"The 2.8 m. thick shale underlying the Second Abden Limestone (upper Mississippian) near Kinghorn, Fife, Scotland, was studied in detail in an attempt to elucidate the changes in its depositional environment. The shale lies on top of a fireclay and grades into the overlying limestone, thus forming the link between the terrestrial environment of the fireclay and the true marine environment of the limestone. . . . The fauna of the lower half of the shale indicates deposition in a very shallow possibly brackish water and this part of the bed is compared to the intertidal Wattenschlick deposits of the north German coast. That of the upper half suggests slightly deeper water although still well within the neritic zone. The Mn/Fe ratio increases upwards through the shale suggesting a gradual increase in salinity during its deposition. The temperature ranges of living representatives of fossils occurring throughout the shale suggest that the water temperature was tropical or subtropical."