NOTES AND QUIOKIHS. 
275 
from \vhal 1 liavo said, it is importaut to preserve these, as wc may meet witli 
llic fishes to which they heh)iig in some otlier locality. Tlicre are si ill to be 
iiieiitioued numerous fossil bodies from this locality ; soine lookinj^ like pieces 
of skin, others cvideut concretions around a spine or spiucs, and others, besid(!s, 
of a eoprolitc nature. Were the bculs more accessible many objects woidd be 
found to reward the researches of the explorer. 
'I'hc third locality is in the parish of Craig, and near the -"illage of 
E' ryden. The section is a very small patch of thin bedded sanastone, and 
rests upon and is surrounded on all sides by trap. The flags arc very coarse 
in sort, and have been much changed by heat, but still preserve on some 
of their surfaces the marks of palajozoic showers and the tread of living 
things. These footprints are of a lowlier cast than those from the Morayshire 
beds, but they may be of interest, notwithstanding, as belonging to the older 
beds of the Old Red. Here, for instance, wc have the evidence of the beaches 
of that very remote period in our world's history. In the large drops im- 
pressed on the stone, have we not the proof of the thunder-shower ? In the 
small drops have we not the evidence of the drizzling rain ? And there were 
living creatures on those sands ; very humble no doubt, but hap])y withal. 
Altogether I can make out about a dozen different kinds of footmarks. In 
one case it is a Pien/r/ohis floundering in the mud ; in another instance the 
crustacean is of smaller dimensions, and is leisurely crossing the oozy beach ; 
and in a thii-d example it is a shrimp-like creature, rapidly traversing the wet 
sand. 
I may here be permitted to make one or two remarks of general character in 
conclusion. And first, as to the connection of the thin beds with the more 
common " Ccphalaspis" bed of Forfarshire. Upon this point I would not like 
to speak with anything like dogmatism, but at present 1 hold them to be part 
and parcel of one and the same ; indeed, I met not long ago, in (he Den of 
Cauterlaud, with what seem to be the spines of one of the small fishes in the 
same piece of a stone with Ccphalaspis head and the crushed segment of a 
Pterygotus. 
Secondly, as to the title of the Old Tied Sandstone as a System to an 
established place in the geological scale. Leaving out of view the English 
beds, which I do not know, in Scotland alone we can now affirm the existence 
of a peculiar and I may say extensive fauna and flora at the very commence- 
ment of that period ; and as we ascend we have the well-known unique fishes 
and the recently described vegetation of the middle and upper beds. I do 
hope that you will allow a Scotchman very humbly to speak his mind — that 
English geologists do not take away from us the good old classical name of 
Old Red Sandstone. 
Thirdly, as to the succession of the different strata, or formations rather, of 
which the system of the Old Red Sandstone is composed. On this point I am 
disposed to adhere to the arrangement of Sir Roderick Murchison, adopting as 
the base or lower formation our Scottish beds which contain the Ccphalaspis as 
their characteristic fossils ; as the middle formation, the beds of Cromarty and 
Caithness with their peculiar fossil fishes ; and as the upper formation, the 
beds of Moray, Perth, and Eife, containing the Holoptyehius. 
Two entii-e specimens of fish exhibited by me at the British Association 
Meeting at Aberdeen, last year, were named respectively by Sir P. Egerton 
Acanthudes aidiquus, Brachy acanthus smticjer. — Rev. Hugh Mitchei^l, 
Craig. 
EossiLiFEEOus LOCALITIES IN Malta. — Dear Sie, — I scnd you a short 
account of the best localities for fossUs in Malta and Gozo ; it may be useful 
to some of your numerous readers. 
The upper strata composed of coral-limestone is tolerably fossilifcrous ; the 
