CHAP. XXXI 
THE VENTS OF EASTERN FIFE 
73 
possesses a singular interest and value for the study of volcanic vents I 
shall enter in some detail into the description of the sections so admirably 
laid bare. . . .. 
As in Ayrshire, the necks in the East of Fife generally rise as isolated 
conical or dome-shaped hills, with smooth grassy slopes, hut where a dyke 
or boss of basalt occurs in them, it usually stands out as a crag or knoll. 
Largo Law (Fig. 209) may be taken as a singularly perfect example of the 
cone-shaped neck. This hill, however, comprises more than one vent. . The 
mass of tuff of which it consists probably includes at least three distinct 
funnels of discharge, and surrounding it there still remains a good deal ot the 
fragmental material that gathered around these vents and is now seen to lie 
unconformably upon the Carboniferous formations (Fig. 208). There must 
be a total area of not much less than four square miles over which tuft 
occupies the surface of the ground. 
While the Fife necks possess the great advantage of having been laid 
bare by the sea, their frequent small size on the coast allows their whole 
area to be examined. As illustrations of these little vents, two plates are 
here given from the coast-line to the east of St. Andrews, where a number 
of small necks of agglomerate have been planted among the plicated Cal- 
ciferous Sandstones. In Fig. 210 the abrupt truncation of the sandstones 
by the volcanic rock is well shown. The strata on the right have been 
broken through, and the sea has indented a small gully along the wall ot 
the old volcanic funnel. The sandstones in front, however, still adhere 
firmly to the agglomerate, which rises above them as a rugged mass of rock 
In Fig. 212 the edge of the vent can be traced partly in section and 
partly in plan for about half of its circumference. On the right hand, the 
actual wall of the funnel is visible where the false-bedded sandstones are 
sharply cut off by the agglomerate. In front the strata appear in plan on 
the beach, and their ledges can be seen to the left striking at the margin of 
the neck. 
The shape of the Fife vents is, as usual, generally circular or oval ; but 
Fig. 211. — Ground-plan of Permian volcanic vents. 
is subject to considerable irregularity. The coast-section between Lai go and 
St. Monans exposes many ground-plans of them, and permits their irregularities 
