THE GEOLOGY AND PALAEONTOLOGY 



OF THE 



CLYDE DRAINAGE AREA. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 

 BY J. B. MURDOCH, F.R.Pn.S.E. 



THE West of Scotland has for a long time been fortunate in possessing an 

 active number of workers in Geological and Palaeontological science, and 

 much of the outcome of their labours during the last fifty or sixty years has 

 been made available to the public through the Transactions of the Natural 

 History Society, and those of the Geological Society of Glasgow. 



The first attempt to consolidate the many lists and papers on local geology 

 resulted in the publication of " The Carboniferous Fossils of the West of 

 Scotland, by (Dr.) John Young, with a General Catalogue of the Fossils by 

 James Armstrong," which was issued in 1871. l 



This book again formed the nucleus of the more exhaustive " Catalogue 

 of the Western Scottish Fossils," compiled by John Armstrong, John Young, 

 F.G.S., and David Robertson, F.G.S., which was published as a local guide- 

 book for the use of the members of the British Association, whose meeting- 

 was held in Glasgow in 1876. The editors were largely assisted in its 

 articles by other workers in field and study work, and to such good 

 purpose that the "Catalogue" has up to the present day served as a reliable 

 guide to the Geology of the West of Scotland, and is by no means even yet 

 superseded. 



The following Geological portion of the " Handbook ;: for the British 

 Association meeting of 1901 has been drawn up on somewhat similar lines to 

 those of the former volumes, the various articles in it beginning with thr 

 lowest formation represented in the area and gradually ascending to the 

 most recent. A glance at its pages will show that the contributors are 

 worthy successors of the men who preceded them. 



Preparations for the work were begun some years ago, and it is unfor- 

 tunately the case that a number of those who promised to contribute 

 died before they were able to carry out their intentions, or at least did 

 not survive to revise and correct the articles in print, so that these have had 

 either to be supplied by other hands, or at least have not had the benefit of 

 the author's supervision. 



Amongst these deceased gentlemen may be mentioned Dr. John Young, 

 F.G.S., to whose work and efforts the cause of Western Scottish geological 



1 Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow, vol. iii., supplement, 1871. 



