110 BATHYMETRICAL SURVFA 7 OF 



rowing stirred up the mud everywhere, the depth probably not exceeding 

 2 feet. More than two-thirds of the superficial area is overgrown with 

 weeds, there being a very little open water of a black colour. Neither 

 inflow nor outflow was seen, but a drain was cut at some remote time to 

 conduct the water to the south-west, where it joined the burn flowing 

 from Stormont Loch to the Lunan burn. The loch does not now rise to 

 overflow, and the water is stagnant, but looks clearer than that in the 

 Stormont Loch. 



The term Stormont Lochs is ^sometimes applied to the group of small 

 lochs in this neighbourhood, including Loch Bog (or Stormont Loch), 

 Monk Myre, Hare Myre, Black, White, Fingask, and Rae. Myriads 

 of water-fowl breed on these lochs, and ducks of several species were 

 nesting on the artificial island in Stormont Loch at the time of the 

 survey. 



Stormont Loch (see Plate XXX.). Stormont Loch (or Loch Bog) lies 

 immediately to the east of Hare Myre. It is a stagnant bog in a flat 

 country, surrounded by woods and fields, and it receives no water 

 except rains. It rarely rises high enough to overflow, but in February, 

 1903, it did so, the outflow being artificial and leading to the Lunan 

 burn. The water is turbid, light brown in colour, and dense with 

 animals so much so that the tow-nets could only be used for a very 

 short time. About half the area of the loch is unapproachable on 

 account of weeds, and the other half is very uniform in depth (2 to 3 

 feet), and free from weeds. The keepers say that the mud on the bottom 

 is of great depth, 18-feet poles having been sunk in it, and that it has 

 accumulated greatly of late years. It is said that within the memory 

 of old men now living there was a depth of 17 feet near where the boat- 

 house was built (of which the remains are still visible). Stormont Loch 

 is about two-thirds of a mile in length, and one-third of a mile in 

 maximum breadth, the mean breadth being over one-sixth of a mile, 

 or 27 per cent, of the length. Its waters cover an area of about 74 J 

 acres, and the maximum depth of 3 feet was observed in several places 

 near the eastern shore. The volume of water is estimated at 4,867,000 

 cubic feet. It was surveyed on June 22, 1903, and its elevation above 

 the sea was determined by levelling from bench-mark as 168-1 feet, 

 which is identical with the level when visited by the Ordnance Survey 

 officers on June 26, 1900. The temperature of the surface water at 

 1 p.m. on June 22, 1903, was 64-0. 



Monk Myre (see Plate XXX.). Monk Myre lies about half a mile 

 to the east of the Stormont Loch, but it flows in the opposite direction 

 by the Monkmyre burn into the river Ericht; there are no inflowing 

 burns. It is surrounded by flat grassy country, and is divided into two 

 portions by a narrow constriction, through which it is now impossible to 



