138 Rev. Mr Anderson on the Organic Remains in 



range, as it stretches towards St Andrews; that of the yellow 

 sandstone, which occupies the valley of Stratheden ; and that 

 of the old red sandstone, which skirts the northern escarpment of 

 the Ochils, and which prevails throughout the lower basin of the 

 Tay. 



Dr Fleming, in 1830, read before the Wernerian Society a 

 notice " On the occurrence of Scales of vertebrated Animals 

 in the Old Red Sandstone of Fifeshire." These organisms, 

 as described by him, occurred in the yellow sandstone of 

 Drumdryan, and the grey sandstone of Parkhill. From the 

 former locality scales of a fish were obtained, and from the 

 latter impressions of gramineous vegetables, referred by the 

 author to an extinct species of the genus Juncus or Sparganium. 

 The same paper contains a notice of the occurrence of similar 

 scales in the old red sandstone of Clashbennie, near Errol, in 

 Perthshire, one of which is described as bearing " a very close 

 resemblance to some of the scales on the common sturgeon, and 

 may, with some probability, be referred to an extinct species of 

 the genus Acipenser." Also a portion of a fish, about seven 

 inches long, two inches deep, and from seven to eight-tenths in 

 thickness, is noticed as having been obtained from the same 

 quarry, and which the author considers as " probably identical 

 with the Dipterus macrojjygopterus of the Caithness beds.'" 



In the new work of Agassiz " Sur les Poisson Fossiles,'" these 

 relics are noticed, and the scales are referred to a species of the 

 Gyrolepis. Agassiz describes four species which belong to this 

 genus, viz. the Gyrolepis Albertii, G. tenuistriatus, G. maxi- 

 mus, and G. giganteus. The scales, both of Drumdryan and 

 Clashbennie, he considers as belonging to the species giganteus, 

 of which he thus speaks : " Ce sont les plus grandes ecailles de 

 poissons que je connaisse ; elles ont souvent plus de deux pouces 

 de diametre ; mais leur epaisseur n'est pas proportionnee a leur 

 grandeur, car elle n'excede guere trois lignes. La partie de ces 

 ecailles qui n''etait pas recouverte par leur imbrication est sillon- 

 nee de rides profondes et treslarges, qui presentent de fre- 

 quentes anastomoses, et qui sont generalement dirigees ob- 

 liquement d'avant en ari'iere. La partie de I'ecaille cachee 

 par la serie anterieure ^gale environ le quart de la longeur 



