1904-1 9°5-] Largs and its Surroundings. 209 



estuary. When seen bathed in the golden light of one of 

 those magnificent sunsets for which the West Coast is justly 

 famed, with every island and distant headland presenting its 

 own peculiar shade of rich purple, the scene is one which 

 will not readily be forgotten. At this part of the coast, and 

 southwards round the sweep of the shore-line by Hunterston 

 Bay, a wide expanse of muddy sand is left exposed at low 

 water. Perhaps the most striking feature of this region is 

 the remarkable abundance of the common and lesser grass- 

 wracks {Zostera marina and Z. nana), which grow in such 

 plenty as to cover hundreds of acres. The flats thus left bare 

 at low tide, and shoals covered by the returning water, are 

 frequented by multitudes of sea-birds ; the soft sand contains 

 many interesting species of mollusca and Crustacea; the 

 zostera-beds afford a congenial habitat to various algse, &c., 

 peculiar to such places ; the pools of brackish and fresh water, 

 just above the ordinary tide - mark, abound with ostracoda, 

 copepoda, and other minute crustaceans ; while the shore itself 

 yields a considerable variety of maritime plants, including 

 Samolus Valcrandi, Scirpus Caricis, S. rufus, Carex extensa, 

 Zepturus filiformis, &cc} On the right hand, the most con- 

 spicuous feature in the landscape is Kaim Hill, the loftiest 

 summit in the parish of West Kilbride, which rises to a height 

 of 1270 feet. On the western side of the hill is situated the 

 quarry where are obtained the millstones for which the place 

 was formerly widely famed. The material used for their 

 manufacture consists of a grey sandstone rock containing 

 abundance of quartz pebbles. A large trade, both local and 

 export, was long carried on here ; but the demand for Kaim 

 Hill millstones has gradually declined to much smaller pro- 

 portions. Among the plants which have been noted as occur- 

 ring on the hill are Vaccinium Vitis - Idcea, Hymenopliyllum 

 unilaterale, Oligotrichum hercynicum, Dicranella secunda, Lepto- 

 dontium fiexifolmm (c. fr.), Plagiobryum Zierii, Lecanora tar- 

 tarea (c. fr.), Sphmrophoron coralloides (c. fr.), &c. 



On Diamond Craig, a spur of Kaim Hill in the vicinity of 



^ Some idea of the richness of the district between Hunterston and Fairlie 

 may be formed from a perusal of the Lists of Marine Algas, Crustacea, &c., con- 

 tained in the 'Handbook of the Fauna, Flora, and Geology of the Clyde Area,' 

 published by the Local Committee for the Glasgow Meeting of the British 

 Association in 1901. 



