1885.] 



On the Reptiliferous Sandstone of Elgin. 



397 



found in the quarries where the bones and scutes occur. All the 

 specimens of these bones and scutes which have been obtained at 

 Lossiemouth seem to have occurred in a single course of rock at the 

 bottom of the quarries, where the useful building stone ceases. All 

 the specimens obtained from this locality seem to belong to Stagono- 

 lepis, Hyperodapedon, and Telerpeton. In the new quarry near Elgin, 

 however, neither Stagonolepis nor Telerpeton has been found, but 

 Dinosaurs and Dicynodonts occur. 



Let us now inquire what is the nature of the stratigraphical 

 evidence which has been regarded as opposed to the pala3ontological 

 arguments in favour of the Triassic age of this formation. At the 

 outset it is necessary to bear in mind two very important circum- 

 stances. First. The exposures of the Reptiliferous Sandstone and 

 of the Upper Old Red in the district are more or less isolated, the 

 greater part of the country being thickly covered by drift and other 

 superficial deposits. Secondly. The whole of the rocks in the district 

 exhibit evidence of having undergone great disturbance ; this is 

 shown by their steep inclinations, and by the foldings and fractures 

 which can often be recognised in the quarries opened in them . 



The Reptiliferous Sandstone makes its appearance at the surface in 

 two parallel ridges, ranging from north-east to south-west for a dis- 

 tance of about nine miles. The most northerly of these ridges extends 

 from Brandenburgh to Burghead. Although the rocks are well 

 exhibited both in sea-cliffs aud in reefs on the shore, the only fossils 

 obtained from them are the footprints of the Cummingstown and Hope- 

 man quarries, near the south-western extremity of the ridge, and the 

 remains of Stagonolepis, Telerpeton, and Hyperodapedon, found in a 

 single bed at Lossiemouth, at its north-eastern end. A tract of about 

 three miles wide, thickly covered by superficial deposits, completely 

 isolates the northern or coast ridge from the southern one, which is 

 known as the Quarry wood ridge. In this Quarrywood ridge the Reptili- 

 ferous Sandstone is only found along its northern face for a distance 

 of about three miles. The southern slope of the ridge is composed of the 

 ordinary rocks of the Upper Old Red Sandstone, containing Holo- 

 ptychius nohilissimus Ag., with species of Glyptopomns and Pterichthys, 

 There is no evidence of the occurrence of Triassic strata, either along 

 the southern slopes of the Quarrywood ridge or in the district lying 

 still further south about the city of Elgin. The localities in which 

 the sandstone containing reptiles has been found along the northern 

 slope of the Quarrywood ridge are as follows : — At Spynie, which 

 may be regarded as a north-eastern prolongation of the Quarrywood 

 ridge, th6 deep quarries have yielded Telerpeton, Hyperodapedon, and 

 Geratodus. At Findrassie Wood, a mile and a half further to the 

 south-west, a quarry now abandoned, has yielded Staganolepis and 

 Dasygnathus. Lastly, the quarry near the top of the ridge, above 



