RECORDS OF EXCURSIONS IN AYRSHIRE. 23 



mode of weathering of some of the sandstones on this coast 

 deserves attention, many patches of the rock being hollowed out 

 into strange honey-combed patterns not easily accounted for — 

 such pieces being in great demand for rockeries. 



The last rocks on the shore, as one proceeds towards Fairlie 

 Station, are some prominent bosses, partly covered by the tide, 

 and known as "the Black Rocks." In these rocks, which are 

 volcanic agglomerates, there are pieces of a black mineral 

 resembling anthracite, but determined by Professor Heddle to 

 be Augite, and the largest lumps of that substance which have 

 been found in the West of Scotland. They have not crystallized 

 in position, but have been brought up as " pebbles " from the 

 depths below. 



In Ardneil Bay, at low water, a glacial bed containing many 

 fossils may be examined, the ponderous shells of Cyprina 

 Islandica being conspicuous, and the valves in many cases 

 united. 



A few of the botanical treasures of the neighbourhood may be 

 glanced at. In a muddy ditch by the roadside, near the Ardneil 

 Bay villas, there is a healthy patch of Savi's mud rush {Isolepis 

 Savii). Ardneil Bank furnishes some good botanical things — the 

 hart's tongue {Scolopendrium vulgare), for instance, being still 

 abundant there, some of the fronds having four points. Along 

 the coast line may be got the crow garlic {Allium vineale), the 

 bloody crane's bill {Geranium sanguineum), the broad and the 

 narrow-leaved blysmus {Blysmus compressus and B. rufus), the 

 celery-leaved crowfoot {Ranunculus sceleratus), (which before the 

 days of poorshouses was much used by beggars to produce ugly 

 ulcers), the shore whorl-grass {Catabrosa aquatica var. littoralis), 

 and the sea hard-grass {Lepturus filiformis). 



The retiring tide lays bare a large area to the south-west of 

 Fairlie, and part of this patch is prolific in the production of the 

 common cockle {Cardium edule), which is much gathered here as 

 bait. A large part of this area is also much covered by the sea- 

 flowering plant or grass-wrack, both species being represented, 

 viz., Zostera marina and Z. nana. 



An excursion to Fairlie Glen (which had also been visited 

 previously on nth June, 1887) and neighbourhood was made on 

 the afternoon of Saturday, 7th June, 1890. 



