95 



shirag. The chapel stands on a platform, bounded northwards by a 

 low cliff of sandstone, and overlooking one of the most varied and 

 pleasing views in Arran. In this sandstone, underneath the north 

 wall of the chapel enclosure, there is a bed of carboniferous limestone 

 in a vertical position. It has been largely quarried, and a small 

 portion only is now visible. It contains fossils, of which the most 

 characteristic is the producta gigantea, completely identifying this 

 bed with the limestones of Corrie, the Salt Pans, Bein Lyster glen, 

 &c., and enabling us, therefore, to assign the sandstone also, without 

 hesitation, to the age of the coal formation. A little farther on, 

 above a rustic bridge, where the Shirag burn, rushing out from a 

 winding rocky gorge overhung with trees, forms a scene strikingly 

 picturesque, another bed of limestone occurs in the sandstone. Thence 

 to the entrance of Glen Rosa, we pass across the lower beds of the 

 carboniferous formation, which, however, are nowhere seen except in 

 spots in the bed of the Rosa burn. The succession of the strata is 

 shown in the annexed cut. 



el, 



(a a) Sandstone and conglomerate ; (6) producta limestone ; (c) old red sandstone ; 

 (d~) schist ; (e) granite. 



We now reach the outer edge of the band of old red sandstone, 

 which, ranging from the Corrie shore diagonally by the flank of 

 Goatfell, crosses the opening of the glen. It is seen on rocky pro- 

 minences by the side of the path, but no junction is visible. The 

 beds here exposed consist of a dark-coloured, close-grained sandstone, 

 with specks of mica, bits of quartz, and small clay -galls, and are very 

 characteristic of the upper portions of the formation. The lower 

 portions are seen farther up the glen, but at some height on either 

 side, in the wood and moor on the left, and the hill-side on the right. 

 They are very coarsely conglomerate. Specimens of both varieties 

 may be seen in the stone fence by the side of the wood. 



The alluvial mound at the entrance of the glen has been noticed 

 already, as most probably the terminal moraine of a glacier which 

 once filled the valley. It is precisely in the position where such 

 a moraine would have been thrown down, and consists of such 

 materials as the ice would have borne forward ; and its height, fully 

 thirty feet from the bottom of the glen, places it far above any 

 existing river action. Not knowing its height above the sea level, 

 we are unable to say whether its accumulation may not have been 



