OF ELIE AND ERROL. 623 



begin at the surface, and work our way down step by step to the lower deposits, 

 noticing as we go the evidence as to climate, and the relative height of sea and 

 land. Immediately beneath the surface, then, we find the first stage, comprising 

 the two newest deposits. 



I. — The Blown Sand and liaised Beaches. 



Of the blown sand, by far the best display is at the Elie railway station, 

 where, from the highest point of the synclinal down to the base of the deposit 

 there must be at least 20 to 30 feet of perpendicular depth. The highest bed of 

 the enclosed peat is about 6 feet thick. The growth of this peat at its different 

 levels, and the accumulation of this sand, obviously show that the lower portion 

 of it must be of considerable antiquity. The great feature of the deposit is 

 the profusion of land and fresh-water shells in the peat. I examined the lowest 

 bed with some interest, to ascertain whether any of the species were extinct, 

 but found only the following : — 



Succinea putris. 

 Limneus pereger. 

 Zua lubrica. 

 Pisidium pulchellum. 

 Cyclas cornea. 

 Carychium minimum. 



Helix nemoralis. 



fulva. 



fusca. 



pulchella. 

 Pupa muscorum. 

 Planorbis marginatus. 



These are all recent, and most of them have been actually found by I)r 

 M'Bain living near Elie. The only thing to be observed is, that the immense 

 numbers of these shells, found in the peat, seem to show that there formerly pre- 

 vailed some peculiarly favourable conditions for the development of this form of 

 life. At the same time, it is clear that the climate must have been much the 

 same as now, for the species are identical. 



Along with this deposit may be classed the so-called raised beach. The great 

 display of it is seen in Section IV., where it is cut open for half a mile across, 

 and is at some points 18 feet in depth, rising to that extent above high- water 

 mark. The materials, consisting of shingle, sand, and shells, have been thrown 

 up by the sea, and apparently at different times, and in a confused way. The 

 shells are all of species now common, and so well preserved, that there is really 

 no reason to think the deposit is any older than some of the oldest portions 

 of the blown sand seen in Section III. The formation of the two may quite well 

 have gone on together — the one inland, and the other at the sea-shore. 



There has been a good deal of discussion as to whether this deposit indicates 

 a rise in the land. The point, I must confess, seems still doubtful. The sea in 

 certain states has, we know, the power of throwing up shingle and shells to a 

 considerable height ;* and when species of dead shells are found, as here, con- 



* See this view well stated by the Rev. W. Wood, in his work on the East Neuk of Fife, p. 320. 



