MINERALOGY OF THE OCHILS. 



9 



separate at present. At the base of Alva hill, it 

 seems to lie below greenstone. 



In a small valley which traverses the Ochils, 

 between Wormit Bay, and a lateral valley that 

 divides Newton hill from Sanford hill, there are 

 several small hillocks of an ironshot sand, which 

 contains masses of this sandstone. It is probable, 

 that they have been derived from the decomposi- 

 tion of the red sandstone just described. 



Although it has not been accurately determined, 

 it is highly probable, that this red sandstone, from 

 the number of points at which it occurs, and the 

 coincidence between its characters and those of 

 the old red sandstone which occupies the adjacent 

 valleys, that they will be hereafter found to be 

 intimately connected. At present, I shall hesitate 

 to fix the place of this rock in the system, and 

 content myself with observing, that it seems to 

 be the lowest of the series composing the Ochil 

 Hills. 



II. Amygdaloid. 



On the shore between Parton Craigs and Balme- 

 rino, (a district of nearly nine miles), a coarse 

 Amygdaloid gradually passes into a finer variety 

 of the same rock. The former of these consists 

 chiefly of portions of the latter, binding together 

 various substances. I could not discover the thick- 

 ness of any of the beds ; but I apprehend, from 



