308 REY. J. F, BLAKE ON A REMARKABLE INLTER [May 1902, 
they were brought, if in company with the great stones themselves ? 
If, however, the plant-remains belong to the place to which the 
stones were brought, the whole difficulty vanishes. In this case the 
stems might be fossilized at their leisure, and the leaves and ferns 
be buried before they were broken. 
As a matter of fact, I have not been able to discover a sign of any 
such remains in the actual breccia-beds themselves; neither, I believe, 
has Mr. H. B. Woodward. I have ascertained also from Prof. Judd 
that the specimens which he mentions were not obtained by himself, 
but by the local geologists, who thus described where they had been 
found. It seems, therefore, probable that the meaning of the words 
above quoted has been misunderstood. I, at least, have taken it to 
mean that a single breccia-bed is made up of two parts—the frae- 
ments, and the matrix in which these are embedded ; and that it is 
in the latter that the plant-remains are found. The true meaning 
may have been that the various breccia-beds, each viewed as a whole, 
are themselves embedded in a matrix—that is, in the ‘ associated 
beds,’ and it is these latter that contain the plants. If that be the 
case, the plant-remains did not come with the fragments, but were 
found on the spot, on their arrival, and thus present no difficulty. 
The magnificent cycad-stem, described by Mr. Carruthers as 
Bennettites Peachianus, was obtained from Allt-a-ghruan at the 
southern end of the slopes, before mentioned as composed of ferru- 
ginous sands and sandstones. This unique specimen is stated 
by Mr. Carruthers to have been found loose on the beach. In all 
probability it came out of these sandstones, which at the time of its 
discovery were not even distinguished from the Lias. These beds 
in the cliff do not fit in with the beds on the shore, and are quite 
distinct in character. They may in fact be Neocomian, in which 
strata such cycad-stems are mostly found. ‘To this idea the finding 
of Neocomian fossils in boulders in the Elgin and Aberdeen area 
lends countenance ; itis suggested by the determination by Heer of 
the Urgonian age of the Kome Beds of Disco Island (lat. 69° N,) 
on account of their floral contents. 
(2) The Distribution of the Oxfordian Strata. 
It is not easy to understand why the thick masses of the 
Oxfordian strata, from the Kintradwell Beds downward, should be 
absent from the north of Lothbeg, as they must beif the Port-Gower 
stack stands on an Old-Red-Sandstone floor. Possibly further 
observations, which | have not been able to make, would elucidate 
this point ; but our ignorance will not have the weight of a positive 
objection, unless it should be impossible to suggest any rational 
explanation. We might, however, suppose that the depression, 
which must have taken place to produce deposits of mud overlying 
the conglomerates of Allt-na-cuil, brought higher ground on which 
hitherto no deposits had been made into the area liable to receive 
them ; or that the supposed faulting south of Lothbeg took place 
after tho Kintradwell Beds were laid down, and brought the northern 
