NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. \59 



cated. The Secretary also laid on the table a number of speci- 

 mens bearing on the same subject, among which was a cream- 

 coloured variety of the merlin's egg, besides a few others of like 

 interest. 



PAPER READ, 



Notes on the Botany of the WindmiUcroft Beds. 

 By Mr James A. Mahony. 

 Much has been done of late in extending our knowledge of the 

 fauna of the local sands and clays, and many hitherto deemed quite 

 azoic, are shown to contain abundant remains of minute life. 

 Little or nothing, however, has been done for the botany of these 

 local strata; audit is with the hope of inducing further research 

 in that direction that I now call attention to the subject. 



Glasgow is built on a series of sand, gravel, and clay beds, which 

 are referred to three groups — the boulder drift, the boreal clay, 

 and the Clyde drift. Of the lowest of these — the boulder clays — 

 I have little to remark. Full of interest as that epoch is for the 

 geologist, it has little attraction for the botanist. In some of the 

 sections exposed there were remains of roots in abundance, but as 

 these were clearly traceable to recent plants which had merely 

 made the clay a place of growth, this fact has no significance. 

 During the excavations at WindmiUcroft, the two latter groups 

 were well exhibited; and I now propose to describe the botanical 

 remains found in them during a series of visits. 



In the boreal clay, which, with a deep bed of fine white sand 

 interposed, overlies the boulder clay, there were great numbers of 

 strange root-like fonns, the exact nature of which I have been 

 recently trying to determine. They do not occur in the clay proper, 

 but in an upper stratum composed of sand and clay, which seems 

 to be merely a continuation of the clay bed beneath. Whenever 

 a natural face of this sandy clay was exposed, numerous examples 

 of these roots were sure to be seen standing out, sharp and distinct, 

 against the grey matrix in which they were jilaced. They were of 

 nearly uniform calibre, about a line in diameter, and were not 

 traceable to any distinct ending, for both upwards and downwards 

 they merged indefinitely into the sand. In length they were very 

 various, the greatest being about 2 feet 9 inches, while some 

 showed a small fragment only. They were all disposed vertically, 

 or nearly so, and many had offshoots here and there equal in 

 diameter to the main root, and often inserted at right-angles to it. 



