On the Bituminous Shales of Linlithgowshire^ dfcc. 21 



it retains its bituminous character throughout the county. 

 A richly bituminous shale had lately been examined, from 

 Carlops, near Penicuik. It occupies precisely the same geo- 

 logical position as that already described. It is therefore 

 highly probable that this bituminous shale may be found 

 throughout the whole course of the Burdiehouse lime- 

 stone. 



The Torbanehill Mineral. — This celebrated bituminous 

 substance, regarded by the author as not a coal, but a variety 

 of bituminous shale, lies stratigraphically a few fathoms 

 above the Leaven Seat limestone, betwixt two ironstone 

 beds. It thus lies very near the marine limestone series, 

 and at the very base of the Lanarkshire Coal Measures. 

 Whether it should be ranked in that series will be better 

 determined by an examination of local geological relations 

 than by its mere stratigraphical position. 



The district in which it is situated is distinguished by the 

 prevalence of igneous rocks ; and the mineral basin itself is 

 surrounded on two sides by trap ranges, the Bathgate and 

 Craig Hills. The general dip of the strata is to the north- 

 west ; but an axis occurs at the point where the lower series 

 of fresh-water strata abut upon the lower marine beds, 

 throwing them to the south-east. Several great faults may 

 be traced running parallel to the line of the axis. These 

 are again met by others running at right angles to them. 

 Thus the Torbanehill mineral basin is circumscribed by a 

 network of faults, which serves to divide it from the under- 

 lying Balbairdie gas-coal series, and the overlying Lanark- 

 shire Coal Measures. One boundary fault runs almost 

 parallel with the Whitburn and Armadale road, being in 

 fact only a few yards westwards of the road ; another may 

 be traced near the southern railway signal-post of the 

 Bathgate Station, running at right angles to the Wilson- 

 town line of railway ; a third runs from a point near 

 Woodend village on the Craig Hills, a little beyond the 

 lower part of Armadale village, past Middlerig and Hard 

 Hill into the Bathgate Hills ; while a synchronous fault pro- 

 bably appears near Wester and Easter Whitburn. The 

 mineral is always found thinning out near those lines of 



