The Post- Tertiary Deposits of Elie and Largo Bay. 107 



to make any collection from these with a satisfactory result, 

 unless an entirely new face to the section could be cut. 

 There appears to be a second, although ill-defined, peat-bed, 

 much less marked, and very impure, underlying the former 

 bed of peat. The fourth stratum was, at the time I saw it, 

 only partially visible, the heaping-up of the beach material 

 preventing an examination of its lowest portions being made. 

 I now pass on to a consideration of the Cocklemill Burn, 

 or, as Mr Brown terms it, the " Elie Transverse Section." In 

 the bank of the burn, about 200 yards above the foot-bridge, 

 the following section was observed : 



1. Sand, perhaps blown, 2 to 3 feet, containing marine and 

 land shells. Away from the banks of the burn this passes 

 into " dunes," when the marine shells increase in number. 



2. Drab sandy clay, 6 inches to 3 feet, containing a few 

 small stones and vertical ferruginous pipings. A quantity of 

 this clay on being washed did not yield any organic remains. 



3. Sand bed, 7 to 8 feet. 



4. Sandy clay, becoming more argillaceous downwards, and 

 having at its base a thin irregular band of finely comminuted 

 shelly matter and black shale, of variable thickness, contain- 

 ing Scrohicularia piperata, Littorina litorea, Tellina halthica^ 

 Littorina ricdis, var., Cardium edule, etc. 



5. Fine, stiff, blue clay, 2 to 3 feet, having distributed 

 pretty generally throughout it, Scrohicularia. pijjerata, Cardium 

 edule, Mytilus edulis, Hydrohia ulvce, Tellina halthica. 



6. Yellow sand, becoming blue, and in places almost black, 

 downwards to below the water level. 



Several visits were made to this section ; one, in company 

 with the late Dr M'Bain, K.N., and Mr Howie, of Largo, was 

 particularly interesting, for although no good geological 

 section was then seen, we were very successful in obtaining, 

 under the guidance of the latter gentleman, numerous speci- 

 mens of Scrohicularia pijjerata living in pools on the muddy 

 flats of the burn. This fact, taken in conjunction with the 

 occurrence of S. piperata in the above beds, in the natural 

 position, with its posterior or siphonal end uppermost, is one 

 of particular interest and importance. The position in which 

 this species occurs in Nos. 4 and 5 of the preceding section 



