PROCKKDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 
43 
reraai-ks on the subject. Tlie solution you give is just what I expected, and was 
prepared for ; but even witli it I think some other questions arise, which I trouble 
ydu with, as they strike me as important. Before however doing so, I may 
dcscriiie, to tlie best of my ability, tlie rock, of which I now have a specimen. It 
is a conglomeratic sandy mass, abounding in fossil remains of vegetable matter, 
and very hard. The frog, which I think I did not describe previously, is small 
ancl attenuated. The head is about double the size of the body, and lias a beard 
attached. The eyes are large, and mouth also considerable. It is unlike any frog 
I have ever seen ; but perhajis its deformity may be accoinited for by the i'act of 
its being cooped up in such a confined space, and being denied fresh food and air, 
as would have allowed it to increase in size, and assume its natural dimensions. 
1st. Accejjting, then, yom- assurance that it was a recent one,— by which I pre- 
sume' you mean of exist inrj species, can any probable guess be made as to its 
longevity, or how long it has been tlie tenant of the domicile it was found in ( 
2d. How long could it have continued to live where it was / I think this 
question, with the former, bears much upon the subject ; because, if it could have 
existed 100, 50, or even 10 years in such a cavity, what in all the world is there 
to prevent it doing so for ' myriads of years,' which you consider not only im- 
probable, but almost impossible I 
3d. If the frog was at all increasing in size (for I presume that, if it was 
generated in the cavity, it was growing hourly), when it became too large for the 
cavity, woidd it have become a part of the stratum, and appeared as a fossil I 
4th. The rock is to all appearance quite solid ; and, sui)posing that had a prac- 
tised and experienced geologist, on examination of the spot where the frog was 
found, iironounced it free from ' cutters,' or such fissures as could have admitted 
spawn or air, would such a stratum be sufticiently i)orous to admit water enough 
to give the animal such a continuous supply of fresh oxygen, as was necessary 
for its existence ; or did it exist on the oxygen in the cavity alone ? 
5th. Does not a perpetual change go on in all strata i and, as ye;irs roll on, 
would not the cavity have become virtually hermetically sealed ? and, if so, would 
the frog have continued in life ^ 
6th. Why, when it breathed atmospheric air, did it die at once I 
7th. Where and how was the cavity first formed, and was it probably larger at 
first? 
Hoping you will excuse these queries, — Your obedient Servant, R. Wardlaw 
Ramsey, Wliitehill, 16th November, 1S58." 
PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICxVL SOCIETIES. 
Geological Society of Loxdon, December 1st, IS.'iS.— The following commu- 
nication was read : — 
" On the Geological Stnicture of the North of Scotland and the Orkney and 
Shetland Islands." Part II. By Sir R. I. Murchison, F.R.S., V.P.G.S. 
In a paper read during the last Session (see "Abstracts," No. 10), the author 
described the general succession of rocks in the Northern Highlands, as observed 
by Mr. Peach and himself, aided by the researches of some other geologists. 
The rocks were described in their ascending order, as fu'st, a fundamental gneiss 
traversed by granite-veins at Cape Wrath ; secondly, a red or chocolate-coloured 
sandstone and conglomerate, of great thickness, and regarded by the author as of 
Cambrian age ; thirdly, succeeding uiicoiiformably, is a series of quartzite, with 
intercalated limestone, both of them often highly crystalline,— from the limestone 
Mr. C. Peach had succeeded in obtaining " near Diirness," several fossils, shown 
to be of Lower Silurian age ; fourthly, micaceous schists and flagstones occupying 
a wide extent of country to the east of Loch Eriboll, described as being of younger 
age than the foregoing, and older than the Old Red Sandstone series which 
