FOSSIL PLANT-BEMAINS IN PEAT. 181 



punctured, as it were, with the point of a parasol. These per- 

 forations were the work of a molhisc known as Pliolas. Five of 

 the mosses were easily recognised. The other remains gave more 

 difficulty, and in most cases turned out to be very different from 

 what they at first sight appeared to be. I am indebted to Mr. 

 Carruthers and Mr. E. G. Baker for kind assistance in the determi- 

 nation of the specimens ; but I am under a special debt of obligation 

 to Mr. Clement Reid, of the Geological Survey, who has made this 

 class of work one of his pet studies during the last fifteen years, 

 and of whose papers I would call attention to three, which, owing 

 to their place of publication, are likely to have escaped the notice 

 of botanists. One of these, upon a lacustrine deposit at Hoxne, in 

 Suffolk, was written in conjunction with Mr. H. N. Ridley, in Geol. 

 Mar/, dec. iii. vol. v. (1888), p. 441 ; and the other two, on pleisto- 

 cene deposits on the south coast, occur in Quart. Jonrn. Geol. Soc. 

 vol. xlviii. (1892), p. 344, and vol. xlix. (1893), p. 325. Without 

 Mr. Reid's freely accorded help I should have fallen into the most 

 lamentable errors, and should have been unable to supply the tags 

 of information which occur in this paper. 



The following is a list of the plant-remains which admit of 

 identification : — 



Nymphcea alba L. (16 seeds). Scirjnis maritimus L. ? (fruit). 



Primus Padus L. (2 stones). Carex sp. (florets). 



My rio2)hi/llui)i spicatumLi. [a.ch.ene). Phragmites comiimnis Trin. (root- 



(Enanthe sp. ? (stems). stock). 



Sambucus nigra L. (2 seeds). Osmnnda regal is L. (rootstock). 



Almis glutinosa Gaertn. (branch). Sphagnum cymbifolium Ehrh. 



Ceratophyllumdemerstim'L.{ivmt). S. subsecunduin Nees (perhaps). 



Sparganitim ramosuin Huds. ? Milium Jiornum L. 



(fruit). Aulacomnium pahistre Schwaegr. 



Potamogeton nutans L. (92 fruits). Hypnum. ctvpressiforme L. 



P. lucens L. (3 fruits). H. Schreberi Willd. 

 P. perfoliatus L. (6 fru.its). 



The mosses consist of leafy stems. Sphagnum occurs in some 

 quantity, and the Aulacomnium. is surprisingly well preserved. Of 

 the phanerogamic remaius, some flattened hollow stems bearing 

 wide leaf-scars and traces of axillary buds have been doubtfully 

 referred to (Enanthe Phellandrium. Sium latifolium would be an 

 equally plausible guess. What appears to be a half-decayed fruit, 

 most nearly resembles that of Sparganium, ramosum. Though only 

 the testa of the seeds of Nymphoia alba is preserved, the identity is 

 rendered unmistakeable by the presence of the lines of minute and 

 peculiar dots on the surface. The preponderance of the fruits of 

 Potamogeton nutans (87 on the present occasion) is characteristic 

 of these deposits. In common with the fruits of other Potamo- 

 getons, of Ceratophyllum , Myriophyllum, and other aquatic plants, 

 they offer great resistance to decay. 



In order to soften the hard lumps of peat, they were, by Mr. 

 Reid's advice, boiled gently for about twelve hours in a weak 

 solution of sodium carbonate (a process which, like that of cooking 



