84 REPORT—1862. 
levels up to 200 feet. In some parts it is filled with stones of various sizes. It is 
of different degrees of hardness; and the shells, although generally distributed, vary 
in number at different places, as well as the stones. The stones are all more or less 
striated and ground. Above the lower clay in many places are beds of sand, and 
from these beds wide cracks run down the clay, some vertically, others diagonally, 
and from these smaller cracks diverge horizontally—all being filled with sand no 
doubt from above, that on the sides of them being cemented together, and the centre 
quite loose. This sand contains organisms similar to those of the clay, but in a 
very friable-condition. Above the sand is often seen more clay, and crowning the 
whole a deposit of stones derived from all the previous geological formations, some 
being of great size, One such, of granite, at least 30 tons in weight, near the Cus- 
tom-House at Wick, is 66 feet above the level of the sea. The clay rests upon 
rocks grooved and polished. The grooves run about N. and S., with variations to 
the E. and W. Some of the shells are almost perfect, the smaller and more deli- 
cate ones being most so; others, especially the Astartes, are covered with their 
epidermis; a few are perforated, evidently by the Whelk and the boring sponge, 
liona. In no case had he found two valves of any shell united. A difficulty often 
resents itself to many on finding that although the edges of the greater part of the 
lake shells are rounded, others retain their sharpness, as if only just broken. 
This difficulty will vanish if a collection of the recent broken shells be made from 
the sea-shore, for there the very same appearances may be seen, agreeing in every 
particular with those of the Boulder-clay. 
The mode of transport he thought had been by water-borne ice, the work of 
long periods. As he only wished to introduce the organ’sms, he left all this to 
others. 
He then read a detailed list of the organisms, first observing that, as Mr. Jeffreys 
had kindly examined all the shells and Dr. Bowerbank the sponges, the list might 
be depended upon :— 
Univalves. Bivalves (continued). 
Trophon scalariforme. Astarte elliptica. 
Buccinum undatum. suleata. 
Nassa incrassata. Artemis lincta. 
Purpura lapillus. Tellina proxima. 
Mangelia Trevelliana. solidula. 
turricula. Mya truncata, var. Uddevallensis. 
Natica nitida. Panopxa Norvegica. 
sordida. Saxicava rugosa, var. 
helicoides. : 
Aporrhais pes-pelecani. Balanide. 
Turritella communis. Balanus Scoticus (porcatus). 
Trochus zizyphinus, Annelida. 
ia teach Serpula vermicularis. 
—— abyssorum, n. 8. (Sars). Polyzoa. 
. Hippothoa catenularia. 
B ioalues. Membranipora ? 
Pecten maximus. Lepralia Peachii. 
opercularis. simplex. 
Leda caudata. 
Cardium echinatum. Sponges. 
edule. Geodia ——? 
Norvegicum. Cliona celata. 
Cyprina Islandica, 
hoe arctica. Alga. 2 
compressa. Nullipora polymorpha (Melobesia). 
Abstract.—Shells 32 species, 15 of which are Univalves and 17 Bivalves ; Bala- 
nus, 1; Annelida, 1; Polyzoa, 4; Sponges, 2; Coral, 1; Alga (Melobesia), 1; 
making a total of 42 species, being the longest list of fossils ever before noticed from 
the boulder-clay of Caithness. , 
Of the shells, 29 are British, 2 Scandinavian, and 1 Arctic. 
