NOTES AND COMMEN. 



' MOORLOG.' I A 



The Essex Naturalist recently issued, 

 ' Moorlog,' a Peaty Deposit from the D^ 

 North Sea, b}^ H. Whitehead. Further rese^ 

 that about forty species of flowering plants 

 all of them still found in the British Isles. Bo^ 

 profusely in great swamps with the moss Hypnum and common 

 Bog-moss Sphagnum, the latter being the less abundant. 

 The Common Reed flourished with other marsh plants, 

 including Sedges. Mrs. Reid identified three species of 

 Carex, C. rostrata, C. flava and C. pulicaris, besides Floating 

 Sedge {Scirpus fluitans) and Creeping Sedge {Eleocharis). 

 Associated with these came Water Plantain, Bur Reeds, 

 Sparganium ramosiim, S. simplex and the floating variety 

 S. natans. Plants with more conspicuous flowers include 

 Ragged Robin, Willow Herb, Greater Spearwort, Meadow 

 Sweet and the Marsh Cinquefoil. 



TREES IN MOORLOG. 



Of trees, remains of branches, roots and fruits show the 

 Birch to have been widely distributed ; a few nuts prove the 

 existence of Hazel, and leaf impressions indicate the Willows 

 Salix aurita and 5. repens. Numerous pollen grains of a 

 species of Pine — probably Pinus sylvestris — form the only 

 other evidence of trees. An unidentified fern was plentiful, 

 its sporangia appearing. 



THE DOGGER BANK FLORA. 



The flora of the Dogger Bank, on the whole, must have 

 been similar to that of the fenlands of East Anglia to-day, 

 though a comparison of the floras reveals great gaps in that 

 of the Dogger Bank. The geological record is by no means 

 perfect. Birch stems, fruits and roots survive, willow leaves 

 make impressions, reeds bequeath easily recognisable rhizomes, 

 the hard parts of the fruits — Carex fruits for instance — 

 remain, but many Fenland plants, e.g., orchids, sundews and 

 Grass of Parnassus have tiny seeds, so minute that one could 

 hardly hope to recover them. Again, a fertile seed on germina- 

 tion ruptures its seed coat and so destroys the best evidence 

 of the plant's existence. This raises a point of great interest. 

 Why are seeds of Bog -beans so numerous, and why have 

 so large a proportion of them the testa intact ? Were large 

 numbers of them sterile ? The achenes of the Marsh Cinque- 

 foil, on the other hand, have been split open, as if germination 

 had taken place. 



ANIMAL REMAINS. 



' No bones of any kind have been found. Beetle remains 

 occur in the form of elytra or wing cases. Mr. Champion 

 determined nine species, chiefly common marsh insects. 



1921 Msuy 1 



