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ations into lignite. It will be obvious to you all that a covering-up 

 process would be the favourable condition. 



This submarine forest growth implies a larger extension of the 

 land formerly, and judging from the numerous recorded deposits 

 along the coast, it may be fairly inferred that at no distant period 

 a great part of the bed of the present Irish Sea was inhabited by 

 the fauna, and adorned by the flora of the dawn of the present 

 system. It is also evident that the climate was warmer and milder 

 than at present. Trees would not now grow at Saint Bees at all 

 approaching in size the giants entombed in the forest. It is possible 

 that at that time Saint Bees might be many miles inland, and 

 thoroughly sheltered ; it is, however, also probable that the gales 

 from the south-west were of a milder type than at present. Peat 

 is a product of cold and temperate regions, arising chiefly from the 

 growth and decay of marsh plants — reeds, rushes, equisetums, 

 grasses, sphagnums, confervoe, and the like, being the chief contri- 

 butors to the mass. Peat moss has a tendency to accumulate in 

 all swamps and hollows, and wherever stagnant water prevails, 

 filling up hollows and lakes, choking up river courses, entombing 

 fallen forests and spreading over every surface having moisture 

 sufficient to cherish its growth. 



I make the following deductions, ist. That at or about the 

 close of the Drift or Pleistocene epoch, the land about Saint Bees 

 was elevated considerably higher than it is at present, and placed 

 beyond the influence of sea currents. 2nd. That the climate also 

 at the same time changed from its arctic intensity to a temperature 

 somewhat warmer and milder than that we now enjoy, 3rd. That 

 the land extended to the west and south-west to a very great 

 extent. 4th. That from the close of the Drift period to the present 

 time the sea has not flowed in the valley of Saint Bees, despite all 

 legendary tales to the contrary. 5th. That after the deposition of 

 the forest, peat, and part of the alluvium of the valley of Saint 

 Bees, the land has been much lowered ; but whether such lowering 

 is being continued at the present time, I cannot tell. 



I will endeavour briefly to explain the character of the drift, 

 as is shown at the mouth of the valley in the cliffs and railway 



