the Old Red Sandstone of Fife, 139 



totale ; ella est completement lisse. Tous ces caracteres," he 

 adds, " se rapprochent assez de ceux qui ont ete assignes aux 

 Gyrolepis du terrain triasique, pour j'aie cru pouvoir ranger 

 ces ecailles dans le meme genre. Je ne connais non plus encore 

 du G. giganteus (\VLe des ecailles detachees.'" — Tom. ii. p. 175. 



Important, then, as these organisms must, in every view, be 

 considered, I have much pleasure in communicating some addi- 

 tional particulars respecting them, having, in the course of last 

 autumn, found the scales in three other localities in the county 

 of Fife, besides those noticed above. Indeed, they are thte only 

 instances in which such organic remains have been detected in 

 the old red sandstone within the limits of the county, as Dr 

 Fleming's paper refers solely to the scales found at Drumdryan, 

 which is the yellow sandstone, and at Clashbennie, which is in 

 Perthshire. The vegetable impressions which he mentions as 

 occurring in the grey sandstone of Parkhill, I have likewise de- 

 tected in several other localities. 



1. Old Red Sandstone. — While the valley of Stratheden has 

 been referred to as characterised by the yellow sandstone depo- 

 sit, yet it is not exclusively so, as the old red likewise occupies 

 a portion of the district. It occurs in the parish of Dairsie, on 

 the north bank of the Eden, where a quarry has been opened 

 to the eastward of the church, and where the dip of the rock is 

 to the S. E. at an angle of 15°. There I found these remains 

 in the greatest abundance, and of the same characters and di- 

 mensions as those of Clashbennie. The texture and colour of 

 the two deposits are likewise perfectly identical, so much so, 

 that having accidentally mixed some specimens obtained at Dair- 

 sie with those brought from Clashbennie, I am now unable to 

 distinguish them from each other. This bed ranges eastward, 

 and occupies the entire bottom of the valley from this point as 

 far as the Guard Bridge, where it abruptly terminates. Drum- 

 dryan quarry is situated in the ridge to the south, which is 

 wholly composed of yellow sandstone, rising in many places to 

 the height of 600 feet. Dairsie quarry, containing the scales, 

 is a lower member of the series, separated, however, as will im- 

 mediately appear, by the interposed bed of limestone which oc- 

 curs at Craigfoodie. 



