Lyall Anderson - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Books by Lyall Anderson

Tennyson and the Geologists Part 1: The Early Years and Charles Peach. 2015. Tennyson Research Bulletin, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 340 -356.

Silurian Fossils of the Pentland Hills, Scotland

A Voyage round the World: Charles Darwin and the Beagle Collections in the University of Cambridge by Dr Alison M. Pearn

"Contributed essays on: 1. The Sedgwick Museum: Darwin's geological specimens 2. Darwin's obs... more "Contributed essays on:

1. The Sedgwick Museum: Darwin's geological specimens
2. Darwin's observations on the St. Paul's rocks and their modern interpretation
3. Fossil trees: Darwin's observations on geographical distribution on either side of the Cordillera"

Papers by Lyall Anderson

Archives and Records Association (ARA), Mar 2012

Fossil Trees: Darwin's observations on geographical distribution on either side of the Cordillera

Using fossils as historical records of collectors: Charles W. Peach

Charles W. Peach [1800–1886] retired from the Customs service and moved south from Wick to Edinbu... more Charles W. Peach [1800–1886] retired from the Customs service and moved south from Wick to Edinburgh in 1865. This provided him with new opportunities for fossil collecting and scientific networking. Here he renewed and maintained his interest in natural history and made significant palaeobotanical collections from the Carboniferous of the Midland Valley of Scotland. Many of Peach’s fossils have not only the locality detail, but the date, month and year of collection neatly handwritten on attached paper labels; as a result we can follow Peach’s collecting activities over a period of 18 years or so. Comments and even illustrative sketches on his labels give us first hand insight into his observations. Novel presentation techniques included the preparation of the palaeobotanical equivalent of herbarium sheets. Peach also ground and prepared his own microscope sections of permineralised plant tissue using whatever materials he had to hand at the time. Study of these collections, now he...

The Sedgwick Museum: Darwin's geological collections

K. Thomson 2008. The Legacy of the Mastodon. The Golden Age of Fossils in America. xvii + 386 pp. New Haven, London: Yale University Press. Price £22.50 (hard covers). ISBN 9780 300 11704 2

Geological Magazine, 2009

Additional Information on Charles W. peach (1800 - 1886). 2015. Geological Curator vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 159 -180.

The North West Geologist, Issue 19, pp.6 -16., Dec 2014

Before the Scottish Survey: Alfred Harker the Geologist

Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Jul 8, 2014

The archival papers of the eminent petrologist Alfred Harker span his entire geological career of... more The archival papers of the eminent petrologist Alfred Harker span his entire geological career of over 60 years. These are held by the Archive of the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences (University of Cambridge). Harker was associated with the Department of Geology, the Woodwardian Museum and post-1904, the
Sedgwick Memorial Museum. Importantly, his meticulously labelled notebooks provide an unprecedented insight into his development as a field and laboratory scientist. They chart Harker’s beginnings as a fossil collector and observer of sedimentary stratigraphy on the North Yorkshire coast, his trips to Wales and Devon with the Sedgwick Club, and his later work in the English Lake District with his friend and colleague John. E. Marr. This paper examines in particular Harker’s suite of 20 notebooks kept up until 1894, including his trip to Edinburgh in August 1892. This visit introduced the young scientist to the geology of Scotland for the first time. An overview of Harker’s experience and contemporary contacts suggests some reasons why Sir Archibald Geikie later invited him to join the Scottish Survey staff in 1895.

The Geological Curator, Dec 2013

"Assistive technology developed for blind and partially sighted people can find wider application... more "Assistive technology developed for blind and partially sighted people can find wider application in the museum workplace. Ease of operation, combined with high levels of potential magnification and object sympathetic light sources add to the utility of desktop video magnifiers. As well as assisting in day to day paper-based office tasks, the magnifier finds application in various archival tasks and collections-based work. This equipment enhances the visitor experience of looking at archival material, both for the visually impaired and the general visitor. In particular, it helps with the study of smaller documents and photographs. It also assists in the examination of old handwriting, and in particular hand written ink script which has begun to fade
with time."""

