126 Reports and Proceedings — 



The LoTver Oolites are almost wholly made iip of estuarine strata, containing 

 coal-seams, which have been frequently -worked in the past in mines which are now 

 being re-opened. The beds yield many freshwater fossils, which have attracted much 

 attention, owing to the general resemblance they present to those of the Wealden. 



Of the Middle Oolites we have a wonderfully complete series in the east of 

 Scotland. At the base is a calcareous sandstone crowded with Kelloway fossils; 

 above this 300 feet of shales, yielding the well-known Ammonites and other fossils 

 of the " Ornatus- clays " (Middle Oxfordian) ; still higher are beds of marine sand- 

 stone with a magnificent fauna, identical with that of our Lower Calcareous Grit. 

 A thickness of 400 feet of estuarine sandstones, etc., which covers the last, is 

 surmounted by limestones, shales, and sandstones, with the fossils of the Coral Kag. 



The Upper Oolites, now for the first time recognized in Scotland, are of great 

 thickness, and consist of alternations of estuarine and marine strata, yielding a 

 splendid fauna and flora. In their northern extension these beds pass into the 

 wonderful "brecciated beds" of the Ord, which contain enormous transported blocks 

 of Old Red Sandstone. The features presented by these strata are of the highesfc 

 interest, and are very suggestive of the prevalence of peculiar physical conditions in 

 the area towards the close of the Jurassic period. 



The patches of Secondary strata on the coasts of Ross, usually called Lias, are 

 shown to belong to the Lower, Middle, and Upper Oolites; and a mass on the 

 coast of Elgin is demonstrated to be also of Oolitic age. 



In future papers the author proposes to describe the Secondary rocks of the west 

 coast and islands of Scotland, and to discuss the various theoretical questions 

 suggested by a comparative study of the whole of the Scottish Mesozoic strata. 



Discussion.— Mx. Etheridge commented on the amount of labour which had been 

 bestowed by the author in examining the country described in the paper, and was 

 quite prepared to accept his conclusions. He pointed out the analogies presented by 

 the Scottish beds with those of Yorkshire, while at the same time their relation to the 

 beds of Southern England was far more obscure. The estuarine characters exhibited 

 in the Lias of Yorkshire were, however, absent in Scotland. Nevertheless the faunas 

 of the Oolites in Scotland and in the South were so much the same that there could 

 be no question as to the identity of their age. He complimented the author on the' 

 skill and energy he had displayed in investigating the history of these rocks, and' 

 inquired whether he had been able to work out the limits of any areas of deposition 

 in connexion with the varied features of the Mesozoic beds of Scotland and the north 

 of Europe, which seemed to have extended even as far as to Greenland. He inquired 

 whether the author had himself found any remains of Stagonolepis. 



Mr. Carrathers made some observations on the value of the observations on fossil 

 botany which Mr." Judd had made in the Secondary beds of Scotland, which waS 

 enhanced by his beiag able to assign a definite position to the beds in which the plants 

 were found. In Scotland, however, the vegetable life at certain periods of the earth's 

 existence had now been discovered, though no evidence of its character was forth- 

 coming in England, where the beds were otherwise well represented. He remarked 

 on the discoveries of the late Hugh Miller, which, so far as Cycadese were concerned, 

 had disclosed the existence of Secondary plants elsewhere unknown, but which had 

 now been supplemented by the investigation of Mr. Judd. 



Mr. Seeley commented on the variations in the distribution of land and water 

 during the deposition of the various strata of which the British Islands are composed, 

 and drew the inference that there had been a gradual change in the relation of the 

 beds to neighbouring land which at one time existed to the West, then passed to the 

 North, and finally to the East. 



Mr. H. Woodward inquired whether in some instances where the author had 

 regarded the beds as estuarine, he might not, with better reason, regard them as old 

 land-surfaces, especially at the points where coal occurred. 



Mr. Judd, in reply, regretted that he was unable to fill up the gap which appeared 

 to exist between the Lower Oolites and the Middle Lias ; but even in the drifts he 

 had been unable to find any specimens of the Upper Lias fossils, which are so remark- 

 able and characteristic. He therefore considered that the thick beds of sandstone 

 might represent both periods. He thought that traces were to be found of different 

 areas of deposition in different bays and estuaries during the Oolitic period. He had 

 not himself found reptilian remains, which were always found by, or came into the 

 hands of, Dr. Gordon. The coal of the district was principally made up of Equisetum ; 

 and though this was a water-plant, he considered the beds might with almost equal 

 propriety have been called terrestrial as estuariue. 



