Getkte— Old Volcanic Action at Burntisland. 23 
interest in Scottish history, for it was over its mist-covered 
edge that Alexander III. lost his life. This cliff consists of 
various greenstones, basalts, ashes, shales, sandstones, and thin 
coal-seams : ; the whole, as proved by fossil contents and geolo- 
gical position, belonging to a low part of the carboniferous 
system. Viewed from the westward or from the sea, the stra- 
tification of these crags can be distinctly followed with the eye, 
since the hard lava-beds var y m colour and in their mode 
of weathering, while the softer sedimentary strata that lie 
between them are marked in the distance by grassy slopes. 
Brown and greenish ledges of rock, rising in parallel bars to a 
height of 300 feet above the beach, form the upper part of the 
crag, the lower portions sinking beneath blown sand, coarse 
bent-er ass, and gorse. ‘That single crag, therefore, aarenes us 
with the record ‘ofa long series of PbHiaine volcanic eruptions, 
.each separated from those that preceded it by a longer or 
shorter interval, during which sandy or muddy sediment was 
deposited over the hardening lava or ash. One little episode 
in this history is worthy of notice, partly because interesting in 
itself, and partly because, as a sample of geological evidence, it 
tells its own story with singular clearness. In descending 
order the beds which form the upper part of the west end of 
the King’s Craig are as follow : 
12. Basaut, about 15 feet thick. 
11. Green shales, with Cyprid cases* and fragments of 
Plants; 4 feet. 
10. Blue shales, with thin limestone-seams made up of Cy- 
prid cases* and fragments of Plants ; 14 foot. 
. Green ashy shale and thin ash-seams, with similar 
fossils ; about 14 inches. 
. Green ashy sandstone, with similar fossils ; 6 inches. 
. Green ashy shale and ash, the same fossils very abun- 
dant in some layers ; about 34 feet. 
. Dark greenish and black fissile shale, with Plants, §c.; 
about 6 inches, passing down into 
Green crumbling fireclay ; 1 foot. 
Coal; 50r6 Taehies. 
. Brown shaly fireclay, with rootlets ; about 5 inches. 
Black carbonaceous shale ; an irregular layer. 
1. GREENSTONE ; ; about 15 feet. 
© 
HO GOR cn op = Aiea) 
The greenstone marked No. 1 in this table is one of the most 
remarkable beds in the cliff. Its light-green colour makes it 
visible a long way off, and chiefly aids in giving the cliff the 
conspicuous stratified appearance it has when seen from a 
* Probably the co-called Cypris (Leperditia?) Scotoburdigalensis., 
