Notice of Reptilian Fossils, Morayshire. 155 



with that forming the wall of the duct, and that the cavity of 

 the one is continuous with that of the other. 



In this communication I have avoided the use of the term 

 acini, as it has been employed by different observers to express 

 different structures, so that its use is liable to lead to confusion 

 of ideas ; some applying the term to express the ultimate 

 lobules of the gland, whilst by others it is used to signify the 

 ultimate follicles of these lobules. 



II. Notice of Reptilian Fossils, Morayshire. By William Rhind, Esq. 



The specimens which Mr Rhind exhibited of reptilian remains from the 

 sandstone of Moray were contributed by Patrick Duff, Esq. It is now 

 about a quarter of a century since the late lamented President of this 

 Society, Professor Fleming, first detected an organism in the Old Red 

 Sandstone of Scotland. It was but a minute fragment of a fish scale, yet 

 it had the effect of awakening an interest for, and stimulating a research 

 into, those beds of sandstone which skirt almost the whole of the Scottish 

 shores to the north of the Firth of Forth, and which hitherto had been 

 looked upon as destitute of organic remains. A few years after this dis- 

 covery, Mr Duff began his researches in Morayshire, with an enthusiasm 

 and perseverance which have seldom been equalled. He soon found 

 that the sandstones of Moray teemed with organic remains, as well as 

 these of the opposite shores of Cromarty, which were at the same period 

 under the scrutiny of Mr Hugh Miller. From that time Mr Duff 

 has formed the nucleus round which the researches of other scientific 

 men and the casual discoveries of the workmen in the various quarries 

 have centred, so that a most varied and interesting assortment of specimens 

 have been accumulated. As long as the organisms brought to light par- 

 took of the character, or were supposed to do so, of fishes, no doubts re- 

 mained that the sandstones of Moray, under the several modifications of 

 colour and position, belonged to the Devonian era ; but subsequently, when 

 organisms of a higher order made their appearance, assuming the distinct 

 forms of reptiles of various families and sizes, a doubt began to arise 

 whether the fish-bearing and the reptile-producing strata belonged to the 

 same series. This questio vexata still prevails ; and Mr Rhind, assuming 

 that the decision is still left open, proceeded to exhibit by a section the 

 relative positions of the sandstone beds, in so far as these are open to 

 inspection. The general conformity of the lowest red, the greyish, and 

 the yellow sandstones, — the parallelism of the dip of these three beds 

 of strata, and the superposition of a band of limestone or cornstone com- 

 mencing south of Elgin, and seen with more or less interruption at Links- 

 field, Spynie, and Stotfield, capping and inclosing the whole series, were 

 pointed out; while the absence of scales of the distinctive fishes of the 

 Devonian era in the particular localities where the reptilian remains have 

 been discovered was also mentioned, — an absence which probably may 

 arise from as yet defective search, considering that the accidental disinter- 

 ment of the reptiles has occurred within the short space of a few years, 

 and that another few years may either add the discovery of fish scales, 

 or, if not found, afford a somewhat negative proof of the non-identity of 

 the yellow sandstones with the Devonian. It was also suggested that the 

 appearance of the vast masses of compact sandstone forming the hills 



