The Ancient Lakes of Edinhurgh, 131 



side Asylum stands and that in wliich the Plewlands 

 Cemetery is situated. The Jordan Burn flows through the 

 hollow, and doubtless now drains off the surplus water that 

 once stagnated in it and formed a lake. The section cut 

 through was (1.) vegetable soil, 2 feet ; (2.) peat, 3 feet ; 

 (3.) marl, irregular in thickness, but generally 2 to 3 feet. In 

 places, however, it went down 15 or 16 feet, but in these 

 places it extended only 2 or 3 feet in breadth, showing that 

 the marl occupied deep holes or " plums " in the bottom of 

 the lake. The marl was free from peaty matter, but was 

 crowded with stems of water plants, very thin and ribbon- 

 like, of a yellowish-green hue. In washing they could be 

 easily floated off, and the animal remains secured without 

 any difficulty. The niarl and peat extended along the 

 railway cutting several hundred yards from near the rock 

 section at Myreside to within a short distance of Morningside 

 Station, and its breadth was of course only shown by that of 

 the railway, but it probably extended from side to side of 

 the hollow, which might be 100 yards. 



The Borough Loch, now The Meadows, Edinburgh. 



The material examined was obtained in 1871 during 

 operations then in progress to level the West Meadows and 

 raise them several feet higher. The soil was lifted and 

 drains made, and rubbish from building operations in the 

 town laid down to the thickness of 3 or 4 feet in some places, 

 and in others 6 or 7 feet, and then the soil was spread over 

 the surface, and the grounds restored to grass again. The 

 depth of the marl was, I think, about 3 feet, and was topped 

 by peat as described by Hugh Miller in the article already 

 referred to. The marl washed with difficulty, and there w^ere 

 comparatively few Ostracoda in it, which we suppose due to 

 their cast-off coverings having, through decay, lost the animal 

 matter interwoven in their substance. The mineral con- 

 stituents were resolved into white mud, which is the principal 

 component of these old lake marls. The lake from which 

 the Meadows' marls w^re shed was well known as the 

 Borough Loch. 



