ON THE CRETACEOUS FOSSILS IN ABERDEENSHIRE. 335 



was consulted about the specimens already collected by Messrs. Mitchell 

 and Insch, and by his advice they were sent to the Geological Survey Office, 

 where they were examined and compared with Dr. Ferguson's typical 

 specimens by Mr. G. Sharman and Mr. E. T. Newton. They published a 

 statement of the result of their examination in the ' Geological Magazine ' 

 in June 1896. They came to the conclusion that the specimens had 

 ' been derived from beds where a large part of the Cretaceous series of 

 strata occurs ; not only Upper and Lower Chalk, and Upper Greensand 

 as pointed out by Salter, but also beds of Lower Greensand or Speeton 

 Clay age.' In making this statement they seem to have referred not only 

 to the specimens collected by Messrs. Mitchell and Insch, but also to the 

 Chalk-flint specimens in the Ferguson collection. It may therefore be 

 noted that though flints are found in great abundance on the ridge above 

 Moreseat, they become fewer in going down the hill-side, and are compara- 

 tively scarce at Moreseat, and it may be assumed that none of the flint- 

 fossils in the Ferguson collection were found in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of the Greensand fossils. 



Work of the Committee. — On being made aware of their appointment 

 the Chairman and the Secretary met on the ground, accompanied by 

 Messrs. Mitchell and Insch ; Dr. Ferguson unfortunately was unable to 

 be present. Mr. Johnstone, the proprietor of the farm, kindly consented 

 to allow an excavation to be made. All the places where fossils had been 

 found were examined, and it was resolved to sink a shaft at the highest 

 place where they were certainly known to be, in the belief that the frag- 

 ments of sandstone had been moved from a higher to a lower level. The 

 place selected is on a knoll north of Moreseat, about 330 feet above the 

 sea-level, and about a quarter of a mile from the place where fossils were 

 found in 1839. The ground to the north is covered with peat-moss over- 

 grown with heather, and nothing can be seen of its character. Half a 

 mile to the north-east there is some cultivated land, and a pit had been 

 sunk by a crofter for a pump in white unstratified siliceous matter, appa- 

 rently detritus of chalk-flints. To the north-west another pit had been 

 dug. At first glacial drift clay was met with, then fine stratified sand, 

 unsuitable for a pump-well, and the excavation was stopped at 14 feet 

 deep. This hole was 50 feet above the site selected for the shaft. It was 

 thought best to defer the sinking of the shaft till the following summer 

 to avoid risk of obstruction from water. 



Mr. J. T. Tocher, the Secretary of the Buchan Field Club, which is 

 affiliated to the British Association, undertook to contract for the work, 

 and along with Mr. Mitchell to visit it while in pi'ogress, and to examine 

 the material excavated. 



The shaft was dug in the summer of 1896, and a depth of 30 feet was 

 attained. The first foot consisted of ordinary soil. Below it was found 

 a yellowish-brown sandy clay mixed with small fragments of sandstone 

 and pebbles of quartzite and flint. The sandstone was afterwards found 

 to be composed of Quartz, Mica, Glauconite,' and Colloid Silica, and it 

 may be termed Glauconitic Sandstone. Almost every fragment yielded 

 fossils, mostly small shells. At 3 feet the clay became finer and the 

 sandstone fragments more abundant. At 4 feet they were in layers 

 among the clay, gradually thinning out and disappearing, as described by 

 Dr. Ferguson. At 5 feet, on the south side of the shaft, a deposit of fine 



' ' Glauconite. Round grains ; dull resinous ; light green ; chemical composition, 

 silicate of protoxide of iron and potash.' — Heddle, in Enajc. Brit., vol. xvi. p. 415. 



