D. Balsillie — The Geology of Kinkell Ness. 503 



make clear that this is not realty a fragmental rock in the ordinary 

 sense hut is intrusive in nature, some of the marginal parts of the 

 intrusion being unmistakably basaltic both mega- and micro- 

 scopically. It can readily be imagined that if any mass were to 

 originate in the manner described and that before cooling all excess 

 of liquid rock were to be drained away, how thoroughly deceptive 

 in appearance it might ultimately become. Many of the smaller 

 necks in East Fife are, one is inclined to think, filled with material 

 of this kind and ought not to be regarded as being subaerial 

 pyroclastic accumulations, as ordinarily understood, at all. The 

 extreme alteration of the sedimentary fragments in such instances 

 (as also in the corresponding parts of the Rock and Spindle) would 

 then find satisfactory explanation, for it is difficult to understand 

 how this could have resulted from any mere transient experience 

 of high temperature. 



Petrographically the basalt of the Spindle is interesting. It is an 

 exceedingly black compact rock that, like the basalts of St. Monans 

 and Elie, encloses numerous crystals of glassy felspar and dark 

 hornblende. Being desirous of ascertaining whether it further 

 resembled the similar rocks on the south coast of the country in 

 containing any felspathoid the writer had several sections of it cut 

 and submitted these to Dr. Elett. He reports, as the result of his 

 examination, that though the olivines are too greatly altered for one 

 to expect nepheline to be now recognizable, nevertheless he believes 

 that in one of the slides he can identify this mineral. He remarks 

 on its strong resemblance to the Elie rocks and further compares it 

 with the crystalline rock that occurs in the neck on the foreshore at 

 John o' Groats. 1 Dr. Robert Campbell, who has also examined 

 the slices, concurs in this opinion, and says that whether nepheline 

 is now recognizable or not is a matter of small importance, as the 

 general resemblance of the Spindle basalt to the Chapel Ness and 

 other neck basalts of Elie is so remarkably close as to place their 

 related origin beyond question. 



Another curious and perhaps somewhat unusual fact is that the 

 basalt of the Spindle contains numerous fish - teeth, enclosed 

 apparently directly by the igneous rock ; at all events no example 

 has ever been found with attached sedimentary matrix. They appear 

 to have been caught up directly by the basalt and ought thus to 

 afford, if they could be specifically identified, important evidence as 

 to the geological age of the vent. In the hope, therefore, that at 

 last it might be possible to settle definitely a much controverted 

 question a number of these remains were collected and handed to 

 Dr. Flett, who forwarded them to Dr. Smith "Woodward. This 

 distinguished palaeontologist thought at first that he could identify 

 one of the specimens as belonging to RMzodus, but further reported : 

 " I have now an excellent micro-section of the tooth (in basalt) 

 which I supposed to be Rhizodont, but, although I think there is no 

 doubt about its being a tooth, all the structure has been destroyed 

 and the specimen shows only the pulp cavity and cracks. Unless, 



Geology of Caithness (Mem. Geol. Surv. Scot.). 



