The Scottish Naturalist. 215 



the climate the summer thawings must have given rise to great 

 torrential floods. Freshwater would descend in all directions 

 towards the ice-sheet : and the body of water would be increased 

 by the ablation of the ice-sheet itself. In this way a broad sea 

 would extend along the land-margin and even overflow wide areas 

 of the attenuated ice-sheet. And this sea would be fresh, even 

 although it stood at the same level as, and was continuous with, the 

 salt water which probably at that time occupied the open area of 

 the North Sea-basin lying towards the South. Now the deposits 

 of the Carnoustie terrace are just such accumulations as would be 

 likely to be laid down upon the bed of such a sea. It is pos- 

 sible, indeed, that the water by which they were spread out was of 

 a torrential character, that it flowed like a large river between the 

 land on the one side and the ice-sheet on the other. As tending 

 partly to confirm this view, I may point to the suggestive fact that 

 here and there mounds and sheets of gravel and sand come down 

 from the higher grounds and merge with the deposits of the ter- 

 race. These gravels, etc., are certainly of torrential origin and 

 they are similar in character to the terrace accumulations. And 

 the suggestion forces itself upon one that the water which carried 

 them forward was merely a lateral feeder of the much larger body 

 of water by which the terrace-beds were formed. 



Whether this be or be not the true explanation of the appar- 

 ently unfossiliferous terrace or so-called raised-beach in question, 

 future investigation must be left to determine. I refer to the 

 matter merely as an example of the many problems connected with 

 the geology of the East of Scotland, which still await solution. 



There is yet another matter which I would bring to the notice 

 of geologists and that is the preparation of catalogues of 

 minerals and fossils found in the district embraced by the Union. 

 It would be extremely useful to have such lists ; we should see 

 from them what has already been done, and how much yet remains 

 to be accomplished. It is true that fossils are by no means 

 common in the district. But one does not yet despair of their 

 discovery even in regions where they have not yet been met with. 

 It would be advisable to note every locality where any, even the 

 most meagre trace of organic structure is obtained. It is only by 

 piecing all the evidence together that we can hope to form an 

 adequate conception of the conditions under which our sedi- 

 mentary formations were accumulated. With regard to the 



