The central part of the West Lothian coast included in the parishes of Abercorn and Carriden, with which this paper deals, extends westwards from the Midhope Glen at Abercorn to Bridgeness, a distance of a little over four miles. As the conspicuous promontory of Blackness is situated near the middle of this strip of coastline, we may here, for the sake of brevity, describe the area in question as the Blackness district. Geologically the shore section includes the upper part of the Oil Shale Series and the Lower Marine Limestones that overlie the oil shales and extend upwards to the coal seams of the Bo'ness area.