Abstract: Ultramafic, troctolitic and gabbroic rocks at the northern end of the Belhelvie layered intrusion display progressive cryptic variation over a stratigraphic thickness of approximately 800 m in steeply-dipping cumulates, which young from W to E. This variation is shown by olivine (Fo₈₇₋₇₇), orthopyroxene (En₈₇₋₇₉), clinopyroxene (Ca₄₅Mg₄₈Fe₇ to Ca_44.5Mg_45.5Fe₁₀) and plagioclase (An₈₁₋₇₅). The Belhelvie succession is believed to be equivalent to the poorly-exposed and structurally complex Insch Lower Zone. A laterally impersistent hypersthene-gabbro unit within the main sequence is re-interpreted as a downfaulted block of slightly more evolved cumulates. A repeat sequence of peridotites, troctolites and gabbros on the eastern side of the intrusion, and separated from the underlying main succession by a thin septum of country rock, is believed to represent a fresh influx of magma.