Jan. 28, 1886J 



NATURE 



3ir 



(he Reptiliferous Sandstone of Elgin, I was able to show in the 

 year 1873 that strata identical in character with that deposit and 

 with the Cherty rock of Stotfield occur on the northern as well 

 as on the southern side of the Moray Firth. At Dunrobin, in 

 Sutherland, the yellow sandstones are seen covered by the Cherty 

 rock, and this in turn is overlain in apparently conformable 

 sequence by the various members of the Lias and Oolite. The 

 wliole of the Mesozoic strata of Sutherland are seen to be thrown 

 by a great fault against the Lower Old Red and the ciystalline 

 rocks of the Highlands. 



Although it is certain, however, that some of the cases of 

 juxtaposition between the Old Red and the Triassic strata must 

 be due to faulting, yet there were reasons for believing that the 

 latter strata lie directly and unconformably upon the former. 

 But, as was remarked by Dr. Gordon in 1877, "the district is so 

 covered by drift that no junction of the Iloloptychian and the 

 Reptiliferous strata has been laid bare." 



It was therefore with the greatest interest that in the summer 

 of 1884 I learned from that veteran geologist, whose important 

 services to science have extended over a period of more than half 

 a century, that the bones of reptiles had at last been detected in 

 the same quarry with the remains of Holoptychius. On repairing 

 to Elgin, I found evidence that a somewhat coarse variety of the 

 Reptiliferous Sandstone is seen passing downwards into a bed of 

 conglomerate from three to four feet thick, which is known to 

 the workmen as the " pebbly-post." 



It was also found that the "pebbly-post," which in its lower 

 portion becomes more perfectly conglomeratic, and contains 

 pebbles of white and purple quartz up to the size of the fist, 

 rests on beds of pink and red sandstones, very finely laminated, 

 and exhibiting evidence of much false-bedding. These beds are 

 strikingly different in character from the coarse-grained white 

 sandstones lying above the "pebbly-post," in which the bedding 

 is usually indistinct and imperfect. The stone lying below the 

 conglomerate was fjund to be unsuited for building purposes, 

 and the trial shaft, after being carried to the depth of thirteen 

 feet in the bottom-rock, was abandoned ; very fortunately, how- 

 ever, the last blast which was fired in it revealed a remarkably 

 fine specimen of Holoptvchiiis, which has been identified by 

 Dr. Traquair as //. nobilissimus, Ag. , and is now in the Elgin 

 Museum. 



These facts all point to the conclusion that the Reptiliferous 

 .Sandstone of Elgin passes downwards into a bed of conglo- 

 merate, which rests unconformably upon the strata .of the Upper 

 Old Red. 



The Royal Society long ago testified its sense of the importance 

 of determining the age and relations of the remarkable strata of 

 Elgin, by appointing a Committee and making a grant from the 

 Donation Fund to aid in securing new specimens of the fossils. 

 Seeing, then, that an opportunity offered itself for determining 

 the exact relations of the Reptiliferous to the Holoptychian 

 beds, 1 preferred a request to the Council of this Society for a 

 grant to be applied in excavations directed to uncovering the line 

 of junction between the two beds. 



My request having been granted, I had the great advantage of 

 the aid and judicious counsel of Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 

 President of the Geological Society, in examining the section 

 laid bare, and he permits me to state that he fully concurs in the 

 following statement. 



We were able to observe that, while the conglomerate of the 

 " pebbly-post " graduates insensibly into the overlying Reptili- 

 ferous Sandstone, it is sharply divided from the red sandstones 

 below. It was unfortunately found that, owing to the imperfect 

 bedding of the upper series and the prevalence of oblique 

 lamination in the lower one, it was impossible to obtain decisive 

 evidence of a discordance of dip between them. But the line 

 of junction between the two sets of strata showed every appear- 

 ance of being an eroded one. We came to the conclusion that 

 while the upper series having the "pebbly-post" for its base, is 

 certainly perfectly distinct from the lower one, there can scarcely 

 be the. smallest doubt that the former rests unconformably upon 

 the latter ; in other words, the evidence points to the conclusion 

 that during the vast periods of the Carboniferous and Permian, 

 the Upper Old Red .Sandstone of the Elgin area was upheaved 

 and denuded, and the Upper- Trias beds were deposited uncon- 

 formably upon their eroded surface. 



The paper concludes with a rhtiml of all that is known of this 

 formation, which has proved of such interest both to geologists 

 and to biologists, and a comparison with the strata of the same 

 age in other parts of Scotland and in Scandinavia. 



Zoological Society, Jan. 19.— Prof. W. H. Flower, V.P.R.S., 

 President, in the chair. — A letter was read from Dr. C. S. 