Proceedings of the Geologists' Association

Journal of Paleontology

A new synziphosurine (Chelicerata:Xiphosura) is described from the Late Llandovery (Silurian) Kon... more A new synziphosurine (Chelicerata:Xiphosura) is described from the Late Llandovery (Silurian) Konservat-Lagerstätte of Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA. Venustulus waukeshaensis n.gen. and sp. is characterized by a semicircular carapace with a slightly procurved posterior margin lacking genal spines and an opisthosoma composed of 10 freely articulating segments, divided into a preabdomen of seven segments with blunt pleurae and a postabdomen of three segments lacking pleurae. The tail spine is short and styliform. This is the earliest known unequivocal synziphosurine, extending their fossil record from the Wenlock to the Llandovery, and only the second species to be described with prosomal appendages; the presence of six pairs (a pair of chelicerae and five pairs of walking legs) contrasts with the seven in the synziphosurine Weinbergina opitzi, but is comparable to the number in modern horseshoe crabs. V. waukeshaensis n. gen. and sp. is not assigned to a family here pending a wider revision, but it bears most resemblance to the Weinberginidae.

Journal of The Geological Society, 2002

The drilling of nine cored boreholes, including a deep hole (233 m) to a gabbroic basement, in th... more The drilling of nine cored boreholes, including a deep hole (233 m) to a gabbroic basement, in the vicinity of the Rhynie chert locality has resulted in a major revision of the structure and stratigraphy of the area. The main new structural element recognized is a low angle extensional fault system which defines the western edge of a half graben containing the Early Devonian succession. The fault system was the main conduit for the fluids that fed the hot springs, and a heat source to the southeast of Rhynie is indicated. Rapid and unexpected lateral and vertical variations in lithology, together with new lithological units, have been identified. The latter include a thick unit of intensely altered lapilli tuffs which are unique to the Rhynie basin and to other Devonian basins in NE Scotland. Analysis of these lithologies in conjunction with the new structural model allows the succession at Rhynie to be correlated with the succession in the rest of the basin and a model of basin evolution and hot spring development to be constructed.

Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh-earth Sciences, 2003

The Silurian arthropod Bembicosoma pomphicus Laurie, 1899 is re-studied in relation to other Pala... more The Silurian arthropod Bembicosoma pomphicus Laurie, 1899 is re-studied in relation to other Palaeozoic chelicerate taxa. All three known specimens of Bembicosoma originate from the Silurian (late Llandovery) Eurypterid Bed of the Gutterford Burn Flagstones, Reservoir Formation, Pentland Hills, Scotland. Bembicosoma is removed from its previous tentative assignment to Eurypterida and re-assigned to Xiphosura. A morphological reconstruction of this taxon is presented for the first time. This work continues a reappraisal of the systematics of a number of taxa that belong within the synziphosurines, a loose grouping of early Palaeozoic chelicerate arthropods aligned with the Xiphosura (horseshoe crabs), but which have been mistakenly identified as eurypterids in the past. Bembicosoma is significant as it is one of the earliest known synziphosurines.

The Whewell mineral gallery got some special treatment with all minerals taken out and individual... more The Whewell mineral gallery got some special treatment with all minerals taken out and individually cleaned. You will all know how many objects exist in the Sedgwick so this was quite a task!

The archival paper collections of the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, (University of Cambridge... more The archival paper collections of the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, (University of Cambridge) have been the subject of recent cataloguing efforts (2010 – 2012). Within the Archive are 19 notebooks which formerly belonged to Edward B. Tawney (1840 – 1882). These span Tawney’s early field investigations of the south-west of England, his work at the Museum in Bristol, and his time in Cambridge up until his death in 1882. Distinctive printed paper labels accompany Tawney’s personal fossil collection, now also incorporated into the Sedgwick Museum. Furthermore, some rock slices (thin sections) prepared for Tawney have been identified. Their later treatment in the collection catalogues of the petrologist Alfred Harker provided information on the beginnings of the building of the Petrological Collection at Cambridge. This paper lists the holdings of Tawney’s notebooks in the Archive, identifies fossil collections attributed to him and augments our scant knowledge of this important early geological curator.

Tennyson and the Geologists Part 1: The Early Years and Charles Peach. 2015. Tennyson Research Bulletin, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 340 -356.

