1914-15.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 



349 



almost to the southern margin of the sands, occupies the 

 western part of this flat area. 



To the west and north are the Culbin Sandhills proper. 

 They extend to the northern shore on the Moray Firth 

 and include the barren, shifting dunes (some of which are 

 120 feet high), and ridges, table-lands, hollows, and flats 



Mev«.y 



»*fFS. 



D. P. et E. S. del. 



Map I. 



Map showing situation and principal features of Culbin Sands. 



in various progressive and retrogressive stages of fixation 

 by vegetation. Some of the low-lying spaces among these 

 sandhills are covered with gravel ; others have a layer of 

 sand over peaty soil, which last appears in well-defined 

 stratification in certain escarpments of the dunes. These 

 "Culbin Sandhills" also enclose the dune-marshes, which, 

 true lochs in the wet seasons, dry up more or less com- 

 pletely during the late summer and the autumn. These 

 so-called " lochs " maintain around their margins and in 

 their beds, when free from the water-covering, a peculiarly 



