174 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Personal Iiivestigations. 



In 1897, we (the writers of this paper) made a further examination 

 of the Larne gravels, particularly for the purpose of procuring 

 specimen sections for the ^National Museum. Mr. J. St. J. Phillips 

 and Mr. E. Welch, of the Belfast I^atura lists' Pield Club, also gave 

 their services; and Mr. E. D. Wise, ir. inst. c.e., engineer to the 

 IS[orthern Counties Eailway, most kindly gave all the facilities in his 

 power for the work. 



A section was opened on the southern side of the railway cutting 

 in the Curran, close to the spot where the Field Club section was 

 excavated in 1 889. (The sandy band is a marked feature in this section 

 of the beach, and for purposes of description it will be convenient 

 to use the terms ''upper gravels " and " lower gravels " to distinguish 

 the beds of coarse gravels above the sandy layer from those below it.) 

 Specimen portions, with included flints, were taken here of the upper 

 and lower gravels. A core was got at a depth of 4 feet (fig. 4, J^^^o. 1), 

 and another (below^ the sand) at a depth of 11 feet from the surface 

 (fig. 4, jSfo. 2). But very few cores or flakes were got in this section, 

 except in the surface layers. In the aluminium works, at the other 

 side of the cutting, a good sample of the disturbed gravelly surface 

 soil containing numerous flakes was taken. 



Close to the gate lodge of the aluminium works a good section was 

 exposed, fronting the public road which runs beside the railway. Here 

 the gravels thin out on the bank of Boulder-clay already described 

 {ante, p. 168). The section showed about 5 feet of the gravels 

 resting directly on the Boulder-clay. A photograph having first been 

 procured (Plate VI.), a continuous section was taken from the surface 

 to the Boulder-clay, about 1 foot wide by 1 foot deep. It has been 

 re-erected in the Museum, where the other part sections have also 

 been placed. 



During the excavation a considerable collection of flakes and cores 

 was made, each specimen being marked at the time, according to the 

 place and depth from which it was taken. These have likewise been 

 placed in the Museum, and lettered to correspond with the levels of the 

 sections. No scrapers were found, and only one flake with secondary 

 working. It was taken from a depth of about 1 foot 8 inches in the 

 aluminium works section. Our examinations of the gravels lust 

 Easter confirmed the previous results. We shall speak later of the 

 flints collected on that occasion. 



