1858.] JAMIESON PLEISTOCENE, ABERDEENSHIRE. 519 



I found to be 6-^ inches in diameter and 4^ inches thick, and of a 

 general roundish aspect. What animal it had belonged to, I cannot 

 say — probably some large fish. There are no spinous processes or 

 bony projections from it. From the depth at which it was found, 

 it would seem to have been about the top of the mass of fine sand. 



No rock is exposed at the bottom of this section ; but it protrudes 

 in the beach at a short distance on both sides. 



Here, then, at Invernettie is a very good instance of a clay, con- 

 taining numerous boulders, overlying stratified clay. I found the 

 same thing at a place called Downiehills, nearly three miles to the 

 west of Peterhead, and at a higher elevation. At this spot there 

 is also a brickwork, and the brickmaker informed me that he had 

 sunk a well 40 feet deep, and bored 12 feet further, without reaching 

 the bottom of the cla\, and that the section was — 



Feet. 

 Unstratified stony clay, of a reddish-brown colour, 

 containing some large boulders and stones of many 



varieties, which are occasionally striated 20 



Stratified clay, containing layers of different colours, 

 but no stones 32 



This uppermost boulder-clay is also fine enough for making bricks 

 and tiles, after extracting the stones. He told me that he had got 

 one block of granite in it about 3 tons in weight, some of the frag- 

 ments of which he showed me, built into some adjoining masonry. 

 It was of the red Peterhead granite, and showed the traces of the 

 boring-iron upon it. No others had occurred nearly so large as 

 this ; but boulders are often found from 2 to 3 feet in diameter, and 

 indeed I saw some of this size in the clay myself. In a heap of 

 smaller stones which had come out of the same mass of clay, I 

 observed fragments of granite of different varieties, also gneiss, trap, 

 porphyry, and a few of red sandstone and flint, and one bit of lime- 

 stone 4 inches long and striated on the surface, apparently belong- 

 ing to secondary strata : it was fine-grained, but of impure quality. 

 Two or three scratched and striated stones were observed by me ; 

 but they were far from numerous. 



This boulder- clay, according to my informant, also contains shells, 

 generally broken, but sometimes whole. They are, for the most part, 

 so decayed that they cannot be preserved ; but some of them appear 

 to have been thick and strong. I have not ascertained the elevation 

 of this spot, but should think it to be somewhere between 150 and 

 200 feet above the sea-level, or perhaps scarcely so much. 



At the north side of the town of Peterhead some low granite- 

 rocks, the base of which is washed by the sea, are seen to be co- 

 vered by a mass of coarse gritty earth or mud, of a dirty-grey hue, 

 full of small stones, some of which I found to be striated or scratched 

 on the surface. They are of trap, quartz, and granite. This mass 

 of stuff is about 8 feet deep, and rests immediately upon the solid 

 granite-rock, without the intervention of any other layer whatever. 

 Some indistinct undulations seem to occur in this deposit ; but other- 

 wise it is unstratified. No high banks occur here. 