 Minot {25, Mount Vernon Street, Boston, U.S.A.), calling atten- 

 tion to the Elizabeth Thompson Science Fund for the advance- 

 ment and prosecution of scientific research, and inviting applica- 

 tions for assistance from it. — A communication was read from 

 the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, containing descriptions of some 

 new Amjihipodous Crustaceans from Singapore and New Zea- 

 land. — Mr. Howard Saunders exhibited an adult specimen of 

 the Sooty Tern {Sterna fitliginosa), caught alive near Bath, 

 October 1S85, and pointed out that only two examples of this 

 species had as yet occurred in Great Ihitain. — Mr. H. J. Elwes 

 read a paper on the butterflies of the genus Parnassius, having 

 special relation to the development, functions, and structure of 

 the horny pouch found in the females of this genus. He de- 

 scribed the habits, distribution, and variations of twenty-three 

 species which he recognised in the genus ; and illustrated his 

 remarks by the exhibition of a very complete collection of speci- 

 mens and drawings. The paper was supplemented by Prof. 

 Howes's remarks on his examination of the anatomy of the Par- 

 nassius apollo, and by Mr. Thomson's notes on the habits of the 

 insects as bred in the Society's Gardens in 18S5.— Mr. Oldfield 

 Thomas, F.Z. S., read a paper containing a list of the specimens 

 of mammals collected in various parts of India and presented 

 to the British Museum by Mr. A. O. Hume, C.B. The series 

 consisted of about 400 specimens, nearly all in excellent con- 

 dition and with accurate localities attached to them. A new 

 mouse from Tenasserim was proposed to be called Mus humii. 

 A new Flying Squirrel from the Malay Peninsula was named 

 Sciiiroptcrus dai'isoiii. — A communication was read from the 

 Rev. Canon Tristram, containing the description of an apparently 

 new species of duck (Dafi/a) from Sidney Island of the Phcenix 

 group in the Central Pacific, which he proposed to name, from 

 its extreme simplicity of plumage, Dafila modesta. — A commu- 

 nication was read from Mr. A. G. Butler, containing a description 

 of the larva, pupa, and imago of a butterfly [Apiria hippia\ 

 from specimens bred in the Society's Gardens. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, January 18.— M. Jurien de l.i 

 Graviere, President, in the chair. — Memoir on M. de Saint- 

 Venant and his scientific w-ork, by M. Ed. Phillips. — On a new 

 mercurial bath intended to deaden the vibrations of the ground, 

 by M. Mouchez. This contrivance, at once simple and prac- 

 tical, h.as been invented by M. Gautier for the purpose of dimin- 

 ishing the vibrations of the ground at the Paris Observatory, 

 caused by passing traffic. A cylindrical cast-metal basin con- 

 taining the supply of quicksilver, has attached to the centre a 

 wormed axis, to which is riveted a second and somewhat 

 smaller basin furnished with a corresponding female-screw. 

 The latter is pierced with a small aperture, through which the 

 layer of quicksilver enters. This layer then becomes insensible 

 to the vibrations, provided the screw be neither too tight nor 

 too loose. The appliance has already yielded excellent results, 

 for the first time enabling regular observations of the nadir to 

 be taken at the Paris Observatory. — Remarks on MM. Paul and 

 Prosper Henry's astronomical photographs, presented to the 

 Academy by M. Mouchez. Since the proofs obtained of the 

 Milky Way last June, MM. Henry have continued their labours 

 with a success that has surpassed all hopes. The results already 

 secured have been pronounced by competent judges the very 

 perfection of astronomical photography, full of promise for the 

 future of astronomy. Perfectly distinct images of several thou- 

 sand stars down to the sixteenth and even the seventeenth mag- 

 nitude have been obtained, as well as the nebula near Maia in 

 the Pleiades and other objects absolutely invisible to the most 

 powerful telescopes. Amongst other photographs presented are 

 forty-two proofs of the Milky Way and various regions of the 

 heavens ; the neighbourhood of e Lyra^ showing some stars far 

 smaller than the dMlissinia of Herschel, and below the six- 

 teenth magnitude ; the neighbourhood of Vega, with stars even 

 feebler still than the foregoing, some of which have certainly 

 never before been seen ; the groups of Hercules, Sobieski, 

 Ophiuchus, and Perseus, and over 600 images of double o.' 

 multiple stars ; a veiy successful photograph of the nebula 

 of Orion and of several of the planets. — Note on the irre- 

 ducible pure reciprocants of the fourth order, by Prof. Sylvester. 

 — Note on an electric spectrum peculiar to the rare earths of the 

 terbic group, by M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran. — Collection of 

 plans or designs of ancient and modern vessels, with the 

 elements necessary for their construction ; third instalment.. 



