128 Palaeontologie. 



Prof. Jeffrey, are now followed by a detailed study of some of the 

 coniferous woods associated with the occurrence of amber. An exami- 

 nation of the various excavations in the Cretaceous deposits at 

 Kreischerville, carried out by Hollick and Jeffrey in 1905, 

 resulted in the discovery of amber in situ, enclosed in the substance 

 of lignites, which were found in large quantities. These lignites 

 represent three genera: Araitcanoxyloii , Cupressüioxylon and Pity- 

 oxylon. The first two genera represent several species, but only the 

 last was found to be succiniferous. Two species of Pityoxylon are 

 described: P. statenense, a hard pine from the Kreischerville depo- 

 sits , and P. scitiiatense from S c i t u a t e , Mass. , which owing to certain 

 important structural differences, is only provisionally regarded as a pine. 

 The authors conclude that the peculiar structure of the wood in 

 the Cretaceous pines, as compared with those of Tertiary age, and 

 those of now extant, affords a probable explanation of the greater 

 vigor of the genus under modern conditions, especially with respect 

 to an improvement in the water supply. The stinictural differences 

 referred to, embrace in the Cretaceous species: (a), the absence of 

 ray tracheids; (b), the highly resinous ray cells; (c), the association 

 of features which, among existing species, are separately associated 

 with either the soft or the hard pines. These diJfferences may be 

 regarded as ancestral, and they appear to point to the fact that the 

 ray tracheids probably had their origin not earlier than the 

 Tertiar}^ The paper is accompanied b}'^ two plates of finely executed 

 photo-micrographs. D. F. Penhallow. 



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

 Mosses. Part. I. The Scottish Southern Uplands. (Trans. 

 Roy. Soc. Edinburgh, Vol. XLI, Part III, p. 699-723, PL I-VI, and a 

 diagram, 1905). See also a general account: The History of 

 the Scottish Peat Mosses and their relation to the 

 Glacial Period. (Scottish Geogr. Mag. Vol. XXII. p. 241—252, 

 with a diagram and 3 textfigures, 1906). 



In the Scottish Southern Uplands, three types of peat are 

 recognised. The oldest are the upland Valley and hilltop peats, lying 

 at 900—2000 feet, which are of later date than the fourth glacial 

 epoch wich, at its maximum, overwhelmed the Southern Upland 

 Valleys and adjacent districts with considerable glaciers. The peat 

 occurs round and upon the moraines of this period. As the severe 

 conditions obtaining during this cold period passed away, a gradual 

 immigration of the Vegetation took place, but no peat appears to 

 have been formed until the climate had so far ameliorated as to 

 permit the growth of Betula nana L. The remains of this shrub, 

 together with such plants as Calluna vulgaris L., and Salix repens L., 

 occur at the base of the peat. Arctic plants have not been found, as 

 perhaps might be expected, below this layer. The next layer of 

 peat consists entirely of Sphagniun, which in turn gives place to 

 Eriophorum vaginatinn L. with traces of Scirpus. This in turn is 

 covered with a dense layer of Empetruni nigrmn L., Salix herhacea L., 

 S. retictdata L., and in some cases Loiseleuria procmnbens Desv., 

 most of which are typical Arctic plants, and thus indicate a decided 

 decrease in temperature. The higher beds of the peat show the 

 incoming of forest conditions, the dominant trees being Betula or 

 Pinus sylvestris, which in turn were succeeded by wet conditions, 

 as shown by the occurrence of Scirpus , Sphagnum and Eriophorum. 



