526 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 24, 



A thick mass of gravel and sand, forming the upper part of the 

 bank, appears to have been thrown down upon this fine sandy mud ; 

 but there is no good section, at the place, to show their connexion. 

 I found this sand and gravel in some places containing a great abun- 

 dance of broken shells. There were many entire single valves of 

 Tellina solidula, and fragments of Astarte arctica. Pieces of the 

 Cyprina Islandica were also numerous. 



The Tellina proximo, is characterized by MacAndrew as the Tel- 

 lina of Arctic seas, and is not now found alive on the British coasts. 

 He gives its principal development at a depth of from 4 to 1 fathoms, 

 but ranging down to 40. The Leda pernula is also now extinct in 

 our seas, but is found from Drontheim to the North Cape, having a 

 great vertical range of from 35 to 160 fathoms. The Tellina soli- 

 dula is still found from Britain to Finmark, in more shallow water. 



Here then, again, are the remains of the animals apparently where 

 they had lived and died. The prevalence of Tellina proxima marks 

 shallower water than the assemblage at Annochie does, as might have 

 been expected ; for this Kinedart deposit must be at an elevation 

 perhaps 150 feet higher, situated in a sheltered ravine. Of the other 

 shells I found but one specimen each; and these were single valves 

 although uninjured, with the epidermis in fine preservation. 



The evidence still points to a chilly climate, and a sea undisturbed 

 enough for mollusca to flourish at least for a certain lapse of time. 



In the valley of the Deveron itself, as far up as Huntly, I found 

 finely laminated silt and loam exposed on its banks, at the height 

 of 360 feet above the sea-level, and perhaps 50 or 60 feet above 

 the river. No organic remains, however, occurred to me. Passing 

 over to the valley of Spey I there discovered finely laminated silt, 

 capped by sand and gravel, lining the base of the hills to a great 

 height. On the east side of the stream, from Cairnty to Ben Aigan, 

 it may be traced with little interruption, running up the Burn of 

 Mulbain at a corresponding elevation ; and I found it also on the 

 west side. Having borrowed a spirit-level from one of the gentlemen 

 engaged with the railway now in process of construction across the 

 Spey, I proceeded to measure the height of these terrace-like banks 

 on Eastertown of Cairnty, and found them to reach an elevation of 

 247 feet above the river, and 375 feet above the sea, at high-water- 

 mark, ordinary spring-tides of the Moray Firth. 



Fixing the instrument on the summit, I took a sight across the 

 Spey to the flat-topped fragment of a similar terrace on the west side, 

 and found it to be at the same level. Turning my view up the river 

 to a similar bank opposite Rothes, I ascertained that it was several 

 yards higher, after allowing for curvature. I then swept the view 

 towards the Moray Firth, and found, what was very apparent even to 

 the naked eye, that I quite overlooked everything between me and 

 its waters. 



It thus became evident that here was no freshwater deposit accu- 

 mulated in the depths of some dammed-up lake, but an indubitable 

 portion of the ancient sea-bottom, when salt-water lochs stretched 

 their arms far inland. No remnant of any barrier appeared, that 



