MARBLES. 
27 
from Dublin to Galway Bay, and about the same distance 
north and south, it forms the characteristic rock through- 
out the greater part of the island, and attains in the 
southern counties the prodigious thickness of nearly o,000 feet. 
The more valuable quarries are in the counties of Kilkenny, 
Carlow, Galway, and Mayo; from these several varieties of 
marbles are raised, especially, the black marble, next to which in 
importance are the dove, mottled, grey, red and white marbles. 
The Galway marbles are well known, but the beds in the 
quarries are usually thin : the best stratum is known locally as 
“ the London bed.” The marble is quarried principally at 
Menlo, on the banks of Lough Corrib. The black marble of 
Kilkenny, like many others, owes its colour to the presence of 
organic matter, and as this gradually becomes altered by 
exposure to the atmosphere the colour may deteriorate. The 
<£ shelly black ” of Kilkenny is a well-known marble. The red 
marbles of Limerick, Clare and Cork, include some beautiful 
varieties which have acquired considerable repute. White 
marble is obtained from the rocks of Connemara and Donegal ; 
The limestone of the former district is hard, strong and fine 
grained, while that of the latter is generally too coarse for fine 
work. The white Connemara marble cannot, however, be 
procured in large blocks free from streaks which pass through 
the blocks parallel with the beds. 
Black marble is principally obtained from Kilkenny, Galway, 
Churchtown, Donerail, Kerry, and Tipperary; white marble 
from Connemara, Donegal, Churchtown, and Kerry ; and coloured 
marbles are scattered over all the districts in which the lime- 
stones occur, the reddish varieties being found principally near 
Armagh ; in the south of Clare ; in the county of Limerick ; 
and at Middleton and Churchtown in co. Cork. The sienna 
marble comes chiefly from King’s co. 
The serpentinous marble, or ophicalcite, of Connemara will 
be noticed at p. 29. 
Irish marbles are exhibited from Clonony, King’s co. ; Phoenix 
Park and Finglass, Dublin ; Mitchelstown, Cork ; Kenry and 
Askeaton, Limerick ; Minto, Galway ; Ballinahinch ; the Twelve 
Pin Mountains ; and Rossvella and White Craig Quarries. 
Scotch Marbles. — Screen B. Cubes in Cases II. and III. 
An interesting variety of marble is exhibited from Tiree, in 
the Hebrides, where it occurs associated with the archaean 
gneiss. The marble consists of a base of pink limestone, through 
which are disseminated granular masses of a dark green augitic 
mineral, giving the stone a porphyritic appearance. The bust of 
of Sir H. T. De la Beche in the library of this institution is 
supported on a fine block of this marble. 
c 2 
