ON THE UPPER OLD RED SANDSTONE OF DURA DEN. 119 
indicated, is cut off by the fault, near which the Lower Carboniferous 
‘strata are seen dipping at angles of 35° to 40° to the south-east. The 
rocks consist of yellow, red, and greenish sandstones, with bands of 
clay or marl, and are nearly horizontal. They are rather fine-grained, 
somewhat fissile, and, in places, extremely false-bedded. 
Remains of fishes in the Upper Old Red Sandstone of Fife were 
first observed in 1831 at Drumdryan, near Cupar, by the Rev. John 
Fleming. The scales detected by him were found to occur more 
abundantly at Dura Den, a mile farther east, and entire fishes were 
obtained there, preserved in the sandstone. 
For years the Rev. Dr. Anderson worked at these beds and pub- 
lished numerous papers descriptive of the region. The fish-remains 
obtained from time to time at this famous locality were examined and 
described by Agassiz, Huxley, and other investigators. The excava- 
tions were carried on partly under the guidance of a Committee of 
the British Association, which gave its first report in 1860. 
The remains occur as carbonised impressions on the fine-grained 
pale-yellow stone, and sometimes are to be found crowded together. 
Sir A. Geikie has remarked that ‘ the Dura Den sandstone does not so 
much mark a definite paleeontological subdivision as an exceptional 
area where the organisms were rapidly killed and buried in great 
numbers.’ ? 
On the other hand, Dr. Traquair correlated the Dura Den fish fauna 
with that of the highest subdivision of the Upper Old Red Sandstone 
on the south side of the Moray Firth. Dr. Traquair’s list of fishes 
found at Dura Den during the earlier excavations is given below :? 
Bothriolepis hydrophila, Ag. 
Phyllolepis concentrica, Ag. 
Glyptopomus minor, Ag. 
Glyptopomus kinnairdi, Hux). 
Gyroptychius heddlei, Traq. 
Holoptychius flemingi, Ag. 
Phaneropleuron andersoni, Hux. 
In the spring of 1912 the Dundee local Committee of the British 
Association began excavations with the view of re-exposing the fish-bed 
at Dura Den. The work was carried on under the supervision of 
Mr. A. W. R. Don. The exact site of the previous diggings was un- 
known, but, according to local tradition, many of the first specimens 
had been obtained from the sandstone forming the bed of the stream 
and from an excavation on the left side between the stream and the 
mill-lade. After some trial explorations the fish-bed was eventually 
struck, and part of the old workings was exposed. The latter lay 
30 feet to the west of the stream, just opposite the north end of the 
garden belonging to the house known as ‘ The Laurels,’ now in the oceu- 
pation of Dr. Graham Campbell. A pit was opened from the base of 
the old workings in the direction of the mill-lade, and the fish-bed 
was found to lie at a depth of nine feet from the surface. Only a small 
* ©The Geology of Eastern Fife’ (Mem. Geol. Surv.), 1902, p 59. 
* <The Geology of Eastern Fife’ (Mem. Geol. Surv.), 1902, p. 58. 
