140 Mr Anderson on the Organic Remains in 



Birkhill, the next locality where the scales occur, lies upon the 

 north declivity of the Ochils, and south bank of the Tay. Here 

 the sandstone rises immediately from the bed of the river, and is 

 very confusedly mixed up with the trappean rocks. Very little of 

 the deposit is exposed to view, although in proceeding along 

 the beach towards the pier of Bal merino, it may be observed 

 cropping out in various places, and dipping towards the S. E. 

 It appears to be somewhat variegated, containing considerable 

 portions of whitish rock, and approaches also in some parts to 

 the character of a conglomerate. In this locality I have only 

 been able to obtain one specimen of a scale, which, although of 

 the small dimensions of half an inch in length, and about a quar- 

 ter of an inch in breadth, possesses all the characters of a per- 

 fect organism, evidently belonging to the same class as those of 

 Clashbennie, Drumdryan, Dairsie. 



The colour and quality of the soil to the westward, through- 

 out the barony of Balambriech, afford a pretty decisive test of 

 the continuation of the old red sandstone deposit, but there is 

 no outcrop till we reach Parkhill, near the monastery of Lin- 

 dores. Here I first detected the scales in the stones which form 

 the embankment and breakwater piar along the side of the river- 

 At first I suspected that the materials of which these are built 

 might have been brought from Clashbennie, which lies adjacent 

 on the opposite bank of the Tay, and in this opinion I was the 

 more confirmed by the perfect similarity of the scales, as well as 

 from the texture and colour of the stones. But in this I was 

 speedily undeceived upon proceeding to the quarry itself, which 

 lies a few hundred yards to the south, and near the eastern ex- 

 tremity of the farm of Parkhill, where, amongst the rede or de- 

 bris, I found these organisms in the gi'eatest abundance. The 

 quarry is now so completely covered in that no portion of the 

 rock can be observed, but a little to the westward it again 

 emerges under a bed of coarse limestone, and resting upon a 

 mass of greenstone trap, through the agency of which, doubtless, 

 it has been here brought to the surface. The materials of which 

 the monastery was constructed were obtained from the quarry, 

 as appears from a charter of the founder, granting the use of it 

 " to his monks there serving God ;" but, as there were no geolo- 

 gists in those days, these interesting relics have found no chrcK 



