THE OLD RED SANDSTONE. 161 
especially belongs—the portion represented in our second 
pyramid by the conglomerate and sandstone bar—though 
unfavorable to the preservation of animal remains, represents 
assuredly no barren period. It has been found to contain 
bodies apparently organic, that vary in shape like the sponges 
of our existing seas, which in general appearance they some- 
what resemble, but whose class, and even kingdom, are yet 
to fix.* It contains, besides, in considerable abundance, 
* These organisms, if in reality such, are at once very curious and 
‘very puzzling. They occur in some localities in great abundance. A 
piece of Clashbennie flagstone, somewhat more than two feet in length, 
by fifteen inches in breadth, kindly sent me for examination by the Rey. 
Mr. Noble, of St. Madoes, bears no fewer than twelve of them on its 
upper surface, and presents the appearance of a piece of rude sculpture, 
not very unlike those we sometimes see in country churchyards, on 
the tombstones of the times of the Revolution. All the twelve vary 
in appearance. Some of them are of a pear shape — some are irreg- 
ularly oval—some resemble short cuts of the bole of a tree — some 
are spread out like ancient manuscripts, partially unrolled — one of 
the number seems a huge, though not over neatly formed acorn, an 
apprentice mason’s first attempt — the others are of a shape so irreg- 
ular as to set comparison and description at defiance. They almost 
all agree, however, when cut transversely, in presenting flat, elliptical 
arcs as their sectional lines— in haying an upper surface compara- 
tively smooth, and an under surface nearly parallel to it, thickly cor- 
rugated — and in being all coated with a greasy, shining clay, of a 
deeper red than the surrounding stone. I was perhaps rather more 
confident of their organic character after I had examined a few mere- 
ly detached specimens, than now that I have seen a dozen of them 
together. It seems at least a circumstance to awaken doubt, that 
though they occur in various positions on the slab — some extending 
across it, some lying diagonally, some running lengthwise — the cor- 
rugations of their under surfaces should run lengthwise in all — fur- 
rowing them in every possible angle, and giving evidence, not appar- 
