192 VEGETATION OF THE PEAK DISTRICT [CH. 
to be found on such extremely decadent moors are a few 
straggling and miserably developed specimens of Eriophorum 
angustifolium. The words “Bare peat,” printed on the vege- 
tation maps here and there, roughly indicate the spots where 
the more extensive of the tracts occur such as are here described. 
As has been stated, an examination of the peat deposits 
underlying the retrogressive peat-moors here described proves 
that it is composed almost wholly of the remains of cotton-grass ; 
and the living Vaccinium and Empetrum which crown the 
“peat-hags” rest unconformably—as the geologists would say 
—on strata of cotton-grass peat. Hence the conclusion may be 
safely drawn that the retrogressive phases characteristic of the 
highest Pennine plateaux are very recent in origin, and, in all 
probability, have been initiated during the last few centuries. 
The process is still at work, and is likely to become more and 
more pronounced as time goes on. 
The decadent condition of many of the summits of the 
Pennine peat moors make it an easy task to determine that 
the ancient Pennine forest did not, at any period, spread over 
the highest summits; as, although the base of the peat is very 
frequently exposed, remains of timber have nowhere been found 
on the highest summits. In addition to the examination of 
the peat which is being denuded on the high summits, several 
sections have also been cut with the spade, and with the same 
negative results. The retrogressive changes appear, in many 
cases, to be spreading downwards into the lower cotton-grass 
moors; but many of the latter show no signs of degeneracy as 
yet. The heather moors also are generally speaking in a state 
of stability at the present time. 
On the vegetation maps, the more pronounced of the retro- 
gressive moors are indicated by the hatching of red lines on the 
Eriophorum colour. It is reasonable to use this ground colour 
as the evidence shows the moors to have been Eriophorum 
moors until quite recent times, and the retrogressive changes 
are still in operation. Owing to the comparative inaccessibility 
of these moors, the absence of landmarks upon them, the absence 
of contour lines on the six-inch Ordnance maps, and the im- 
permanent nature of the plant association, the boundaries of 
these retrogressive moors were difficult and in many cases 
impossible to fix with accuracy. 
