1865. J BETCE BEDS BEKEATH BOULDEK-CLAY. 215 



would be commingled. Mr. Geikie also states* that Dr. Scouler has 

 lately examined some antlers in the Hunterian Museum, brought by 

 Dr. Couper from Kilmaurs, and determined them to be unquestion- 

 ably horns of Reindeer. 



Such, so far as I have been able to make out, was the state 

 of knowledge on the subject when I resolved to examine the 

 case. I visited the spot in November last, in the hope of see- 

 ing a section of the beds, but found that about twenty years ago 

 the quarry had been abandoned, the front levelled down, and 

 the old workings with the adjoining brows on both sides planted 

 with trees, now of tall growth. Woodhill was the name of the old 

 quarry ; the present quarry, a few hundred yards to the south, is 

 called Greenhill ; both are close to the eastern bank of the Carmel 

 Water. This quarry is now rented by Mr. Andrew Roxburgh, a most 

 intelligent and weU-informed man, who, when a youth, had worked 

 in the "Woodhill quarry, and felt great interest in the discovery ; 

 he perfectly remembered the exact place where the remains had been 

 found. He undertook, if permission from the proprietor were obtained, 

 to direct workmen where an opening ought to be made in order to 

 expose the beds, and to superintend the operations. Meanwhile, until 

 this permission should be obtained, I proceeded to collect the evidence 

 of several persons who had been eye-witnesses of the discoveries, and 

 to institute a search for the shells which had been found. I care- 

 fully noted the statements of the deponents, in order to compare them 

 with one another and with the section when it should be opened. 

 One of the men, Alexander Lamberton, aged 82, a most intelligent 

 person, in full possession of his faculties, also furnished me, through 

 the Rev. Mr. Maxwell, Kilmaurs, with a descriptive section of the 

 beds from the surface-soil to the rock below, with their respective 

 thicknesses, indicating upon it the bed in which the remains were 

 found. I did not understand the section at the time, but afterwards 

 viewed it with no little astonishment. On the judicious suggestion 

 of Mr. A. Mackay, author of the ' History of Kilmarnock,' I applied 

 to D. Murray Lyon, Esq., proprietor of the ' Ayr Advertiser,' for 

 copies of any notices of the discovery which might have appeared at 

 the time. Mr. Lyon, with ready kindness, complied with my request, 

 and forwarded in a few days copies of two paragraphs which appeared 

 in successive weeks immediately after the discovery, the second of 

 which (January 23rd, 1817) is justly styled by the editor at the 

 time as "more distinct and scientific" than the other. The com- 

 parison of this latter with Lamberton's section interested me very 

 much. 



I now brought the nature and importance of the inquiry under 

 the attention of F. J. Turner, Esq., of Dean Castle, resident factor to 

 the Duke of Portland, and requested permission to open up the front 

 of the old quarry, a vertical height of fully 40 feet. Mr. Turner not 

 only kindly complied with this request, but employed four men for a 

 week in digging a wide and deep trench, which exposed in the most 

 complete and satisfactory way the whole series of beds, from the 

 * Op. cit. p. 71. 



