348 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxix. 



part been derived." 1 Craig, Murdoch, Ewing, and others 

 support the view that there is a sort of circular movement 

 of the sand, it being blown into the estuary of the Find- 

 horn, carried out to sea, washed by currents on to the 

 north and west shores of the Culbins, blown by the wind 

 again on to the dunes, and so de novo. 2 



In such parts rich in vegetation as the dune-marshes, 

 much soil has been formed by the decay of that vegetation. 

 It is more or less blended with sand, previously there or 

 since blown on the surface. 



In certain places the old black soil, some of which was 

 cultivated in the seventeenth century, appears. Sir Thomas 

 Dick-Lauder obtained forty-six plants of four species of 

 " field-weeds " grown from two saucerf uls of it. 3 



Physiography and Distribution of Vegetation. 

 (See Maps I and II.) 



Until 1876 the north-eastern portion of the promontory, 

 Binsness, was a bare, exposed hill showing little but sand. 

 Since that date a dense wood, consisting mainly of Pinus 

 sylvestris, Linn., has been established there. Planted forest 

 of pine bounds the whole southern or landward margin of 

 the Culbin Sands. Narrow towards Findhorn Bay, this 

 wood becomes broader towards the west, and on that side 

 extends more nearly to the shore of the Moray Firth. 



Between the pines of Binsness Wood and those of the 

 southern belt, dunes of comparatively low elevation, mostly 

 fixed and bearing a considerable vegetation, reach to within 

 a few yards of the Bay. Loose or partly bound sand 

 occurs among them and about their eastern bases, while 

 from them sand is blown to the flats adjoining the shore- 

 line and into the estuary of the River Findhorn. On these 

 flats are to be found representatives of the sand floras as 

 well as many of the plants of the littoral marsh. On the 

 west side of these dunes is a space of low elevation on 

 which the ground vegetation is on the whole close. A 

 birch wood which extends from the Binsness pine wood 



1 Mackie, The Sands and Sandstones of Eastern Moray, pp. 167-168. 



2 Craig, The Culbin Sandhills, pp. 530-531. Murdoch, Notes on a 

 Visit to the Culbin Sands, Morayshire, pp. 410-411. 



3 Murdoch, pp. 411-412. 



