D. M. S. WatHon—The Trias of Horn >j. 103 



Museum. An inconsiderable bed of pebbles was regarded by Professor 

 Judd as marking the base of the reptile-bearing beds (16). 



The Cutties Hillock reptiles were fully described by E. T. Newton 

 (20), who showed, that they represented a fauna entirely different to 

 that of the ordinary Stagonolepis Sandstone of the district. He, 

 however, continued to regard the beds as Triassic. 



More reptiles have been since described by Newton and Smith 

 "Woodward from the quarries of Lossiemouth and Spynie (21, 23). 



The Reptiliferous Sandstone of Moray occupies three quite distinct 

 areas, which do not touch and whose relative ages can hence never be 

 determined by stratigi'aphy. These patches are — 



1. The Cutties Hillock area. This occupies the top of Quarry 

 Wood Hill to the east of the town of Elgin; this area is abovit 

 three-quarters of a square mile in extent, and is exposed in several 

 quarries, of which only that of Cutties Hillock has yielded any fossils. 

 The rock is a coarse sandstone often containing inconstant bands of 

 pebbles, usually not more than 8 inches in thickness. They are much 

 false-bedded ; the real bedding is probably nearlj^ horizontal, although 

 in one quarry the apparent dip is about 30° to the south-west. 



The resemblance between these beds and the Upper Old Red on 

 which they rest is fairly close, but the latter is usually much finer 

 and^seldom, if at all, contains pebble bands; this account only refers 

 to the Rosebrae Beds which form the base of the Quarry Wood Hill. 

 The pebbles in the Cutties Hillock Beds are all of characteristically 

 wind-cut shapes, and good ' Dreikanters ' are quite common (see 

 Plate IV, series 1). The sand grains are rounded and the whole 

 deposit is pretty obviously of desert origin; judging from the 

 appearances presented by the whole series of quarries, the surface on 

 which the reptile-bearing sandstone was deposited was an irregular 

 one, although I have not seen a really satisfactory exposure of the 

 junction. This area is entirely surrounded by Upper Old Bed Sandstone 

 and lies practically entirely above the 300 feet contour. 



2. The Lossiemouth area. This forms a large patch east of 

 321 Q extending from the coast at Lossiemouth towards Elgin and 

 eastward for about 3 miles. It is exposed in the quarries at Spynie, 

 Lossiemouth, and Findrassie Wood. Its base is nowhere seen, but at 

 the East QuaiTy at Lossiemouth there is a small exposure of soft, 

 fine-grained, yellow sandstone, which greatly resembles some types 

 of the Rosebrae Beds of the Upper Old Bed. It has, however, yielded 

 no determinable fossils. At the Little Skerries at Branderburgh 

 a dark-red rock comes to the surface which is quite distinct from 

 the Reptiliferous Sandstone, and in which it is stated that scales of 



. Holoptijchius have been found. The relation of this mass to the Trias 

 is not, however, clear, and it is very probably brought up by faulting. 

 The typical character of this series of beds is that of a fine, fairly 

 soft sandstone, nearly white in colour, with no pebbles and no distinct 

 bedding ; it is, however, very strongly jointed. This rock is said to 

 be overlaid at Stotfield by "'the Cherty rock of Stotfield," a curious, 

 apparently chemical, deposit, the origin of which it is not easy to 

 ascertain. The real relations of the cherty rock and the Lossiemouth 

 Sandstone are, however, not easy to establish. At the upper quai'ry 



