Cretaceous Fossils found in Aberdeenshire. 23 



Moreseat and make inquiries ; but lie could learn nothing further 

 than that fossils had been found in the excavation made for the 

 mill-wheel, and as it was enclosed with masonry nothing could 

 be seen. He visited the place repeatedly and examined all the 

 ditches and watercourses on the farm, but found no fossils. The 

 reason of this was seen afterwards. When pieces of the sandstone 

 were exposed to frost they became a soft paste on thawing, and 

 all trace of the fossils they contained disappeared. 



He afterwards met with Mr. Alexander Insch, Peterhead, who 

 had heard that fossils had been found north of the farm steading. 

 Accompanied by him and Mr. D. J. Mitchell, Blackhills, Peterhead, 

 he again visited Moreseat. An excavatiqn was made to the north, 

 of the ditch seen by Dr. Ferguson, and after passing through a foot 

 or eighteen inches of sandy clay, thin layers of sandstone with 

 fossils were found. The appearance of the layers of sandstone 

 was peculiar. They conveyed the idea that they were cakes of some 

 plastic material spread out in a soft state, yet not wet enough to 

 bear great lateral extension without cracking. The layers were 

 full of vertical cracks, which broke them up into small fragments. 

 These might have been caused by shrinking on drying, as the 

 excavation was made where the ground would be dry in summer. 

 The method of occuri'ence was the same as that described by 

 Dr. Ferguson already quoted. The fossils found were chiefly casts 

 of shells. 



Specimens were forwarded to the British Association with an 

 application for a grant of money to ascertain by deeper excavation 

 whether the bed from which the sandstone had come could be found 

 there. Though the application was unsuccessful, digging was con- 

 tinued by Messrs. Mitchell and Insch, who collected a large quantity 

 of fossils in various places over an area a quarter of a mile broad 

 in the neighbourhood of Moreseat. 



In 1895 specimens were sent to Dr. H. Woodward, of the British 

 Museum (Natural History), Loudon, with another application for 

 a grant from the British Association. A grant of £10 was given, 

 and the Committee already named was appointed. 



Professor J. W. Judd, of the Eoyal College of Science, South 

 Kensington, 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 

 conipai'ed with Dr. Ferguson's typical specimens by Mr. (x. Sharman 

 and Mr. E. T. Newton. They published a statement of the result 

 in the Geological Magazine, Dec. IV, Vol. Ill, 1896, p. 247. 

 They came to the conclusion that the specimens had " been derived 

 from beds where a large part of the Ci'etaceous series of strata 

 occurs ; not only Upper and Lower Chalk and Upper Green sand, 

 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 



