DISTRIBUTION OF CERTAIN FOREST TREES IN SCOTLAND. 97 



XI. On the Distribution of certain Forest Trees in Scotland, as 

 shown by the Investigation of Post-Glacial Deposits} Paper 

 read before the Botanical Section of the British Association 

 on 13th September 1901. By Walter N. Niven. [With 

 Map.] 



It is proposed in this short communication to bring before 

 your notice some results of the investigation of post-glacial 

 deposits, in so far as they throw light on the distribution of 

 the trees composing the forests which covered the whole of 

 Scotland in early post-glacial times. It is well known that 

 these forests were largely destroyed by changes in climatic 

 conditions, by the submergence of many parts of the land, 

 perhaps by the blowing down of entire woods by wind, as in 

 the case of Drumlanrig Wood in Dumfriesshire in 1756, and by 

 other means. Man also played his part in the process of de- 

 struction. In early historic times we read of the Romans 

 cutting down trees, and utilising their trunks for roadways 

 across marshes, and for brirVes This is confirmed by the dis- 

 coveries in Lochar Moss and Flanders Moss respectively. It 

 will therefore be seen that if we wish to obtain information 

 concerning those ancient forests, we must search for it in the 

 submerged forests around our coasts, in the peat or peat-bogs of 

 our Highlands and Lowlands, and in the numerous fluviatile 

 and lacusti'ine dejjosits throughout Scotland. 



As many of the buried trees are found in an upright 

 position, there should be no difficulty in acknowledging that 

 they must have grown at the places where now discovered. In 

 many cases the trunks, and very often the leaves, are found 

 scattered throughout the peat. It is to be regretted that only 

 a very few of the deposits have been systematically examined, 

 e.g., Cowden Glen in Renfrewshire, Hailes and Corstorphine in 

 Edinburghshire, and Elie in Fifeshire. 



The information on this point has been obtained princi- 

 pally from occasional references in topographical books of 

 Scotland to the discovery of trees in particular districts, in 

 digging peat for fuel, in making railway cuttings, and in 

 similar operations. The following trees are so recorded : — 



^ Reprinted from The Scottish Geographical Magazine for January 1902. 

 VOL. XVII. PART I. 6 



