﻿274 
  

  

  THE 
  EXTINCT 
  VERTEBRATE 
  ANIMALS 
  

  

  extend 
  to 
  the 
  sea 
  between 
  Burghead 
  on 
  the 
  west 
  and 
  Lossiemouth 
  on 
  

   the 
  east, 
  were 
  formerly 
  universally 
  believed 
  to 
  form 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  same 
  

   Upper 
  Old 
  Eed 
  Sandstone 
  formation, 
  seeing 
  that 
  no 
  distinct 
  uncon- 
  

   formity 
  or 
  ' 
  physical 
  break 
  ' 
  had 
  ever 
  been 
  clearly 
  demonstrated 
  to 
  

   exist 
  between 
  the 
  two 
  sets 
  of 
  rocks. 
  The 
  first 
  fossils 
  found 
  in 
  the 
  

   former 
  series, 
  namely, 
  the 
  scutes 
  of 
  Stagonolepis, 
  did 
  nothing 
  to 
  dis- 
  

   turb 
  that 
  belief, 
  as 
  they 
  were 
  considered 
  by 
  Agassiz 
  to 
  belong 
  to 
  a 
  

   ganoid 
  fish 
  ; 
  nor 
  did 
  even 
  the 
  subsequent 
  discovery 
  of 
  a 
  true 
  Eeptile, 
  

   the 
  Telerpeton 
  Elginense 
  of 
  Mantell, 
  arouse 
  any 
  doubts 
  in 
  the 
  minds 
  

   of 
  geologists. 
  People 
  were 
  only 
  thereby 
  led 
  to 
  include 
  Lizards 
  in 
  

   the 
  vertebrate 
  fauna 
  of 
  the 
  Old 
  Eed 
  Sandstone 
  or 
  Devonian 
  period. 
  

   It 
  was, 
  however, 
  when 
  Huxley 
  showed 
  that 
  Stagonolepis, 
  instead 
  of 
  

   being 
  a 
  ganoid 
  fish, 
  was 
  a 
  crocodilian 
  of 
  Mesozoic 
  type, 
  and 
  also 
  

   noted 
  the 
  occurrence 
  in 
  these 
  rocks 
  of 
  another 
  reptilian 
  genus, 
  

   Hyperodapedon, 
  which 
  is 
  also 
  found 
  in 
  the 
  Trias 
  of 
  Warwickshire 
  

   and 
  of 
  India, 
  that 
  the 
  foundations 
  of 
  the 
  old 
  faith 
  were 
  sapped, 
  in 
  

   spite 
  of 
  the 
  devotion 
  of 
  a 
  few 
  steadfast 
  adherents, 
  such 
  as 
  the 
  late 
  

   Professor 
  Harkness 
  and 
  the 
  late 
  Eev. 
  Dr. 
  Gordon 
  of 
  Birnie. 
  The 
  

   view 
  that 
  these 
  ' 
  Eeptiliferous 
  sandstones 
  ' 
  of 
  Morayshire 
  were 
  after 
  

   all 
  not 
  of 
  Devonian 
  but 
  of 
  Triassic 
  age, 
  was 
  adopted 
  by 
  Sir 
  Eoderick 
  

   Murchison 
  in 
  1867 
  (21, 
  p. 
  267), 
  and 
  has 
  more 
  recently 
  received 
  still 
  

   more 
  striking 
  confirmation 
  by 
  the 
  discovery 
  at 
  Cuttie's 
  Hillock 
  of 
  

   another 
  set 
  of 
  reptiles 
  belonging 
  to 
  the 
  triassic 
  groups, 
  Dicynodontia 
  

   and 
  Pareiasauria. 
  These 
  have 
  been 
  described 
  by 
  Mr. 
  E. 
  T. 
  Newton, 
  

   F.E.S., 
  in 
  two 
  memoirs 
  (63 
  and 
  64), 
  published 
  by 
  the 
  Eoyal 
  Society 
  

   of 
  London. 
  

  

  This 
  reference 
  of 
  the 
  Eeptiliferous 
  sandstones 
  of 
  Moray 
  to 
  the 
  

   Triassic 
  formation 
  is 
  now, 
  I 
  may 
  say, 
  practically 
  adopted 
  by 
  geologists, 
  

   though 
  the 
  late 
  Eev. 
  Dr. 
  Gordon, 
  three 
  years 
  ago, 
  and 
  shortly 
  before 
  

   his 
  much 
  lamented 
  death, 
  published 
  a 
  paper 
  (26) 
  in 
  which 
  he 
  

   sought 
  to 
  maintain 
  that 
  the 
  question 
  was 
  still 
  unsettled. 
  

  

  I 
  have 
  stated 
  that 
  no 
  distinct 
  physical 
  break 
  had 
  been 
  shown 
  to 
  

   exist 
  between 
  these 
  reptile-bearing 
  rocks 
  and 
  those 
  of 
  undoubted 
  

   Upper 
  Old 
  Eed 
  age, 
  which 
  might 
  have 
  been 
  reasonably 
  expected 
  if 
  

   so 
  great 
  a 
  length 
  of 
  time 
  had 
  intervened 
  between 
  their 
  respective 
  

   periods 
  of 
  disposition 
  as 
  meanwhile 
  to 
  allow 
  of 
  the 
  accumulation 
  in 
  

   other 
  parts 
  of 
  the 
  country, 
  and 
  of 
  the 
  world, 
  of 
  the 
  vast 
  thicknesses 
  of 
  

   strata 
  constituting 
  the 
  Carboniferous 
  and 
  Permian 
  systems. 
  Though 
  

  

  