1802.] BINNEY COAL-MEASURES, AYRSHIRE. 441 



feet. in. 



-T-v . f.. / Brownish clay 9 



■ I Angular gravel, with scarcely any sand in it* 3 



[ Pui'ple sandy clays 12 



Upper Coal- J Pui'ple and variegated sandstones and clays 36 



measures. 1 Limestone 8 to 10 



[^Purple grits and clays 30 



On my first visit to Catrine, owing to my not having had access 

 to the grounds at Ballochmoyle, the limestone was not noticed. 

 This bed is very interesting, as it contains specimens of Sjpirorhis 

 carhonarms and a Cyjoris (?), probably C. injlata. Its fracture is 

 conchoidal, it has a porcelain-like appearance, and it resembles the 

 upper limestone found in the higher Coal-measures at Ardwick, near 

 Manchester, so completely that no person could distinguish the one 

 from the other. Like that bed, it presents a mottled appearance, 

 and lies imbedded in variegated shales and clays, and, in all proba- 

 bility, vrill prove as valuable a hydraulic lime. 



On looking westward at the cliif, as it faces you, the dip of the 

 strata being into the hill, a singular mass of rotten whinstone in 

 compressed spheroidal masses appears. At its base it was about 

 20 yards broad, and appeared to taper towards its top. 



The accompanying woodcut will show how it occurs. 



Fig. 3. — Section at BallocJimoyle Braes. 



S. N. 



/ 



a, a. Drift; 12 ., _. l..! and variegated grits and shales; 12 feet. 



e, c. Red shales and grits ; 36 feet, d, d. Limestone ; 10 feet, e, e. Red shale 

 and grit ; 30 feet seen. /. Trap-rock. 



The sides of the strata on the south side of the whin looked a 

 little hardened, and presented the appearance of having been heated 

 for a short distance; but those on the north side could not be 

 observed, owing to a mass of fallen soil and rock. The whin did not 

 appear to have disturbed the overlying strata, or to have displaced 

 them at its sides. 



Eed and purple-coloured Coal-measures, consisting of beds of 

 gritstone and shale, are seen in the bed and on the banks of the 

 Eiver Ayr all the way to Catrine Bridge, their dip being to the west 

 at angles varying from 15° to 18°. About 80 yards above the 

 bridge, in some bright-red clays, fossil plants, of the genera Pecopteris, 

 Neuropteris, and Lycopodites, and a small bivalve shell, were met with, 

 but in such a bad state of preservation that their specific characters 



* This bed of gravel is very interesting, and deserves a separate notice. From 

 its position it was difficult to examine carefully ; but it is evidently the lower 

 bed of a deposit of valley gravel, and sliows tliat the waters of the River Ayr 

 once flowed at a much higher level than at present. 



