358 The Naturalist of Cumbrae. 



present the Ark is stationed, from Keppel pier the 

 road leads on to Balloch Bay. Here the Pholas 

 crispata, being accommodated with soft clay and mud 

 for its borings, grows to be two or three times as large 

 as its fellows in the more rugged domicile at Kames 

 Bay. All the localities that have been named are 

 famous among the initiated for the various kinds of 

 animals which they severally yield to the zoologist, 

 when, after the new moon and the full, the far-reced- 

 ing tides give favourable opportunities for search. 



The Lion Rock, between Balloch Bay and Keppel 

 Pier, and the De'il's Dyke or Keppel Rock, near the 

 pier, are two celebrated trap dykes, standing out con- 

 spicuously from the softer new red sandstone. The 

 Keppel Dyke in particular has the appearance of an 

 artificial wall built on a grand Cyclopean scale. The 

 other and smaller rock is locally cherished for its 

 resemblance to a crouching lion, and so far com- 

 mands respect that few pilgrim painters or knights of 

 the camera leave Millport without having paid it a 

 becoming homage. 



The windows of " Fern Bank " face the Robinson 

 Crusoe-like island of Little Cumbrae, about three 

 miles distant. To the left of Little Cumbrae, but more 

 than thirty miles further off, is Ailsa Craig, a wonder- 

 ful rock, sometimes very distinct to the view, of pyra- 

 midal appearance, at other times seeming to have the 

 base eaten away, and often entirely lost in the misty, 

 or cloud-beset distance. 



The grand hills or mountains of Arran are on the 

 right, fifteen miles off, but sometimes looking as if 

 their great masses were far nearer than that, at others 



