St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1898-08-13
Discoveries in SCOTLAND.
Specimens of Ccphalaspis Found In
CliR at GalIaRach.

q Cttm at G91AaRacD. #@
The district in and around Oban has
In recent years yielded antiquarian
and geological discoveries of peculiar
scientific value and Importance. In the
course of excavation for building pur-
poses about two years ago large pre-
historic cave, containing collection Of
animal and human remains and several
specimens of beautifully-shaped Inn
plements of stone and bone, was dis
closed in a central part of the town OF
Oban, and more recently find OF con-
siderable interest, il of lesser impor-
tance, was made at Gallanach, the ad-
jainAAg estate of Patten Macdougall.
Il was only the other day that q
aamber Of urns of baked clay were un-
earthed on the borders of the burgh
boundary, and that has now been ,fol>
lowed by fresh discovery, and one
which is believed to be most signifi-
cant OF all. in a rocky cliff on the hill
behind the town. In the month of June
last slight subsidence occurred in the
cliff, and the fallen rocks having come
under the notice Of an officer of the geo.
logical survey, who Is at present en-
gagged mapping the district, and who
came to the conclusion that they con-
tained fossiliferous remains, they were
subjected TO Investigation by special
ist. The surfaces of the rocks bore
well-defned ripple marks and rain pits,
while worm pipes were as discernible
as they are In the sand on the seashore
at the present day. No definite fossil
forms were brought to light, with the
exception that q gray layer OF shale at
the base Of the cliff yielded few frag-
mentary specimens Of cephalaspis.
A A further examination of the rocks,
however, has now been begun, and the
results are already OF the most satis-
factory character. A large number OF
more perfect specimens Of cephalaspis
have been produced, and, though none
of them are complete, they conclusiyely
mark the geological age of the rocks in
which they were embedded. Sir Archi-.
bald Geikie has always believed that
the purple shale and conglomerate
strata Of western Argyleshire belong to
the lower old red sandstone age, and
while he regarded the somewhat in
definite forms discovered in June as
confirming this opinion, the more re-
cent specimens place it beyond doubt.
So far the specimens embrace only the
heads Of cephalaspis, but several OF
them are particularly well defined. In
one case the outlines OF the head are
almost perfectly preserved, and the eyes
are distinct and prominent enough to
look uncanny. Cephalaspis is classified
as one of a peculiar and extremely an
cient breed Of palaeozoic fishes, limited
to the upper silurian and lower old red
sandstone; it belongs to a group of fos-
Sill fishes which are among the very
earliest 10 appear In the geological rec
ord. Though combined TO the lower old
red In Britain. cephalaspis survived up
into upper old red sandstone times In
Canada. The present discovery Is not
only of outstanding Importance geo
logically as fixing the age OF the old
red outlier OF Oban, bat It enables II to
be correlated with the same formation
In other parts 81 Scotland. With the
exception OF some worm trails and
pipes In quartzite discovered and de-
scribed some years ago by the duke OF
Argyle, these older nnetasnorphfc rocks
on which the old red sandstone rests
have never till now yielded any fossils,
and in the absence OF these inValuabla
aids the geologist is largely leftin dark
ness. Hugh Miller has described the
Highlands Ms picture set IN a frame
of cid red sandstone. At Oban the
frame and picture can be seen In con-
tact.-Scotsman.