NOTES AND QUERIES. II3 



swarming with the rot-producing organism. The text of the 

 note, which is of a preUminary nature, is illustrated by some 

 striking photographs. M. I. N. 



[We regret to record the death of Mr Booth, which occurred 

 at Berlin on 5th February (see Obituary, p. 120). — Hon. Ed,] 



Remains of Ancient Forests in Scottish Peat-Mosses. 



Mr Francis Lewis has been engaged for some time in the 

 investigation of the plants found in the Scottish Peat-Mosses. 

 His last paper {Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., xlvi. i), which gives 

 a general summary of his results, includes an interesting 

 account of the remains of ancient forests represented in the 

 peat deposits. Mr Lewis finds two forest beds in the peat. 

 The older, the lower forest bed, occurs alike in the Southern 

 Uplands, in the Hebrides, as well as in the Highlands generally, 

 so far as investigated, and in, the Shetland Islands. In this 

 deposit Scots pine does not occur, the trees being birch, hazel 

 and alder. Very striking is the occurrence of this buried 

 forest in western Shetland, where now no trees will grow without 

 artificial shelter, in consequence of the blasts from the ocean. 

 The upper forest bed is confined to the mainland of Scotland, 

 from the lowland mosses of Wigtownshire to the valley of 

 the Dionard, south of the Kyle of Durness. In the south of 

 Scotland this forest consists of Scots pine, except on Tweedsmuir, 

 where birch replaces pine. In the Highlands, towards the 

 north, and at great elevations, birch also replaces the pine. 

 An interesting point is that while at the present time the 2000 

 feet contour-line forms the upper limit of woods (pine and 

 birch), a limit which is not often reached, the trees in the 

 Upper Forest period occurred at elevations up to 3000 feet and 

 probably beyond this, suggesting that the climatic conditions 

 were then more temperate than at present. The absence of 

 the Scots pine in the lower forest bed, and its peculiar dis- 

 tribution in the upper bed, suggests also that this tree is a 

 recent immigrant into the British area. M. I. N. 



Larch Disease in Ireland. 



Mr Robert Macintosh, writing from Co. Wicklow, Ireland, 

 ^ives some observations on larch disease and its causes, based 



VOL. XXII. PART I. H 



