106 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
structure, at still higher levels, derived their origin from 
*' ground storms" or sudden risings of the sea, bj which shells, 
sand, and gravel, had been placed in situations now consider- 
ably removed from the influence of the tide. Professor Flem- 
ing had arrived at this conclusion as early as 1806, from ex- 
amining a bed of shells, chiefly composed of the common 
oyster shell, to the westward of the town of Borrowstounness, 
in the county of Linlithgow, and stretching along the banks 
of the Forth into Stirlingshire. The raised sea-beach contro- 
versy forms nearly the whole of the last chapter of his last 
work — " The Lithology of Edinburgh." Any new fact, there- 
fore, connected with this distinct marine deposit would be of 
interest. This raised sea-beach bed is well exposed in many 
parts of the coast between the sandstone quarry at Granton 
and the Magdalen Burn near Fisherrow. It varies in thick- 
ness from two to ten feet, and contains abundance of com- 
minuted shells, with many in a more or less perfect state 
of preservation. The horizontal position of the bed in re- 
spect to the present high-water level is by no means equal. 
At Granton quarry, the base of the bed is about ten or twelve 
feet above high-water mark, and rests upon the sandstone and 
boulder clay ; whereas a quarter of a mile to the eastward, at 
a ledge of rocks projecting sea-ward, it is only two or three 
feet above high-water level. The bed is then interrupted by 
a sea-wall, until at the east end of the village of Newhaven. 
at the collection of boulders that form a boat harbour, it is 
again observed nearly on a level with high-water. 
From this point eastward the bed gradually rises in height, 
and at an interesting geological section of the boulder clay 
called the Man- trap, the base of the bed is seen to rest on the 
clay, 15 feet above the high-water line. It is then lost sight 
of by the sea-wall in front of the artillery barracks ; but Dr 
M'Bain had lately an opportunity of seeing it exposed in a 
digging for a drain, at the north end of Albany Street, v/here 
it appeared about seven or eight feet above high-water. 
Nearly in a line with this digging, and south of the road op- 
posite the west end of Leith Docks, a foundation for a large 
building was begun a month or two ago ; and in watching the 
progress of the work, after the removal of two or three feet 
