THE FKESH-WATER LOCHS OF SCOTLAND. . 129 



LOCHS OF THE ANNAN BASIN. 



THE large area drained by the river Annan (see Index Map, Fig. 14) 

 is remarkably devoid of lochs, apart from a group of half a dozen small 

 lochs clustered near the town of Lochmaben, four of which were sounded 

 by the Lake Survey. The only other loch is the little Loch Skeen, 

 situated far to the north, on the borders of Dumfries- and Selkirk-shires, 

 near the source of the Moffat water, a tributary of the Annan. Loch Skeen 

 lies at an elevation of nearly 1750 feet above the sea, while the Lochmaben 

 lochs are all less than 200 feet above sea-level. The deepest lo ch is Mill 

 Loch, with a maximum of 55 feet ; Loch Skeen coming next with a maximum 

 of 36 feet; then Kirk Loch, with a maximum of 25 feet ; while Castle Loch 

 and Hightae Mill Loch are less than 20 feet in depth. The trout-fishing 

 in Loch Skeen is sometimes very good, but variable, while the Lochmaben 

 lochs are remarkable for their variety, Castle Loch, for instance, being said 

 to contain ten different species, including pike, perch, roach, bream, chub, 

 loch-trout, and vendace the last mentioned a rare fish, peculiar to Castle 

 Loch and Mill Loch, which takes no lure, but is caught with the net. 



Loch Skeen (see Plate XL VII.). Loch Skeen lies about 9 miles north- 

 east from Moffat, and only 5 miles from St. Mary's Loch in the Tweed 

 basin. When engaged on the survey of St. Mary's Loch, our surveyors 

 were informed that there was no boat on Loch Skeen ; but one of them 

 went up to study the geology, taking a boatman with him, when they 

 found a boat without oars. With oars improvised from a broken fence, 

 they made a zigzag the whole length of the loch, a strong wind preventing 

 them from running transverse lines of soundings. The loch is elongate 

 in outline, trending from north-west to south-east, and three-quarters of 

 a mile in length, the maximum breadth being one-fifth of a mile. The 

 superficial area is about 69 acres, and the drainage area less than a square 

 mile. The deeper water is centrally placed, the maximum depth of 36 feet 

 being recorded rather nearer the northern than the southern end. A 

 sounding in 24 feet was taken near the northern end ; and a sounding in 

 26 feet off the central part of the eastern shore shows a steep slope in 

 that position. The mean depth is estimated at 18 feet, or one-half of the 

 maximum depth, and the volume of water at 53 million cubic feet. The 

 loch was surveyed on May 7, 19o5, but the elevation above the sea could 

 not be determined. 



