102 D. M. 8. Watson— The Trias of Mora;/. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE IIL 

 Phacops {Trimerocephalus) pentcps, sp. nov. 

 Devonian: Portquin Harbour, Cornwall. 

 Fig. 1.— Head-shield (x 10). 

 ,, 2. — Side view showing the fall of the frontal portion of the glabella and the 



position of the eye ( x 10). 

 ,, 3. — Pygidium and part of thorax ( x 10). 



,, 4. — An enlarged view of the left eye showing the arrangement of the facets 

 (x 20). 

 The original is in the Geological Survey Collection [23068]. 



Allorisma coneinna, sp. nov. 

 Fig. 5. — Side view ( x 2). 

 ,, 6. — Dorsal view (x 2). 



The original is in the Geological Survey Collection [23078]. 



II. — The ' Tkias ' of Mokat. 



By D. M. S. "Watson, B.Sc, Beyer Fellow of the Manchester University. 



(PLATE IV.) 



THE EeptiliferoTis Sandstone of Moray first attracted attention in 

 1851, on the discovery in it by Patrick Duff of a skeleton of 

 Teler felon elgineme at Spynie. This "^as described by Mantell (17),^ 

 but did not raise any doubts as to the age of the bed in which it was 

 found, which was at that time universally regarded as Upper Old Ked 

 Sandstone. This opinion was not disturbed until Huxley showed that 

 Stagonolepis Rohertsotii, Ag., was a crocodilian, the allies of which 

 were of Triassic age (9); when Huxley showed that Hyperodapedon 

 occurred in the undoubted Trias of Coton End, near "Warwick (11), 

 the point was generally regarded as settled. Meanwhile some foot- 

 prints had been found by Captain Brickenden (6) at Cummingstone, 

 near Elgin, which were recognized by Huxley to be similar to those 

 described by Sir William Jardine from Annandale. The discovery by 

 C. Moore (19) that the well-known quarry at Linksfield, formerly 

 supposed to be in rocks of Wealden age, was really opened in beds of 

 Rhaetic age appeared to be a strong argument in favour of the 

 Triassic age of the reptile-bearing beds. It had, however, already 

 been shown by Hugh Miller (18) that this mass was really a boulder 

 resting on an ice-scratched surface of the subjacent rocks, hence the 

 evidence drawn from the occurrence of this mass is quite inconclusive. 

 The discovery by Professor Judd (In) that a small patch of a rock 

 identical in physical characters with the cherty rock of Stotfield 

 existed on the north side of the Moray Firth, Avhich was conformably 

 covered by an unfossiliferous series of beds which graded up into the 

 Lower Lias, afforded further evidence of the correctness of Huxley's 

 conclusions as to the age of these beds. 



Meanwhile another series of reptiles had been found at Cutties 

 Hillock Quarry, and in a trial pit below them the Uj^per or Rosebrae 

 Eeds of the Upper Old Red Sandstone were proved and yielded 

 a specimen of Holoptychius nohilissimus, Ag., now in the Elgin 



^ These numbers in parenthesis refer to the Bibliography at end of paper. 



