498 D. Balsillie — The Geology of Kinkell Ness. 



(whether it has or not) the dolomitic powder, which has heen or is 

 being carried away mechanically, was set free, as a result of the 

 concretionary and segregated processes, and its removal has nothing 

 to do with the cause of these structures. 



13. That the dolomitic and gypsiferous dolomitic oolites were 

 produced by deposition of material round crystalline grains or nuclei 

 either as they fell through the water or lay on the bottom of the sea. 



14. That the northern part of the Durham Permian (and the 

 Coal-measures and Permian of South-East Northumberland) form a 

 region of thrusting in which many of the phenomena of areas of 

 more intense thrusting are exposed, and that these rocks afford an 

 example of deformation produced within the zone of fracture. 



15. That the breccias and pseudo-breccias which form such 

 a marked feature of these rocks were produced in several distinct 

 ways, each exposure of theni requiring to be separately examined 

 before their mode of formation can be elucidated. 



Addendum. — I desire to thank Dr. Trechmann and Dr. Smythe for 

 reading the first draft o£ this paper through and adding one or two 

 notes which aided me in preparing the final paper. I do not, 

 however, wish to make either of them responsible for any of the 

 views expressed in this paper, except those of Dr. Trechmann which 

 are directly quoted and referred to in the text. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE XII. 

 Fig. 1. — The Shell-Limestone conglomerate at Blackhall Eocks. Portion of 



Vor-reef of the Bryozoa Beef. 

 Fig. 2. — Jean Jivesonis Bock. Coast one mile south of Sunderland. This is 



a mass of compact calcareous breccia cut by several slickensided planes, 



one of which can be seen on the left. The rock was originally a dolomitic 



limestone, and has been altered by solution. 



II. — Geology of Kinkell Ness, Fieeshire. 

 By David Balsillie, F.G.S., University, Edinburgh. 

 (PLATE XIII.) 

 rpHE largest, best exposed, and most interesting volcanic vent along 

 _L the northern shores of Fife is that which has been laid bare at 

 the headland of Kinkell Ness, and a portion of whose enclosed 

 material has been sculptured into the picturesque shore stack known 

 as the Eock and Spindle. ("These two words," as Sir A. Greikie 

 points out, ■" are generally misunderstood. 'Eock' is the Scots 

 word for a distaff ; and ' Spindle ', as here used, has reference to the 

 stellate mass of basalt resembling a spinning wheel.") Eeason for 

 this appropriate designation will be readily gathered from the 

 accompanying photograph (Plate XIII). 



There would appear little doubt that this curious volcanic relic, 

 whose characters are sufficiently striking to arrest the attention of 

 the non-geological observer, was the cause of speculation and 

 controversy in the early days of geological science — certainly before 

 the luminous teachings of Hutton and Playfair had attained a 

 definite ascendency over the enunciations of the Neptunists. Thus 

 in the year 1813 the Eev. John Fleming, minister of Flisk parish on 



