443 



PAL^ONTOLOGICAL NOTES. 

 By Thomas Davidson, Esq., F.K.S., E.G.S. 

 I. ON SCOTTISH JURASSIC BRACIIIOPODA. 



So little is known of Scottish Jurassic Brachiopoda, that any addi- 

 tional information cannot fail to prove interesting. Professor Nicol 

 wrote me on the IGth of April, 18Gu, that out of a pretty large collec- 

 tion of the fossils of this period sent up to the Aberdeen meeting of 

 the British Association, he found only two species and specimens of 

 Brachiopoda, and both imperfect. That in Sunderland they are most 

 common in the Dunrobin Eeefs (by some thought to be Oxford clay, 

 by others Lias), but that the stone is so friable, that the specimens 

 fall to pieces almost at the slightest touch ; and that in the sandstone 

 at Braambury Hill, are casts of a large shell, like Terebratida per- 

 ovalis, but often crushed and distorted. 



In 1850, the late A. Eobertson, of Elgin, sent me two beautifully 

 preserved Rhi/nchonellce (B lacunosa ?), from Dunrobin, and which 

 will be found figured and described iu my monograph ; and about 

 the same period, the late Hugh Miller sent me a specimen of 1\ numis- 

 'ijialis, from the Lias of Shendwick, and another of Rhynchonella 

 Bouchardii, from the Lias of Cromarty. Mr. Geikie recorded like- 

 wise a JRhi/nchonella tetrahedra, from the Middle Lias of the island 

 of Pabba. 



It would result from the above statement, that about six species of 

 Brachiopoda have, up to the present period, been mentioned as 

 having been found in Scottish Jurassic strata. 



On the 9th of April, 18C0, Captain E J. Bedford, informed 

 me that while surveying the island of Mull, he discovered a great 

 number of fossils in the Middle Lias of Caisaig Bay ; these he kindly 

 forwarded for my examination, and I found among many other Mol- 

 lusca, eight or nine species of Brachiopoda, two of which being new 

 to Scotland, and one even so to Great Britain. 



I was informed, at the same time, that these fossils had been all cut 

 out of a hardened kind of black chxy, uncovered at low water; that 

 this clay lay in laminae, which he lifted up with a little bar, and in 

 which he found all the specimens sent up, with the exception of 

 Terebratul a punctata ^\\& some other species of Mollusca, whicli he 

 obtained from hard masses of limestone scattered about the shore. 



The following is a list of the Mollusca from the Middle Lias of 

 the island of Mull, which Mr. Etlieridge and myself were able to 

 determine : — 



Terebratula punctata. Khyiichonella rimosa. 



Waldhciinia numismalis. Kliyiichoiu'lla variabilis. 



Spiriteriua rostrata. RhynclioucUa (another species?). 



Sj)irilerina Walcotti. Ostrca ? 



Spirifcrina oxyptcra. Avicula iiucqnivalvis. 



Rhynchonclla tctrahcdra. Modiola Ilillana. 



