74 



Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



or at least very seldom, exposed to the direct influence of 

 the sea. 



On the question as to how these appearances could have 

 been produced, I still adhere to the opinion which I have 

 already stated in print. In my judgment, the supposition 

 of a long, gradually sloping beach will account for them all. 

 On such a slope, storm-waves would carry shells and other 

 light materials to a height of twelve or even fifteen feet, 

 and the wind would transport them to even a greater eleva- 

 tion. At the point nearest the sea, rolled pebbles would be 

 deposited along with the shells, while at a greater distance 

 only angular fragments would find their place. If, then, this 

 sloping beach were undermined, and gradually eaten away, 

 it would present an escarpment with a bed of shells from six 

 to twelve feet above high-water mark. 



I think that on the west shoulder of the rock of Ardross 

 Castle there still remains a small portion of the original 

 sloping bank, which, in a direction towards the sea, falls in 

 a small space at least two feet, showing a shell-bed at every 

 point. 



Wednesday, April 22, 1863.— James M'Bain, M.D , R.N., President, 



in the Chair. 



The following Donations to the Library were laid on the table, and 

 thanks voted to the Donors : — 



1. (1.) Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Vol. XXIL, 

 Part. I., — Session 1861-62 ; (2.) Proceedings of the Royal Society of 

 Edinburgh, Vol. IV., No. 56, 1861-62.- From the Society. 2. The 

 Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, and Proceedings of the Natural His- 

 tory Society of Montreal, Vol. VII, No 6, December 1862. — From 

 the Society. 3. History and Description of Needle-making, by Abel 

 Morrall, manufacturer, Manchester. — From the Author. 4. (1.) Classi- 

 fication of the Coleoptera of North America, by John L. Leconte, M.D., 

 Part L, 1861-62 (2.) Synopsis of the Neuroptera of North America, 

 by Hermann Hagen, July 1861. (3.) Synopsis of the Lepidoptera of 

 North America ; Part 1., Diurnal and Crepuscular Lepidoptera, by John 

 G. Morris, Feb. 1862. (4.) Catalogue of Publications of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, corrected to June 1862. (5.) Annual Report of 

 Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, 1860. — From the 

 Smithsonian Institution, U. S. A. 5. Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor 

 Nederlandsch Indie, deel xxiv, 1862. 6. Transactions of the Royal 

 Scottish Society of Arts, Vol. VI., Part II., 1862.-— From the Society. 

 7. Report of the Royal Commission on the Operation of the Acts re- 



