OF ELIE AND ERROL. 



627 



the highest authority in this special department. He had the goodness not only 

 to name my specimens, but went with me to Elie to examine the shells as they 

 lay in the clay. I have to acknowledge my obligations to him for much valuable 

 information. I made no attempt at a complete collection of the shells. They are 

 so friable, that much time and patience is required to extract them from the clay, 

 and I was content with having obtained the following species, which seemed suffi- 

 cient to determine the character of the deposit. 



1. Buccinium cyaneum, 











Errol. 



2. Natica groenlandica, 











Elie, Errol. 



3. Turritella erosa (polaris), 











Elie. 



4. Pecten grcenlandicus, 











Elie, Errol. 



5. Crenella decussata, 











Elie. 



6. nigra, 











Errol. 



7 ■ laevigata, 











Elie, Errol. 



8. Leda (Yoldia) truncata, . 











Elie, Errol. 



9. minuta, 











Elie, Errol. 



10. Yoldia hyperborea, 











Errol. 



11. (iiew species), 











Elie. 



12. Astarte compressa,. 











Elie. 



13. Nucula inflata, 











Elie, Errol. 



14. Dacrydiura vitreum, 











Errol. 



15. Thracia myopsis, 











Elie. 



16. {new species),* 











Elie, Errol. 



17. Tellina proxima, 











Elie. 



18. Saxicava rugosa, 











Elie, Errol. 



Fusus sp., 











Elie. 



Cylichnia X sp., 











Elie. 



Pleurotoma sp., 











Errol. 



Axiii us? sp., 











Errol. 



Univalve, unknown, 











Errol. 



In looking over this list, the first thing to observe is, that it contains no single 

 species which does not now live in the Arctic seas. In this respect the deposit 

 differs markedly from the Clyde beds, where a certain proportion of the species 

 cannot bear the cold of the northern ocean, and are yet lying side by side with 

 boreal species. It becomes a somewhat complicated problem, and would require 

 careful consideration, how such incompatible results are to be explained. But at 

 Elie and Errol the problem is simple. The whole species lying in the deposit 

 are now living in the Polar seas. As to the evidence thus furnished in regard 

 to climate, they may be divided into three classes : — 



1 . There are some which tell nothing, either for or against a period of Arctic 

 cold. The Crenella nigra, for example, reaches its southern limits in the Scottish 

 seas, where it used to live among the oysters of the Frith of Forth. It ranges 

 north to Spitzbergen, and the remarkable thing is, that it does not seem to be 

 affected by the change of climate. The discovery of such shells could furnish no 

 evidence either way. 



2. There is a second class which can live indifferently in the British or 



* Undescribed, from the Northern Shores of Spitzbergen. 



