A SUMMER RAMBLE AMONG THE HEBRIDES. 193 



dolent of the qniet enthusiasm of the true fossil-hunter, espe- 

 cially applies to the ichthyolites of this quany, and to those 

 of a neighbouring opening in the same bed, the quany of 

 Lethenbar. " The nodules," says Mr Duff, " which in their 

 external shape resemble the stones used in the game of curl- 

 ing, but are elliptical bodies instead of round, lie in the shale 

 on their flat sides, in a line with the dip. When taken out, 

 they remind one of water-worn pebbles, or rather boulders of 

 the shore. A smart blow on the edge splits them along on 

 the major axis, and exposes the interesting inclosure. The 

 practised geologist knows well the thrilling interest attending 

 the breaking up of the nodule : the uninitiated cannot sym- 

 pathize with it There is no time when a fossil looks so well 

 as when first exposed. There is a clammy moisture on the 

 surface of the scales or plates, which brings out the beautiful 

 colouring, and adds brilliancy to the enamel Exposure to 

 the weather soon dims the lustre ; and even in a cabinet an 

 old specimen is easily known by its tarnished aspect." 



I found at Clune no ichthyolite to which the geologists 

 have not been already introduced, or with which I had not 

 been acquainted previously in the Cromarty beds. The 

 Lower Old Red of Morayshire furnishes, however, at least 

 one genus not yet figured nor described, and of which, so far 

 as I am aware, only a single specimen has yet been found. It 

 seems to have been a small delicately-formed fish ; its head 

 covered with plates ; its body with round scales of a ske in- 

 termediate between those of the Osteolepis andCheiracanthus; 

 its anterior dorsal fin placed, as in the Dipterus, Diplopterus, 

 and Glyptolepis, directly opposite to its ventral fins ; the ena- 

 melled surfaces of the minute scales were fretted with micro- 

 scopic undulating ridges, that radiated from the centre to the 

 circumference ; similar furrows traversed the occipital plates ; 

 and the fins, unfurnished with spines, were formed, as in the 

 Dipterus and Diplopterus, of thick-set enamelled rays. The 



