﻿James Durham — The " Karnes " of Neio]}ort, Fife, 9 



railway affords convincing evidence that the gravels of which these 

 Karnes are composed are not such as could have been formed in the 

 neighbourhood, as they consist almost entirely of fragments of rocks 

 only to be found far to the north or north-west. A very large pro- 

 portion of the gravel is made up of the following rocks : Mica schist, 

 gneiss, quartz, granite, Old Eed Conglomerate, Old Red Sandstone, 

 with a certain proportion of greenstone, basalt, and various " tuffs" ; 

 while the rocks of the district consist of trap-rocks confusedly inter- 

 bedded with impure sandstones, probably of Old Red Sandstone age. 

 These cuttings further bring to light the important circumstance 

 that, while the constituents of the loftier Kames, such as the " Castle 

 Hill," are large and nearly devoid of stratification, those at lower 

 levels either towards Wormit Bay on the one hand, or towards 

 Straiten and St. Michael's Inn on the other, show a gradual decrease 

 in the size of the materials, and more and more distinct evidence of 

 stratification. The long rampart-like Kame at Straiton, as far as 

 can be ascertained from a few natural sections, is entirely com- 

 posed of nearly horizontal layers of sand and fine gravel, though 

 at its base the materials are larger and coarser. 



Though the Kames near Newport are by far the most remarkable in 

 the district, numerous deposits of identical character and composition 

 are found in every valley or hollow in the surrounding country, all 

 agreeing in these important features with the mounds just described, 

 namely, that the materials of which they are composed — the gravel 

 and boulders — are not local stones, but have been brought from the 

 north-west ; that in a general way the greater the distance from 

 the hills, and the lower the levels at which these accumulations 

 are found, the finer is the gravel and sand, and the more distinct 

 is their stratification. 



It may not be out of place to remark here that there is a striking 

 similarity between the arrangements of the materials composing 

 these mounds and that of the Old Red Conglomerate exhibited in 

 various cuttings in the neighbourhood of Blairgowrie. Proceeding 

 from Eosemount through Blairgowrie and on towards Bridge of 

 Cally, we find that while at Rosemount the proportion of pebbles 

 enclosed in the rock is comparatively small, and the quantity of pure 

 sandstone relatively large, as we proceed northward the proportions 

 are gradually reversed, until, as we approach the Silurian hills 

 which formed the shore of the inland sea, in which the Old Red 

 system was laid down, the shingle and boulders which compose the 

 conglomerate gradually increase in quantity and size ; and when we 

 finally arrive at the close proximity of that ancient sea-shore, the 

 conglomerate is represented by a mass of great rounded stones 

 cemented together by a slight matrix of sandstone. 



The rounded and water-worn character of the stones which so 

 largely compose the Kames readily suggests the sea as having 

 played an important part in the formation of those interesting 

 monuments of the past, and there are in the neighbourhood ample 

 traces of old sea-levels, many of them far above the loftiest of the 

 Kames. Along the hill-sides forming the bank of the estuary 



