Notice of Reptilian Fossils, Morayshire. 
155 
with that forming the wall of the duct, and that the cavity of 
the one is continuous with that of the other. 
In this communication I have avoided the use of the term 
acini, as it has been employed by different observers to express 
different structures, so that its use is liable to lead to confusion 
of ideas ; some applying the term to express the ultimate 
lobules of the gland, whilst by others it is used to signify the 
ultimate follicles of these lobules, 
II. Notice of Reptilian Fossils, Morayshire. By William Rhind, Esq. 
The specimens which Mr Rhind exhibited of reptilian remains from the 
sandstone of Moray were contributed by Patrick Duif, Esq. It is now 
about a quarter of a century since the late lamented President of this 
Society, Professor Fleming, first detected an organism in the Old Red 
Sandstone of Scotland. It was but a minute fragment of a fish scale, yet 
it had the effect of awakening an interest for, and stimulating a research 
into, those beds of sandstone which skirt almost the whole of the Scottish 
shores to the north of the Firth of Forth, and which hitherto had been 
looked upon as destitute of organic remains. A few years after this dis- 
covery, Mr Duff began his researches in Morayshire, with an enthusiasm 
and perseverance which have seldom been equalled. He soon found 
that the sandstones of Moray teemed with organic remains, as well as 
these of the opposite shores of Cromarty, which were at the same period 
under the scrutiny of Mr Hugh Miller. From that time Mr Duff 
has formed the nucleus round which the researches of other scientific 
men and the casual discoveries of the workmen in the various quarries 
have centred, so that a most varied and interesting assortment of specimens 
have been accumulated. As long as the organisms brought to light par- 
took of the character, or were supposed to do so, of fishes, no doubts re- 
mained that the sandstones of Moray, under the several modifications of 
colour and position, belonged to the Devonian era ; but subsequently, when 
organisms of a higher order made their appearance, assuming the distinct 
forms of reptiles of various families and sizes, a doubt began to arise 
whether the fish-bearing and the reptile-producing strata belonged to the 
same series. This questio vexata still prevails ; and Mr Rhind, assuming 
that the decision is still left open, proceeded to exhibit by a section the 
relative positions of the sandstone beds, in so far as these are open to 
inspection. The general conformity of the lowest red, the greyish, and 
the yellow sandstones, — the parallelism of the dip of these three beds 
of strata, and the superposition of a band of limestone or cornstone com- 
mencing south of Elgin, and seen v/ith more or less interruption at Links- 
field, Spynie, and Stotfield, capping and inclosing the whole series, were 
pointed out; while the absence of scales of the distinctive fishes of the 
Devonian era in the particular localities where the reptilian remains have 
been discovered was also mentioned, — an absence which probably m.^y 
arise from as yet defective search, considering that the accidental disinter- 
ment of the reptiles has occurred within the short space of a few years, 
and that another few years may either add the discovery of fish scales, 
or, if not found, afford a somewhat negative proof of the non- identity of 
the yellow sandstones with the Devonian. It was also suggested that the 
appearance of the vast masses of compact sandstone forming the hills 