Silurian Fossils of the Pentland Hills, Scotland

A Voyage round the World: Charles Darwin and the Beagle Collections in the University of Cambridge by Dr Alison M. Pearn

"Contributed essays on: 1. The Sedgwick Museum: Darwin's geological specimens 2. Darwin's obs... more "Contributed essays on:

Archives and Records Association (ARA), Mar 2012

Fossil Trees: Darwin's observations on geographical distribution on either side of the Cordillera

Using fossils as historical records of collectors: Charles W. Peach

The Sedgwick Museum: Darwin's geological collections

K. Thomson 2008. The Legacy of the Mastodon. The Golden Age of Fossils in America. xvii + 386 pp. New Haven, London: Yale University Press. Price £22.50 (hard covers). ISBN 9780 300 11704 2

Geological Magazine, 2009

Additional Information on Charles W. peach (1800 - 1886). 2015. Geological Curator vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 159 -180.

The North West Geologist, Issue 19, pp.6 -16., Dec 2014

Before the Scottish Survey: Alfred Harker the Geologist

Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Jul 8, 2014

The Geological Curator, Dec 2013

Proceedings of the Geologists' Association

Journal of Paleontology

Journal of The Geological Society, 2002

Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh-earth Sciences, 2003

A new cladoceran crustacean, Ebullitiocaris elatus sp. nov. is described from the Carboniferous. ... more A new cladoceran crustacean, Ebullitiocaris elatus sp. nov. is described from the Carboniferous. This unusual occurrence originates from an ex situ chert-mineralised cobble collected from beach shingle at Sandsend, Whitby, North Yorkshire. Previous biostratigraphic analysis of the micro- and megaspores from fertile plant remains associated with E. elatus restricts the fossils to an Early Mississippian to Middle Pennsylvanian age. The fossil cladocerans occur individually and in clusters and consist of a thin, oval carapace, elliptical in longitudinal section, bilaterally symmetrical, with an anterior cavity. The head overlaps the anterior cavity and is external to the carapace. Soft tissues preserved within the anterior cavity include thin, delicate thoracic appendages within the carapace and paired second antennae that extend anteriorly from the dorsal carapace cavity. These have at least six branches with segmented hair-like protrusions. The head bears a single oval compound eye with a vertically orientated long axis. A cladoceran identity is demonstrated by the univalve carapace and external head that differentiates it from the Ostracoda and Conchostraca. This is only the second record of a Palaeozoic fossil cladoceran, both recognised from sites of exceptional preservation in wetland ecosystems where they constitute an important faunal element. E. elatus is significant as it documents additional diversity during the early evolutionary history of the Cladocera, but also confirms morphological stasis within the group, sharing many of its characteristics with extant Cladocera adapted to algal grazing in freshwater habitats.

It is a matter of fact that the bicentenary of Charles R. Darwin’s birth produced a surge in rela... more It is a matter of fact that the bicentenary of Charles R. Darwin’s
birth produced a surge in related books, historical research,
museum exhibitions and Darwinalia during 2009. Indeed,
publishing ‘Origin of Species’ in his fiftieth year also provides us
an additional excuse every fifty years to celebrate Darwin’s life,
works and contribution to scientific thought. With this currently
considered title, J. F. Derry has added a useful contribution,
setting the scene as he does for the understanding of just how
influential the city of Edinburgh was to the Pre-Cantabridgian
student. Derry’s book examines in close detail the contribution
that the Scottish physical and intellectual landscape made to
Darwin’s development as a theoriser grounded in the collection
and compilation of facts. In preparation for writing this review, I revisited Origin of Species to refresh my own memory as tojust what Darwin actually said, and not what he was reported to, or has since been interpreted to have said. This proved to be a valuable reminder, made more accessible by the use of electronic
book formats and ‘text to speech’ software (Origin and many of Darwin’s other works are now freely downloadable as ‘Classics’). I happily discovered that Derry remained true to the original source.
Darwin in Scotland does not follow a strict chronological order of the man’s life. This is a refreshing change to how ‘things Darwin’ normally appear – usually inspired by his own voluminous archive of
dated letters, notebooks, collection catalogues and published works.
The first eight chapters relate to Darwin, Edinburgh and his subsequent travels and researches until his death in 1882. The next four examine various evolutionary processes, some of which don’t
appear to fit comfortably within Darwin’s original outline of Descent with Modification. Chapters 13 to 17 are concerned very much with the Religion and Science debate which for some demands
conflict, others acceptance and still others partition and isolation. With titles such as ‘Creationism’, ‘The Dissent of Man’ and ‘Intelligent Design’, the reader is left in no doubt as to what content is
discussed therein. Each of the 17 chapters is preceded by a choice quotation from the Scots poet Robert (‘Rabbie’) Burns (1759–1796) – ‘choice’ in that they demonstrate that something can always be found to quote in support of one’s arguments, a theme exhaustively explored later in the thirteenth chapter.Darwin in Scotland begins with an initial examination of the cultural and intellectual climate that
had developed in Scotland during a period referred to as the ‘Scottish Enlightenment’ (which took place in the latter half of the 18th Century). Firmly grounded in concerns of moral philosophy
and coupled with a national programme of public education, the country was developing on the REVIEWS Newsletter 77 69
international stage. Moral philosophers such as David Hume (1711–1766) traced their lineages of thought back to the empiricism of the Ancient Greek practitioners. This proved key to the
methodology that Darwin subsequently put into practice in his scientific life.
Derry makes the interesting point that Edinburgh had become an important focus for medical training at the time, as it was a city that possessed both a teaching university for theoretical
concerns and an adjacent hospital for more practical learning. This explains the family tradition of the Darwin males attending medical school there, starting with Charles’ grandfather Erasmus
and followed by his father and contemporaneously his elder brother. The family’s non-conformist Unitarian faith provided another reason why Edinburgh with its more ‘free-thinking’ environment
was favoured over the Anglican C urch’s stranglehold of the English universities of the time.

