42 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
tiirbed. Tlie fishes on another slab, upwards of fifty, were literally glistening and 
sparkling in their vivid anniture of hones (for the scales of these olden fishes are 
all true hone) ; and one of them in its fidl, pluiiiji, rounded form, looked as 
tempting as any Isaac Walton could desiderate in tlie choicest salmon of our 
modern rivers. This ])eculiarity in the Dura Den fossils is the more remarkable 
and noticeable, because in all our other quarries, as Clashbennie, Parkhill, Coupar- 
Angns, Cn)marty, and elsewhere, their scales are of a dirty chalky whiteness, 
without tint or enamel. Strange, too, that they not only lie here in clusters and 
detached groups, but are confined within the range of a single stratum in at least 
several hundred feet of visit)le rock. No fragment of skeleton, bone, or scale, is 
discoveralile anywhere throughout the mass, save in this one thin division. Specu- 
lation here for the sat-ans who shall meet at Aberdeen next year. What the 
cause of the ]ireservation of the enamel, of its bright tint, and above all, of the 
limitation of the fossil-bed / Many other curious and interesting ques'tions will 
suggest themselves. Some of the slal)S were taken out entire and iml)roken, and 
are now safely deposited in tlie museum-rooms of Dura House ; and the unrivaUed 
collection there brought together, in these and in former researches, vnll hence- 
forth form a suliject for admiration and instruction to the curious and learned in 
geological science. The collection is all the more valuable, from the circumstance 
that the fisli-bed is nearly run out, or thins and dips inconveniently under the 
great mass of sui)erincumbent rock. The specimens obtained consist of several 
species of Holopli/chius, Dipferus, Plati/i/nathus, and the Glypiicus Dalgleisianus 
(named in honour of the Dalgleish family, at the British Association in Edinburgh, 
18.50). A splendid specimen has been forwarded to Sir Roderick Murchison for 
the Museum of Economic Geology ; and it is to be hoped that the noble collection 
at Dura House, unsurpassed in richness, variety, and preservation, will find its 
way to some national depository of Science as a memorial of the finest fossil-ground 
of the true Scottish Old Red Sandstone. 
Anonymous Communication.s.— " With respect to the ' Notes and Queries' in 
the Geologist, I would sugge.st, that, considering the subjects and object of that 
division of your valuable magazine, it would be very desirable for writers to give 
their names and addresses in fidl. — I remain, dear Sir, yours truly, J. E. Wake- 
field, Highgate." 
Crustaceans of Old Red Sandstone. — " Sir, — ^One of the strata of this 
neighbom'hood, apparently the basis of the Old Red Sandstone, is charged with 
al)undant remains of tlie Pterygotus, or allied Crustaceans. Unfortunately, when 
entombed, the remains must liave been in a fragmentary state, although they are, 
or at least then impressions, now beautifully preserved in the stone. I have once 
met with a nearly complete specimen, about a foot in length, but in every other 
instance portions only of these creatures have been found — such as the rings of the 
abdomen, the jaw-feet, ami in one instance the i)rehensile limb. The scidpturing 
of the rings is often very distinct, but puzzling from its intricacy. I trust this 
note will lie inserted in your valuable magazine, and will catch the eye of some 
e.xperienced paleontologist, who may kindly tell us if the difi^erent species are to be 
disting-uislied by their ornamentation, or if this merely varies in the same species 
according to its period of growth ; or, perhaps — for this explanation has also 
suggested itself— if the different chvisions of tlie body, such as the thorax, seg- 
ments, and limbs, are likely to be variously sculptured. Far as we are here from 
all sources of information and comparison wdth specimens in museums, you will 
readily understand how valuable some hints on this matter would be. — Yours 
truly, II. M., Craig, Montrose." 
R. A. C. Trino. — The specimen received is Corhula fjlohosa, from a septarium of 
the London Clay. 
E. St. Aubyn. — The fragment of a fossil received, belonged to a large bivalve- 
shell of the Ujjper Chalk, the Inoceramus Cuvieri. The specimens of this species, 
from their large size, and comparative thinness of shell, were particularly liable to 
be broken up ; and are everywhere found in the state of fragments, as noticed by 
our corresiiomlent. 
Live Froos. — " Sir, — I observe, in yonr August number of the Geologist, 
the publication of my communication about the Dumlonald Frog, and your 
