the Old Red Sandstone of Fife. 141 



nicle to record their history, although portions of them may still 

 be detected among the rains of the building, as well of the an- 

 cient castle of Balambriech, which stands on the promontory 

 about a mile to the eastward of the quarry. 



This rock again crops out to the surface in a narrow glen a 

 little to the south of Abernethy, where the line of dip is altered 

 from the S. E. to the N. W. It lies upon a disturbing mass of 

 trap-tuffa, which has thrown it into a very inclined position, and 

 considerably indurated the texture of it. It is the yellow spot- 

 ted variety, similar to that which occurs at Strathmigloj on the 

 opposite side of the Ochills, and is a portion, I have no doubt, 

 of the same bed. From this point towards Dunning it emerges 

 in various places, sometimes assuming the character of a coarse 

 conglomerate, and at other times that of a remarkably fine- 

 grained compact rock, which is much used in building, and ha- 

 ving a deep hematite red colour. Hitherto I have not been suc- 

 cessful in detecting any organic remains in this district, although 

 a notice appeared in the Perth Constitutional newspaper, an- 

 nouncing that scales had been found in the Hilton quarry. 

 But beautiful dendritic forms occur abundantly in some of the 

 fine-grained beds, particularly at Dumbarnie and Pitcaithley, 

 and which had been rather hastily assumed by some geologists 

 as exclusively characteristic of the new red sandstone. 



2. Limestone or Cornstone. — In determining the position of 

 the deposit which contains the scales in the several localities no- 

 ticed above, it will be of consequence to retrace our steps for a 

 little, in order to examine more particularly the limestone which 

 accompanies it, and which it immediately underlies. 



The mountain limestone, full of organic remains, may be ob- 

 served at the Lomonds, and also at Cults, reposing upon the 

 yellow sandstone of which Drumdryan is a continuation, and 

 immediately below the yellow sandstone lies the calcareous bed 

 of Craigfoodie, a concretionary mass destitute of all traces of or- 

 ganic remains. The Cornstone bed next occurs at Newton, on 

 the very summit of the Ochils, where it is completely insulated 

 by the trap from the sandstone, which on both sides of the range 

 crops out at Strathmiglo and Abernethy about 600 feet be- 

 neath. At Parkhill the deposit rests immediately upon the old 