In Chapter 2 (Darwin’s Scottish Enlightenment), two full plates of black and white images illustrate
some key architectural scenes and figures from Edinburgh. Surprisingly though, there is little
illustrating the striking Carboniferous volcanic topography which shaped the layout and constraints of
the city. What influence did the vistas of the Firth of Forth have on Darwin’s later ‘Volcanic Islands’?
Chapter 3 (Mendelian Ratios) initiates the format adopted throughout the rest of the book. Namely,
Derry introduces a topic, then quotes verbatim interviews he held with academics associated with
the University of Edinburgh or other leading figures in the topical debates. In this instance, the
broadcaster and animal behaviourist Prof. Aubrey Manning provides a personal account of how
Darwin has influenced his research and work.
The Burns quotation ‘Lord grant that thou may ay inherit’ opens the fourth chapter concerned with
the modern evolutionary synthesis. Here Derry interviews Nick Barton who emphasises Darwin’s
importance to evolutionary biology more so perhaps than Mendel and the DNA duo of Watson
and Crick.
Chapter 5 (Scottish Geology) explores how Darwin’s comprehension of ‘Deep Time’ arose entirely
from his Edinburgh experiences. James Hutton and his school of plutonic rock formation thought
had influenced Hope, Darwin’s lecturer in Chemistry. Countering this was Darwin’s interaction
with Robert Jameson’s Wernerian-flavoured lectures and field classes undertaken during his second
year in the city. Much later and after the publication of Origin, when Lord Kelvin argued for a
younger age of the Earth based on cooling rates, it was another Scot, James Croll (1821–1890), who
defended Darwin.
The sixth chapter is an examination of Darwin’s return to Scotland to decipher the parallel roads of
Glen Roy, influenced by his having encountered similar phenomena on the hills above the coastline
of Chile. In South America, Darwin had interpreted the presence of ‘upraised shells’ (mainly marine
mollusc fossils) as evidence of land uplift relative to a static global sea level. Try as he might he
could find no such fossil evidence in Glen Roy. Here, is introduced the Swiss Louis Agassiz (1807–
1873) who proved former ice action in Scotland with a tour in 1840, only two years after Darwin’s
Scottish Highlands tour and subsequent fruitless theorising. Darwin’s last visit to Scotland was in
1855, to Glasgow and the Annual Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
The book then moves on to be concerned with the voyage of HMS Beagle and Joseph Dalton Hooker.
This man, later to become Darwin’s botanical confidante regarding the species question, was born
in Suffolk, but grew up, was educated and later worked in Glasgow, Scotland.
Newsletter 77 70 REVIEWS
Explanation and interviews dealing with the concept of Punctuated Equilibrium and Stephen J. Gould
follow on. A useful quote from Richard Dawkins reminds us that Darwin required a gradual speed
for modification through descent, not a constant speed, hence allowing for leaps and bounds over
time. Other quotations are provided by a parasitologist who discusses Chagas disease which Darwin
is thought to have picked up in South America and suffered the effects of for the rest of his life.
The relatively short chapter 11 ties together the seemingly disparate topics of the etymology of
Darwin’s family name, the uses of oak trees in England at the time of the second (and Darwincarrying)
voyage of HMS Beagle, and Darwin’s imagination of the inter-linked life of a kelp forest
– derived from a rotten pile of seaweed on the seashore. In a similarly visionary vein, Astronomer
Royal Martin Rees reminds us that there is more time ahead for evolutionary change than has gone
before and thus Man is not the pinnacle of the process.
The chapter headed Creationism is notable in terms of its lengthiness (15 pages) in comparison
to proceeding chapters. The reason for this seems to be that the interviewee, Ken Ham (Answers
in Genesis) has a lot to say and is given an impartial platform to say it on. Carefully questioned
by Derry, Ham attempts to explain the difference between observational and operational science
and why that is important to his World View. Here it is interesting to read of at least three ‘Kirks’
of thought under the banner of Creationism: Young Earth Creationists, Old Earth Creationists and
adherents of Intelligent Design, all of whom object to Darwin’s theory of evolution, some of them
accepting the reality of Natural Selection, others not. Ham states that he is not blaming evolution
for the World’s ills, but that through the implications of the theory, it indirectly contributes to the
erosion of Christian morality.
In the fourteenth chapter, the viewpoint is expressed that Darwin’s lack of prejudice gave him
clarity of vision, which was unavailable to others. A discussion of Darwin and the Animal Kingdom
is then presented via Rheinhold’s bronze Affe mit Schädel (Ape with Skull). Helpfully, the reader is
also directed to an advert on the last page of the book where they can order a custom hand-made
bronze replica for their own desk. This chapter ends with a useful listing (running to 14 pages) of
Darwin (DAR) Archival sources held by the University Library of Cambridge.
A chapter discussing teaching Darwinism honestly in schools follows, and once more the reader
is reminded of the fact that it involves a simple idea with grand repercussions. In the Epilogue,
Derry discusses how although remaining impartial in the interviews, it was inevitable that he be
drawn into the Religion vs. Science debate. But in a personal note, he reveals that he considers the evidence for evolution as incontrovertible. Following on is a useful Appendix, one portion of which consists of a ‘Clarification of Terms’ followed by a ‘Glossary of Scientific Terms’. This ties in nicely with the final chapters of the book which relate to the religion and science debates which invariably surface when Darwinism is mentioned, and the teaching of science in schools, particularly in the US and Scotland. Derry provides a useful resource that those science teachers who would ...

