428 



TilE GEOLOGIST. 



supposed humerus of tlie Bryopitliecus, from tlie miocene of the South of 

 France, as figured in M. Lart'et's memoir [Comptes Rendus de VAcademie 

 des Scimces, Juillet 28, 1856), agrees with that of the Eppelsheim femur." 



Irish Deift Fossils. — The rarity of the occurrence of fossils in the 

 deposit known as the "Drift," which extends far and wide over the low 

 country in Ireland, may excuse the following communication. 



For a long time past I have taken advantage i)f opportunities to search 

 these gravels, clays, and sands, m the hope of finding even a fragment of 

 a drift fossil, but until lately without success : — In the early part of last 

 month, however, I was driving from the town of Sligo southwards, towards 

 the micaceous and gneissose range (continuous with the Ox Chain), which 

 passes along the southern shore of Lough Gill, and near the foot of these 

 mountains having observed a tract of drift hillocks stretching from the 

 lake to Ballysodare Bay, I stopped to examine a gravel pit in. one of 

 them beside the road, situated in the townland of Drumiskybole, and 

 about two miles from the sea. It appeared to have been opened at first 

 to a depth of about five feet, and a smaller pit was sunk within it to a ver- 

 tical depth of some six feet more ; apparently, to obtain fine sand, like that 

 on the seashore, which occurred irregularly amongst coarse gravel and 

 small boulders of the local rocks ; the sand predominating at the bottom 

 of the pit. I searched in this sand with no better success than usual, but 

 was surprised to find in the vertical side of the pit, within three feet of the 

 top, a cluster of mussel shells, together with small, decayed, woody frag- 

 ments among the coarser rubble. The place immediately over and about 

 the shells bore no trace of having been disturbed, while a couple of feet 

 above them the uj^per edge of the pit had somewhat this appearance. 

 The shells lay in irregular positions, rather than upon their sides, in the 

 interstices between the stones ; some of which, just above them, were 

 nearl}'' a foot long. Many of the shells were unbroken, some were closed, 

 and they seemed to have slipped downwards into where I found them, 

 but there v^^as no trace whatever of a space large enough for them to 

 have passed through in the overlying and apparently undisturbed gravel. 

 I have them by me now, and they resemble in almost every respect the 

 dead shells which might be found along the seashore, except that they are 

 not so clean. From the position in which I found them, if they were there 

 before the pit was opened, they must have been some seven feet below the 

 surface of the hill, and I saw nothing about the place to show that they 

 had been artificially introduced since. The rarity of the occurrence only, 

 led me to look about the neighbouring fields, where I saw that the ground, 

 as is usual in that country, had been manured Mith seaweed, along with 

 which such shells might possibly have been brought from the sea ; but I. 

 found nothing to coimect this circumstance with the occurrence of the 

 shells in the gravel-pit, and I only mention it to show that it was not 

 overlooked, in case there should exist a remote possibility of the shells I 

 found having been brought in this way. 



On the other hand, supposing the shells to have been really in situ, was 

 it equally as likely that they would be found in the coarse gravel, etc., as 

 in the fine sand beneath? 



The general uncertainty regarding the contents of most drift deposits 

 would have prompted me to leave the shells where they were, if it did not 

 seem more likely that they would come down and be carried away in some 

 of the next few cart-loads of sand taken from the pit, than that they would 

 ever be visited by any one so accustomed to finding drift fossils as to be 

 able to say whether they were really in place or not. 



I have only to add, that such shells as have been hitherto found in the 



