HUGH illLLER. XVII. 



lated ai tlie shoulders, a head as entirely lost in the trunk as 

 that of the ray (or skate), and a long angular tail, equal m 

 length to a third of the entire figure. Its general resem- 

 blance is to the letter T, — the upper part of the vertical line 

 being swelled out, and the lower part ending in an angular 

 point, the two horizontal portions being, in the opinion of 

 Agassiz, organs of locomotion. To this remarkable fossil M. 

 Agassiz has given the appropriate name oi Pterichthys Milleri. 

 An account of it, accompanied with two fine specimens, was 

 communicated to the Geological Section of the British Asso- 

 ciation at Glasgow in September 1S40 ; and the most ample 

 details, with accurate drawings, were afterwards published in 

 1S41, in Mr Miller's first work, " The Old Bed Sandstone," 

 which was dedicated to Sir Roderick Murchison, who was born 

 on the Old E-ed Sandstone of the north, in the same district 

 as Mr Miller, and whose great acquirements and distinguished 

 labours are known all over the world among scientific men. 

 This admirable work has already passed through three edi- 

 tions. . From the originality and accuracy of its descriptions, 

 and the importance of the researches which it contains, it has 

 obtained for its author a high reputation among geologists ; 

 while, from the elegance and purity of its style, and the force 

 and liveliness of its illustrations, it has received the highest 

 praise from its more general readers.* 



Although we have been obliged, from the information 

 which it contains of our author's early studies, to mention 

 the " Old Red Sandstone" as if it had been his first work ; 



* Mr Miller is the author also of " Scenes and Legends of the North 

 of Scotland," 1 vol. 8vo ; " A Letter from one of the Scotch People to 

 the Eight Honourable Lord Brougham and Vaux, on the Opinions ex- 

 pressed by his Lordship in the Auchterarder Case ;" and " The Whig- 

 ism of the Old School, as exemplified in the Past History and Present 

 Position of the Church of Sc6tland." The second of these works is well 

 characterized by Mr Gladstone as *'an able, elegant, and masculine pro- 

 (iactiou." 



b 



