The goniatite-bearing black marine shales at the base of the Namurian in County Clare and County Limerick, described by Hodson in north Clare and at Foynes Island (1954 a , 1954 b ) are redefined as a litho-stratigraphic unit, the Clare Shales, to exclude an upper sandy division. The outcrop of the Clare Shales has been mapped in detail for a distance of about 50 miles from the Atlantic coast of north-west County Clare southwards to the Limerick-Cork border. Wherever possible the faunal succession and the thickness of the goniatite zones have been determined. It is shown t h a t the junction of the Carboniferous Limestone and the overlying Namurian is, over the greater part of the outcrop, and probably the whole of it, non-sequential. The basal beds of the Clare Shales vary from Lower Eumorphoceras age (E l ) immediately north of the Shannon estuary to Homoceras age (H) at the northern and probably at the southern limits of the area investigated. It is demonstrated that a mid-Carboniferous trough of sedimentation exists in County Clare and County Limerick, with its axis roughly along the line of the present-day Shannon estuary. The regularity of the overlap of the lower zones of the Namurian is disturbed north of the Shannon by thinning due to a ridge of Carboniferous Limestone at Carrowkilla, north of Ballynaeally, and by the presence of beds of basal Namurian age containing Cravenoceras leion in the area around Shallee Castle, west of Ennis. Apart from these iregularities, there is a steady overlap of the lower zones by the upper as one proceeds a w a y from the Shannon. By the correlation of accurately measured sections it is possible to reconstruct the form of trough along the line of section examined.

Summary The lithological and faunal succession in the beds above the Carboniferous Limestone over an area of about 50 square miles in North-West County Clare is described. This area has the town of Lisdoonvarna at about the central point and includes the Cliffs of Moher on the Atlantic coastline. Some 1300 feet of beds are preserved above the limestone and are to be referred to the upper part of the Homoceras and Lower Reticuloceras stages of the Namurian. Seventy-three fossiliferous bands, belonging to 10 faunal horizons, have been found and vertical sections measured to show their relationships. The succession, in this part of County Clare, is shown to be very condensed in its lower portion. There exists a considerable non-sequence above the Carboniferous Limestone. The Geological Survey map is shown to embody certain errors and a geological sketch-map is given which attempts to rectify these.

SUMMARYVisean goniatites from rhe rap of the PI Zone are described. Eight new species and one variety are erected. A new genus Hibernicoceras is proposed for the reception of some of these. Observations are made on the genus Prcedaraelites of Schindewolf.

In a previous article in these Proceedings I raised some doubts about the current system of classifying the British pre-Roman Iron Age (Hodson 1962). My main criticisms were that the first stage of this classification into three divisions A, B and C did not reflect a clear threefold division within the material to be classified and also that this system did not deal satisfactorily with the British Iron Age as part of a wider European phenomenon. The purpose of this article is to look for steps towards a modified first classification that may overcome these objections. Following the four principles of classification suggested (Hodson 1962, p. 153) an attempt will be made to pick out the most distinctive characteristics or type-fossils within the pre-Roman Iron Age and to see whether these features recur together in definite groups in Europe as a whole. These groups should represent cultures in the archaeological sense and afterwards their interpretation should provide a general archaeological account of the early Iron Age in Britain.Although attempting to put forward for discussion a provisional classification of some sort, the real purpose of this paper is to emphasize serious gaps in the available evidence. Until these gaps are filled, no classification can hope to be in any way definitive.It is first necessary to establish some simple chronological system by which to inter-relate any cultures that may be established. A direct reference to absolute dates (or periods of, say, a hundred years) would be most convenient.