ERA OF THE OLD RED SANDSTONE- FISHES ABUNDANT. We advance to a new chapter in this marvellous history—the era of the Old Red Sandstone System. This term has been recently applied to a series of strata, of enormous thickness in the whole mass, largely developed in Herefordshire, Shropshire, Wor cestershire, and South Wales; also in the counties of Fife, Forfar, Moray, Cromarty, and Caithness ; and in Russia and North America, if not in many other parts of the world. The particular strata forming the system are somewhat different in dif ferent countries; but there is a general character to the extent of these being a mixture of flagstones, marly rocks, and sandstones, usually of a laminous structure, with conglomerates. There is also a schist shewing the presence of bitumen; a remarkable new ingredient, since it is a vegetable production.
