41 



TUTU OO.A-ST 



FROM LOSSIEMOUTH TO BURGHEAD. 



SATURDAY, AUGUST 2, 1884. 



Among the Excursions got up in connection with the 

 Elgin Literary and Scientific Association, one of the places 

 visited was the coast between Lossiemouth and Burghead, 

 and the object of this paper is simply to draw the attention 

 of one unacquainted with the ground to a few points of 

 interest in the journey. It is ground in which a very 

 enjoyable day can be spent, whatever may be the tastes of 

 the excursionist. Commencing at Lossiemouth, its 

 reptiliferous sandstones deserve more than a passing 

 glance. About a quarter of a century ago the geological 

 age of these rocks was a subject very keenly discussed 

 among scientific men, and the district was then visited 

 and examined by several eminent geologists from a 

 distance, including Murchison, Lyell, Nicol, Ramsay, and 

 Harkness. From the relation of these sandstones to rocks 

 of undoubted Old Red in the district around, one party 

 considered them to be the upper beds of that system — 

 the other party, attaching importance to the remains of 

 reptiles found in them, maintained they were of Triassic 

 age. The fossils on which so much stress has been laid in 

 discussing the subject consist as yet of only three reptiles 

 that have been satisfactorily determined, but. there are 

 traces of other animals. The one first discovered is that 



