230 ME. E. T. NEWTOisr ON MESozoic FOSSILS [May 1 90 1, 



Possils of Rhsetic age from near Shiskine (Arran). 

 * Found in tbe North-east of Ireland in the Avicula contorta-zoriQ. 



*ATiCTrLA coNTOETA, Portlock. Several specimens clearlj" referable 

 to this species. 



*Pecten VALOiSriENsis, Defrance. Two or three fairly good speci- 

 mens agree with the shells that have been thus named. 



*ScHizoDUs (AxiNus) cLOACiNus, Quonstcdt. One or two examples 

 of shells with a sharp posterior keel are believed to be referable to 

 this species. 



*Protocaedium: philtppia?j'um(?) Danker ( = C.rJir^ticum, Merian), 

 Two or three specimens probably belong here, but are not sufficiently 

 perfect to make their identity certain. 



*Moi)iOL A MINIMA (?) ^owerhj ( := miuuta, Groldfuss). A speci- 

 men about 20 mm. long and others larger are doubtfully referred to 

 this species. 



EsTHEP.iA MixuTA (?) Goldfuss. An imperfectly-preserved im- 

 pression may perhaps belong to this form, 



*Gyrolepis Albeeti (?) Ag'assiz. A broken fish-scale showing 

 a few ridges may be provisionally referred to this species. 



2. Lower Lias. 



At a later date, and from another locality near Shiskine (see 

 p. 22s ), ray colleagues, Mr. Peach and Mr. Gunn, procured from a 

 mass of strata a collection of fossils, which in due course was 

 for-^'arded to me. The?e were in an entirely different matrix, and 

 so fragmentary that their determination was difficult, although it 

 eeemed highly probable that they were of Liassic age, one fragment 

 being apparently referable to Ammonites ancjulatus and another to 

 Grifphciea arcuata. 



A second and larger series, collected by Mr. A. Macconochie from 

 the same locality, fully confirm the earlier provisional determina- 

 tions and afford positive evidence of the presence of Lower Lias in 

 Arran. The rock containing these fossils is much decomposed, and 

 for the most part in a very friable condition. The fossils themselves 

 have entirely disappeared, and are now represented by internal and 

 external casts. In some cases they are so fraijile that it has been 

 necessarj^ to find means to harden them before taking the wax 

 impressions, which reproduce the forms of the originals and make 

 it possible to determine many of them specifically. Some thirty 

 distinct forms have been recognized, and the following notes on the 

 various species will show the degree of certainty with which they 

 have been determined and make clearer some obscure points of 

 nomenclature. 



