384 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
ings, were some time ago saved from destruction by the care of the Rev. Hugh 
Mitchell, from a road then in the course of being made in the vQlage of rerryden 
in Forfarshire. These grits, or their representatives, pass upwards into an enor- 
mously developed conglomerate, c, immediately east of the line of section. The 
Eenalla range of hills is abnost entirely composed of this ; and to the south it is 
again upheaved in very great mass in the Garvock range, where, however, it is 
considerably broken up by igneous irruptions. The grey, flaggy beds, with their 
shales and thin-bedded flagstones, b, from which the Arbroath pavement has 
been so largly obtained, are intercalated in the lower portions of this conglo- 
merate ; and although not so largely developed in the conglomerates of 
Kincardineshire as in that of the county of Forfar, yet these flaggy beds are 
not unrepresented there ; the fossiliferous deposits of Cauterland Den, which 
the Rev. Hugh Mitchell's explorations have made so well known, belong to 
these beds : they are also found in the rocks in the bay of Stonehaven, where 
I have dug out pieces of shale similar to that of Cauterland Den, with Parka 
decipiens, &c., here, however, tliey are only to be reached at low water. Those 
beds are particularly interestnig as the only part of either the Kincardineshire 
or Forfarshire rocks that have proved undoubtedly, in some instances, richly 
fossiliferous — to them belong the FarneU shales, with their beautifully preserved 
small ganoid and other fishes, Crustacea, &c. The Yealing and Sidlaw shales, 
which Mr. AY. McXicoU's acute rese arches have proved to be almost equally rich 
in ichthyic remains, the LeysmUl flagstones, with their unequalled specimens 
of Cephalaspis, the Carmyllie Quarries from which the finest of all the specimens 
of Fterygotus Anglicus has been obtained, all form part of these intercalated 
flagstones and shales. The conglomerate is again overlaid by, or rather passes 
into,, reddish, generally highly micaceous sandstones, d, from which occasional 
specimens of Cephalaspis may be obtained ; and these again by dull coloured 
deep red sandstones and shales, e, whose disintegration has again given the 
peculiarly red colour to the soil of that part of Kincardineshire known as the 
" How of the Mearns." These formations are by no means of an uniform depth, 
but may in all reach a thickness of not less than three thousand feet. 
In concluding this short sketch of the Old Red Sandstones of Kincardine- 
shire, I would point out a few of the localities where, these may be most 
profitably examined. First in importance is the section by the coast ; the 
well-defined strata in Stonehaven Bay, in almost every instance dipping at 
nearly right angles from the coast, contain a record not even easily read. To 
the south the true position of the conglomerate, as exposed in the cliffs along 
by that fine old ruin, Dunnoton Castle, is perhaps more difficult to ascertain — 
every ravine and rivulet along the coast would therefore ^equii'c carefully to be. 
followed up, and wherever the rock may be exposed, its character, position, 
and dip, if this can be observed, carefully taken down. The bed of the Carron 
ought fully to be explored, and none of its small tributaries left unvisited, — the 
railway-cuttings afford several fine sections. Following the coast-line to the 
south-west, the bed of the stream falling into the sea, near by Katterline 
Harbour, may contain much valuable information ; and lastly, the Bervie M ater, 
although affording no continuous section, shows the whole series in detached 
portions. All quarries should be visited, the sandstones and shales fully exa 
mined, and, above all, the workmen encouraged to preserve any curious looking 
markings that may be found. 
To the mere fossil-coUector the Forfarshire and Kincardineshire rocks offer 
an uninviting field, and many an hour's hard work will often yield barely a 
recognizable organism ; but to the true geologist, an abundant return of pro- 
fitable information may be found in studying the nature, sequence, and relation 
of these rocks as they are exhibited in the bold cliffs and picturesque ravines 
along the coast. — Yours, &c., J. Powme. 
