30 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
trees must have been growing for nearly one hundred years, possibly 
more. So far as the composition of this layer may be taken as evidence, 
it shows that it was developed under conditions of fairly good drainage, 
at least sufficient to exclude marsh or semi-marsh plants and to favour’ 
the growth of white pine. 
The third layer also consists of peat, but of a much less compact 
texture. It is twenty inches in thickness and shows a sharp line of 
cleavage with the layer above, indicating a marked and very abrupt 
change in the character of the vegetation which is otherwise shown by 
the contained fragments. The bulk of the material entering into the 
composition of this layer appears to have been derived from decaying 
marsh plants. The texture is loose, and there is strong evidence of an 
abundance of decaying stems, roots and rhizomes. Among them there 
were found many examples of thickish rhizomes which, by comparison 
with the vegetation of neighbouring bogs, might well be regarded as 
representing the remains of Menyanthes trifoliata, or other well known 
bog plants. Although these remains were remarkably fresh in colour, 
they were exceedingly soft and could not be handled, so that a full 
determination of their real nature was impossible. It was possible to 
recognize in this layer, besides the remains of rhizomes, stems and leaves 
of rushes, grasses and other marsh plants, and in the lower portions, the 
remains of small bushes, but evidently belonging to the layer next below. 
The upper portions of the layer are penetrated in part by the large 
roots of the white pine, the smaller roots of which extend through its 
entire thickness, 
The most striking feature of this layer is the occurrence of 
numerous small stumps, broken off short and much reduced by decay 
and erosion. They represent trees of about four to five inches in 
diameter. They were collected as alder stumps—a view based upon 
their general aspect and their occurrence in what was evidently marshy 
ground, but upon examination they all proved—as determined hy 
microscopical examination—to be white pine! A further fact of much 
significance, in this connection, is the location of these stumps in the 
central portion of a layer evidently derived from marsh plants. It 
should be noted that in addition to the other forms of vegetation found, 
there was an obvious representation of sphagnum. 
The fourth layer, about four or five inches in thickness, is developed 
without any sharp line of demarcation with adjacent layers into which 
it merges more or less gradually. It is, however, remarkable for the 
fact that it consists practically of an immense mass of fragmented shrubs 
together with leaves, and very little else. An examination of this 
material permitted a recognition of Cassandra calyculata and Vaccinium 
