78 Transactions. 
about five miles from Moftlat, on the right hand side of the valley 
going up. The Graptolitic shales found there are not rich in 
fossils ; neither are they in good preservation, scarcely repaying 
the fatiguing climb over the hills. However, I believe there 
are some good specimens to be got at Selcoth Burn, which runs 
down from Carmichen Scaurs, and falls into the Moffat Water. 
In addition to the most of the Birkhill fossils which are got here, 
some excellent sections are to be seen which would make the 
gorge well worth a visit. On the left side of the hills, a little 
past Polmoody farm, there are three deep scaurs, in which all 
the upper Birkhill fossils are got in a fine state of preservation. 
I have obtained some in relief from one of these scaurs. I. 
lobiferus is abundant in the middle one ; also many other species, 
all belonging to the upper beds, a few of which are now arranged 
before you on the table. The next place we come to on the way 
is the Grey Mare’s Tail. The rocks on this picturesque spot are 
all of Silurian grit. About a mile further on we arrive at Birk- 
hill Cottage, where we stand on an anticlinal axis, or water- 
shed, Selkirkshire being on one side and Dumfriesshire on the 
other— the Moffat water running the one way and the_ 
Yarrow the reverse. These black anthracitic shales stretch 
right across the country in a slanting direction from an 
anticlinal axis at Birkhill to the Irish Sea on the one 
shore, and to St. Abbe’s Head on the other. If we now 
retrace our steps along the road following one of the two 
burns, the one which runs past the Cottage and joins that 
issuing from Dobbs’ Linn (uniting about the entrance to the 
above place), thus forming the infant Moffat water, which runs in 
a straight line down the valley to the south-west, and joins the 
Annan a short distance from Moffat. The entrance into Dobbs’ 
Linn has rather a rugged, dark, and weird-like aspect, which 
may be occasioned by the narrowness of the glen, the effect of 
the dark shales, and the absence of vegetation. While we must 
consider Dobbs’ Linn to stand pre-eminent above all other parts 
in the Moffat district—and I might add that nowhere else can it 
be surpassed for the richness, profusion, and fine preservation of 
its fossil remains —to the physical student it cannot be surpassed 
for its fine rock sections, as well as its extensive range of the 
Graptolitic family, in both genera and species. There are other 
places in the district besides these named. The principal are 
Hartfell, Garpel Glen, Duffkinnel Water, Raehills, where some 
