198 Lias and Oolites of Scotland. 



Sir K. Murchison. In 1859 I accompanied him 

 during a tour in Scotland to that district, and mapped 

 the strata with all its faults and dislocations, but 

 never published the results. The region was afterwards 

 investigated by Mr. Judd, and the results published 

 in great detail in the < Journal of the Geological Society,' 

 for 1873. At the base lie Keuper sandstones, &c., with 

 Stagenolepis (a crocodile) and Telerpeton (a land lizard), 

 &c., above which are beds of sandstone and conglome- 

 rate, which may possibly represent the Bhsetic beds. 

 These are succeeded by about 400 feet of sandstone and 

 shale, with plant remains and seams of coal (terrestrial), 

 with pectens in the overlying strata. These are overlaid 

 by limestones and beds of blue micaceous clay, both full 

 of Lias fossils ; the whole is well seen on the shore near 

 Dunrobin. Of later date, in the same district, the 

 Lower Oolite consists partly of marine and partly of 

 fresh-water strata, with Oysters, Perna, Unio, Cyrena, 

 Cypris, &c., and land-plants and coal seams, one of 

 which is 3J feet thick, and has been worked. The 

 Middle Oolites of the district are considered by Mr. 

 Judd to represent the whole of the English strata from 

 the 'base of the Oxford Clay to the Coral Eag inclusive. 

 They are full of marine shells of the usual genera and 

 species, and occasionally contain plants and bands of 

 lignite. The whole series is perhaps nearly 1,000 feet 

 thick, and consists to a great extent of sandstones, with 

 occasional limestones, conglomerates, and shales. The 

 Upper Oolite, which is supposed to represent the lower 

 part of the Kimeridge Clay, and all the higher beds, 

 are marine, with occasional remains of land plants. 



As a whole, the Liassic and Oolitic series of Brora 

 dip east and north-east along the shore between Dun- 

 robin and Helmsdale, the older parts of the series being 





