LETTER FROM DUKE OF ARGYLL. 431 



been very rough and uncomfortable ; and, I dare say, it 

 is better to be living now/ 



FROM THE DUKE OF ARGYLL. 



' Inverary, October 16th, 1852. 



' May I ask you whether you have examined in 

 detail the brecciated strata on the shore near Helmsdale 

 on both sides ; and if so, whether you have formed 

 any opinion as to the position they occupy relatively to 

 the Brora Oolites, and the more Liassic-looking strata 

 along the shore-line from Dunrobin upwards ? 



c That breccia appears to me to include no fragments 

 which are clearly referable to the Brora strata, although 

 it contains many which belong to the beds immediately 

 behind and below on the line towards Dunrobin. Very 

 many, also, belong to the Caithness Flagstones a por- 

 tion of the Old Red of which, I think, there is no vestige 

 remaining in situ now in Sutherland. I found in the 

 breccia a fragment containing a ganoid scale, apparently 

 that of the Dipterus like those at Banniskirk. 



' The paste which cements this breccia seems to be 

 a calcareous mass of pounded shells, belemnites, &c. : 

 and this part of the breccia seems to me more referable 

 to a break-up of the Brora strata than any of the in- 

 cluded fragments. 



' The remarkable continuity and uniformity of dip 

 in the shore strata from Dunrobin to the Ord, and their 

 total unconformability with the Brora beds, which 

 generally terminate in the cliffy banks of the old sea 

 beach some distance from the present one and are 

 much more horizontal, suggested to me that the latter is 

 a subsequent and superior formation, and that the 

 Helmsdale breccia represents the close of a period 

 embracing the Lias and some of the lower Oolites. 



