522 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jlllie 17, 



8. On the Occurrence of a Bituminous Substance near Mount - 

 gerald. By Dr. G. Anderson. 



[In a Letter to Sir R. I. Murchison.] 

 (Abstract.) 



The section exposed by some deep cuttings for the Ross -shire Rail- 

 way, two miles north of Dingwall, was described by Dr. Anderson 

 in this letter. The rock in these cuttings is a grey, micaceous, 

 regularly bedded, and almost horizontal conglomerate, but exhibit- 

 ing enormous convolutions and twistings of the beds. The strike is 

 N.W. to S.E., and the rock, in some places, passes into a fine com- 

 pact sandstone. It is traversed at intervals by what appear to be 

 perpendicular veins or fissures, lined for the thickness of an inch or 

 two with a black, shining, compact, bituminous substance having a 

 black streak and a conchoidal fracture. It burns with smoke and 

 flame, and becomes electrical when rubbed ; and it does not exhibit 

 any trace of organized matter. Its composition is said to be similar 

 to that of the Albertite of New Brunswick. 



A bituminous substance has long been found in veins at Strath- 

 peffer in quantities sufficient for burning in the neighbouring cottages. 

 To what extent these veins may go down in the adjoining rocks 

 is not known. At Mountgerald the seams are not thicker than an 

 inch or two ; but in the beds of the Boulder-clay, immediately above 

 the sandstone-conglomerate, small pieces of the coaly matter occur 

 in abundance. The bituminous shale comes in near the sandstone- 

 conglomerate in which the black matter occurs, and, as the author 

 believes, above it ; and he traced the former thence over the ridges 

 looking down on the Cromarty Eirth as far as into Strathskea. 



9. On the Occurrence of a Bituminous Mineral at Mountgerald, 

 Scotland. By A. C. Mackenzie, Esq. 



[Communicated by Professor Tennant, F.GhS.] 

 (Abstract.) 

 The author first gave a history of the discovery of this bituminous 

 substance at Mountgerald, stating that it was first noticed about 

 fifteen years ago, by the tenant of the farm of Woodlands (Mr. 

 M'Ewan), whilst making a drain. The farmer followed the seam as 

 far as he was able, and procured several cartloads of the mineral, 

 which he used as fuel. 



Mr. Mackenzie then noticed the similarity of this substance to the 

 Albertite of New Brunswick ; he also stated that he first saw it, 

 about five years ago, in a field on the farm of Woodlands, and that, 

 more recently, a railway- cutting on the farm of Mount Rich, 400 

 yards south-east of the former locality, enabled him to make the 

 following observations regarding its mode of occurrence. 



The line of railway here passes through a cutting in what is 

 called the Craig, and it was in this cutting that further quantities 



