23 2 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



NEW SCOTTISH FOSSIL REPTILES. 



[AT the recent meeting of the British Association in Edin- 

 burgh, Mr. E. T. Newton, F.G.S., F.Z.S., communicated a 

 preliminary notice " On some Dicynodont and other Reptile 

 Remains from the Elgin Sandstone," in which he described 

 some very remarkable forms new to science. The detailed 

 description of these specimens is nearly completed, and will, 

 it is hoped, be shortly published. The following is an 

 abstract of Mr. Newton's communication to the Associa- 

 tion. EDS.] 



At the Aberdeen meeting of the British Association in 

 1885 Dr. Traquair called attention to the skull of a Dicyn- 

 odont which had been discovered in the Elgin Sandstone 

 of Cutties' Hillock ( = New Spynie). Since that time several 

 other specimens have been obtained from the same place, 

 some of which are the property of the Elgin Museum, while 

 others belong to the Geological Survey of the United King- 

 dom. These specimens are now being worked out by the 

 author, and this communication is a preliminary note on the 

 interesting results which have been obtained. 



All the reptile remains obtained from Cutties' Hillock 

 are in the condition of hollow casts, the bones themselves 

 having been dissolved away ; this, it will be remembered, 

 was the case with some of the examples of Stagonolepis from 

 the Elgin Sandstone, described by Prof. Huxley, and the 

 method of taking casts from the hollow cavities, which was 

 adopted in that case, has been found of great advantage in 

 the present instance. The blocks when brought from the 

 quarry were more or less split open, exposing portions of the 

 specimens. In some cases these cavities were traced out 

 and developed with the chisel, while in others they were 

 farther split open, thus allowing casts to be taken. In many 

 cases these casts had to be made in several parts and after- 

 wards fitted together. The time and labour involved in this 

 task have been repaid by the restoration of the skulls and 

 parts of skeletons of several Dicynodonts and one or two 

 other equally remarkable forms of reptiles. 



In most of these specimens, including that noticed by 



