330 
NOTES OF A GEOLOGIST IN IIIELAND DUEING AUGUST 
AND SEPTEMBER, 1857. 
By the Rev. "W. S. Stmonds, Rector of Pendock. 
( Conlimted from page 290.) 
On leaving Dublin, we travelled northwards, for the purpose of 
examining the carboniferous rocks, and visiting the magnificent collec- 
tion of for«il-fishes in the museum of the Earl of Enniskillen ; we 
then jouriK yed south for Killarney and the Dingle district, but as it 
may be me re convenient to the reader to travel geologically, we will 
reverse ti e order of our journey, and visit the Upper Silurian and Old 
Hed Sandstone districts before we examine the carboniferous deposits. 
The lo^\ cr Cambrian rocks of Wales, of which the Oldhamia-schists 
of Ireland are believed to be the equivalents, pass upwards by insensible 
gradations into the Lingula-flags, to which they are altogether conform- 
able. The Lingula-flags are reckoned to be four or five thousand feet 
thick, and the Llandeilo or Builth-beds, which cover up these, are 
probably as thick ; but geologists are, as yet, uncertain whether they 
possess in Ireland any true equivalents either of the Lingula-flags or of 
the Llandeilo and Builth deposits. There are, however, fossiliferous 
rocks of the Bala and Caradoc age in Ireland similar to those which, in 
Wales, succeed conformably to the Llandeilo and Builth beds, and they 
may be examined at Courtown, in the county of Wicklow, and again at 
Tramore, south of Waterford. They are unconformable to the rocks 
below, which are undoubtedly Cambrian, and thence, we imagine, has 
arisen the suspicion that the Lingula-beds and Llandeilo-flags have 
never been deposited in Ireland, or that if they were, they have been 
denuded and swept away before the deposition of the Bala or Caradoc 
strata. This part of the geology of Ireland is very unsatisfactory, and 
local geologists appear to know very little respecting the history of the 
Lower Silurians. 
For glorious physical geology and picturesque scenery, commend me 
to the Reek district beyond Killarney. The geologist should examine 
carefully the phenomena of the Dingle promontory and the neighbour- 
hood, and return by the Macgillicuddy's Reeks to Killarney. The 
Dingle peningula has been called the key to the geology of the south of 
Ireland : it may be the key, but the lock is one difficult to open — the 
