142 Mr Anderson on the Organic Remains in 



red sandstone which contains the scales, and underhes the yel- 

 low sandstone, where the calcai-eous and arenaceous beds insen- 

 sibly pass into one another. A bed of limestone also occurs in 

 Strathearn in the same relative position to the old red sandstone 

 in the parish of Forgandenny, and was detected a few years ago 

 on the farm of Little Kinnaird by the proprietor Laurence Oli- 

 phant, Esq. ; in consequence of the excavation of some drains. 

 On the north bank of the Tay a similar deposit occurs at Meurie, 

 likewise at Ballendean, and also on the north side of the Sid- 

 laws, in the parish of Cargill. 



In all these places the quality of the limestone is nearly the 

 same, and its position, in every locality, is determined by its re- 

 lation to the uniformly associated bed of red sandstone on which 

 it rests. No organic remains — not even the smallest indication 

 of them — have been detected in any portion of it, while the 

 calcareous is so mixed with arenaceous matter that it has been 

 but sparingly used for either building or agricultural purposes. 

 The most solid portions of it are compact or sub-crystalline, 

 and ai-e generally of a yellowish-green or grey colour. The 

 structure is concretionary, and when the softer parts are washed 

 away, the rock assumes a conglomerate or brecciated appear- 

 ance. The Parkhill bed contains more calcareous matter, and 

 is more compact than any of the rest. Some portions of it are 

 cherty containing chalcedonic veins, and small globular cells, 

 which are coated over with mammillated, reddish chalcedony ; 

 but, generally, it may be described as a compact concretionary 

 deposit, with several interposed beds of a green and red pyritous 

 marl, and stained on the surface with innumerable dendritic 

 figures. 



Dr Thomson, in the new edition of his Chemistry, recently 

 published, considers the beds of sandstone which traverse Strath- 

 earn and the Carse of Gowrie, from their great horizontality, as 

 belonging to the neio red. What is the inference necessarily 

 deducible from the above statement of facts? The Dairsie 

 sandstone and its accompanying limestone at Craigfoodie dip 

 under the yellow sandstone, which constitutes the lowest mem- 

 ber of the coal formation. This therefore must be the old red. 

 But the sandstone which occur in the Strathearn and the Carse 

 of Gowrie districts are similar in respect to position, organic 



