150 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



these pans were out in the middle of the lake, and on being examined 

 this fall in the beginning of September one could not be located, but 

 one in the middle of the lake was found. There was no direct sedi- 

 ment in this, but the bottom and sides were covered with a thin 

 dark slimy film of organic material and in the pail was a decomposed 

 leaf, quite black in colour. Neither film nor leaf reacted with acid. 

 It is hoped that additional pans will give further information. 



In the winter of 1920-21 an albatross sarnpler was taken out to 

 the lake and three cores of the bottom were obtained measuring 

 from 37 to 50 inches in length. These samples were taken out in 

 the middle of the lake where the red ooze was present. The very- 

 soft material was compressed considerably in the tube as measure- 

 ments taken on the position of the upper ring of the sampler and 

 at the same time on the bottom itself showed that the sampler had 

 penetrated over ten feet. In sample No. 3 the sampler penetrated 

 10' 6" and the length of the core was 4' 10". Thus the volume of the 

 ooze was reduced by over half. The section obtained is as follows. 

 (See Plate II, Fig. B.) 



Top 



(a) Dark grey ooze with a thin band of white marl material ... 1|" 



(b) Chocolate brown ooze laminated with thin layers of marl . 9|" 



(c) Greenish olive to deep greyish olive ooze laminae present 



but irregular 19 



(d) Fuscous to fuscous black ooze, laminae present but incon- 



Q// 



spicuous o 



(e) Slate grey clay similar to ordinary marine clay 2" 



Each sample went down to this lower slaty grey clay. 



A microscopical examination showed that the whole of the 

 material with the exception of the lower clay was practically com- 

 posed of organic material except for the grey laminae of layer ô, 

 which has been described in detail above (See p. 150). The plants 

 consist of algae of various types, while diatoms (some with very 

 beautiful ornamentation) were present from the first layers above 

 the marine clay to the very top of the sediment. These diatoms 

 have not yet been studied. From a superficial examination many at 

 least seem to range throughout the whole section. Scattered rarely 

 in the beds are spicules of sponges. 



\^l^i Bed d shows laminae too fine to be counted, probably less than 

 one two-hundredths of an inch thick for about two inches above the 

 grey clay. It was found impossible to differentiate chemically 

 between adjacent laminae as in the chocolate red beds. When this 



2 



