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V. Notice respecting the Vertebra of a Whale, found in a Bed of 

 bluish Clay, near Ding-wall. By Sir G. S. MACKENZIE, 

 Baronet, F. R. S. Lond. & Edin. In a Letter to Dr 

 BREWSTER, Sec. R. S. Edin., &c. 



(Read March 17. 1828J 



MY DEAR SIR, 



A HE Vertebra which I now send to you, was found about two 

 years ago, on the property of Mr MACKENZIE of Hilton, in 

 Strathpeffer, county of Ross ; and that gentleman desires me to 

 present this interesting relic of some cetaceous animal to the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh. 



Some years ago, a navigable canal was cut from the mouth of 

 the River Conan to the Town of Dingwall, and the operation 

 displayed a bed of dark bluish clay, containing sea-shells in great 

 numbers. The thickness of this bed I have not been able to as- 

 certain. A successful attempt having been made to drain the 

 lower part of Strathpeffer, which is now in a high state of culti- 

 vation, this bed of clay was found to extend several miles up the 

 valley ; and it was in clearing out the drain that the bone was 

 found in the clay. It is probable that more of the skeleton 

 might have been found, had search been made for it. 



This bed of clay has evidently been formed at the same pe- 

 riod with that which is seen along the south shore of the Forth, 

 as it is about the same height from the present level of the wa- 

 ter. The bone was found at a distance from high-water mark 

 of about three miles ; and the height above the sea, at Dingwall, 

 of the spot from which it was dug, is about 12 feet. The date 

 VOL. x. P. i. o 



