108 Palaeontologie. 



Lewis, F. J., The Plant Remains in the Scottish Peat 

 Mosses. Part II. Th e Scottish Highlan d s. (Trans. Royal 

 Society of Edinburgh. XLV. Pt. 111. 1906. p. 335—359. 4 pl.) 



The investigations begun in 1904 in the South of Scotland 

 (Bot. Cent. XCIX. p. 398) were continued in 1905 in North- 

 west Scotland (Isle of Skye and Outer Hebrides), and in the 

 extremeNorth and North-east, viz. in Cai th n ess,Easter Ross 

 and In verne SS. By means of trenches the peat was exposed from 

 surface to base and the layers carefuUy examined; trials with boring- 

 rods were also made in the vicinity of the trenches. The peat- 

 deposits examined fall into two groups: a) North-eastern group, in- 

 cluding Inverness, Easter Ross, and Caithness; b) Western 

 group, including Skye and the Hebrides. 



The following are representative sections from each group: 



a) Spey-Tindhorn watershed; altitude 540— 600 metres; thickness 

 of peat 12 feet (366 c. m.). 



Dominant plant. Accompanying plants. 



1. Recent peat, chiefly Scir- 

 pus and Sphagnum. 



2. Pinus sylvestris. 



3. Sphagnum. 



4. Pinas sylvestris. 4. Calluna (abundant). 



5. Spliagniim. 5. Erlophonim, Calluna. 



6. Betula alba (large 

 shrubs). 



7. Empetriim nigrum. 7. Eriophoruni sp., Menyan- 



tlies trifoliata, Polytrichum 

 juniperinum, and Betula 

 nana (in lower layers). 



8. Salix Arbuscula. 8. Lychnis alpina, Potentilla 



coniaruni, Carex sp., Viola 

 palustris, Mnium pseudo- 

 puncfatum. 



9. Salix reticulata and 5. 9. Veronica alpina. 

 herbacea. 



Peat rests on stone pavement 



b) Skye; altitude 40 metres; thickness of peat 366^ — 460 c. m. 



1. Scirpus Sind Sphagnum peat with traces o\ Calluna and Erica 

 Tetralix. 



2. Scirpus peat with much Phragmites communis and Equi- 

 setum sp. 



3. Betula alba with Corylus Avellana in upper part and Alnus 

 glutinosa in lower. 



The peat rests on stiff blue clay with many small stones. 



Details of other sections in each group show a general agree- 

 ment with these examples, although varying in minor details. In the 

 North-eastern Mosses the Arctic plants at the base of the peat are 

 shown to coincide closely with existing formations described by 

 Warming in Greenland; another feature is the occurrence of a 

 Single or double layer o\ Pinus buried at a depth of about Z^l-i feet. In 

 the base of the Western mosses there is no trace of an arctic plant bed 

 at the peat. The sequence of the beds in the Scottish-peat mosses is 

 regarded as supporting the theory ofglacial and interglacial periods. 



