250 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



with the Gar nock it has an average gradient of 1 in 

 165. There are no conspicuous hills in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Lugton, except the Lochliboside Hills 

 near its source. On the south-east, as far as Auchen- 

 tiber, it is separated from the Glazert by a low 

 ridge. Near "the Man-trap" a small stream enters 

 which flows from Blae Loch, three miles east of 

 Beith ; and in the Eglinton policies the waters of 

 the Draff Burn, which drains the Doura district, are 

 also received. 



The Monkcastle Burn rises in Moss Mulloch ; and 

 after leaping over the Monkcastle dolerite (which is 

 the same as that between the Bombo and Dusk, and 

 has been cut clean through by the river Garnock 

 opposite Monkcastle), and passing through a romantic 

 glen, it enters the Garnock. 



The Red Burn is conspicuous for the quantity of 

 hydrated iron oxide carried in its waters, which is 

 dissolved from the sand over which it flows in 

 Eglinton policies. 



The Penny Burn is only notable from flowing rjast 

 the conspicuous "agglomerate necks" at CastlehilL 

 which are nothing less than the fllled-up throats of 

 two ancient volcanoes. 



In very ancient times this district appears to have 

 been for the most part covered with forests of oak, 

 as was the greater part of Scotland: The proof of 

 this fact is to be obtained in the peat-mosses, where 

 the large blackened stems and roots of those trees 

 are frequently found. In that part of the district 

 which may be described as lying at a middle eleva- 

 tion, a considerable area of moss has either been 

 used for fuel or brought under cultivation. Still, 

 considerable tracts of moss, in the Auchentiber and 

 White-spot districts, and on the high-lying moors, 

 remain in a natural state. 



The total number of Phanerogams, Ferns, Club- 

 mosses, and Horsetails I have been able to catalogue 

 from the Garnock Valley is a few over six hundred. 



