TRANSACTION* OF THE SECTIONS. 115 



to call diamond* when they occurred in slate, Ho also presented a communication 

 from the Rev. James Morrison Urquhart, Elgin, The red system of sandstone lay on 

 the one side of Elgin, and the yellow on the other, with the cornstone between, and 

 it was principally near the western side of this middle division that the fossils were 

 found. He had made a flying visit to the place lately, and found that, in a mass of 

 clay extending for several miles, pieces of stone from the size of the fist to that of 

 the head, frequently occurred. These, when broken up by Mr. Morrison in his 

 leisure hours, had afforded the beautiful suite of specimens now on the table. On 

 careful examination they were found to belong to the lower Oolite. Now as the 

 Oolite is above both the Old and the New Red Sandstone, the occurrence of this clay 

 gave them no assistance in determining to which system the reptile was to be 

 referred. _____ 



On certain Phenomena attendant on Volcanic Eruptions and Earthquakes in 

 China and Japan. By Dr. Macgowan, of China. 



On the Age of the Reptilian Sandstones of Morayshire. 

 By John Miller, F.G.S. 



The author, having referred to the published opinions of Sir R. I. Murchison, 

 declared his unaltered belief in the soundness of the opinion of Sir Roderick, that 

 these sandstones belong to the Old Red Series. He adds a series of observations 

 made by himself with reference to this question. 



On some New Fossils from the Old Red Sandstone of Caithness. 

 By John Miller, F.G.S. 



The author laid before the Association a series of fossils from the flag schists or 

 middle member of the Old Red Sandstone of Caithness, in the neighbourhood of 

 Thurso. The author has found difficulty in determining their true nature. He, 

 however, finally adopts the opinion that they are the outer edges or rims of bell- 

 shaped or trumpet-mouthed marine plants, broken off from the body of the cup or 

 calyx just where we would expect a fracture to take place, where the outward 

 fecurvature of the rim or mouth commences, and where it is weakest. In confoiv 

 mity with this hypothesis, we must suppose that they had footstalks or peduncles, 

 and were stationary. Whether these footstalks were long and enabled the bell- 

 shaped calyx to float in the tideway, or whether the calyx occupied a position 

 close to the point of attachment to the sea-bottom, with a long narrow thong-like 

 frond springing from the bottom of the calyx, like the Hhnanthalia lorea in the 

 seas of the present day, it were idle to speculate. 



The author described the several examples which were exhibited to the meeting. 



No. 1 is a perfect circle of 7 inches in its outer diameter and 3 inches in its inner 

 diameter, the breadth of the ring being 2 inches. As it lies upon the stone it 

 presents a well-relieved convex or ridged surface of black bituminous matter, look- 

 ing exceedingly like an iron quoit of a large size ; but a close inspection shows that 

 it exists upon the stony ridge as a mere film, conveying the impression that when 

 it originally fell to the bottom of the Devonian sea, it must have sunk into soft mud 

 which filled up its hollow under surface, and thus preserved a most fragile organism 

 which would have been crushed to pieces if it had rested upon a rocky or pebbly 

 sea-bottom. 



No. 2 is the cover or impression formed in the stone covering of No. 1, and is 

 therefore a bituminous ring of exactly the same diameters, inner and external ; but 

 the ring is of course concave, with a rising up of the matrix in the centre. From 

 its hollow" appearance it was called by the workmen who raised it up out of the 

 quarry, " Noah's plate," which had fallen overboard from the Ark, on being washed 

 after dinner. In this specimen also the organic matter is a mere film. 



No. 3 is the fragment of a duplicate of No. 1, which must have been a finer speci- 

 men in some respects, more flattened, more distinctly marked on the edges, and 

 considerably larger. The bituminous matter in this specimen is slightly tinged with 



the oxide of iron. . . .. , 



8* 



