raised beaches 

 in Orkney and Shetland, on which Sir A. Geikie has quite recently 

 commented ;^ and James Geikie, writing of the excellent development 

 of the 25-foot beach in the Eorth district, remarks that ''further 

 north the best-marked raised beaches occur at lower levels."^ In 

 Ireland, the decrease of elevation southward is very marked ; and it 

 would appear that the final movement of elevation, at any rate, was 

 greatest in northern England, southern Scotland, and northern Ireland. 



In Ireland, south of this area of uniform movements, the widely- 

 extending early-Glacial raised beach, to which reference has already 

 been made (p. 150), points to a land-level not lower than the present 

 ever since Glacial times, since a depression of even a few feet would 

 have resulted in a sweeping away by the waves of the loose deposits 

 of the Glacial beach. On the Welsh coast opposite, the bone-beds 



^ '* On the arctic shell-beds of Elie and Errol, viewed in connexion with onr 

 other glacial and recent deposits." Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., xxiv., pp. 617-634. 

 1867. 



2 ''Geology of Eastern Fife," pp. 306-321. 1902. 



3 On a submnrine forest in the Frith of Tay." Trans. Hoy. Soc, Edinb., 

 ix. pp. 419-431. 1822. 



* "Anniversary Address," 1904, torn, cit., pp. xciii, ciii. 

 ^ " Prehistoric Europe," p. 418. 



