1873.] JTJDD — THE SECONDARY KOCKS OF SCOTLAND. 109 



Soc. vol. iii. p. 113). The same author, in the 3rd edition, of Ander- 

 son's ' Guide to the Highlands,' gave an admirable sketch of the 

 geology of the county of Elgin. It was through the agency of the 

 same indefatigable geologist that the fishes of Linksfield, and the 

 first discovered specimen of Stagonolepls, were submitted to Prof. 

 Agassiz, by whom they were described in the * Poissons Eossiles.' 



The year 1852 forms an important era in the history of discovery 

 in connexion with the Secondary rocks of the east of Scotland ; for 

 then was first brought under the notice of geologists the existence 

 of the interesting reptile Telerpeton Elginense, which was described 

 by Dr. Mantell, while its position in the rocks of Elginshire was 

 clearly pointed out by Captain Brickenden. The latter gentleman 

 had in the previous year contributed some interesting notes to this 

 Society on the position of the mass of Secondary rock at Linksfield (see 

 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vii. p. 289, and vol. viii. pp. 97 and 100). 



Hugh Miller, in his early work * The Old Red Sandstone,' pub- 

 lished in 1841, makes reference to the supposed Liassic strata of 

 Eathie ; and during the numerous examinations which he made of 

 his native county and adjoining districts, he collected many very in- 

 teresting observations on the Secondary rocks, which are recorded 

 in several of his deservedly popular works, especially in ' The Eos- 

 siliferous Deposits of Scotland' (1854), 'Pambles of a Geologist' 

 (1858), 'The Cruise of the Betsy,' (1858) and the ' Sketch-Book 

 of Popular Geology ' (1859). Many of these observations will be 

 referred to in the following pages. Hugh Miller's most important 

 contribution to the Secondary Geology of Scotland, however, is the 

 account which he gives, in the eleventh and twelfth chapters of the 

 ' Testimony of the Pocks,' of the beautiful flora, now shown to be 

 of Upper Oolite age, of Sutherland and Poss. 



The doubt which had been awakened by the discovery of Telerpeton 

 as to the Old-Ped-Sandstone age of the sandstones of the north of 

 Elginshire was greatly intensified by Professor Huxley's announce- 

 ment that the Stagonolepis of Agassiz was not a fish, as had hitherto 

 been supposed, but a reptile of high organization, and with Croco- 

 dilian affinities. When, by the indefatigable labours of Dr. Gordon, 

 a third species of reptile, the Hyperodapedon Gordoni, was brought 

 to light, and its close affinities with well-known Triassic genera de- 

 monstrated by Professor Huxley, even the stoutest advocates of the 

 Old-Ped-Sandstone theory, including Sir Poderick Murchison, began 

 to waver. 



When the British Association met at Aberdeen in 1859, this great 

 open question of geology was warmly discussed, many geologists taking 

 the opportunity of examining the district ; the Triassic age of the 

 Reptiliferous sandstone was strongly maintained by Sir Charles 

 Lyell, Mr. C. Moore, and the Rev. W. Symonds. 



In the same year Dr. Gordon published his admirable resume of 

 the known facts ' On the Geology of the Lower or Northern part of 

 the! Province of Moray,' while Sir Poderick Murchison gave a dis- 

 cussion of the whole question in a paper read before this Society. 

 The history of the changes of opinion on the subject can also be traced 



