XXIV PROCEEDINGS-PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
than Sir Archibald himself to see the mists gradually recede from 
these ancient fastnesses that have so long concealed the secret of 
their origin, and to be able to dispense with all provisional arrange¬ 
ments. The key that has been so long and so painfully sought for is, 
of course, that of organic remains. Hitherto the prospect of finding 
these, even if they ever existed, seemed remote, owing to the great 
alteration which most of the rocks have undergone. Now, however, 
the microscope has revealed their presence where they would be 
least obvious at first sight, and yet where they would have the best 
chance of being preserved, namely, in certain bands of hard siliceous 
chert which occur along the lower flanks of the Grampians. In this 
chert Mr. Peach has detected certain species of Rcidiolciria , a group 
of microscopic marine animals, whose flinty skeletons would be prac¬ 
tically indestructible when once entombed. These Radiolaria cor¬ 
respond with similar remains found in the cherts of the Arenig group, 
the lowest member of the Silurian system, so that it seems as if we 
must once again assign at least some of the crystalline rocks of the 
Grampian Highlands to Silurian age. In the meantime we may 
hope that the investigations being carried on by the officers of the 
Geological Survey will throw still further light on this most interesting 
problem.* 
AUDUBON. 
Last winter, when Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, of the Natural History 
Department of the British Museum, came to Perth to deliver his 
lecture on “ Curiosities of Bird Life,” he seemed much interested to 
learn that my father had been acquainted with Audubon, the great 
American Ornithologist, and expressed a strong desire that he should 
place on record some personal reminiscences of that remarkable man. 
During my recent visit to America more than one naturalist to whom 
I mentioned the fact expressed the same desire, remarking that there 
were few men now living who were able to supply information regard¬ 
ing Audubon from personal experience. Special interest had been 
aroused in his career from the fact that only last summer America 
had paid a long-delayed tribute to his memory in the form of a fine 
monument, erected in Trinity Church Cemetery, New York. 
My father has recently complied with Dr. Sharpe's request, and 
I have thought that it might not be out of place to bring his remini¬ 
scences before the Society this evening. I shall therefore, with your 
permission, now read his notes as they stand, and aftewards supple¬ 
ment them with a very brief biographical sketch which I have pre¬ 
pared from one or two memoirs I obtained when in America, in 
order to bring the story of Audubon’s life up to the point when my 
father first made his acquaintance. 
Personal Reminiscences of Audubon. 
By Mr. Andrew Coates. 
“It was, so far as I recollect, in the spring of 1843 that, on the 
invitation of a friend, I paid a visit to the family of Mr. Audubon, 
* See Sir A. Geikie’s Textbook of Geology, 3rd ed. (ist Aug., 1893), 
p. 627, note 3. 
