4 HOBKIRK : PLAGIOTHECIUM UNDULATUM IN LINCOLNSHIRE. 



burnt Spain, the blue southern sea, and past cloud-capped Atlas, and 

 now perchance career, race, and scream in concert above the 

 swamps of the Zambesi or the rolling plains of Masailand ! Here 

 are the dark short days of mid-winter, and soon the old grey church, 

 whose square tower thou lov'st so well, will be decked for Yule-tide. 

 The field-fare and the snow-bunting -have come, and alone the song 

 of the redbreast is in the land. Haste then — lest too late — thou 

 bird of the midsummer day ; let thy wings know no rest, but 

 southward, ever southward — to meet the tropic breezes and the 

 warmth of the African sun ! 



PLAGIOTHECIUM UNDULATUM 

 IN LINCOLNSHIRE IN PRE-HISTORIC TIMES. 



CHAS. P. HOBKIRK, F.L.S. 



Through the kindness of my friend, Dr. Sorby, F.R.S., I have had 

 submitted to me for examination and determination a somewhat 

 curious and interesting object. It will, doubtless, be remembered 

 that in the spring (about May, I believe) of 1886 an interesting relic 

 of ancient times was unearthed at Brigg, in Lincolnshire, in the 

 shape of an antique boat. This boat was apparently hewed or 

 burnt out of a log of oak, and at the stern a groove appears 

 to have been cut down each interior side and across the bottom, 

 and into this groove a stern-board was fitted. This stern-board 

 was — if we may so indicate it — caulked with moss to make it 

 water-tight. The boat was about 48J ft. long, 4^ ft. wide, and 3 ft. 

 deep. It was a scrap of this caulking which was sent to me for 

 examination. At first sight the 'stuff' looked unpromising enough — 

 more like a few strands of half-rotted hay, blackened with age and 

 damp. On placing a pinch of it under the microscope, there seemed 

 to be very little chance of determination. I had evidently got hold 

 of a bit which had been well hammered or beaten into the groove ; 

 it was utterly broken up. On careful maceration and preparation of 

 the remainder, I at length came upon a much more promising scrap, 

 which, on examination, proved to be the tip (about ^ in. long) of a 

 stem of Plagiothecium undidatiim. This scrap was a perfect marvel — 

 the undulations of the leaf, the two short nerves, the fine serratures 

 at the apex of the leaf, were as perfect as if the specimen had been 

 gathered yesterday, but blackish-brown with age ; not a single cell- 

 wall was damaged, and, curiously enough, many traces of chlorophyll 

 grains could be distinctly seen. 



Naturalist, 



