1858.] MTJECHISON SANDSTONES OF ELGIN. 429 



the present state of my knowledge, make it impossible for me to dis- 

 unite stratigraphically the reptiliferous sandstone from the yellow and 

 red Old Red Sandstones with comstones*. Nay, more, Mr. Gordon 

 directed my attention to a reef of rocks exposed only at low water, 

 where hard red flagstones (which I did not reach, but specimens of 

 which I saw) re-occur, near Halliman's Scars. 



On examining the coast-ridge, as extending from Lossiemouth by 

 Stotfield, and particularly in its range from Covesea Lighthouse to 

 Burgh Head, it is seen to exhibit several variations in structure. 

 Thus at the Lighthouse the beds resume a pinkish tint ; then, 

 again, the celebrated Caves of Covesea (so much frequented by 

 pleasure-parties), which have been excavated by the sea in lofty 

 vertical cliffe, occur in softish yellow and white sandstone, and ex- 

 hibit undulations by which the strata roll gently over to the south 

 as well as to the north or seawards. This flexed arrangement per- 

 vades the whole of the promontory in its westward extension ; for, 

 on reaching the Clashan quarries, the beds are distinctly observed 

 to dip both southerly and northerly, the latter dip being traceable 

 inland, and constituting a long slope, which ranges from the highest 

 part of the ridge (about 300 feet above the sea) down to the valley 

 which lies between this coast-ridge and the Elgin Hills. This anti- 

 clinal is represented in the accompanying section, fig. 3. 



Fig. 3. — Section across the Coast Ridge at the Clashan Quarries. 



S.S.E. a b N.N.W. 



a. Quarries of Clashan, &c., affording Eeptilian foot-marks, h. Orerlying beds, 

 as seen on the shore near Burgh Head, occasionally pebbly, d. Drift of the 

 plain extending westwardly to Spynie Loch. 



Still further to the west, and where the promontory lowers to a 

 narrow peninsula terminating in the point of Burgh Head f, the same 

 axial tendency to folds and curvatures is exhibited along the shore. 

 It is in one of the sandstone quarries of Cummingston, called the 

 " Masons' Heugh Quarry," and on the estate of Major Cumming 

 Bruce, M.P., that numerous impressions of the footsteps of reptiles 



* I examined a similar cornstone with galena at Inverugie, situated nearly a 

 mile inland or to the south of Cummingston, at least 200 feet above the sea, which, 

 although no junction is visible, seems also to overlie the sandstone in which the 

 footsteps occur. 



t Antiquaries are generally agreed that Burgh or Brough Head is the Ultimum 

 Pteroton of the Eomans ; and as such indeed it is named in an old map of Scot- 

 land by Greneral Eoy. In my last visit I inspected the ancient arched excavation 

 and well in the sandstone rock, recently discovered and now again used as a well. 

 There can be no doubt that the work is Eoman, from the massive character of the 

 steps, the figure of a bull, and other relics that have been found there. In sub- 

 sequent ages, Burgh Head is supposed to have been a strong place of the Norse- 

 men, whence its name of Burgh. See ' Anderson's Guide to the Highlands,' 

 p. 350. 



