On the Geology of Strath, Skye

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Abstract
The first notice of the district described in the present paper was that published in 1800 by the late Professor Jameson in his ‘Mineralogy of the Scottish Isles.’ It is exceedingly meagre, having been compiled from the notes of a brief excursion in bad weather, and contains only a list of minerals found in the ascent of Beinn na Cailleaich, with the mention of numerous basalt-veins that traverse the limestone in every direction. Eighteen years later Dr. Macculloch published his ‘Description of the Western Islands’ wherein he pointed out the existence in Skye of secondary strata—the equivalents of the lias and oolite of England, extending in broken and irregular series up to what has since been determined to be the equivalent of the Oxford Clay. He also described with considerable minuteness some of the more remarkable features in the geology of Strath. Yet of the structure of the district he seems to have had but a vague general idea—not a few of its most important features having escaped his notice, while of some of the facts which he mentions he has failed to perceive the true bearing. I shall even have occasion to show that, notwithstanding the minuteness of his description, he can only have examined a limited portion of the district, and that too but superficially. Several years later Sir ttoderick Murchison examined the eastern coast-line of Skye, and, from a comparison of fossils, ascertained the existence and limits of strata belonging to the lias, and the lower and

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