Turning to our other contributions. David Land outlines the history of underground coal mining at Culross and the unique contribution of Sir George Bruce. After some delay, we present Nicholas Kidd's article on his unique and important discovery of amphibian remains in the Cheese Bay Shrimp Bed. Bill Baird looks at some of the myths and misnomers in Scottish gemology, and the efforts of Brian Jackson at the Royal Scottish Museum to critically examine Scotland's gem heritage. Bill also pops up later on with two contrasting articles in his Strange Earth series. The first examines cranial devlopment through time, while 'The Gibralatar Waterfall' charts the possible history of incursion from the Atlantic Ocean into the Mediterranean basin and the destruction of the land-bridge between north Africa and Europe. With Spring and the new field season ahead of us, David McMahon offers some advice to would-be excursion leaders. While there is a light hearted review of past Society excursions by David McAdam. With the average age of Society's membership increasing and recruitment/retention of younger people at an all time low, Keith Halley paints an interesting picture of life in the'Edinburgh Geological Society'. Hugh Barron presents a resume of Simon Conway Morris's fascinating account of Cambrian life in the Burgess Shale at a joint meeting of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Societies. Finally, a little teaser handed to me by Stuart Munro, courtesy of R Melville Thompson. Maybe I should have titled it 'Heap of the Day'!!