THE Lower NITH. 131 
PROBLEM OF THE LocHar Moss. 
This valley begins north of Locharbriggs, and widens 
rapidly as it nears the sea. The Lochar rivulet meanders 
about in an aimless fashion through a vast wilderness of 
peat. The valley walls at Bankend are from three to four 
miles apart, and represent an immense valley excavation out 
of all proportion to the tiny stream passing through. 
Clearly this is an exaggerated misfit. 
Rivers Lost oR CAPTURED. 
The whole story of river development in Nithsdale and 
Galloway is extremely important. The path of the Nith in 
its earliest stages is clearly chiselled on the hills of to-day. 
Some tributaries have been beheaded, others captured, not 
many miles from the burgh two rivers are entirely lost. We 
are concerned, however, in this short paper with obstacles 
to stream development that are of recent date. The most 
practical way to arrive at a definite decision is to find out (1) 
what were the geographical conditions of this basin previous 
to the interruption by glaciers during the Ice Age; (2) what 
has happened to this area since the dispersal of the glaciers. 
OSCILLATIONS OF SEA LEVEL. 
All authorities are agreed that during the last two or 
three ages there have been several elevations and depressions 
of the land throughout Southern and Western Scotland. J. 
W. Gregory is of opinion that an elevation of land took 
place in Pliocene times of 800 to 1000 feet. 
This uplift would connect the Outer and Inner Hebrides 
with the mainland of Scotland. Ireland would be joined to 
England and Wales, and the tract now covered by the Irish 
Channel would be a long, broad valley or trough. Probably 
the Nith and other Galloway streams discharged into the 
Solway river, which flowed along the plain of the Irish 
Channel and entered the sea at the south of Ireland. One 
thing at least is certain, that rivers would cut deeply into 
the elevated land, and still be considerably above the sea 
level of that age. 
Borings in the Clyde district prove the existence of a 
