LUBBOCK OK THE ANCIENT SHELL-MOUNDS OF SCOTLAND. 419 
“ tide flowed in and out with a depth and freedom and a breadth of 
“ surface altogether inconsistent with the contracted outlet which 
“ seems to have been the grounds of a contest between Bishop Bar 
“ and the Earl Moray in 1383.” 
The shell-mound in the wood on Brigzes farm, lies exactly on the 
edge of the old Loch margin, and being now several miles from the 
present sea shore, no doubt belongs to the time when Loch Spynie 
was an arm of the sea. 
The mound itself is double, the two portions being, according to 
a measurement made by Dr. Gordon, respectively eighty yards by 
thirty, and twenty-six yards by thirty. The depth of the shelly 
layer varies from about two feet to six inches, and it is covered by 
turf, &c. It is a good deal mixed with black earth and rests on 
sand. Periwinkles and oysters, in nearly equal numbers, form the 
great bulk of the deposit. Oysters are still found apparently on 
the spots w r here they lived, in the bed of the old Loch, and doubtless 
go back to the time when it was freely open to the sea both to the 
east and to the west. The partial closing of the communication 
would render the water too brackish for Oysters, especially if, 
as seems probable, the river Lossie at that time ran into Loch 
Spynie. At present, however, Dr. Gordon tells us that the 
oyster is not to be found on these coasts except in a few sheltered 
spots, as for instance at Cromarty, Altirlie, and Avoch. The oysters 
in the shell-mound are fine specimens. Next to them in point of 
numbers come the cockle (Cardium edule ), which forms perhaps two 
or three per cent of the whole mass, and the muscle (.Mytilus edulis ), 
which seemed to me to be rather less numerous. The other species 
found, though in comparatively small numbers, are the Buccinum un¬ 
datum (whelk), Tapes decussata, T. pullastra, Natica, Patella vulgata, 
Purpura lapillus, Littorina littoralis, Trochus, Anomia, and Serpula. 
One of these (Tapes decussata) is specially interesting. “ Its re- 
“ mains hold the fifth, if not a higher place, in the shell-mound at 
“ Brigzes. It is not now known in the Moray Erith, and the most 
“ northerly locality where it is now found alive is the coast of Car- 
“ narvonshire. It seems to form a striking exception to the rule. 
“ While the other species, that are now extinct on our shores, are 
“ withdrawing to the north, and are found alive only towards the 
“ Arctic Circle, this species, once frequent but not now known with 
“ us, has withdrawn in the opposite direction to a warmer latitude.” 
Dr. Gordon made the above statement as to the present 
geographical range of Tapes decussata, on the authority of Mr. 
^Robert McAndrew, who, in his memoir “ On the geographical 
distribution of Testaceous Mollusca in the North Atlantic and 
neighbouring seas,” gives Carnarvonshire as the northern limit of 
that species on our coasts. On the other hand, it has been found 
by Bean at Scarborough, in Northumberland by Alder, and even in 
Skye and Zetland by E. Eorbes. In the latter case, however, the rather 
N. H. R.—1863. 2 F 
