386 REV, THOMAS BROWN ON THE MOUNTAIN LIMESTONE AND 
our own strata; but this proved at first a question of unexpected difficulty. The 
coast near Ardross is cut up by trap in the most singular way, and the sedi- 
mentary strata are fractured and isolated into patches, in one of which the bed in 
question is situated. Looking into our local authorities, I found Mr MacLaren 
gave no assistance, Dr ANDERSON was silent, and even Mr LANDALE, in his valua- 
ble Essay, was still more discouraging. East and west there is no lack of detail 
in his account of the coast; but precisely here for some distance on either side of 
Ardross he gives up the case as hopeless, the trap having reduced the whole to 
‘“‘a heap of ruins.” A rapid glance at the rocks convinced me that matters were 
not.so bad as this. At all, events the attempt to reduce these beds to order pro- 
mised to give pleasant occupation for three or four idle weeks. Selecting, accord- 
ingly, a fixed point, I began at first, quite mechanically, noting each bed as it came, — 
—its composition, thickness, dip, strike, and gathering such fossils as might serve 
to identify it—the results being laid down each evening in detailed sections. It 
ended, indeed, in my making (besides the sections) a ground plan of the coast from 
Elie to St Monans. And very singular it was to see how, under this treatment, 
the beds fell into their places, and the supposed heap of ruins became an orderly 
series. Through faults, convolutions, and outbursts of trap, the strata could be 
distinctly followed westward into the coal-basin at Earlsferry, and eastward into 
that of St Monans. . aan 
The position of the Ardross bed being thus determined, other questions arose, 
The limestone strata of Burntisland have long been a fixed point well known to 
geologists. Where was the level of the Ardross bed as compared with these 
Burntisland strata, and generally, how would the western side of the basin corre- 
spond with what I had found on the east? This led me to examine the shore 
from Invertiel to Burntisland, and nothing could be clearer than the general re- 
semblance. Beds with which I had made myself familiar came up in regular 
order. The thick white limestone of St Monans, for example, distinguished for 
its abundance of Zaphrentes and similar corals, was there in position, covered by — 
the same fossils still larger and more abundant. Going on as far as Burntisland, — 
I found the relative position of the strata to be as shown in the section. . 4 
Another question referred to the underlying series of rocks. On the shore to 
the east of St Monans, I had seen the Ardross bed overlying that great mass of © 
strata which Mr MacLaren has termed the calciferous sandstones. What was 
the character and relations of this lower group? This investigation I found one 
of extreme interest. It led me first as far as Anstruther; then past Crail on to 
Fife Ness, and then to where the rocks are lost in the sand a little to the north of 
St Andrews. It has occupied my autumn leisure for several years—in some 
cases, however, only a few days being at my disposal. I beg to offer to the So-— 
ciety a notice of such facts as I have observed on the following points, viz. :— 

