of Edinburgh Session 1880-81. 
281 
The Committee, at a meeting held on 24th June 1881 for the 
adjustment of the Report, where Professor Heddle’s notes were 
shown, and some portions read to the Committee, were of opinion 
that they had been too much abbreviated by the Convener ; and 
they requested him, on revising the proofs of the Report, to give 
more copious extracts, which accordingly has been done. 
NOTE BY RALPH RICHARDSON , Esq. 
Loch Skene . — A letter from Mr Ralph Richardson to the Con- 
vener, dated 11th March 1881, gives an interesting account of 
boulders, at a considerable height, near Moffat : — ■ 
44 R.S.E. Boulder Committee. 
44 I beg, as desired, to report to you, as Convener, that when visit- 
ing Loch Skene, Dumfriesshire, last August, I observed some large 
boulders, about 200 feet above the Loch, in the valley traversed by 
the Midlaw Burn, between the Mid-Craig and White Coomb hills. 
These boulders are situated about 1900 feet above the sea-level, and 
appear generally to belong to the local Silurian rocks. I measured 
one, and found it to be 30 feet in circumference, 9 feet in height, 
and 9 feet in breadth. There were others of similar size. The 
valley in question is dotted with what seem to be moraine heaps, 
and similar mounds are found damming back the waters of Loch 
Skene. Scott in 4 Marmion’ refers to these 4 rude barriers.’ 
44 An admirable description of the Geology of this district is given 
in a paper by Dr John Young in the 4 Quarterly Journal of the 
Geological Society of London,’ vol. xx. p. 452 (1864). 
44 The boulders to which I have referred are evidently not far 
travelled rocks, but they are interesting as 4 perched blocks ’ occur- 
ring at an altitude of 1900 feet. I infer, from the adjacent moraine 
evidence, that they were transported by a local glacier, which had 
its neve or gathering-ground at the head of the Midlaw valley ; 
which descended to Moffatdale along the present drainage-line, 
viz., the courses of the Midlaw and Tail Burns ; and the northern 
lateral moraines of which formed barriers to the drainage from the 
north, resulting in the formation of a sheet of water now known as 
Loch Skene.” 
