402 



Prof. J. W. Judd. 



[Dec. 10, 



of the Beptiliferous to the Holoptychian beds, I preferred a request to 

 the Council of this Society for a grant to be applied in excavations 

 directed to uncovering the line of junction between the two beds. 



My request having been acceded to, the kind intervention of Dr. 

 Gordon obtained for me the permission of Thomas Tool, Esq., of 

 Leuchars, the factor of the Earl of Fife, on whose property the quarry 

 is situated, for carrying out the necessary work. The Messrs. A. and 

 W. Watt, the lessees of the quarry, not only rendered much valuable 

 advice and assistance, but kindly undertook the personal superintend- 

 ence of the necessary operations. In making a careful examination 

 of the pit, after it had been opened, I had the great advantage of the 

 aid and judicious counsel of Professor T. G. Bonney, E.R.S., Pre- 

 sident of the Geological Society. 



We were able to observe that, while the conglomerate of the 

 " pebbly-post " graduates insensibly into the overlying Beptiliferous 

 Sandstone, it is sharply divided from the red sandstones below. It 

 was unfortunately found that, owing to the imperfect bedding of the 

 upper series and the prevalence of oblique lamination in the lower 

 one, it was impossible to obtain decisive evidence of a discordance of 

 dip between them. But the line of junction between the two sets of 

 strata, which was exposed for a distance of 10 feet only, showed 

 every appearance of being an eroded one. We came to the conclusion 

 that while the upper series having the "pebbly-post " for its base, is 

 certainly perfectly distinct from the lower one, there can scarcely be 

 the smallest doubt that the former rests uncomf ormably upon the 

 latter; in other words, the evidence points to the conclusion that 

 during the vast periods of the Carbiniferous and Permian, the Upper 

 Old Bed Sandstone of the Elgin area was upheaved and denuded, and 

 that subsequently the Upper Trias beds were deposited unconf ormably 

 upon the eroded surface. 



As the question of the age and relations of these interesting rocks 

 may now be considered as definitely settled, it may be well to give a 

 brief resume of what is known concerning the interesting patches of 

 Triassic strata in the east of Scotland, from which such important 

 palseontological treasures have been derived. 



There is reason for believing that the Trias of this district does 

 not exceed 200 to 300 feet in thickness. At present it is known 

 to occur only in the coast ridge, 9 miles long and about 1 mile 

 broad, and on the northern slope of the Quarrywood ridge for a 

 distance of about 3 miles. Outlying patches, like the Boar Rock 

 in Spey Bay, show that its superficial extent has been greatly reduced 

 by denudation and the deposit of drift upon it. Similar beds covering 

 only a very small area however, make their appearance on the 

 northern side of the Moray Firth, between Dunrobin and Golspie. 



The lowest member of the formation consists of quartzose con- 



