Vice-President’s Address. 195 
From a perusal of the “ Report of the Sub-Committee on 
the Carboniferous, Devonian, and Old Red Sandstone Forma- 
tions,” one is almost led to think that its members were not 
unanimous in their views on the correlation of the various 
Carboniferous horizons, nor of the most suitable terms to 
be adopted for them, The chief feature of the Report is its 
suggestion of uncertainty. 
One of the conclusions they arrived at was that “no hard and 
fast line can be drawn between the Lowest Carboniferous rocks 
and those of the Devonian or Old Red Sandstone Series.” 
I presume that the Devonian or Old Red Sandstone Series 
referred to here means only the Upper Old Red Sandstone. 
Upon this the basement beds of the Carboniferous formation 
le conformably, but the paleontology of the Upper Old Red 
Sandstone in Scotland is so essentially distinct from that 
of the Lower Carboniferous, that it does not seem to me 
possible to unite the Upper Old Red Sandstone with the 
Carboniferous formation. 
The fact that the basement beds of the Carboniferous forma- 
tion lie conformably on the Upper Old Red Sandstone, need not 
lead to the inference that they are parts of the same formation. 
No one could be more explicit on this subject than Sir 
Archibald Geikie. He says: “Geological history, therefore, 
if its records in the stratified formations were perfect, ought 
to show a blending and gradation of epoch with epoch, so 
that no sharp. divisions of its events could be made.” ? 
I also give here, from the same source from which the 
previous table is taken, the “Generalised Index of the 
Carboniferous Rocks of Scotland,” by Mr B. N. Peach, F.R.S.3 
This gives an excellent geological sketch of the divisions of 
the Carboniferous formation as developed in Scotland. I shall 
1 Loc. cit., p. B/140. This conclusion of the committee, mentioned while 
treating of the Carboniferous rocks, scarcely agrees with that stated on p. 
B/155 when dealing with the Old Red Sandstone. . . . ‘‘So far as England 
is concerned, it seems a step in the right direction to substitute the name 
Carboniferous Basement Beds for that of Upper Old Red Sandstone, and to 
retain the venerable name of Old Red Sandstone for the lower division. 
In Scotland, however, the distinctive character of the Upper Old Red Sandstone 
is far too pronounced to make such a nomenclature suitable.” (Compare note 
in Report given here on p. 197, Note 2.) 
* Text-Book, 2nd edition, p. 629. > Loc, cit., p. B/150. 
