328 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



It was in very poor condition, and had a rabbit trap on its right 

 fore leg, which must have prevented it from procuring its proper 

 food. A discussion took place as to the probable quarter from 

 which this specimen had come, in which several members took 

 part. Mr Lumsden read a letter he had received from Mr George 

 E. Paterson, New Kilpatrick, stating that he had been making 

 inquiry as to the occurrence of otters in the Kelvin, and ex^^ress- 

 ing indebtedness to Mr Hendry, head keeper at Garscube, for 

 much interesting information on the subject. Mr Hendry 

 informed him that they were sometimes seen in the river at 

 Killermont and Garscube, feeding no doubt on the trout, pike, 

 and perch, which were still to be found there. 



Mr Harvie-Brown stated that otters were very common in the 

 Carron, and they had been found to come from a considerable 

 distance overland, their footmarks having been traced in the snow 

 for nearly five miles. 



Other members thought that this animal might have come from 

 the Endrick, where otters are often met with, and that some 

 evidence as to the locality from which it had migrated might 

 yet be forthcoming. 



Dr Young stated that the specimen was a very fine one, the fur 

 being in excellent condition, and that its body had been of 

 considerable use to one of his colleagues, in clearing up some 

 obscure points in the anatomy of the species. 



Mr John M. Campbell mentioned, as showing that fish still 

 frequented the Kelvin even in its lower reaches, that in the 

 Aquarium at Kelvingrove they had three specimens of perch 

 which were taken out of the river opposite the Museum. 



Mr John Young, F.G.S., exhibited a number of specimens 

 of Carboniferous shale enclosing various organisms from the 

 calciferous or cement-stone series lying at the base of the 

 Carboniferous system in Ayrshire, and which had been sent him 

 by Mr E. Denholm Young, M.A,, Green Lodge, Ayr, for examina- 

 tion. The strata from which they were obtained are found 

 cropping out on the sliore, between the heads of Ayr and the 

 " Deil's Dyke," an intrusive mass of dolerite which cuts through 

 the strata. Mr Young stated that the lower calciferous strata 

 of the West of Scotland are usually singularly barren of fossils. 

 They underlie the bedded traps of lower Carboniferous age 

 forming the range of hills which extend from near the town of 



