very rarely met with. By far the most abundant relics are the caudal shields, or pygidia, which are sometimes found two or three lying together on one small piece of shale. The head is of rarer occurrence; it is sometimes found entire, but very frequently disjointed, the glabella, or central part, lying apart from the two lateral cephalic shields. Of entire trilobites I found one very good specimen (in the extended position) at Wilkieston, and two doubled or rolled up (after the manner of certain Oniscide when alarmed). Mr Walker, of the University Museum, St Andrews, showed me also a very good specimen of the entire animal extended, which he obtained at Ladeddie.

III. Note on the Exposure of the Liberton Old Red Sandstone Conglome rate Bed, in a Quarry recently opened near the Grange House, Newington. By ANDREW TAYLOR, Esq.

The existence of the conglomerate, only visible for a few yards at Liberton Brae, and sinking to the E.S.E. at about 35°, was noted, so far back as 1839, by Cunningham, in his prize essay on the Geology of the Lothians. In the excellent descriptive catalogue of the rock specimens in the Jermyn Street Museum, Mr Geikie catalogues this rock as a calcareous conglomerate; being one of the passage beds between the Old Red Sandstone and Lower Carboniferous series; the basis being stated to be a calcareous sand, with the pebbles generally well rounded, and consisting partly of a compact, cherty limestone, partly of different felstones, and sometimes of various gray micaceous grits. The stratigraphical importance of this bed in our local geology has likewise been duly recognised in the recently published geological survey map of the district; in which it has a distinctive colour and boundary assigned to it, which is made to terminate at the margin of the great fault, marked as running from the northern base of the Pentland range to near Wester Duddingston. The strata north of this fault-line, and on which Newington with the rest of the city is built, are, on the other hand, pectorially distinguished as decidedly Lower Carboniferous, and beneath the horizon of the Burdiehouse limestone. In the field to the west of that section of the Lover's Loan which runs past the

Grange House, a quarry has recently been opened, in which a conglomerate, precisely similar in mineral composition to that of Liberton Brae, is disclosed. The bed has been opened at its outcrop with the surface; and this may be traced as an elevated ridge, running nearly in the direction of Professor Syme's villa on the one hand, and Marchbank on the other. The dip of the exposed beds, about 25°, is N.E., similar to that of the Grange Quarry. The mineralogical character of the bed varies very much even in the small space exposed. For while the conglomerate structure is manifest in that part in proximity to Grange House, the exposed beds in the Morningside direction exhibit the appearance of a coarse-grained sandstone, with here and there a pebble interspersed,-in short, very much the structural appearance presented by the lower beds of the old Grange Quarry, situated a short distance above this new one. The exposed beds we are describing are generally very fissile; several vertical dislocations are exhibited; they are five feet in depth, being bounded below by a seam of brownish yellow clay, very similar to that exhibited beneath the greenstone of Salisbury Crags. The direction of this bed, which is generally synchronous with the rest of the Lower Carboniferous series surrounding the city, and its position being considerably beyond the supposed fault, skirting the valley of the Braids, throws great doubt on the stratigraphical importance assigned to the Liberton conglomerate. Both beds evidence a rapid current, carrying with it debris from the outlying flanks of the Braids and the Pentlands; but that they are the passage-beds of one great life system into another, has by no means been proved. The method of seeking the classification of the English carboniferous beds in the Scottish system, neglecting the physical proofs whether such beds really exist, has done much to involve in confusion the physical geography of Britain during the Coal era. The appearance of the Liberton bed at the Grange may be chronicled, then, as one more fact tending towards the conclusions of that increasing class of geologists who hold that the Scottish and Irish carboniferous beds are not on the same geological horizon with those of England, but belong to an

earlier age, which the progress of palæontology may yet demonstrate to have a closer affinity to the Devonian than the true Carboniferous system.

IV. On the Occurrence of the Argentine, Anchovy, and other Fishes, on the Coast of Caithness; with a Note on the Termination of the Vertebral Column in the Tails of the Salmon tribe. By CHARLES W. PEACH, Esq., Wick.

(Muller's Topknot was exhibited, and also specimens of the tails of salmon, smolt, and trout, showing the upward terminal turn of the vertebral column.)

