THE FRESH-WATER LOCHS OF SCOTLAND. 
123 
Loch is irregular in outline, and the conformation of the bottom is also 
irregular, shallow water extending out into the loch in some places, 
while in other places comparatively deep water approaches close to the 
shore. The maximum depth of 17 feet was observed near the southern 
end of the loch, and a sounding of 15 feet was taken near the centre of 
the wide portion of the loch, in close proximity to a sounding of 5 feet. 
The diversity in the soundings gives a sinuous character to the 10-feet 
contour-line. The area of the lake-floor covered by less than 10 feet of 
water is about 22 acres, or 62 per cent, of the total area of the loch. 
The loch was surveyed on July 3, 1903, but the elevation above the sea 
could not be determined. The water rises about 2 feet above, and 
falls about 1 foot below, the level on the date of the survey ; there is a 
sluice at the outflow, but it was out of order and disused at the time of 
the survey. Temperatures taken at 10 a.m. in the position of the 
deepest sounding gave 58°-0 at the surface and 57°-5 at a depth of 
16 feet. 
Loch of Liritrathen (see Plate XXXIII.). — The Loch of Lintrathen, 
from which Dundee draws its water-supply, has been raised in level to 
the extent of 22 feet in connection therewith ; the water in the loch 
was 14 inches below the overflow on the date of the survey, so that the 
20-feet contour-line would show approximately the size and position of 
the original loch. It receives the drainage from a large tract of the 
hilly country to the north, and it flows by the Melgam water into the 
river Isla. It is surrounded by gently sloping cultivated ground or 
woods, with gravelly margin, except in the north-western angle of the 
loch, where the Melgam water and Inzion burn enter, which is shallow 
and obstructed by weeds. It is nearly 1^ miles in length from south- 
west to north-east, with a maximum breadth of three-quarters of a 
mile, the mean breadth being nearly half a mile, or 33 per cent, of the 
length. Its waters cover an area of nearly 400 acres, or considerably 
more than half a square mile, and it drains an area 47 times greater, 
or nearly 29 square miles. Nearly 120 soundings were taken, the 
maximum depth observed being 70 feet. The volume of water con- 
tained in the loch is estimated at 405,207,000 cubic feet, and the 
mean depth at 23 J feet, or 34 per cent, of the maximum depth. The 
length of the loch is 104 times the maximum depth, and 311 times the 
mean depth. The Loch of Lintrathen forms a simple basin, the bottom 
sloping down, with few irregularities, to the deepest part, which is 
situated in the wide south-western portion of the loch. The maximum 
depth of 70 feet was observed to the north of Loch Craigs, considerably 
nearer the southern than the northern shore, and the slope of the 
bottom off Loch Craigs is evidently very steep, a sounding of 26 feet 
having been taken close to the shore. The line of soundings taken 
northwards from Loch Craigs shows a slight rise of the bottom towards 
