Messrs Peach and Home on the Glaciation of Caithness. 347 



which these deposits are spread, it will be readily admitted 

 that they form an important feature in the history of the 

 glacial phenomena of Caithness. Moreover, if we take into 

 consideration the physical features of the north-west part of 

 Caithness, the absence of deep valleys, and the limited eleva- 

 tion of the hills, we can hardly escape the conclusion that 

 these later accumulations were deposited by a more or less 

 continuous sheet of ice. 



It is rather remarkable that, while these traces of the 

 later glaciation are so abundant in the north-western part 

 of the county, they should not have been observed in the 

 large valleys in the south-east. We traversed the course of 

 the Berriedale Water from the slopes of Maidenpap (2313 

 feet) to the sea, and observed no indications of moraines on 

 the boulder clay slopes. It is possible, however, that small 

 moraine heaps may yet be met with in the higher reaches of 

 the Langwell, Berriedale, and Glut Waters. 



Erratics. 



Over the Caithness plain occasional boulders have been 

 observed resting on the boulder clay, or partly buried in that 

 deposit, which bear unmistakably the impress of glacial action 

 on their smoothed and striated sides. They cannot be said 

 to be numerous ; still a few have been chronicled by Mr Dick 

 and Mr C. W. Peach in their rambles, while we met with 

 several examples during our traverses. The smaller boulders 

 have been removed from the fields in the course of the 

 reclamation of the land, and have been used for building 

 dykes. At Greenvale a boulder of the Sarclet conglomerate 

 was noted by us, and eiTatics of hornblendic granite. East 

 of St John's Loch boulders of granite were also observed. 

 Along the road from Greenvale to Ham various blocks of 

 foreign rocks occur, which have been borne oft' the fields, 

 amongst which may be mentioned grey and pink granite, 

 quartzite, grey micaceous gneiss, red sandstone like the beds 

 at Ham, and conglomerate. No boulders of the Upper Old 

 Ked Sandstones, which form the tract already referred to 

 between Brough and Dunnet Bay, were observed to the 



