208 Sir W. Jardine on the position of the Impressions of 



any of those worm-castings which are associated with the foot- 

 marks at Western Point. This may probably be owing to the 

 lowness of the beds in the Vale of the Nith and the district of An- 

 nandale, and to the deposits in the south-east of the county being 

 above those from whence footsteps are procured in Cheshire. 



It has been already mentioned that Cheirotherium footmarks 

 have been met with in that portion of the new red sandstone 

 which occurs in the south-eastern part of the county, and it has 

 been stated that the general character of the beds here is such 

 as to indicate that they approach near to the Keuper sandstone. 

 We find both at Stourton quaiTy and also at Lymn that the foot- 

 steps of this animal occupy a high position in the Bunter sand- 

 stone. At Bemburg we find the Labyrinthodon also occurring in 

 the higher beds of the Bunter ; and Dr. Lloyd considers that the 

 Labyrinthodon bucklandi belongs rather to the higher portion of 

 this deposit than to the lower beds of the Keuper. 



Considering the footsteps of the Bunter sandstone, we have 

 first in the highest portion, the impressions of the Cheirotherium. 

 Below these the footmarks of the Rhynchosaurus occmv associated 

 with what are termed the steps of a small tortoise ; and at a depth 

 exceeding 200 yards we have the tracks of several other animals, 

 amongst which the small tortoise coexistent with the Rhyncho- 

 saurus also appears. 



XX. — Note to Mr. Harkness's joc/jer on " The position of the Im- 

 pressions of Footsteps in the Bunter Sandstone of Dumfries- 

 shire." By Sir W. Jardine, Bart. 



Corncockle Muir is an elevated ridge of about a mile or little 

 more in length, situate nearly in the centre of the valley of the 

 Annan from east to west, and At about two-thirds of its length 

 from its upper or northern end. At the northern extremity of 

 this ridge the quarry of Corncockle is worked, and has supplied 

 nearly the whole stone used in the neighbourhood for many 

 generations. Further up the valley several attempts have been 

 made to open quarries, but the rock becomes soft and inferior in 

 quality, and no impressions of footmarks or traces of them have 

 hitherto been met with northward of the above-mentioned locality. 

 So far as has yet been discovered, footprints of four distinct 

 species of animals appear on the Corncockle beds. Of these two 

 were described by the late Dr. Duncan, Minister of Ruthwell, in 

 the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and have 

 received the name of Tfstudo duncani from Professor Owen in 

 his " Report on British Fossil Reptiles." A third was indicated 

 as indistinct and having the impressions filled up ; while the 

 fourth does not appear to have been previously noticed, and is 



