186 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, [Apr. 20, 



of the Big Ross, and the appearance of the perpendicular beds, which 

 strike from the Little Ross where the Balmae beds are seen at its south- 

 ern extremity, I consider this headland (Big Ross) as being formed in 

 part of lower and in part of upper silurian. And I am led to the 

 conclusion that these lower silurians oifered resistance to the lateral 

 pressure which acted upon the upper silurians, and that from this 

 resistance the flexures which now abound amongst these latter, as 

 they occur on the coast of the Parish of Kirkcudbright, are in a great 

 measure owing." 



There is great difficulty in tracing out the connection between the 

 upper silurian beds, as these are developed at Balmae, on the east 

 side of Kirkcudbright Bay, and the lower silurians which lie on the 

 coast due north of these beds. Here the strata are only seen to a 

 small extent for about a mile northwards from the spot where they 

 disappear beyond the Bathing-House Bay. And from this point, 

 which is near the Black Murry, to St. Mary's Isle, there is great con- 

 fusion in the direction both of the dip and strike ; and to such an 

 extent does this prevail, that it makes the strata here exposed of 

 little value so far as regards the connection between the two forma- 

 tions. Beyond this locality the silurians are in contact with a por- 

 tion of the porphyry which belongs to the mass occupying a con- 

 siderable area in the adjoining Parish of Tongueland ; so that on this 

 side the Bay there is little evidence of the relative positions of the 

 upper and lower silurians. 



The beds which in the Parish of Kirkcudbright lie to the north of 

 these sandstones and conglomerates are not well exposed, except in 

 the course of the Dee. Near the adjoining Parish of Tongueland 

 they are so much metamorphosed by the porphyry of this latter lo- 

 cality, that they have lost their original character. At Coal Heugh, 

 however, near Barcaple in this parish, the anthracites make their 

 appearance* and connect these deposits with the lowest beds of the 

 silurians. 



"We have, therefore, in this portion of the Stewartry," Mr. Hark- 

 ness observes, "deposits which represent the Llandeilo flags, — con- 

 glomerates and sandstones which may be regarded as the representa- 

 tives of the Caradoc sandstone, — and a higher series of beds (Balmae 

 beds) which are equivalent to the lower portion of the upper silurians, 

 and which have hitherto been recognized in Scotland only on the 

 western portion of the Parish of Rerwick, the coast of the Parish of 

 Kirkcudbright, and on the eastern extremity of the Parish of 

 Borgue." 



The lower silurian thick-bedded sandstone and conglomerates of 

 the west side of the Bay form the coast westward from Fallbogue 

 Bay to the Mull of Ross, keeping the S.S.E. inclination. At the 

 Mull Point they are curved, and these flexures are repeated along 

 the sides of Bridgehouse Bay ; but the prevailing dip is S.S.E. The 

 same beds continue along the coast from Bridgehouse Bay to Borness 

 Point, with similar flexures. No fossil remains have loitherto been 

 procured from this series. 



* See Quart. Joura. Geol. Soc. vol. vii. p. 50. 



