294 THE GEOLOGIST. 



of vrliicli t-^vo species liave been deterniiiied. Among tlic fossils from 

 tlie Upper Silurian rocks of Dingle Promontory, tlic most western 

 land of Eiu^ope, we recognized an old friend, the PentamerKS KnigTdily 

 of tlie Apnestry di'dsion of tlie Upper Ludlow series. 



The visitor to tlie Museum in St. Stephen's Green should especially 

 inquii'e for the case containing the fossils and plants of the yellow 

 and red sandstones, which lie beneath the lower carboniferous lime- 

 stone, and are extensively c^uarried in many parts of Ireland. Here 

 vre saw, for the first time, that apparently freshwater mussel of the 

 lower carboniferous epoch, the Anodon ? Julcesii ; also the fossil 

 plant named KiiGrria, and that beautiful fossil fern, Cydoj^teris 

 Hiheriuca. which has lately been found near Waterford with its 

 fructification preserved. This fossil fern has its fructification developed 

 somewhat after the fashion of the recent and well-known Osmunda 

 regalis, or flowering fern, so abundant in the neighbourhood of Kil- 

 larney. 



My friend, Dr. Melville, writing me a description of this chscovery, 

 says that, ''in the fertile fronds of the C. Hihernica, the pinnides of 

 the primary pinnfe are diAdded into capillary segments, subclavate at 

 their extremities ; but the intermediate pau' of piimules, the peculiar 

 characteristic of the fern, are uncut, and the terminal pinnules of the 

 primary and secondary rachides do not exhibit the capillary segmenta- 

 tion." 



A great deal of valuable information may also be gained by 

 oxaminiiig the hand -specimens of rocks and fossils in this collection 

 before startmg for the hills and cpaarries, as the mineralogical character 

 of most of the Irish strata differs very considerably from our English 

 tj^DCS, whether those strata be Silurian, Old Eed, or Carboniferous. 



Of course, no one, if he could avoid it, would leave Dublin witliout 

 visitmg the other public places of interest, especially the Irish 

 Academy, with its gold and jewelled ornaments of a by-gone race. 

 We were amazed at those gems, " so rich and rare," evidently the work 

 of artists of exr|uisite skill and taste. There are torques, or twisted 

 collars of pure gold, as old, probably, as the period of Torquatus, who 

 slew a Gaul in the year of Eonie, 393, and afterwards wore the 

 " tore " he took from the body. There are jewelled cups, and va^es, and 

 gold ring-money of the ancient Celts : and there are bells of the time 



