155 



CUMBERLAND SOILS. 



By ROBT. RUSSELL, C.E., F.G.S., H.M. Geol. Survey. 



(Read at the Carlisle Annual Meeting.) 



TITLE ONLY. 



OUR NORTHERN MOSSES. 

 By FREDERICK HARRISON. 



(Read at Carlisle.) 



(abstract.) 



The author, after giving a general description of the Class Musci, the 

 geographical distribution of Mosses, their mode of occurrence, and the part 

 they exercise in the economy of Nature, proceeds to describe the particular 

 species that, by their perennial growth and decay, contribute to the formation 



^of peat-moss. 

 Amongst the [conditions essential to the growth and development of peat- 

 mosses are a comparatively low mean temperature, and the presence of mo.-e 

 I or less moisture in the soil where the peat-forming plants are growing. Owing 

 to these reasons, peat -mosses are rare or absent in hot regions, and they become 

 more abundant, and yield peat of a more inflammable nature, as we advance 

 towards the colder regions of the globe. 

 The author has noticed a connection between the occurrence of peat-mosses 

 and that of surface deposits of boulder clay, which, being generally of a more 

 or less impervious nature, have held up the surface water, and so have given 

 rise to the formation of peat-bogs. The author goes on to say : — 

 I CAN point to several examples in our own district where the peat 

 has formed itself upon the boulder clay in this manner. At the Little 

 Moss, near Houghton, which is now under cultivation, the peat 

 lies in a depression in the boulder clay— a situation very favour- 



