THE CARBONIFEROUS FISHES OF THE 

 WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



BY R H. TRAQUAIR M.D, LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S. 



THE Carboniferous rocks of the West of Scotland are rich in fish-remains, 

 although entire specimens of fishes are not of such frequent occurrence as in 

 Midlothian or North Staffordshire. I have not myself collected in the 

 district, but I have carefully examined the Carboniferous fish -remains in the 

 principal collections of Western Scottish Fossils, viz. : 



1. The James Thomson collection now in the new Kilmarnock Museum. 



2. The Hunter-Selkirk collection, in the same institution. 



3. The collection contained in the Hunterian Museum, of the University 



of Glasgow, which includes the fish-remains collected by the late 

 Dr. Eankine of Carluke. 



4. The collection formed by the late Mr. Robert Craig, Beith. 



5. The collection of Mr. John Smith, Monkredding, Kilwinning. 



6. The collection of Mr. James Neilson, Glasgow. 



7. The collection of Mr. Robert Dunlop, formerly of Stanrigg, Airdrie, and 



now in New Zealand. 



8. The collection of Mr. David Sinclair, Kilmarnock. 



Besides the fish-remains in these collections (to the possessors and guardians 

 of which I must return my best thanks for facilities of inspection), I have 

 noted those in the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, which, a good 

 many years ago acquired the collection of the late Mr. James Armstrong of 

 Glasgow, and that of Dr. Grossart of Salsburgli, Carluke. 



The result of my recent examination is to confirm the conclusion at which 



I arrived a good many years ago, after studying the fossil fishes of Fife and 

 the Lothians, that so far as fish-life is concerned there are only two great 

 life-zones Upper and Lower in the Carboniferous system of Great Britain. 

 In Scotland the Upper division includes the true Coal-measures with the 



II n deriving Millstone Grit, while in the lowerone may be reckoned, in downward 

 succession, the Upper Limestone series ; the Edge Coal series of Edinburgh 

 geologists, or the "Lower Coal" series of those who dwell in the west ; the 

 Lower Limestone series ; and the Calciferous Sandstone series. 



The difference between the fish-fauna of these two great divisions is not, 

 however, quite so instructively brought out in the West of Scotland as in the 

 East, the reason being that the fish-remains from the Lower Carboniferous 

 rocks of the West are principally from the marine limestones, while those of 

 the Upper division or true "Coal-measures" are wholly estuarine, and in 

 setting up " life-zones " we must, of course, compare the organisms which 

 lived under similar conditions. This we are enabled to do better in the East 

 of Scotland owing to the great richness in fossil fishes of the Lower Carboni- 

 ferous estuarine beds there, though the list from the entire formation is not 



