404 » REV. THOMAS BROWN ON THE MOUNTAIN LIMESTONE, &C. 
at all it must be scantily, and weseem warranted in holding that the rocks below 
L exhibit that great fauna only in its feeble beginnings. Thus the bed L, marking 
the point where it fairly took possession of the ancient seas, forms the true base- 
line of the upper group. 
It may confirm these views to observe that an underlying series of strata of 
the same kind has been found in other parts of the kingdom. In Yorkshire no- 
thing carboniferous is seen below the Mountain Limestone, but these lower beds 
have been traced at Bristol, in South Wales, and still more fully in Ireland. The 
Calp. series in the north and the Comhoola grits in the south, with their accom- 
panying strata, are described as occurring in a position beneath the Mountain 
Limestone, closely analogous to that of our lower series. In these different dis- 
tricts the group, while agreeing in its general features, varies according to the 
locality. These varying aspects should be carefully studied and compared, and 
when the results are fully wrought out, the effect will be to unfold many a deeply 
interesting page in the opening history of the great carboniferous era. It isfrom 
Fife Ness on to St Andrews that the beds are most fully developed with us, and 
the few details which I have endeavoured to record, will, I trust, be sufficient to 
show the interesting nature of the field, and the value of those results which are 
yet to be brought to light. 

