Remarlcs on a Raised BeacJi' at Ar dross. 
73 
winter (1862-3) having exposed a new section of it, I have 
thought it worth while to set down the results of a fresh 
examination. 
The beach begins a little way east of the railway bridge, 
at the cottages of the farm of Ardross. There the land rises 
gradually from the high-water mark ; and the bed of shells 
of which we speak is scarcely at all elevated above high- 
water, and, by the percolation of water impregnated with 
iron, has been formed into a kind of rock. 
Passing eastward, the same bed may be noticed at various 
elevations, according to the character and configuration of 
the shore. Before travelling many steps in that direction, 
the shore presents a perpendicular escarpment, rising about 
eight feet above high-water mark. There the bed of shells 
appears at about the height of six feet. It is not level, but 
undulating ; and it is noticeable that the shells occur most 
abundantly- in the higher portions of the bed, while the 
lower portions are chiefly occupied with rolled pebbles. 
The shells themselves are generally fragments of the 
cardium, mactra, troclius, patella, and litorina, with an occa- 
sional land-snail shell, and are disposed in no kind of order, 
and mixed with rolled pebbles. 
The cliff on the shore gradually becomes higher, and the 
shell-bed rises along with it from six feet to nine, and ulti- 
mately, on the summit of the rock on wdiich the ruins of 
Ardross Castle stand, to twelve feet above high-w^ater mark. 
It is worthy of remark, that, as the bed rises higher, the 
number of rolled pebbles diminishes, and their place is sup- 
plied by angular and unworn fragments ; and at the highest 
point the latter so far preponderate that scarcely a rolled 
pebble can be found. 
On the whole, the conclusion to be drawn from all these 
appearances is, that this is no proper example of a raised 
beach — 
1. Because the different heights at which within a few 
yards it makes its appearance cannot well be accounted for 
by any supposed elevation of the land. 
2. Because the entire absence of rolled pebbles from the 
higher portions of the bed indicates that these were never, 
VOL. III. K 