A Mechanical Preparation of Rhynie Chert Fossils

The Early Devonian Rhynie cherts represent the surface deposits of a subaerial hot spring system.... more The Early Devonian Rhynie cherts represent the surface deposits of a subaerial hot spring system. Historically palaeobotanists have studied the exceptionally preserved
early land plants contained within the cherts by mounting thin sections of the rock on glass microscope slides. Investigation of plant morphology and life habitat has relied on reconstruction from consecutive serial sections with the inherent
loss of information at the blade width scale. Here we detail the previously unrealised potential for some of the Rhynie chert beds to respond well to mechanical preparation. Recognition that some chert beds may be prepared in this way provides
an additional technique for the continued investigation of the flora and fauna of this important fossil locality. The technique might find wider application in the investigation of other more recently discovered fossil-bearing sinters worldwide.

Detecting Harker's Times and Travels: new insights from the Sedgwick Museum Archive

Using the documents held in the Sedgwick Museum Archive, new insights into the famous petrologist... more Using the documents held in the Sedgwick Museum Archive, new insights into the famous petrologist Alfred Harker (1859 – 1939) have been made. His meticulously kept notebooks chart his development as a geologist from undergraduate days at St. John's College, his work as a Demonstrator to the Woodwardian
Professor Thomas McKenny-Hughes, his part-time mapping work on Skye for the Geological Survey of Scotland and through to his retirement and pleasure cruises around the West coast of Scotland in the 1920's and 30's.

This work is funded by the ‘Friends of the Sedgwick Museum’ and is part of a much larger project to document and make accessible these geological archive materials

The Beagle Collection as a geological collection'

The Rhynie Chert and Early Terrestrial Ecosystems

Venue: Friends Meeting House, 91 - 93 Hartington Grove, Cambridge, CB1 7UB, UK.

This conference will focus on Charles Darwin’s (1809 – 1882) practical work in the field and exam... more This conference will focus on Charles Darwin’s (1809 – 1882) practical work in the field and examine the geological, zoological and anthropological data, observations and experiments upon which he built his subsequent theorizing. It will take place at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences in Cambridge as part of the programme of events to mark Darwin’s 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species. Associated events include a major new HLF-funded exhibition and original research on Darwin’s work as a geologist based on the rocks and minerals that he collected on the Voyage of the Beagle (1831 – 1836) now held in the collections of the Sedgwick.

