On the Bituminous Shales of Linlithgowshire, &c. 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 Torhanehill 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 Torhanehill 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 
