Ow the Fossil lishes of the Carboniferous Limestone Series of Great Britain. 537 
The followig description of the Mountain Limestone in: the neighbourhood of 
Armagh, is derived from the explanatory memoir, sheet 47, of the Geological 
Survey of Ireland. The Lower Limestone of the Carboniferous series consists 
chiefly of light gray crystalline limestones, sometimes possessing a slight bluish 
tinge, and in certain localities assuming a deeper brown and reddish shades. The 
beds are in most places separated by thin layers of dark oray shale. The limestone 
is generally highly fossiliferous, many of the beds containing’ large bunches of 
coral, crinoidal fragments, shells, and especially towards the base, fish remains. 
It is from these beds that the typical specimens of the Jones’ and Enniskillen 
Collections have been obtained, as well as the great bulk of the latter magnificent 
collection now deposited inthe New Natural History Museum at South Kensington. 
Cherty bands are occasionally met with. The thicker beds of limestone supply 
very good building stone, which has been extensively quarried in some parts. In 
the neighbourhood of Armagh, some of the lower beds have been worked and 
polished for marble. These furnish a close-grained rock, which, being of a pinkish 
or purplish brown and gray colour, beautifully spotted, and clouded with various 
tints of yellow and brown, and susceptible of a high polish, is well adapted for 
ornamental work. Some of these beds are flaggy, and have been used in the 
streets of Armagh. The limestone is in many localities burned for lime of an 
excellent quality, which is principally used for agricultural purposes. A bluish 
limestone at Benburb, is said to produce lime possessing hydrawic properties. 
This was used in the bridges over the Ulster Canal. Occasional beds of yellowish 
and light reddish silicious sandstone occur in various parts of the district, inter- 
stratified with the limestone, and these have in some places been quarried for 
building. 
The Calp consists of sandstones, blue shales and earthy limestones. They are ex- 
posed south-west of Benburb. Thin seams of coal occur. The shales are replete with 
fossils and the sandstones contain remains of plants as well as mollusca.. The Upper 
Limestone in this district is thin, light gray in colour and somewhat arenaceous, and is 
shown in the section, figure 1 d;.a small thickness of gray arenaceous limestones of 
the upper series is exposed near Benburb. 
The Lower Limestones are extensively quarried for building and burning for lime. 
In a quarry on the west side of the road from Armagh to Loughall, a mile and a 
quarter south-west of the latter place, the beds consist of thin bands of light 
brownish compact limestone, with layers of dark reddish sandy shale. Fish 
remains are found in the latter, and both are largely composed of shells. The 
largest quarries lie south of Armagh, near Red Barn. About a mile from the 
city in that direction a quarry contains beds of limestone from one to five feet 
thick; the rock is a light yellowish or pink colour, and crystalline. Numerous 
corals with large masses of Lithostrotion occur, crinoid stems and the shells of 
molluses are common, and fine specimens of fish remains have been procured. 
Similar fossils have been obtained in a large quarry near the ancient entrenchment 
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