TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION C. 629 



to this Section At Aberdeen,' who coullrmed Huxley's well-known correlation of 

 these beds with the Trias. The Dicynodoot skull, identified by Professor Judd 

 and Dr. Traquair at the Aberdeen meeting of the British Association in 1885, and 

 other remains found in the reptilian sandstones in Cutties Hillock Quarry, where 

 they rest on Upper Old Eed (Sandstone with Holoptychius, have been described by 

 Mr. Newton. He confirmed their affinity with Dicynodonts, though they were 

 referred to the genera Gordonia and Geikia. But the most remarkable specimen 

 was the skull named by Mr. Newton Elc/inia mirabilis. This extraordinary 

 creature, with a pair of horns projecting like those of a short-horned ox, and with 

 smaller spines and bosses, numbering thirty-nine, is related to the great Pareia- 

 saurus from the Karoo beds of South ^S^frica. Two other reptiles are described by 

 Mr. Newton from this quarry, namely, a small crocodile-like animal, Erpetomchtis 

 Granti — apparently nearly allied to Staffo?iolepis — and Ornithosuchus Wood- 

 wardi, which is probably a small Dinosaurian. 



Mr. Newton has raised an interesting point in connection with his researches. 

 He calls attention to the fact that the reptilian remains from the Cutties Hillock 

 Quarry differ from those found at other localities in the Elgin district. For 

 example, the Lossiemouth sandstones have yielded Stagonolejns, Hyperodapedon, 

 and Telerpeton ; and the Cutties Hillock sandstones, the Dicynodonts {^Gordonia 

 and Geikia), the horned reptile {E/f/iiiia), the small crocodile-like Erpetosuchus, 

 and the little Dinosaurian Ornithosuchus. Does this distribution indicate 

 different stratigraphical horizons ? is virtually the point raised by Mr. Newton. 

 In connection with this inquiry he cites the evidence obtained in other 

 countries. Thus, in the Gondwana beds of India, the series of reptiles similar to 

 those of Elgin occur at diSTerent localities and on different stratigraphical 

 horizons; Dicynodonts and Labyrinthodonts being found in the lower Panchet 

 rocks, while Hyperodapedon and Parasuchus (allied to Stagonolepis) are met with 

 in the higher Kota-Maleri beds. Again in the Karoo beds of South Africa the 

 Dicynodonts and the great Pareiasaurus — the latter being the nearest known ally 

 of the horned reptile {Elginia mirabilis) from Cutties Hillock, Elgin — occur low 

 down in that formation. Further light is thrown on the question by the interest- 

 ing discoveries of Amalitzky in Northern Russia, where a number of reptilian 

 remains have been found closely allied to Pareiasaurus, Elginia, and Dicynodon, in 

 beds, which are referred to the Permian formation and accompanied by plants and 

 mollusca which seemingly confirm this reference. - 



In view of these foreign discoveries Mr. Newton concludes that the Elgin 

 sandstones may probably represent more than one reptilian horizon, and that we 

 are confronted with the possibility of their being of Permian age. 



The difficulty of drawing a boundary line between the Trias and the Upper 

 Old Red Sandstone of Elgin, which impressed the mind of the late Dr. Gordon, has 

 had to be faced elsewhere in Scotland. In Arran, my colleague Mr. Gunn has 

 ehown that the Trias there rests on the Upper Old Red Sandstone, both forma- 

 tions having a similar inclination. Even he, with his ripe experience, has had 

 great difficulty in drawing a boundary between them on the west side of the 

 island ; but when the base line of the Trias is traced eastwards to Brodick it passes 

 transgressively on to Carboniferous rocks. 



Of special importance is the recent discovery in Arran of the fossils of the 

 Avicula contorta zoue^ by Mr. Macconochie, of the Geological Survey, to whose 

 skill as a fossil collector Scottish geology owes much. "With these, occur 

 Lower Liassic fossils, in sediments which are not now found ia place in the island. 

 Tbese fossiliferous patches are associated with fragmental volcanic materials 

 filling a great vent, the age of which will be referred to presently. This dis- 

 covery has fixed the Triassic age of the red sandstones and marls in the south of 

 Arran. The detailed mapping of the island by Mr. Gunn has demonstrated that 



' Rep. Brit. Assoc, for 1885, p. 994. 



' Y. Amalitzky, Sur les fouilles de 1899 de debris de vertebret dam leg depott 

 Permiens de la Rustic du nord. Varsovie, 1900. 



• Summanj of Progress, Geological Survey, 1899, p. 133. 



1901. TT 



