1 62 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



although some of the specimens now shown retain much of their 

 original hue. The leaves, with few exceptions, were too much 

 decayed to present any recognisable features, but from those some- 

 what more perfect, I was able to determine the presence of oak, 

 ash, birch, hawthorn, wych-elm, and hazel. A further acquaint- 

 ance with the old Clyde drift will doubtless extend this number. 

 It has been observed that no remains of the beech, either leaves 

 or nuts, have been found, although they form a considerable 

 proportion of the modern drift. This, however, is not remarkable; 

 for the beech can scarcely be recognised as an indigenous Scottish 

 tree, and these relics of old Clydesdale vegetation are of an age 

 long anterior to the time when its introduction was possible. 

 There are other plants, however, which we might expect to be 

 represented, but which we look for in vain, such as sloe, ivy, 

 mountain ash, the poplars, etc.; but even in the drift of to-day, 

 many trees that we know to be common in the upper reaches of 

 Clyde are represented onlj^ by a leaf at long intervals. The great 

 bulk of withered leaves brought down by spates consists of oak, 

 beech, ivy, and rhododendron.* 



The mosses found in the leaf beds were: — 



Brachythecium rivulare. 

 Mnium serratum. 

 Neckera pumila. 



„ complanata. (?) 



„ crispa. 

 Hypnum tamariscinum. 

 „ filicinum. 

 „ uncinatum. 

 Isothecium myosuroides. 

 Climacium dendroides. 

 Philonotes fontana. 

 Nomalia trichomanoides. 

 Polytrichum commune. 

 Fontinalis antipyretica. 



* In Lyell'a "Antiquity of Man," the following plants are named as 

 having been found in the forest beds heloxv the glacial drift of the Norfolk cliffs, 

 and therefore must have existed long before the Clyde vegetation: — 



Scotch fir. Spruce, Yew, Oak, Birch, Alder, Nuphar lutea, Nymphaa alba, Prunus 

 spinosa, Menyanthes trifoliata, Ceratopkyllum demersum, and a species of 

 Potamo^eton. 



