D. MILNE HOME ON THE PARALLEL ROADS OF LOCHABER. 643 
b 
N.W. across a deep valley. (‘“ Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’ 
for 1872-8, p. 162.) 
At the east end of the Great Glen of Scotland, on the hills and elevated 
plateaus west and south of Inverness, there are large boulders of a coarse 
granitic conglomerate, whose parent rocks are situated to the W.N.W. In the 
district where Lochan Clachan is situated (about 8 miles S.W. of Inverness), 
the striations on the rocks are due E. and W. On one of these rocks so 
striated (at a height of 1259 feet above the sea) lies a large boulder, with its 
sharp point towards the west. Its broad end lies against a portion of the rock, 
which has prevented its further progress eastward. 
On the hills adjoining, there are numerous boulders, mostly on gravel drift. 
One boulder, of large size, and visible at a great distance off, is situated on the 
ridge of the highest hill in the district, about 1100 feet above the sea. It is 
called the “Watch Stone.” It is also a coarse granitic conglomerate. Its 
position could not have been reached except by coming in a direction between 
W.N.W. and W. by N. (See Appendix.) 
A very difficult question, as it appears to me, remains to be solved, regarding 
the agent which affected the smoothing and striation of the rocks in Lochaber 
and elsewhere in Scotland. Those who have preceded me in this “ Parallel 
Roads” inquiry have referred to it, and I cannot pass it unnoticed. i 
On one point most geologists are agreed, viz., that the detritus spread over 
the country, and reaching to our highest hill ranges, is m rine. 
Even Dr Maccuttocu, in whose day so little was known about these 
matters, inferred from the facts which he saw, that “portions of the lines (or 
roads) have been formed in a rounded and transported.alluvium of pebbles, sand, 
and gravel. We suppose that a rounded alluvium had been by previous causes 
accumulated in the glens. If this took place from the action of former waters flowing 
through the valleys (and to what other causes can we assign it”), &e., p. 389. 
Darwin, who maintained the marine origin of the Parallel Roads, founded 
his strongest argument on the undoubtedly marine character of the detritus, 
on which these “ Roads” had been impressed. 
Professor Nicot, of Aberdeen, in his paper on the Parallel Roads, refers 
particularly to the “ detrital cover,” in which he says ‘‘the lines are cut;” 
and adds, “that it is a marine deposit, seems beyond doubt,” p. 283. 
Mr Jamieson describes the thick beds of stratified clay, sand, and gravel, in 
various parts of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire up to about 2000 feet above 
the sea, as apparently marine (“ Lond. Geol. Soc. Jour.,” vols. xvi. and xxi.). 
He considers that it was “during this submergence that the brick clays 
containing arctic shells were deposited, and that boulders were drifted here 
and there, by floating ice,” p. 194, vol. xxi. Ina previous paper (vol. xviil. 
p. 164), the same author was on this point still more explicit. “ At the bottom 
VOL. XXVII. PART IV. 8G 
