470 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



rically less complete than that of England and Ireland, it is pro- 

 bable that the catalogue may be somewhat increased by further 

 research. 



It is to the deservedly honoured name of the son of a working 

 weaver in Griasgow that science is indebted for the first account of a 

 not inconsiderable number of the natural riches of one of the most 

 productive coal-fields in Scotland. David Ure, while unemployed at 

 his loom, was continually observing and collecting all that appeared 

 to him worthy of notice ; and in 1793 he published a very remarka- 

 ble octavo volume, entitled " The History of Hutherglen and East 

 Kilbride," and in which will be found the first descriptions and 

 figures of about eleven of the most characteristic Carboniferous 

 brachiopoda that occur in the neighbourhood of Glasgow. David 

 Ure was acquainted with Eabius Columna's " De Purpura," published 

 in 1616, and adopted his term "anomia" for the greater number of 

 those shells which we now include among the Brachiopoda, In 

 1793, and for nearly half a century later, so little was known of 

 the true character of the numerous shells that compose the class, 

 that it would be unreasonable to expect that Ure, with all that supe- 

 rior mind with which he was endowed, could do more than endea- 

 vour to class his shells according to what might appear to him their 

 external resemblances. He therefore arranged his specimens into 

 three sections, viz. : 1. Aiiomice Iceves ; 2. A.striatcE; 3. A. echinatce. 

 No specific denominations were however given ; but in order to con- 

 vey to the reader a better idea of the author's views, we may men- 

 tion that in his "Anomise laeves" were placed those species that 

 were afterwards termed Athyris amhigua (Ure, pi. xvi. fig 9), and 

 Spirifera JJrii (pi. xiv. fig 12). In his " Anomise striatse " we find 

 Uliynchonella jpleurodon fpl. xiv. fig 6), Spirifera hisulcata (pi. xv. fig 

 1), and Ortliis Michelini (pi. xiv. figs 13, 14) ; while his " Anomiee 

 echinatse " would comprise Frodudm longispinus (pi. xv. figs 3, 4), 

 Frod. semireticulcdus (pi. xvi. fig 12), and Prod, idundatus (pi. xv. 

 fig 7). Under the genus "Pecten," he further adds, CJionetes 

 variolata (pi. xvi. figs 10, 11), 8tTe])torliynclius crenistria (pi. xiv. fig 

 19), and St. radialis (pi. xvi. fig 13). Under "Patella" he figures 

 a Discina (pi. xv. fig 10) . Such an arrangement of the Brachiopoda 

 would now-a-days appear impossible, but in 1793 it was perfectly 

 unavoidable, as well as excusable. lire's figures are very passable, 

 and especially so for the time at which they were engraved. The 

 author appears also to have appreciated the importance of internal 

 characters ; but, from not being able to interpret the value or use of 

 the impressions, &c., he did not always represent them correctly.* 



But few of our Scottish Brachiopoda have been figured or pro- 

 perly described since the time of Ure, so that the present contri- 

 bution will, I hope, really fill up a deficiency. In his " History of 

 British Animals," pubhshed in 1828, Dr. Fleming does not make 



* David Ure was for some time engaged on Sir John Sinclaii-'s Statistical Ac- 

 count of Scotland, and was ultimately a minister of the church of Scotland. 



