NOTES AND QUERIES. 



273 



under tlie errosive action of tlie breakers, whereby not only all the bed of lime- 

 stone mud was removed, but a small portion from the top of the argillaceous 

 shale bed also, as far down, we may suppose, as the line d — e (fig. 2). This 

 accomplished, the shore was once a^-ain depressed deep beneath the sea, and 

 thus protected from further destruction. 



Sea. 



Lign. 2. — a a. Sandstone ; I, Red shale ; c. Fissures filled with, limestone. 



This last great physical change appears to have brought back the normal 

 conditions under which the ferruginous and non-calcareous materials forming 

 the mass of the Old Red Sandstone were deposited, and thus the shale with its 

 limestone-filled fissures, was covered by the ordinary sandstones of its type of 

 rock. The formation of the Old Red Sandstone then went on uninterruptedly 

 till its time was accomplished, and the "carboniferous sea" was spread over all 

 that extensive area, of which the central-western and south-western portion of 

 Ireland now forms but a very small part. — Yours truly, Geo. V. Du Noyer, 



Notice oe New Fossils eeom the Lowek Old Red Sandstone of 

 Scotland.— Three localities are referred to in this paper. First, the Den of 

 Cauterland, in the parish of St. Cyrus, on the southern border of Kincardine- 

 shire ; second, a spot in the parish of Kinnell, near Farnell ; and third, a spot 

 in the parish of Craig, near Montrose, both these being in the north-east divi- 

 sion of the county of Forfar. 



First, in the Den of Cauterland, where there is a considerable development 

 of the basement beds of our Scottish Old Red Sandstone. For many years 

 there has been no quarry wrought in this locality ; but as the rock is exposed 

 to decay in a natural ravine, the fossils can be gathered with patience and care. 

 The bottom-bed in the ravine seems to be a coarse sort of grit, through which 

 there is dispersed much limy matter, and in this portion of the beds I have 

 never seen but one fossil, the 'Parka decipiens of Fleming. Above it lies the 

 grey layer, the equivalent, I believe, of the " pavement" beds of Carmybe, 

 Leysmill, and Turin in the neighbouring county, and from it are collected many 

 fossils, such as the Cephalaspis Lyellii, the Parka decipiens in great abundance, 

 the Pterygotus anglicus, and that peculiar and minute crustacean form the 

 Kampecaris of Page. Besides the Pterygotus anglicus, there are, I think, in 

 this locality several other allied forms of all sizes, from half an inch to many 

 feet. I must be understood as meaning, however, creatures of that size when 

 complete, as our crustacean remains occur in a very fragmentary and scattered 

 condition. The members of the section will remember the gigantic specimen 



VOL. III. 2 M 



