142 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 8, 



able. As in Elginshire, the rock near Golspie was formerly burnt 

 for lime ; and its use has been abandoned for the same reasons as in 

 that county. The points in Sutherland where the Cherty Bock of 

 Stotfield has occurred are as follows : — 



In a wood N.N.E. of Bhives House, where it was dug and burnt 

 (Farey). The pit is now abandoned. 



In the romantic Glen of Dunrobin, by the side of the Golspie 

 Burn, there are two exposures of the rock, the strata evidently 

 having resisted denudation, as in the neighbourhood of Elgin, and 

 appearing under a great mass of superincumbent Boulder-clay. The 

 more northerly of these exposures exhibits the highly calcareous 

 variety of the rock, perhaps forming its upper part, while at the 

 southern point the rock is more siliceous. 



In the excavations about the Golspie Bridge, and in digging the 

 foundations of the Golspie Inn, the same rock was met with (Farey). 



In the bank south-west of Dunrobin Castle, in what is known as 

 the Quarry Park, there is an old pit where the rock was formerly 

 dug for lime-burning and for marl, and where its characters can be 

 still examined. Here, as in Dunrobin Glen, we find the most com- 

 plete agreement between this rock and the well-marked Cherty Bock 

 of Stotfield. 



Lastly, the rock can be traced running out to sea in the reefs be- 

 tween Dunrobin and Golspie. Here the calcareous portions are 

 dissolved away, and the cavernous masses of cherty material are seen, 

 identical in every respect with the similar weathered masses of Stot- 

 field shore and Spynie Hill. 



These last hard masses of chert have been the means of preserving 

 the sandstones below from destruction by denudation, in the same 

 manner as we have seen to be the case in Elginshire. The thickness of 

 sandstone exposed is not great, probably not more than 40 or 50 feet ; 

 but the similarity of the rock in colour, texture, and mode of 

 weathering to the Beptiliferous Sandstone is most striking. It is 

 true that these sandstones have not yielded any reptilian remains, 

 or, indeed, any kind of fossils ; but it must be remembered that the 

 sandstones of Elginshire are equally barren to much greater depths, 

 all the fossils having been obtained from one bed, which is at a 

 lower horizon than any part of the series exposed in Sutherland. 

 The fucus-covered and rarely accessible reefs of the latter county 

 also afford no such facilities for the detection of fossils as are pre- 

 sented by the extensive quarries of Elginshire. The Dunrobin reefs 

 can only be seen at low water : and, indeed, it is only during spring 

 tides that a satisfactory examination can be made of the lowest of 

 them. 



It is, I believe, impossible for any one to examine these rocks on 

 the north and south side of the Moray Eirth respectively, especially 

 bearing in mind the unique features presented by the higher and 

 calcareous beds, without being fully convinced of their complete 

 identity. 



The relations of these strata are, as already intimated, perfectly 

 clear in the county of Sutherland, and they are such as to con- 



