There are several reasons that lead me to suppose that it is desirable to place upon record some account of the various samples of Scotch gold and gold quartz, which are to be found in our national and other public museums. The most important of these reasons is, that I believe not a few of the specimens in question to be spurious, in so far as they are in all probability not Scotch, but foreign—from Australia, California, New Zealand, Nova Scotia, or other auriferous countries. A second reason is, a desire to direct attention to the utterly inadequate representation in our public museums of the golds and gold-rocks of Scotland; and a third* reason is the interest attaching to a comparison of genuine Scotch golds or gold-rocks with those of other auriferous countries. My own interest in the subject dates from 1861, when it so happened that I visited New Zealand—at the time of the outbreak of the gold fever of that fine colony.† On my return home in 1862, and since that date, I have carefully inspected all the gold specimens in the various museums accessible to me; and it is the result of these inspections, in so far as concerns Scotch golds and gold-rocks, that I now submit concisely in the following paper:— I. Museums of Scotland. 1. Museum of Science and Art, Edinburgh. Last visited in August 1878. ( a. ) What I have described elsewhere‡ as the ‶Gemmell″ Quartzite,§ labelled as having been found by Andrew Gemmell, Miner,