254 PKOCEEDLN'GS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 21, 



On the east side of Loch Eil, just half a mile to the south of Fort 

 William, I came upon a section of this 40-feet beach, laid open by a 

 small stream cutting through it, which seemed to me especially inter- 

 esting on account of a bed of marine shells it contained. 



These shells are at a height of about 11 feet above present high- 

 water-mark, and about 50 yards or so from the shore. They are 

 imbedded in the lower part of a stratum of greyish stony clay, 

 resting immediately upon the solid schistose rock. 



This clayey stratum is about 5 feet thick, and is covered by some 

 sand and gravel which are not well exposed. At the bottom are the 

 shells, which are very numerous, many of them broken and decayed, 

 especially the larger kinds, but many of the smaller perfect. They 

 appear to have been mostly empty or ' dead ' shells, being filled with 

 shelly mud, and many of them have been pierced by boring mollusks. 

 They lie in a gravelly matrix of small schistose fragments and clayey 

 sand. In the upper part of the bed the clay is purer, with few stones 

 and no shells. 



The following is a list of the species I collected. For the identifi- 

 cation of some of them I am indebted to Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, 

 F.R.S., F.G.S., &c. 



1 . Astarte elliptica, Brown Numerous. 



2. compressa, Mont Four specimens, mostly perfect. 



3. Pecten Islandicus, Midler Numerous; all small young shells. 



4. Anomia ephippium, Linn Several. 



5. Modiola modiolus, Linn Plentiful. 



6. Nucula One valve, like N. nucleus. 



7. Chiton One fragment of a large species, appa- 



rently C. marmoreus. 



8. Acmaea virginea, Midler Several. 



9. Puncturella Noachina, Linn Two specimens. 



10. Trochus cinerarius, Linn Several, both old and young. 



11. tumidus, Mont Two or three. 



12. Lacuna vincta, Mont Numerous. 



13. Littorina littorea, Linn One full-sized specimen. 



14. rudis, Don A few. 



15. Turbo expansus, Brown Several. Mr. Jeffreys informs me this 



is the same as Littorina squalida of 

 Brod. and Sow. 



16. Natica clausa, Sow Several. 



17. Bela pyramidalis, Strem One specimen. 



18. Mangelia Holbellii, Mbller Seven specimens. 



19. Kissoa striata, Mont One. 



20. Buccinum undatum, Linn A few. 



21. Trophon clathratum, Linn Numerous. 



22. ' scalariforme, Gould One fragment. Mr. Jeffreys thinks it 



may be an aged specimen of Trophon 

 Crunneri, Loven. 



23. Echinus Some spines and plates. 



The prevalence of the Littorince and Lacuna, together with the 

 general character of the group, afford fair evidence of a shore-line, 

 while the fact that the most common Littorina is the Arctic variety, 

 or Turbo expansus of Brown, together with the number of Pecten 

 Islandicus, Natica clausa, Mangelia Holboellii, and the presence of 



