388 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
be used. Ifc occurs in the bottom of the valley of the Annau 
and some of its tributaries, in strata nearly horizontal, rising 
slightly towards the surrounding high ground. It may be 
traced at the base of Hartfell, extending from the Corehead 
Burn to within about a hundred yards from the Meikleholm- 
side Bridge, where the greywacke rocks come down into the 
bed of the river, and make an evident break in the sandstone. 
It appears again further south on the roadside about three- 
fourths of a mile beyond Moffat. Probably this section, and 
the appearance of the same strata in the bed of the Well Burn, 
were the foundation for Professor Jameson's statement, that 
the Gallows Hill (he evidently by mistake writes Chapel Hill) 
was formed of this sandstone. The same deposit occurs on 
the west side of the Annan, opposite Moffat, in the Horse 
Linn, and in Langshaw Plantation. It is found also in the 
Frenchland Burn, at Beld Craig, Wamphray Water, Raehills 
Glen, &c. 
This sandstone has hitherto yielded no traces of fossils in 
the district. It is evidently related to the red sandstone of 
the lower part of the valley, v/hich contains the tracks of 
reptiles so beautifully figured by Sir William Jardine ; and 
is thus most probably of Permian age. It has been deposited 
since the valley assumed its present conformation, though 
some changes have taken place since its deposition, as is evi- 
dent from the inclined position the beds occupy in the Horse 
Linn, and in the localities where the junction is seen between 
them and the Silurian strata. Probably these last changes 
were contemporaneous with the intrusion of the trap-dyke, 
which we shall presently notice, and were the result of the 
causes which produced it. 
The Permian sandstone was referred to the Carboniferous 
series by Professor Jameson, Dr Singer, and others. Hence 
arose the notion that coal existed in the district. Dr Singer, 
in his " Agriculture of Dumfriesshire," 1812, at considerable 
length and with great ability, examines the merits of the case, 
and concludes that as coal has been found under red sand- 
stone, the Coal-measures may be hid by these strata in this 
district. He therefore recommended boring, and he regrets 
that an attempt made near Nethermills was stopped before 
