TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 77 
by 16 ft. of the Lower Ludlow Rock was exposed two years ago by the removal of the 
covering of till and boulders in opening a new road; it was intimated that the 
rock should be removed, but it turned out to be so hard and tough, that it could 
not be quarried without great expense and loss of time, and hence the preservation 
of the scratched surfaces. The striz are extremely numerous and generally very 
fine; but there are also many coarser striz, and also grooves of various widths. 
The greater part of these markings are in the direction of 10° west of magnetic 
north, or 34° west of true north, taking the present variation at 24°. They thus 
point almost exactly towards the opening of Kentmere. The surface is divided into 
three or four rounded eminences, smooth and polished to a high degree, and_pre- 
senting exactly the character of the most perfect specimens of the “ Roches Mou- 
tonnées,” so well described and figured by Agassiz, and considered by him as the 
most decisive evidence of glacial action. 
Another example is to be seen at the Birthwaite station, where a large extent 
of surface of the same rock is rounded, polished and striated in a manner exactly 
similar. The striz and grooves run in the direction of the valley, or very nearly 
magnetic north and south, that is, rather more to the south than in the former case. 
Other examples occur at Birthwaite Church, within the enclosures, and at several 
points near; and also in the valley between Staveley and Birthwaite, in all of which 
the direction of the striz is the same as at the Birthwaite station. The Grasmere 
valley, Raise Gap, a portion of Thirlmere valley, and the sides of Helvellyn, were 
afterwards traversed without finding any additional cases ; but the examination was 
rather cursory. 
With respect to the cause which gave origin te these striz, the author observed 
that they might certainly have been produced by glaciers; but as the agency of ice 
is insufficient to explain all the erratic phenomena of the lake district, for ex- 
ample the dispersion of the Shap granite, besides others, it is unnecessary to have 
recourse to it at all; he would refer them to the action of the waves and currents 
charged with detritus, which, according to the elevation theory so ably developed by 
Mr. Hopkins and Professor Whewell, in several most valuable memoirs, must have, 
at many different epochs, proceeded from the centre of this district. In confirma- 
tion of this view, it was shown that the striz conform in their direction, so far as yet 
examined, to the lines of the great radiating faults, and the valleys diverging from 
the central group of mountains, whose first formation is probably due to the exist- 
ence of these faults, and along the lines of which the transported materials would be 
conveyed with the greatest facility and in greatest quantity, on each successive 
disturbance of the waters by the elevating forces. In exact agreement with the faults, 
- the strize at Jacob Wood have more of an easterly tendency than further west, and 
the gravel ridges in the open country southwards to Kendal, &c. have a correspond- 
ing direction, while they contain detritus from rocks existing only to the north. It 
would be interesting to ascertain, as bearing upon the theory of Mr. Hopkins, whether 
this partial conformity is really an isolated phenomenon, or is part of a great 
system of diverging striz, marking the guaquaversal direction of the denuding and 
transporting forces. It is highly desirable that the valleys descending towards the 
N.E. and N.W., and opening in the direction of Penrith and Cockermouth, should 
be carefully examined with reference to the existence of such markings upon the 
rock-surfaces. 
On the Lesmahagow and Douglas Coal-field in Lanarkshire. 
By James Bryce, jun., M.A., F.G.S. 
. The author stated, that he had undertaken an examination of this field in conse- 
quence of its being hitherto undescribed,—the inquiry being entered upon, many pecu- 
liarities were noticed. The coal district of Scotland, ranging from Ardrossan to near 
St. Andrews, is but a single field, the older rocks on which the coal measures repose, 
nowhere rising so as to form independent basins. It is indeed pierced through trans- 
versely to its length, on the borders of Lanark and the Lothians, and again on the 
borders of Lanarkshire and Ayrshire, by high ridges of trap rocks; but these do not 
wholly interrupt the continuity of the coal measures. The coal-field in question was 
found to be an exception ; it is cut off on the one hand from the Clyde basins, and 