Although the Beagle Expedition was Darwin’s major and perhaps most widely known period of fieldwork activity, we hope this conference will explore and illuminate how and where he acquired practical skills prior to the Voyage (such as his fieldtrip to Wales with Sedgwick and his scientific education in general). The smaller projects that he subsequently undertook in later years including plant and animal breeding, barnacles and earthworms could also be examined.

We are also interested in exploring how Darwin collected and documented objects and what selection criteria he used prior to their inclusion in his theories and publications. Darwin’s collections are still very much alive and subsequent scientists have utilised them for different means. Finally, we are interested in exploring how they relate to present day science.

Darwin and a Great British Barnacle Provider

The Beagle Collection as a collection of geological objects: acquisition, usage and continuing history

An Old Red Angling Association - Sedgwick's fishing trips in the Devonian

This talk marks Charles Darwin's 200th birthday!

Geologists working in museums, meeting the weird and wonderful

A cast of thousands: Hugh Miller's shelly fossils

The Hugh Miller collection housed in National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh contains a significant ... more The Hugh Miller collection housed in National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh contains a significant proportion of fossils of animals without backbones (invertebrates) as well as his more widely known fossil fish (vertebrates). Fitting the discovery of the invertebrate fossils to a timeline of Miller’s life reveals some significant changes in the fossils he collected, and the topics he became interested in. Pre-1840, Miller was effectively a local collector based in Cromarty, concentrating on his home patch and the most abundant fossils to be found there, the ORS fish. Post-1840 the move to Edinburgh to take on the job of Editor at ‘The Witness’, widened Miller’s field of investigation significantly, mainly through extended collecting trips during the Summer, as well as more local trips in the Edinburgh area. Exposure to fossils both younger and older than his Old Red Sandstone proving ground led Miller to a better understanding of the former worlds he presented to his audiences in his written works. Although very few of his fossils have accompanying collection dates associated with them (in marked contrast to the collection of his friend Charles W. Peach), we can loosely tie them to the timeline of Miller’s travels. In this manner, the ‘telescoped’ museum collection can be expanded once more to reveal Miller’s fossils in the context of the development of his own geological knowledge. The presence of fossils from areas which he never visited in person ties in with his known network of his contacts in the wider world.

Silver and Gold: Darwin and the mines of Chile

Charles W. Peach, Palaeobotany and Scotland

The move south from Wick to the city of Edinburgh in 1865, some four years after retirement from ... more The move south from Wick to the city of Edinburgh in 1865, some four years after retirement from the Customs service, provided Charles W. Peach with new opportunities for fossil collecting and scientific networking. Here he renewed and maintained his interest in natural history and made significant palaeobotanical collections from the Carboniferous of the Midland Valley of Scotland. These are distinguished by some interesting characteristics of their documentation which the following generations of fossil collectors and researchers would have done well to emulate. Many of his fossil plant specimens have not only the locality detail, but the date, month and year of collection neatly handwritten on attached paper labels; as a result, we can follow Peach’s collecting activities over a period of some 18 years or so. Comments and even illustrative sketches on the labels of some fossils give us first hand insight into Peach’s observations. Study of these collections now held in National Museums Scotland reveals a pattern of collecting heavily biased towards those localities readily accessible from the newly expanding railways which provided a relatively inexpensive and convenient means of exploring the geology of the neighbourhood of Edinburgh.
Charles W. Peach had a very ‘hands on’ practical approach to scientific investigation which led him to construct novel glass plates with mounted Sphenopteris cuticle, removed intact from Lower Carboniferous shales and limestones originating in West Lothian. These resemble the herbarium sheets with which he was familiar from his parallel and highly significant work on extant flora including near shore marine algae. He also prepared hand ground glass microscope slides, particularly of permineralised plant material from Pettycur in Fife, using whatever materials he had to hand at the time. Peach’s collection raises questions about the evolution of accepted standards of documentation in private collections, in parallel with the evolution of collecting practices by the new professionals such as the workers of the Geological Survey. Its relatively rapid deposition in museums, compared to many private collections, may also have contributed to its apparently high rate of usage by contemporary workers.

