REPORT 0.F MEETINGS FOR 1901 33 



vision, well expressed by Ramsay, of this scene at the close 

 of the glacial epoch. This geoloo^ical vision he introduces thus 

 — " Turning to the eastern side of Britain, we find that during 

 the period of maximum glaciation, while all the Highland 

 mountains were literally buried in ice, this great glacial sheet, 

 partly flowing eastward, joined a vast ice-sheet coming westerly 

 and southerly from Scaadinavia. The evidence obtained in 

 the Shetland Isles shows that the ice there crossed from the 

 North Sea to the Atlantic. In another direction a thick sheet 

 of the same Highland ice pressed southward into the valley 

 of the Tay, where a low portion of the glacier passed eastward 

 to the sea, while the remainder pressed up the slopes and 

 across the summits of the Ochil Hills, and on to the valley 

 of the Forth. There the ice found a vent for a further outflow 

 to the east, at a time when the Bass Rock, Fidra Island, 

 Inch Keith, Inch Colm, and all the other beautiful islands 

 of the Firth of Forth, lay as mere roches moutonnees, buried 

 so deep under glacier-ice that it overflowed the eastern part 

 of the Lammermuirs and spread southward into Northumber- 

 land. Some of these islands still retain their iee-worn surfaces, 

 while others, such as the Bass and Fidra, have become scarred 

 and cliffy by the action of the weather and the sea."* 



Returning to a lower level, in the direction of the landing 

 place, members meet to compare notes, and the botanists 

 display the results of their researches, the chief being the 

 tree-mallow, Lavatera arborea (called after the Swiss Lavater), 

 which has already been described and discussed, without 

 mention, however, of the fine pink-red colour of the petals, 

 by Dr Hardy, on p. 93 of Vol. vir. of our Proceedings. 



In lamenting the disappearance from the Bass Rock of 

 that noble bird, the peregrine falcon. Sir George Douglas 

 remarks: "Nor is this process of extinction confined to varieties 

 of animal life. Specimens of the red-flowering Mallow of the 

 Bass (Lavatera arhorea) are now offered for sale by the men 

 engaged on the light-house works — a sure sign that a plant 

 which was once abundant here is now becoming scarce. So 

 that, unless some self-denial be exercised, it too is likely to 



* Physical Geology of Great Britain, by Sir Andrew Ramsay, F.R.S. 



