Obituary Notices, 
XXXI 
1860. His first paper is singularly free from the defects which gene- 
rally characterise first attempts in the literature of any branch of 
science. It is entitled, “Notes on the Mountain Limestone and 
Lower Carboniferous Eocks of the Fifeshire Coast from Burntisland 
to St Andrews.” This paper was read in April 1860, and printed in 
volume xxii. of the Transactions. Mr Brown had gone to Elie in 
the autumn of 1856 for a few weeks’ rest, and, he says, was induced 
to pay some attention to the geology of the district, resuming, for 
a brief interval, what was once a favourite pursuit. His ever active 
habit of the eye had its reward. A thin bed of limestone, dipping 
inland from the shore, caught his attention. Ichthyolite, molluscan, 
and crustacean remains were found in it, and as some of these were 
well-known Irish forms, they raised the question, — May not this 
bed of limestone synchronise with the Irish series in which these 
forms occur ? Mr Brown felt he had broken new ground here, be- 
cause neither McLaren, nor Landale, nor Anderson, who had worked 
much in the neighbourhood, had referred to it. He resolved, in 
the face of many difficulties, to work it out, and for several years 
devoted his autumn leisure to this. He succeeded, both from the 
stratigraphical and palseontological points of view. 
1863. “On a Clay Deposit, with Fossil Arctic Shells, recently 
observed in the Basin of the Forth.” This bed of clay was dis- 
covered, and the attention of geologists first called to it, by Mr 
Brown. It was specially interesting to him at the time as, be 
thought, indicating the former existence in Scotland of an Arctic 
climate — the shells found in it being for the most part exclusively 
Arctic, and several of them new to British glacial deposits. He 
believed, moreover, that the stratigraphical position of this bed 
warranted the inference of a considerable rise throughout the whole 
seaboard of the Forth. 
1864. “Notice of Glacial Clay, with Arctic Shells, near Errol, on 
the Tay.” The shells in the Errol brick-clay were found to be 
identical with those at Elie. The area within which these shells 
occur thus became greatly enlarged, and, as he thought, it also 
favoured his theory touching the rise of the land. 
1874. “On the Parallel Eoads of Glenroy,” Lochaber. The 
subject has proved a tempting one to students of quaternary 
deposits. The theories of their formation were mainly three; — (1) 
VOL. XX. 2 0 
