66 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



the time that he joined the Geological Survey in December 

 1868 he had not contributed largely to the literature of 

 geology. Still, we think that his papers on the surface 

 geology around his native city are among the best he ever 

 wrote. In one of these he records the discovery of Bos 

 longifrons and Bos priinigenius in the ancient drift of the 

 Clyde. His interest in glacial deposits remained with him 

 throughout his long life ; for, after many years of work 

 among the Carboniferous rocks, he gave glacial deposits 

 his undivided attention, with what interesting results we 

 all know, since a summary of them, from his own pen, 

 appeared in this magazine in January 1 896. After the 

 retreat of the ice from the lower grounds of Scotland, the 

 surface of the country was dotted over with lakes and 

 tarns. Into these were carried, along with the mud and 

 other detritus, seeds and plant remains. By and by, 

 many of these became silted up either wholly or partially. 

 Several such lakes are to be found in the neighbour- 

 hood of Edinburgh, in Fife, and elsewhere. By taking 

 samples of the mud, clay, and peaty layers from different 

 levels of these vanished lakes, and carefully washing and 

 examining the residues, Mr. Bennie found that the lower 

 layers yielded fossils of a pronounced arctic facies ; such as 

 the little crustacean Lepidurus (Apus} glacialis now only 

 found living in the fresh-water ponds of Spitzbergen and 

 Greenland, the arctic willow (SalLv polaris\ and birch 

 {Betula nand]. As the climate ameliorated, the arctic plants 

 appear either to have succumbed in the struggle, or were 

 driven into the mountainous districts to the north, where a 

 few species still maintain a precarious existence. 



Much of Mr. Bennie's time was devoted to searching 

 weathered and soft shales for micro-organisms, and from which 

 he reaped a rich harvest of new and rare forms. In this way, 

 the occurrence of Holothurians in the Carboniferous series 

 was first made known to us. Also the great abundance of 

 Eurypterids and Scorpions during the same period. 



It would carry us beyond our space to give even a list 

 of new forms discovered by him, and figured and described 

 by specialists, several being named after him in recognition 

 of the value of his researches. To him, as to every true lover 



