Little Ross, Kirkcudbrightshire. 87 



species ; but I have only found one entire shelly which was un- 

 fortunately lost soon after I had got it. So far as I could 

 judge from the imperfect examination that I had an opportu- 

 nity of making, it appeared to belong to the genus Terebratula. 

 In the same sort of rock, which is certainly the last, both 

 from its structure and the coarseness of its texture, that any 

 one would think of examining for organic remains, I have ob- 

 served small circles of carbonate of lime, having a black spot 

 in the centre, with apparent radiation, which on the whole 

 closely resemble fragments of the stalks of Encrinites. But as 

 I have seldom met with this appearance, I am not prepared to 

 state that Encrinites are to be included in the list of the orga- 

 nic remains of the island. It is important to remark that the 

 rock where these occur bears no mark of being stratified, hav- 

 ing no cleavage plane, and being every where pervaded by 

 dries, which separate the mass into triangular prisms, and in 

 some oases into other symmetrical solids. The occurrence, 

 however, of organic exuviae alone, independent of the rounded 

 pebbles which it contains, are, of course, absolutely conclusive 

 as to its being of mechanical origin. 



Mr E. G. Fleming of Kirkcudbright shewed me a fossil 

 which he had found several years ago in the solid greywacke 

 rock, at a point on the mainland nearly opposite to Little 

 Ross Island. This fossil I found to be an Orthoceratite ; and 

 another specimen has since then been found in the same spot, 

 which confirms its identity. 



There remains one point of interest to be mentioned, and 

 this is the occurrence of an elevated sea-beach. As formerly 

 noticed, there is but one beach on the island, at a place called 

 the White Bay. It consists of oval-shaped shingle, of a size 

 which, in Lancashire, would be called single stanner, and 

 it is principally composed of greywacke, with here and there 

 travelled boulders of porphyry, of various colours. This 

 shingle has assembled itself into two little bays, with a con- 

 necting spit between, the top of which is covered with lichen, 

 and it is composed of the same sort of shingle as the beach 

 below, but is considerably above the range of the highest 

 tides. At the top of this spit the grass line occurs, and to 



