N-H'ICE OF AN ANCIENT BEA BEACH. 15.1 



i 



precipitous bank, the lower half of wliich is moist, and covered with a 

 thick coarse turf, on the removal of which, by the unusual violence and 

 height of the waves on the day alluded to, the appearance which I am 

 now about to describe was opened to view. AH that has been laid bare 

 of this curious bed or deposit is about fifty feet in extent ; and it occurs 

 at a distance of about the same number of feet from the present high 

 water mark, the base of it being about twelve feet above the highest pre- 

 sent level of the sea. It is composed of the same general fragments of 

 rocks which form the present sea-beach ; and the imbedded shells are the 

 sairV as those which are still most abundant on that part of the coast. 

 On examining this bed, the conclusion seems at once to force itself on 

 the observer, that it has at one period, and that for a considerable length 

 of time, been subject to the influence and action of the waves : in other 

 words, that it is neither more nor less than an ancient sea-beach ; and, 

 having arrived at this conclusion, the interesting question which next 

 suggests itself is, Has the sea receded, or has the land risen, so as to ac- 

 count for the elevation of this gravelly bed above the present level of the 

 ocean ? a question which, in the present state of geological science, and 

 especially when other ascertained facts regarding the same coasts (the 

 Firth of Forth at least) are taken into consideration, it will not, perhaps, 

 be difficult to answer. From these facts, the plain and natural reply 

 seems to be, that the land has risen on this part of the coast, though how 

 long it may be since this change took place between the relative level of 

 sea and land, it is not so easy to determine. From several circumstances, 

 however, it would appear to have been recent, i. e. after the district was 

 inhabited by the same animals, terrestrial as well as marine, which now 

 exist in it. The shells, as already mentioned, included in the cemented 

 gravel, are all of presently existing species ; and the bones which were 

 found in it appear to be equally recent. Several of these bones I picked 

 up in company with D. Milne, Esq., who, on shewing them to well 

 known anatomists in Edinburgh, ascertained that they belonged to the 

 common cow or ox, but a variety greatly smaller than that which is now 

 to be seen in the Lowlands of Scotland. Some of these bones, I may 

 farther mention, appear to have belonged to a species of the genus 

 Cervus. On a subsequent occasion, I found various and well defined 

 teeth ; from all which facts, the discovery of this ancient sea-beach 

 may be regarded as one of no small interest, being one of the few facts 

 yet recorded or observed, which would tend to prove, that the present 

 race of land animals existed before the change of levels took place. To 

 establish the correctness of this inference, one thing seemed to be espe- 

 cially desirable, viz. to ascertain whether these bones were actually im- 

 bedded in the gravelly mass, or merely adhering to the surface of i t 

 in the latter case, very little information regarding the point now alluded 

 to could be drawn from their occurrence. I have since ascertained, how- 

 B. N. c NO. v. L 



