390 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Apr. 24, 



certained, on account of a considerable portion of the morass called 

 Loclier Moss filling up the interval between the elevations of this 

 locality and those of the adjoining parish of Ruthwell. It is how- 

 ever probable that the sandstone abuts against the whin*, a rock 

 which appears to run seaward, and which is seen in a cutting of the 

 Glasgow and South- Western Railway near the Racks station. This 

 whin appears to be a continuation of the hills of Tinwald, Torthor- 

 wald, and Mousewald, which run in a north and south direction. 

 From Caerlaverock the sandstone continues its course northward 

 through the whole parish of Dumfries, from thence passing into the 

 neighbouring parish of Tinwald, but along the whole of its eastern 

 boundary to this parish it is covered by the same morass. On ap- 

 proaching the Bar Hill of Tinwald, which consists of whin, the sand- 

 stone takes an easterly direction, and after passing through the 

 southern end of the parish of Kirkmichael is again met with, occupy- 

 ing a considerable area in the parish of Lochmaben. Here it is 

 bounded on the south by whin and mountain limestone, on the west 

 by the whin hills of Tinwald, and on the east, after crossing the river 

 Annan and entering Applegarth, by the same rock in this parish. 

 On the north it enters the parish of Johnstone, and here it has again 

 the whin boundary, which continues through Kirkmichael into the 

 more northern parts of the parish of Kirkmahoe ; the latter is prin- 

 cipally composed of new red sandstone, and lies south-west from 

 Kirkmichael. After leaving Kirkmahoe it passes under the river 

 Nith and reappears on the high ground at the south-east end of the 

 parish of Dunscore, where it is also bounded by whin. Of the 

 adjoining parish of Holy wood, south of Dunscore, the sandstone 

 forms the whole except the western end, which is likewise whin. 

 From Holywood it crosses the river Clenden and enters the stewartry 

 of Kirkcudbright, and after skirting the whin hills of Kirkpatrick, 

 Irongray and Terreagles, and the elevations of the same nature in the 

 neighbouring parish of Troqueer, it again passes under the Nith, 

 south of Dumfries, and from thence the river forms its western 

 limit. 



The points of contact between this deposit and the sandstone in 

 this locality are obscured, and the strata themselves in a great mea- 

 sure covered up, by the sands and gravel of the boulder formation 

 and by the debris produced by the decomposition of the whin. 

 There are, however, many quarries and natural sections from whence 

 a knowledge of this formation may be obtained. 



In the parish of Caerlaverock the sandstone is wrought at Bankend, 



* I have adopted the local term ' Whin ' for a rock which is the most prevalent 

 in Dumfriesshire, and to which the name Greywacke was formerly applied. Al- 

 though the term * whin ' is often used to signify an igneous rock, here it relates to 

 an aqueous one ; but from the absence of fossils I have been unable to refer it to 

 any of the accepted geological formations. I learn however from Prof. Sedgwick 

 that in some parts of the southern highlands of Scotland, of which this rock forms 

 a part, he has discovered several bands of fossils, and from them he is induced to 

 conclude that the whole or nearly the whole of these bands are below the Silurian 

 formation. In lithological character the compact whin approaches near to the 

 upper Silurian of Kendal. 



