692 DR RAMSAY H. TRAQUAIR ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF FOSSIL FISH-REMAINS 



(Mew,. Geol. Survey, Sheet 32, Appendix) that " the fossils found in the Burdiehouse 

 Limestones are for the greater part distinct from those of other parts of the Lower 

 Carboniferous series. This may be partly due to greater attention having been paid to 

 this celebrated limestone by collectors." This explanation of a supposed fact has indeed 

 proved to be true even in a more emphatic sense than is implied by the word " partly." 

 As regards the fishes, at least, with which we are alone dealing in this paper, if we leave 

 out of consideration the names cancelled above, all the species contained in the Burdie- 

 house list except Megalichthys laticeps and Uronemus lobatus occur in the Dunnet 

 shale above, and many of them also in the Wardie shales below. 



I have seen no fish-remains from the hard limestone representing the Burdiehouse 

 deposit at Burntisland, but in the associated calcareous shales Elonichthys Robisoni, 

 Rhadinichiliys omatissimus, Rh. carinatus, and Eurynotus crenatus are of frequent 

 occurrence. 



Dunnet Shale. — This is one of the most important seams of oil shale in this district, 

 and at Straiton and Pentland, where it was until a few years ago extensively wrought 

 by the Clippens Oil Company, it has yielded an extensive set of fish-remains. Few are 

 found in the productive shale itself; they principally occur in the "roof" and in the 

 "floor" of the seam, and are for the most part enclosed in nodules of clay ironstone. 

 The list is as follows : — 



Pleur acanthus, sp. 

 Diplodus, sp. 

 Cladodus, sp. 



Bphenacantlius semdatus. 

 Tristychius arcuatus. 



„ minor. 



Euphyacanthics semistriatus. 

 Gyracanthus rectus. 

 Aganacanlhus striaiidus, Traq. 

 Gynopodi'as crenulatus. 

 Acanthodes sidcatus. 

 Megalichthys loevis, Traq. 



Bhizodus ornatus. 

 Strepsodus striatulus, Traq. 

 Gtenodus interruptus. 

 Gonatodus macrolepis, Traq. 

 Elonichthys Robisoni. 



„ striatus. 



„ pectinatus, Traq. 



Acrolepis semigranulosus, Traq. 

 Bhadinichthys omatissimus. 



„ carinatus. 



Nematoptychius Greenocki. 

 Eurynotus crenatus. 



Of the twenty-one accurately determined species here recorded, twelve occur in the 

 Burdiehouse Limestone below, which was considered to be a " fresh- water " limestone 

 by Dr Hibbert. Fragments of cephalopodous shells in the roof-shale bear witness to 

 the fact that marine conditions were not far off, and that " estuarine " is rather a better 

 word in the circumstances. 



Regarding the fish-remains of the seams of oil shale which lie above the "Dunnet" 

 and between it and the Lower marine limestones, I have no exact information, but no 

 evidence that they were different in fades to those recorded above. Specimens of 

 Sphenacanthus serrulatus, Gyracanthus, sp., Acanthodes sulcatus, Nematoptychius 

 Greenocki, Elonichthys Robisoni, and Elonichthys pectinattis have been collected by 

 the late Messrs C. W. Peach and John Gibson, as well as by others, from the pit-heads 

 at Oakbank, Addiewell, and West Calder ; but the exact seams from which they were 

 derived were not ascertained. They may, indeed, have been also from the "Dunnet." 



