1 24 GEOLOGY OF THE LOTHIANS. 



sandstone systems, but, on the contrary, exists only as 

 a subordinate alternating rock. Partial examination of 

 this system may lead some into error, as a similar mode 

 of investigating the structure of the Lothians and other 

 districts has done ; but thorough scrutiny will convince, 

 that the sandstones and limestones of Fife constitute a 

 group which cannot be geologically subdivided. The 

 origin of all its members has been strictly contempora- 

 neous, and the causes which have produced these strata, 

 have, from their commencement to their termination, been 

 of the same general nature.* As points where the connec- 

 tion of the red with the white sandstone can be well ob- 

 served, we may notice, the sea-coast extending between Dy- 

 sart and Wemyss, and that which stretches from Crail to 

 Fifeness ; the course of the river Eden, also, and the coun- 

 try in its immediate neighbourhood, exhibit, in a clear 

 manner, the relations of the two series to each other. The 

 ignigenous masses which rise through the stratified rocks 

 of Fife, are of the same general description as those which 

 occur in the Lothians, inasmuch as they consist of various 

 porphyries, greenstones, basalts, and tufas, and the changes 

 which these have produced on the Neptunian rocks with 

 which they are associated, are in numerous places of a high- 

 ly interesting nature. 



* In their organic contents, the rocks of Fifeshire are highly import- 

 ant, and deserve, as those of the Lothians, diligent and minute exami- 

 nation. The coal mines of this quarter also afford to the geologist much 

 that is interesting in the economical department of the science. These sub- 

 jects at present we do not intend to investigate, but on a future occasion we 

 hope to lay before the Wernerian Natural History Society, a somewhat 

 detailed account of the mines in the coal-field of Fife and the Lothians, 

 and also a more or less perfect list of the vegetable and animal relics 

 found in the several strata of these districts. 