1. Scopelus Humboldtii. (Cuvier.) The Argentine.

A fine specimen of this really handsome little fish was picked up on Shaltigo beach, Wick, on the 15th January last, by Mr William M'Leod, pilot. He had kept it in his pocket for a day or two before giving it to me, and shown it to many as the young of the herring. It is somewhat injured in the fins by the handling, but, on the whole, is in pretty good condition. The spots on the lower part of the body are very distinct; the row above these not so clear; those on the head and gills perfect. Its length about 14 inch, depth nearly half an inch. When examining it to observe the fins, a great deal of oil oozed out of it, covering large spaces on my fingers. In the second edition of Yarrell's "British Fishes," 1851, pp. 161 to 168, I find that it has been taken at Orkney, Firth of Forth, Yorkshire, and Devonshire, also in the Mediterranean; and, although not abundant, it has a wide range. The dates of its capture are recorded in Yarrell,-viz., "Firth of Forth, April 1833; Redcar, May and March 1841;" now, in Caithness in January 1861. Thus it has been taken in the British islands, from midwinter to near midsummer. Mr Couch of Polperro, Cornwall, informs me that he has had four specimens sent him from a gentleman in Somersetshire, which he intends to publish coloured figures of in his new work on the British Fishes, now coming out in numbers.

2. Trachinus Draco. (Linnæus.)

The GREAT WEEVER has been taken off here in the drift

nets during the herring fishing season. I have seen two very fine specimens. This is considered a dangerous fish, and fishermen stung by it have been lamed for life. In some countries there is a law compelling the fishermen to cut off the dorsal fin before bringing them ashore, under pain of a penalty if they neglect doing so.

3. Trachinus Vipera. (Cuvier et Valenciennes.) Lesser Weever. Common in the sand at times at the back of the pier here, and as well in other localities. In Cornwall this is called "a bishop." As people are often stung by these fishes, I hope it will not be considered trifling if I mention an excellent and almost instantaneous remedy for these wounds. Many boys were cured by me in Cornwall when they had caught these Tartars, by applying sweet oil with some laudanum mixed with it. I never knew it to fail. The belief there is, that any one thus wounded will get no relief from the pain and swelling until after the going down of the sun : this remedy has shaken the superstition. I have met with a similar belief in many other places, not only as regards the sting of the weever, but of the bite of snakes.

4. Engraulis Encrasicolus. (Fleming.) The Anchovy.

A fine specimen of this great delicacy was taken off here in a drift-net amongst herrings in August 1860. I am indebted to Mr David Gunn of this place for it. It is common in the Mediterranean, occurs occasionally on the coast of Norway, and in the Baltic, "but is not mentioned by Dr Johnston as having been taken on the coast of Berwickshire, nor does Dr Parnell include it in his fishes of the Forth." This capture adds another locality.

5. Monochirus Linguatulus.* (Cuvier.) The Solenette.

I have taken this pretty little sole out of the stomachs of fishes, both here and at Peterhead. Having often got it from trawl-boats in Cornwall and Suffolk, I am well acquainted with it. To be certain about those got in Scotland, I tested the scales under the microscope before admitting them to my list.

* This fish was added to the list of fishes taken in the Firth of Forth, in the last Report of the Committee on Marine Zoology of the Society.

6. Rhombus Hirtus. (Yarrel.) Muller's Topknot.

I am indebted to my friend Mr Dick for a fine specimen of this curious fish. It was taken in the Pentland Firth off Thurso. The under-side of the specimen is perfectly smooth. It measures 7 inches in length, by 4 inches in its greatest breadth.

7. Orthagoriscus Mola.

(Schneider.) The Short Sun Fish.

8. Lamna Cornubica. (Cuvier.) The Porbeagle.

Seldom a herring fishing passes without specimens of both being captured in the nets, &c. Last year the sun fish was rather abundant. It is often lifted by its fins into boats when basking in the sun.

As it is not my intention now to give a list of all the fishes observed by me on this coast, I shall conclude, by way of tail-piece, with a few words on some of the last joints of the vertebral column of the salmon tribe, for they, like the tail of Luath's dog, have an "upward curl." Some months since I was eating for breakfast a trout, when, to my surprise, I found that it had a crooked tip to its vertebral column. Since then I have found this to be constant in trout of all sizes, whether from rivers, lochs, or the sea; and that salmon, from the smolt to old age, have it also, as may be seen by the tails herewith sent. The three last joints of the vertebral column take a turn towards the edge of the upper lobe of the tail, the tip of the last joint is pointed, and from it a strong cartilaginous cord is continued into the upper lobe, and thus these fishes have a true heterocercal tail. I refrain from further remarks on the other peculiarities connected with these turned-up joints, or offering any comparison with the heterocercal fish of the Old Red Sandstone, being now only concerned for the turn in the recent fish. Not finding any information on the subject in the various works on fishes that I have access to, I forwarded a series of tails to Professor Huxley. I believe he had observed this peculiarity, but had laid it aside: he is now working at it; and although I know that the subject is in excellent hands, I am desirous of laying it before my brother members, in order that, should it already be a wellknown fact, they may instruct me where to search for infor