62 Field Meetings. 



of the UiT, aliout twenty years ago. The next halt was made at 

 the picturesque and tidy little village of Auchencairn, where 

 i-efreshments were partaken of. A few miles of further driving 

 brought the party to Dons Knowe, where they left the conveyance, 

 and proceeded to the shore at Barlocco. Here a mine formerly 

 wrought for barytes was examined, and numerous specimens were 

 picked up. On the wild wave-beaten coast the remai-kable Caves 

 of Barlocco were visited, the party being let down the cliffs by 

 means of ropes and ladders furnished by the tenant of Barlocco, 

 whose sons assisted in the process. The Black Cave, which is 

 256 feet long, 90 wide, and 40 in height, was first entered. It 

 is a vaulted chamber, floored with shingle, and huge boulders are 

 strewn about it. At the extreme upper end there is a little space 

 above high-water mark whereon numerous rock-pigeons breed. 

 The Rerwick shore is now almost the only place in Galloway where 

 these birds nest and bring forth their young. The White Cave 

 WHS next entered. It is perhaps the most wonderful natural 

 formation in Galloway. The " gateway " is a vast Gothic arch 

 through which you pass into a magnificent temple "not made 

 with hands." The flooring of the cave is composed of pieces of 

 granite rounded to pebbles by the attrition of the tides, and the 

 roof, which rises gradually, was decorated with the luxurious 

 fronds of Sea Spleenwort. The length of the cave is 252 feet ; 

 greatest width, 190 feet; height, 60 feet. Nobody who has not 

 visited these caves can form any idea of their grandeur. They 

 are not inferior to Fingiil's, we are told, in any particular, 

 except that of the regularity of the strata forming the sides of the 

 latter. Along the romantic shore some very fine corallines were 

 oliserved, and Mr F. W. Grierson captured the rare Oil Beetle 

 (Melve itro Scarabceus). Here the party were joined by a com- 

 pany of kindred spirits from Kirkcudbright. The Hartstongue 

 Fern was discovered, growing in thousands, by INIr J. W. Kerr, in 

 a little dell at the top of the cliffs. Rerwick Kirkyard having 

 been inspected, the party proceeded to the Dundrennan Arms 

 Hotel, where tea was partaken of. Refreshed and reinvigorated, 

 they next examined the beautiful ruins of Dundrennan Abbey, 

 where a rare variety of the Common Maidenhair Spleenwort 

 (Asplenium trichomanes, variety incisum) was found in one of the 

 \'aults. On the return journey to Dalbeattie, a remarkably fine 

 view was obtained of the zodiacal light, which projected fully 

 30 degrees in the heavens, and is a rare occurrence so late in spring. 



