RESEARCHES AMONG THE PALEOZOIC ROCKS OF IRELAND. 
137 
Regarding the section just described at Carrickduff, and the 
whole group of ten or twelve miles of the same kinds of rock from 
that to Cork,, it may be argued that as no fossils have been found 
in them, their geological position is doubtful, and they may belong 
to any formation; but though the proof by fossils has not yet been 
made out here, as it is seen in the Dingle peninsula, yet a part of 
the proof which is observable in the western district occurs here 
also; that is, the unconformability between the beds of the Carboni¬ 
ferous formation, and the underlying green and brown grits. At 
Quartertown Upper, one mile and a half south of the town of 
Mallow, in the railway cutting, the brownstone rock is seen in 
gentle undulations, having a low general dip eastwards, and noticed 
at the junction No. 67 in the Table; and the Old Red Sandstone at 
this place lies on it unconformably, having a dip northwards to¬ 
wards Mallow, where it is soon covered by the mountain limestone 
and coal rocks in the vicinity of that town. 
At the time the formation of the railway was in operation, this 
junction was pretty well exposed, but at present it is not so; the 
dressing of the slopes obscured it, but still the hard brown grit 
may be seen south of the junction, and the soft red and yellow 
sandstones north of it. I may observe of the locality that there 
was a stream of water which came in from the east, conveyed in a 
small trough over the railway, exactly at this junction. The un¬ 
conformability here I take as conclusive that the rocks on both 
sides of the junction, that is, the limestone at Mallow, and the 
brown grits at Quartertown, belong to two different geological 
epochs. 
In this place I will say a few words on the Yellow Sandstone of 
the south. I have already stated that in the Old Red, in the north 
of Ireland, the prevailing colour is red, and the volume thick. In 
the south the yellow colour predominates, and the volume is much 
diminished. At Muckross, near Killarney, and at Quartertown, 
near Mallow, it appears to have dwindled to a very thin band, but 
still true to the type. The rock is soft sandstone, and not hard 
grit. To the south of these two last-mentioned places I do not 
know of its existence anywhere in Kerry or Cork,—keeping in 
view the type, as seen near Hook Head, or anywhere northward, 
in Clare, Galway, or Tipperary, Tyrone, or Down. 
I know that the remains of plants are got at Cork, in one bed 
Vol. VII. 0 
