Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ix. (191 6), No. %. 27 



would at present serve no useful purpose we prefer to 

 leave the sub-order undivided referring to individual 

 genera when smaller divisions become necessary. 



By no means the least important outcome of Dr. 

 Traquair's work on Old Red Sandstone fishes was his 

 demonstration that it was possible to divide the Middle 

 and Upper Old Red Sandstone into stages characterised 

 by different faunas. The lowest of these, represented by 

 the famous nodules of the Moray Firth localities, the 

 quarry at Achanarras, and the district of Stromness in 

 Orkney, yields a large fish fauna, the most significant 

 member of which is Plericiitkys. Succeeding these Strom- 

 ness beds are the Thurso Beds, represented at the Hill- 

 head Quarry, Dalcross, in Nairnshire, in the exposures 

 round Thurso and near Kirkwall. These beds contain a 

 majority of the fishes found In the underlying Stromness 

 beds, but Pterichthys is absent and Coccostens minor is 

 added. The John o' Groat Beds which overlie the Thurso 

 horizon yield only Microbt acinus, " Dipterus " macropterus, 

 and TristicJwpterus, the first and last of which are re- 

 stricted to them and have only been found on the shore 

 at John o' Groat's and in the Deerness Quarry, Orkney. 

 In the Upper Old Red of the Moray Firth region we 

 have the Nairn horizon, which at Kingsteps yields Astero- 

 lepis maxima, Holoptychius decorains, a Coccosteus and 

 other fish. Overlying the Nairn Beds are those of Alves 

 and Scaat Craig- of which the dominant fish is the jjreat 

 BotJiriolepis major. Succeeding these are the Rosebrae 

 Beds with Glyptopomus, Phyllolepis, and other peculiar 

 fish. 



It is of importance to discover where in this series 

 the famous fish beds of Scaumenac Bay shoiild be placed. 

 As they yield Bothriohpis it is certain that they belong 



