PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
EOYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 
VOL. V. 
1863-64. 
No. 63. 
Monday, 4dli January 1864. 
Professor KELL AND, Vice-President, in the Chair. 
The following Communications were read 
1. On the great Drift-Beds wuth Shells in the South-west of 
Arran. By the Kev. Kohert Boog Watson, B.A., F.K.S.E., 
Hon. Mem. Naturw. Ver. Liineburg, 
These beds, as examined by the author, lie in the Torlin or Kih 
morie Burn basin, in the Scoradale or Slidry Water basin (more 
strictly in the first north or north-west tributary of each, reckoning 
upwards from the sea), and in the Clachan Grlen, — all in the south- 
west of Arran. They are of great extent and depth ; at certain 
points they contain boreal shells in considerable numbers. They 
are divisible into two classes, (1.) underlying fine dark sands and 
clays ; and, (2.) overlying coarse red clay with striated stones, pro- 
bably boulder clay. 
They are interesting, because, 
1. They present, in a striking form, proof of the immense 
destruction of the surface of the land. 
2. They afford unusually good sections, from the rock on which 
they rest, upwards. 
3. They throw some light on the formation of the boulder clay. 
4. They present sea shells, at one point land plants, and also at 
one point a later lake basin. 
VOL. V. 
X 
