BY T. STEPHENS. 755 



on the plateau between the Don and the Forth a gorge has been 

 excavated through the basalt disclosing an underlying bed of 

 shingle which from its position is evidently of Tertiary age. This 

 basaltic country extends with little interruption to the Forth, 

 and is fringed on the north by a strip of alluvial land, and, near 

 the river, by wide stretches of shingle exactly corresponding to 

 that at the mouth of the Mersey. 



River Forth to Emu Bay. (Plate xxviii.). 



The country near the coast between the Rivers Forth and 

 Leven, and for nearly three miles beyond the Leven, is occupied 

 by low sand dunes, beds of shingle, and patches of alluvial 

 land, backed on the south by basalt capping and sometimes inter- 

 rupted by ridges of the ancient sedimentary rocks. The latter 

 make their first appearance on the beach at Clayton Rivulet, 

 where dark micaceous schists crop out below high-water mark. 

 They are highly inclined with a mean strike a little to the east 

 •of north. Next comes a patch of basalt succeeded by bands of 

 quartz schist, black and grey slate, and quartzite. The next 

 mile along the beach is occupied by basalt succeeded by mica- 

 ceous schists, quartz schists, and quartz conglomerates dipping 

 westerly at high angles and re-appearing on the other side of the 

 Leven. The same rocks interspersed with bands of black and 

 brown slate crop out at intervals for the next two miles along the 

 beach. They are much foliated on the line of strike, which 

 ranges from about N. 10° E , to N. 20° W. At Goat Island, a 

 small peninsula trending northward from the beach, is an inter- 

 esting development of quartz conglomerate (Plate xxiv., fig. 2), 

 which is interbedded and mixed up with bands of fine-grained 

 quartz schist, some of it showing a peculiar silky lustre on the 

 bedding planes. The separate bands of schist, not seen in the 

 photograph, have an easterly and westerly dip of about 75°, and 

 the whole mass appears to represent an anticlinal axis striking 

 west of north. 



At the end of the beach a lofty bluff of hard dense basalt 

 comes down nearly to sea-level, the schists, sandstones, and con- 

 glomerates cropping out from under it. At their junction was 



