In the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright* the Lower Silurian Rocks, accompanied by igneous rocks, constitute the great mass of the country. From the intrusion of the syenites and porphyries these lower siluriaus are much changed both in lithological character and in inclination, being bent into several axial flexures (all apparently intimately connected and possibly contemporaneous†) by the syenitic eruptions of Criffel, Cairnsmuir, and Loch Doon, and by the porphyry of Tongueland. The silurian deposits are best seen on the coast. Here precipitous headlands form the margin of the Stewartry, and these afford information concerning these strata, which would otherwise be inaccessible; and here too deposits of a different age are met with. Commencing at the eastern side of the county, we have in the parishes of Irongray, Terregles, and Troqueer, new red sandstone; being the western extremity of that which occupies the southern portion of the Vale of the Nith*. At Kirkconnell, the most easterly portion of the syenitic district of Criffel is seen, and this is immedately succeeded in the south by silurian strata dipping 25° S.E. At Corbally, in the parish of New Abbey, the representatives of the carboniferous formation make their appearance, and then continue along the coast, round Southerness Point, to near the parish of Colvend, occupying a comparatively low tract of country. Near Southerness the beds consist of limestone which has been wrought; and they contain the characteristic fossils of the lower portion of the mountain limestone. In this formation, near Arbigland, a small seam of