in the several editions of Sir Charles Lyell's ' Manual of Geology,' and of Sir Roderick Murchison's ' Siluria.'
In 1863 the Old Red Sandstone theory appeared to receive some support from the discovery of footprints in the sandstones of the Tarbet Ness promontory by the Rev. Geo. Campbell and the Rev. J. M. Joass ; and in the following year Professor Harkness, while admitting that the sections of Sir Roderick Murchison across Elginshire could not be maintained, and that the country was certainly traversed by great faults, yet argued that, nevertheless, the stratigraphical evidence was in favour of our regarding the Reptiliferous sandstone as belonging to the Old Red.
Professor Huxley's new and detailed account of Telerpeton in 1867 was followed in 1869 by the description of Hyperodapedon Gordoni ; and in this latter memoir it was shown that the same genus occurs in the Trias of Warwickshire, Devonshire, and India. This discovery was admitted by Sir Roderick Murchison and most other geologists to be conclusive as to the Triassic age of the beds.
While the attention of geologists was concentrated on the Reptiliferous sandstones, but little fresh light was thrown on the other Secondary deposits of the east coast of Scotland. Mr. C. Moore, in 1859, published his reasons for considering the strata at Linksfield of Rhaetic age ; which view was supported by Professor Rupert Jones on a study of some of the fossils. The Rev. W. Symonds stated in 1860 that a collection of Eathie and Shandwick fossils, on being submitted to some able Cotteswold palaeontologists, were pronounced by them to be of Upper Oolite and not of Liassic age. Hugh Miller had already suggested that part of these strata were probably Oolitic, while Professor Phillips in 1870 stated that his examination of Lieut. Patterson's collection led him to infer that they belonged to the Oxfordian*. Dr. Gordon, in 1863, published some notes on the physical relations of the secondary strata in Ross and Sutherland ; and in his most valuable work the ' Scenery of Scotland,' Prof. Geikie in 1865 added some important observations on the same subject.
In making a general reexamination of the Secondary deposits in the east of Scotland, some facilities have fortunately been afforded to me which were not within the reach of previous observers. Thus the new railway which passes along the east coast of Sutherland has yielded several new and interesting sections in the various cuttings ; while the coal-strata, which had remained undisturbed for 44 years, were during the time of my visit again opened up to observation at several points.
By the establishment at Dunrobin of a Museum illustrative of the
- Professor Phillips has recently furnished me with on extract from his notebook, which shows that the inspection of Lieut. Patterson's collection in 1866
convinced him that the beds at Eathie and Shandwick belonged to two different horizons, and that the peculiar long Belemnites were found only at the former place. Unfortunately, some specimens with a wrong locality affixed to them, afterwards came into the Professor's possession, and led to the less precise statements in his account of these Belemnites in the memoir.
