152 THE GEOLOGIST. 



what was the more stimulating to our labours, we were assisted by 

 the same James McNicol who was the finder of the fish, and who 

 still possesses among his geological stores the upper concave cast of 

 the creatm-e, and with which neither coaxing nor bribe will induce 

 him to part. 



Mr. James McNicol, now that I have introduced him to the reader, 

 is "grieve" at Teahng Manor, and will be found a most useful guide 

 and intelligent explorer in the quarries of the district. These lie 

 nearly equidistant from Dundee and Forfar, about eight miles inland 

 from each; and, as both places are on the lines of railway to Aberdeen^ 

 the savans of the ensuing meeting of the British Association will com- 

 mand an easy opportunity of paying them a visit. 



But, in addition to the interesting fossils enumerated above, the 

 party were equally successful in their capture of various other organ- 

 isms. Rich as the bed of tilestone is in Parka decijnens and limbs of 

 PterygotuSf there are spines and other osseous fragments in the greatest 

 profusion. The spine-forms, indeed, are so numerous that in some 

 parts the surface was literally covered with them ; the white spear- 

 like projections contrasting strongly with the fucoid masses in which 

 they were entangled. There were likewise fragments of bodies 

 resembling the recently detected Ceratiocaris and Kamvecaris, and 

 undoubtedly a caudal appendage of Stylonurus Powziensis, so abun- 

 dant in the quarries nearer Forfar ; and along with these were some 

 well-defined heads of the Cephalaspis Lyellii. 



The plant-remains are equally abundant, consisting of stems and 

 branches of trees, and tufts of water-grasses thickly matted together. 

 The stems are generally flattened, often three to four inches broad, 

 but the bark is so changed by carbonization as to render the appli- 

 cation of the microscope of little use. The sedge-like grasses {Juncites) 

 are slender and jointed, and sometimes several feet in length. For 

 miles east and west, in every opening of the tilestone-bands, the 

 surface of the rock is entirely blackened by these and the other 

 organisms, clearly demonstrating a quiet inland shore-line, or marshy 

 lagoon, over which much of the detritus may have been cast by the 

 action of the tides, and in the silt of which such may have flourished 

 in situ. Thither would roam the Pterygotus, Cephalaspis, and other 

 fish and crustaceans in quest of food, so plentifully supplied by the 



