Chap. XII.] CARBONIFEROUS SERIES OF SCOTLAND. 
293 
£ f5. Red sandstones and sandy marls, with Carboniferous Plants in some 
^ £ places, and in Ayrshire with a band of limestone containing Spirorbis 
§ § -l carbonarius. 
° | I 4. Upper Coal-measures — a series of sandstones, shales, ironstones, and coals, 
° L with Anthracosia &c. 
3. Moor-rock — a group of white or grey sandstones, generally persistent 
throughout the Coal-fields, and believed to represent the Millstone- 
grit. 
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N ^ <-> «3 
lap 
2. A group of sandstones, shales, coals, and ironstones, with bands of 
Encrinital limestone chiefly at the top and bottom. 
1. Sandstones, argillaceous and bituminous shales, a few thin coals, bands 
_ r u < of Entomostracan limestone, and courses of shale or marl and ce- 
I OcH g S | ment-stone : known as the " Calciferous Sandstones." 
i w I 
"1. At the base of the series lies a group of strata which present considerable diver- 
sities of character as they are traced across the country. In Berwickshire they occur as 
a thick series of rapid alternations of greenish, reddish, and grey sandy marls or shales, 
with bands of sandstone and cement-stone. In the east part of East Lothian the marls 
and cements give place to yellow sandstone and dark shales, with even two or three 
thin coals. The same character marks the strata as they advance into Mid- Lothian, 
while it becomes especially conspicuous in the western parts of that county and in West 
Lothian, where the bituminous shales are now largely worked for oil. In this group of 
rocks the well-known sandstones of Craigleith and the limestone of Burdie House occur. 
Ganoid Fishes of the genera Holoptychius, Rhizodus, Megalichthys, Palaeoniscus, Am- 
blypterus, &c, with Schizodus, Edmondia, and other Shells, various Entomostraca, and 
Plants such as Sphenopteris, Lepidodendron, Stigmaria, &c, are among the most 
marked fossils. In the east of Fife the organic remains have a markedly marine cha- 
racter, consisting of Crinoids, Echinoids, Brachiopods, &c. In the western districts, 
from the Campsie Hills to the south of Ayrshire, the Berwickshire phase of this series 
reappears ; and we there find a group of thin-bedded, green, red, and grey sandy marls 
and cement-bands, the whole series being sometimes, as in Ayrshire, remarkably in- 
constant. 
"This lowest group of the Scottish Carboniferous series is marked by abundant 
evidence of contemporaneous volcanic action, both on the east and west sides of the 
kingdom. 
" 2. The Carboniferous Limestone series differs from that of the typical English dis- 
tricts, inasmuch as its limestone is confined to only a few bands, which appear chiefly in 
the upper and under parts of the group, the intermediate space being occupied by sand- 
stones, shales, coals, &c, of the usual Coal-measure type. In Mid-Lothian this series is 
1590 feet thick, and contains six limestone bands and fourteen workable coals. In the 
south part of Ayrshire the thickness is about 350 feet, there being several workable 
seams in the Dalmellington district, and in the Dailly coal-field seven seams, having a 
total thickness of 45 feet of coal. 
" The fossils of this group are of the usual Carboniferous Limestone types, with the 
addition of a large assemblage of Carboniferous Plants. 
" Contemporaneous volcanic rocks abound in this series. They are especially con- 
spicuous in the Lothians and Fife, where they consist of sheets of basalt and doleritic 
trap, with ash and ashy beds. 
" 3. Moor-rock. — This group of white sandstones and grits is well seen in Lanark- 
shire and Linlithgowshire. It occurs likewise in the Lothians and Fife, and appears 
also to run, though in a less marked development, to the south of Ayrshire. These 
