SHELLS, ETC., OS ARDEER AND IRVINE BEACHES. 243 



XXIV. 



LIST OF SHELLS, ETC., OBSERVED O.V 

 THE ARDEER AND IRVINE BEACHES, 

 AYRSHIRE. 



BY JOHN SMITH. 



[Read 2l8t April, 1891.] 



The district between Saltcoats and Barassie includes 

 the Ardeer and Irvine shores, which form a con- 

 tinuous coast-line extending to 6^ miles in length, 

 and composed entirely of sand. It is bounded on 

 the Saltcoats side by rocks of Upper Carboniferous 

 age and their associated traps, which latter have 

 been the means of protecting from the inroads of 

 the sea the area upon which the town of Saltcoats 

 is built. At Barassie, on the southern side, a mass 

 of trap rock takes the place of the sand. With the 

 exception of the Lappock, an islet laid bare at low 

 tide and situated in the bay 1^ miles north-west of 

 Barassie, no rocks rise above low- water in the offing 

 opposite this part of the coast. The tide retires 

 hete for a considerable distance, leaving a long flat 

 expanse of sand without any mud or gravel-banks. 

 All along the shore, and for some distance inland, 

 are banks and hills of drifted sand, rising at one 

 part to a height of about 90 feet. These sand-hills 

 or dunes have been accumulated partly by the sand 

 blown up from the shore, but probably to a greater 

 extent by the aerial deformation of the old raised 

 beaches. It is scarcely to be credited (unless one is 

 an eye-witness to the fact, as I have many times 

 been) that in rough weather, and even in the midst 

 of heavy driving showers, the sand continues to 

 drift from the beach and is whirled up on the dunes. 

 These, /from the prevailing south-west winds, are 



