The Cruise of the Betsey: or, A Summer Ramble Among the Fossiliferous Deposits of the Hebrides. With Rambles of a Geologist or, Ten Thousand Miles Over the Fossiliferous Deposits of ScotlandMiller, Hugh
Philosophy
The Cruise of the Betsey: or, A Summer Ramble Among the Fossiliferous Deposits of the Hebrides. With Rambles of a Geologist or, Ten Thousand Miles Over the Fossiliferous Deposits of Scotland
Miller, Hugh
Geology -- Scotland
I found at Clune no ichthyolite to which the geologists have not been
already introduced, or with which I had not been acquainted previously
in the Cromarty beds. The Lower Old Red of Morayshire furnishes,
however, at least one genus not yet figured nor described, and of which,
so far as I am aware, only a single specimen has yet been found. It
seems to have been a small delicately-formed fish; its head covered with
plates; its body with round scales of a size intermediate between those
of the Osteolepis and Cheiracanthus; its anterior dorsal fin placed, as
in the Dipterus, Diplopterus, and Glyptolepis, directly opposite to its
ventral fins; the enamelled surfaces of the minute scales were fretted
with microscopic undulating ridges, that radiated from the centre to the
circumference; similar furrows traversed the occipital plates; and the
fins, unfurnished with spines, were formed, as in the Dipterus and
Diplopterus, of thick-set, enamelled rays. The posterior fins and tail
of the creature were not preserved. I may mention, for the satisfaction
of the geologist, that I saw this unique fossil in the possession of the
late Lady Cumming of Altyre, a few weeks previous to the lamented death
of her ladyship; and that, on assuring her it was as new in relation to
the Cromarty and Caithness fish-beds as to those of Moray, she intimated
an intention of forthwith sending a drawing of it to Agassiz; but her
untimely decease in all probability interfered with the design, and I
have not since heard of this new genus of ichthyolite, or of her
ladyship's interesting specimen, hitherto apparently its only
representative and memorial. In the Morayshire, as in the Cromarty beds,
the limestone nodules take very generally the form of the fish which
they inclose: they are stone coffins, carefully moulded to express the
outline of the corpses within. Is the fish entire?--the nodule is of a
spindle form, broader at the head and narrower at the tail. Is it
slightly curved, in the attitude of violent death?--the nodule has also
its slight curve. Is it bent round, so that the extremities of the
creature meet?--the nodule, in conformity with the outline, is circular.
Is it disjointed and broken?--the nodule is correspondingly irregular.
In nine cases out of ten, the inclosing coffin, like that of an old
mummy, conforms to the outline of the organism which it incloses. It is
further worthy of remark, too, that a large fish forms generally a
large nodule, and a small fish a small one. Here, for instance, is a
nodule fifteen inches in length, here a nodule of only three inches, and
here a nodule of intermediate size, that measures eight inches. We find
that the large nodule contains a Cheirolepis thirteen inches in length,
the small one a Diplacanthus of but two and a half inches in length, and
the intermediate one a Cheiracanthus of seven inches. The size of the
fish evidently regulated that of the nodule. The coffin is generally as
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