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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



stones, which again are overlain by other micaceous 

 clays containing pyrites and nodules of clayey lime- 

 stone. Then, the Oolite is represented by estuarine 

 sandstones, shales, and coals. The main seam of the 

 latter is about three or four feet thick, and is found 

 in some places decently workable and valuable, 

 having been mined extensively for a century or more ; 

 but its worth is marred by the accompanying pyrites. 

 It is considered the thickest stratum of pure vegetable 

 matter hitherto detected in any secondary rock in the 

 United Kingdom. Its composition is : carbon about 

 thirty-five per cent, (good household coal has about 

 fifty-seven per cent.), fifty oxygen and hydrogen, and 

 about nine ash, and hence it burns with an offensive 

 smell. It is found chiefly on the shore at Brora, in 

 the valley of the river Brora. Overlying the lower 

 oolite, there is a middle series of hard calcareous 

 sandstone charged with fossils, and followed by 

 fossiliferous clays and marine sands, and a consider- 

 able thickness of sandstones overlain by grey sandy 

 limestone, clays, etc. The upper oolite is repre- 

 sented by shales, sandstones, grits, and limestones, 

 with ferruginous sandstones at the top, in all about 

 one thousand feet thick, much folded, abounding in 

 fossils, and having in certain places huge and abun- 

 dant blocks and boulders of local and foreign rocks 

 embedded therein, known as the " brecciated beds." 

 The remarkable peculiarity about the latter (which 

 contain Primary fossils) is, that they should be found 

 alternating with finely-laminated shales, thin sand- 

 stones with ammonites, and even- thin layers of 

 Jignite, all of which, according to geological theory, 

 indicate totally different conditions of deposition. So 

 that we have here, at one and the same locality, 

 samples of strata, one of which unequivocally suggests 

 violent floods or disruptions (not to speak of glaciers 

 or ice-rafts), while another neighbouring one just as 

 unequivocally recalls placid seas or lakes, or retired, 

 becalmed estuaries. Moreover, the different orders 

 and varieties of fossils present in these heterogeneous 

 beds argue that they belong, not merely to different 

 geological systems or formations, but actually to 

 ■different geological periods. 



As regards the so-called glacial phenomena ex- 

 hibited in these parts, little need be said. We are 

 informed that the ice radiated from the high grounds 

 in different directions, as toward north-west, and the 

 Moray Firth, and that there is an enormous develop- 

 ment of moraines, the situation, etc., of which is 

 plainly indicative of very recent glaciation. It would 

 seem, however, that the tremendous mechanical 

 energies which erupted and metamorphosed the 

 archix'an gneiss, and shattered and displaced the 

 Silurian strata by faults and thrust-planes, was quite 

 sufficiently potent to superinduce the semblance of 

 bedding on the bright red Cambrian grit mountains, 

 as well as to inlay a certain area of hard rock with 

 sundry scores, ruts, and streaks, the origin of which 

 is frequently, if not invariably, assigned to the 



carving, grinding, and sculpturing manipulation of 

 heavy-moving glaciers, or ice-sheets. 



BOTANY. 



It might naturally be considered, on first thoughts, 

 that a territory of such uniformity of desolation, and 

 having such a prevalence of wildness, sterility, and 

 bleakness, would yield little of interest to the botanist. 

 A little careful scrutiny, however, very soon dispels 

 any anticipation of that sort. In the year 1883 there 

 were recorded from West Sutherland 373 species, and 

 from East Sutherland 184 species — total 557. The 

 flora, although (save in some places) not particularly 

 obtrusive or brilliant, is yet exceedingly interesting. 

 The situations specially fertile or suited to certain 

 species of wild flowers are rather numerous. The 

 highest mountain, Ben More (3,273 feet), and many 

 others from 1900 to over 3,000 feet, as regards 

 position, configuration, and soil, are eminently 

 fitted as nurseries for many an Alpine species. 

 Thus, the Alpine sandwort [Alsine rubella), an ex- 

 tremely rare plant, grows on Ben Hope. Again, 

 situations where an abundance of moisture is com- 

 bined with a freedom from the ordinary forms ot 

 vegetation, are not rare ; so that plants that flourish 

 only under such conditions find here ample scope for 

 development. Thus, many of the bluffs of sea-rock 

 that overhang the kyles or estuaries are lavishly 

 decked and festooned with the cactus-like evolution 

 of countless roseroots [Si-dmti rhodiola), while thrift 

 and squill (Scilla venm) hang out their globes and 

 bells among the clefts of stone, or on the crest of the 

 sandy sea-cliff. The following plants were personally 

 noted in Sutherland :— Globe-flower {Trollius euro- 

 pans), marsh-marigold, spearwort {Ranunculus lingua 

 and Jlatnmula), water-lily {Nymphaa alba), lady's 

 smock {Cardamine pratensis), pepperwort {Lcpidium 

 Stnithii), blue and yellow heartsease, milkwort, red 

 campion, ragged robin, spurrey {Spergularia arvense), 

 St. John's-wort {Hypericum pttlchruin), flax {Linum 

 angusiifoliiim), cranesbill {Geranium pusillum), wood- 

 sorrel {Oxalis acdosella), holly, furze, vetch {Anythyllis 

 vulneraria), bush- and wood-vetch {Vicia sepium 

 and sylvatica), tuberous vetch, meadowsweet, moun- 

 tain-avens {Dryas octopetala), water-avens {Geum 

 rivale), marsh cinquefoil {Potentilla comarum), lady's 

 mantle {Alchemilla alpina, found near the coast at an 

 elevation of only twenty feet), dog-rose, willow-herb 

 {Epilobiuin montaiiuni), water-purslane {Peplis for- 

 iula), roseroot {Sedum rhodiola), stonecrop {Sedum 

 anglicum and acre), saxifrage {S. stellaris and aizoides), 

 golden saxifrage {Chrysosplenium oppositifolium), sun- 

 dew {Drosera rotundifolia and longifolia), cow-parsnip, 

 elder, bedstraw ( Galium Mollugo, boreale, verum, and 

 saxatile), valerian {V.dioica), immortelle {Antefmaria 

 dioica), water-lobelia {L. Dortmanna), bilberry, bear- 

 berry {Arctostaphylosuva-ursi), butterwort {Pinguiciila 

 vulgaris, Scotica, and Lusitaiiica), saltwort (Salsola 



