216 PKOCEEDIJ^rGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 25, 



sandstone at the base to the snrfaee-soil at the top of the old quarry. 

 The operations were directed with great judgment by Mr. Eoxburgh. 

 Mr. Turner kindly visited the place while the work was going on ; 

 and many important suggestions were made from day to day by my 

 friend the Eev. David Landsborough, of Kilmarnock. When the 

 opening was completed, I found the section to consist of the follow- 

 ing beds in ascending order : — 



1. Carboniferous Sandstone, terminating upwards in beds of sandy 

 clay resembling a fircvclay. 



2. Hard gravel with a little clay, and small bits of I'ound, smooth 

 stones, most of them quartz and trap, but all free from striation. 

 There are also many white and grey spots, and small decomposing 

 lumps of sandstone and limestone, often with an unctuous feel, as if 

 containing steatite. The mass has something of the look of an arti- 

 ficial cement — a resemblance noted by all the men, who spoke of it 

 as if " run together." Thickness, 2 feet. 



3. A fine dark-blue clay, with occasionally small bits of quartz 

 and other pebbles, extremely distinct in character. Thickness, 

 9 inches. 



4. Sand, irregular in structure ; very fine in places, and again 

 coarse, approaching gravel, very like river-sand. 6 to 18 inches. 



5. Boulder-clay, of reddish-brown colour, very tough and unwork- 

 able, full of large boulders and smaller stones, mostly smooth, 

 polished, and striated; bits of coal-shale covered with striations, 

 not crushed. 16 feet. 



6. Upper Drifts, with stones, but much more open in textui'e, no 

 striations. 20 feet. 



7. Subsoil and surface-soil. 



Section of Drift-beds at Kilmaiirs. 



1. Sandstone of the Coal-formation, rising 3. Clay. 



in a low cliff from the banks of Carmel 4. Sand. 



Water. 5. Boulder-clay. 



2. Gravel. 6. Upper Drifts. 



7. Subsoil and surface-soil. 



None of these beds was found to contain any fossils ; it was not 

 to be expected that a section of such limited horizontal extent should 

 bring them to light. No such object, indeed, was in view in opening 

 the section. It was felt from the first that the case must rest on 

 other evidence — the consistency, namely, of the account given by 

 eye-witnesses in regard to the fossil-bearing beds, with the order 

 actually exposed among these beds in the cutting. Intelligent ob- 

 serving men, employed all their hves among such strata, come to 



