V. 



RECORDS OF EXCURSIONS IN 

 AYRSHIRE (with Notes). 



By John Smith. 



On ioth of July, 1886, the first excursion of the Society to 

 Ayrshire was made, the district chosen being the coast line from 

 Portincross to Fairlie. 



In the Society's Records of Excursions nothing is said as to 

 what was seen or found ; but a few notes on the geological 

 features and natural history resources of the district may be here 

 given. 



A prominent trap dyke, which is quarried near West Kilbride 

 town, can be examined at several parts on the way down to the 

 shore at Portincross. 



The geological features of the coast line traversed are of especial 

 interest, and consist for the most part of red sandstones. A short 

 distance to the south of Portincross Castle are some highly altered 

 shales, the geological position of which has been disputed — Mr. 

 Carrick Moore, their first describer, considering them to be of 

 Silurian age, and Mr. D. Bell and several members of the 

 Geological Survey ranking them as highly altered members of the 

 cement-stone group of the calciferous formation. It is a point 

 which, owing to the entire absence of fossils in the metamorphosed 

 part, may never be definitely decided; yet, from the stratigraphy of 

 the district, we incline to favour Mr. Carrick Moore's opinion. 



A short distance to the north of the little harbour of Portincross 

 — beyond the prominent trap dyke — there is a thick bank of coarse 

 conglomerate, the pebbles of which are mostly of a pink quartzite, 

 many of them having been fractured — even brecciated in situ — 

 and the fragments subsequently soldered together. The peculiar 