Past plant life of the Black Isle – more to Hugh Miller than fish

Trapped in silica, petrified: Fossils of the Rhynie Chert

Terrestrial Hot Springs: Life, death and fossilisation

Meet the Molluscs: a history of seafood

Rediscovery of the Gutterford Burn ‘Eurypterid Bed’ Pentland Hills, Midlothian, Scotland

A programme of field excavation undertaken by National Museums of Scotland staff, volunteers and ... more A programme of field excavation undertaken by National Museums of Scotland staff, volunteers and
other interested parties during early July 2003 had three main aims. Firstly to relocate the exact
position of the ‘Eurypterid Bed’, a fossiliferous sediment which in the late 1880’s yielded the world’s
most diverse assemblage of Silurian chelicerate arthropods, secondly to characterise the likely
sedimentary depositional setting and preservational mechanics of this Fossil Konservat-Lagerstätte,
and thirdly to investigate the wider relevance of this fossiliferous unit to the more fully known
sequences lying stratigraphically higher in the inlier as detailed by the work of Clarkson et al. (2001).
After extensive excavation, the ‘Eurypterid Bed’ lithology was located in situ on the banks of the
Gutterford Burn stream section. Detailed sedimentary logging and sampling indicated that
volcaniclastic sediments played a major role in the formation of the bed; both discrete ashfall bands
and ash-rich sediment were discovered in the metre-thick unit along with monograptids. Overlying
the ‘eurypterid bed’ occur sporadic horizons yielding dendroid graptolites and numerous (at least
12) thin, discontinuous bands of decalcified marine limestone, rich in invertebrate remains. The
fauna within these bands shows a degree of similarity with that identified in the overlying Deerhope
Formation.

A new univalve crustacean from the Early Devonian Rhynie chert hot-spring complex

Faunal content and ecosystems of the Rhynie Chert hot spring complex

Routine preparation of Rhynie Chert wafers for palaeobotanical examination occasionally yields fo... more Routine preparation of Rhynie Chert wafers for palaeobotanical examination occasionally yields fossil remains of terrestrial and aquatic arthropods that live around the hot springs. Detailed study of the matrix enclosing these animals suggests a means of entrapment and preservation related to the formation of an algal and bacterial "mulm". The appearance of the matrix is distinctive enough to act as a "pathfinder" texture enabling successful prospecting for further fossils.

The faunal list of the Rhynie cherts prior to 1997 consisted of a crustacean (Lepidocaris), an insect (Rhyniella), a mite (Protacarus) and a number of species of the trigonotarbid arachnid Palaeocharinus. A few problematic taxa had also been assigned including Heterocrania and Rhyniognatha.

Recent investigation has added significantly to the fauna of the hot spring complex. Heterocrania is identified as an euthycarcinoid. Centiped fragments show affinity with extant scutigeromorphs. A unique specimen of a myriapodous arthropod with preserved gut contents demonstrates detritivory on the Rhynie plants and spores.

Amongst the new finds are two arthropods of unknown affinity. One bears similarities to notostracan crustaceans, whilst the other, characterised by small (1mm) egg-shaped fossils are the first Diplostracans from the ephemeral hot spring pools ( a group containing Conchostracan and Cladoceran crustaceans).

Rhynie revisited: new discoveries from an early Devonian, terrestrial, hot-spring basin, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

The Rhynie cherts situated on the outskirts of the village of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, ha... more The Rhynie cherts situated on the outskirts of the village of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, have
been famous for their exceptional preservation of an early Devonian flora and fauna since their
discovery in 1912. Recovery of rock core from a programme of exploration drilling located in the
SSSI field and at a number of adjacent sites has revealed valuable new information on the extent and
depositional setting of the cherts. In total, there occur in excess of 35 discrete chert horizons
interbedded with fluvial and lacustrine sediments over a vertical interval of approximately 50 m.
Some of these horizons are laterally persistent and can be correlated between boreholes. A second hot
spring site located 700 m north at Windyfield and apparently discrete from the Rhynie vent, yields
conclusive evidence for previous geyser activity in the form of distinctive splash textures. This vent
with its associated bedded cherts has yielded further additions to the flora and fauna of this early
Devonian Konservat-Lagerstätte including a myriapodous detritivore with gut contents,
scutigeromorph centipeds, a notostracan crustacean and a euthycarcinoid. The arthropods occur
within a chert pod with a distinctive micro-texture characterised by the presence of numerous
elongate amorphous coprolites amongst scattered plant stems.