132 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



To make plainer the interest of these raised bogs, I shall insert here 

 a brief description of them in comparison with the commoner types. 



Of peat-forming vegetation there are many kinds, but of those 

 made up principally of mosses, there is a graded series from the typical 

 flat bog on the one hand to the typical raised bog on the other. The 

 basis of the common flat bog is a mixture of mosses of the genera Hypnum, 

 Dirranum, etc., with some Sphagnum, the latter playing, however, a very 

 subordinate part. The bulk made by mosses may be equalled or even 

 exceeded by other vegetation, such as sedges and other grass-like plants, 

 water-plants, shrubs, principally Ericaceœ, and even small trees The 

 species average of rather more northern aspect than those of the vicinity 

 about the bog. The whole is saturated with water, deep brown in colour, 

 of rather low temperature, carrying lime salts in solution and much 

 ve'j-etable matter in suspension. Beneath the surface the plant-remains 

 are slowly altered chemically and mechanically, forming ultimately com- 

 pact peat. Heav}^ growths of shrubs and even trees may occur upon 

 them. Their surfaces are either flat or else they rise gently towards the 

 centre, but they never present abrupt slopes. In contract with these at 

 nearly all points, are the best examples of the raised l)ogs, though it is 

 to be remembered that every gradation exists between them. These are 

 composed of nearly pure Sphagnum, with only traces of other mosses, 

 mixed with a few culms of sedges and the slender roots of dwarfed woody 

 perennials. Throughout they are saturated with water, which is always 

 cold and clear and free from salts of lime. In them there is no decay, 

 and such slight alteration of the plant substance that from top to bottom 

 they consist of compacted moss, slightly altered chemically, forming a 

 very spongy peat, and never, except at the very bottom, the compact peat 

 of the flat bogs. Their surfaces are without large vegetation and bear 

 but a scanty growth of dwai'fed shrubs and trees and a few herbs, all of 

 northei-n aspect. The surfaces are always raised to a convex form, and 

 the slopes are often abrupt. Such are the bogs which form the subject 

 of this paper. 



1. TUE GEOflRAi'UICAL DlSTlUBDTION OF THE RaISED 1Î0GS. 



The raised bogs of which I write occur in the counties of Charlotte 

 and St. John, in New Brunswick, between Beaver Harbour on the west and 

 Spruce Lake on the east. .\11 are within five miles or less of the coast, 

 and are subjected to a summer temperature which is kept very low by 

 the frequent fogs, and especially by the nearness of the very cold waters 

 of the Bay of Fundy, into which its great tides sweep the icy liabrador 

 current. Within these limits about twenty-four of the raised bogs are 

 known, in area from a few up to over three hundred acres. Three are 

 of exceptional size and perfection, one at Spruce Lake, owned by Mr. W. 



