208 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE.—1912, 
Of the larger island on Loch Tay Mr. Mitchell writes: ‘ The Isle 
of Loch Tay is wholly formed of stones about 30 lb. to 50 lb. in weight. 
There is a long bank of gravel about 3 feet under the water, and the 
island has been formed by conveying stones from the shore and placing 
them on the gravel. The channel between the island and the shore is 
12 feet deep except in one place, where the depth is only 4 feet, and 
this is causewayed all the way from the shore to the island.’ Mr. 
Mitchell then gives the later history of the island, and adds regarding 
Loch Tay that there is a small island opposite Fernan, and another 
near Ardeonaig, whilst in Dr. Stuart’s extremely valuable paper ! men- 
tion is made of ‘a small islet near the shore in the bay of Kenmore, 
on the south-east shore of Loch Tay, within 100 feet of the head of the 
loch.’ Regarding these islands, Rey. J. B. Mackenzie, for forty years 
the much respected minister of Kenmore, writes as follows: ‘In Loch 
Tay there are fully half a dozen of artificial islands known to me. I 
have roughly investigated all of these sufficiently to satisfy myself that 
they are artificial. They are of very varying size, down to simply a 
cairn of stones, only visible at very low lake.’ 
In Loch Tummel Mr. Mitchell investigated two islands. Of the 
larger, which measures 50 yards by 35 yards, he writes: ‘ This island 
stands in about 7 feet of water, but there is a deep channel between 
it and the shore. . . . The island is formed of stones, which seem to 
rest on trees. What looked like the ends of trees could be seen below 
the stones. The stones seem to have been carefully laid—almost as if 
built in courses—and average about 1 foot square.’ He also describes 
a smaller island 25 feet in diameter, where ‘the stones are placed 
closely together and have the appearance of being almost built into 
their present position. The loch having risen 2 feet in the last eighty 
years, has reduced the surface of the island.’ 
In Loch Rannoch also Mr. Mitchell investigated two islands. Of 
these he writes: ‘ In the centre of the loch at that part there is a bank 
of sand 200 feet in length and about 8 feet below the surface. At the 
south end of this bank, and just where the loch deepens, an island has 
been formed of stones evidently taken from the shore, as there are no 
stones on the sandbank. . . . Rannoch was part of the old parish 
of Killiechronan, which was merged in Fortingall at the Reformation. 
The church of Killiechronan has disappeared, but the burial ground is 
there, and inside the burial ground is an ancient burial cairn about 
30 feet long by 6 feet high. There are no stone circles in the Rannoch 
district, but several single standing stones.’ 
Loch Earn presents an interesting example of how the woodwork, 
known by one person to exist in the foundations of an island, may 
escape the attention of another. In fact Dr. Munro, in his list, places 
the Loch Earn island amongst those in which no wood is discernible, 
and Mr. Alexander Porteous, the author of several books on the 
district, writes that as far as he knows there is no woodwork in the 
construction of the island. Dr. Richardson, M.D., North Berwick, 
* Proc. Soc. Ant. of Scot., 1865. 
