266 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE.—1913. 
mixed and sometimes interstratified with a loose calcareous tufa which 
seems to be of concretionary origin, the calcareous matter having 
surrounded the decaying vegetation in a way suggestive of the action of 
a ‘ petrifying ’ spring. 
This tufa is not associated with any special abundance of shells, but 
seems to occur at a level in the peat to which saturation may rise in 
winter, but below which it falls in dry weather. In one section the tufa 
occurs mainly in a layer about two feet thick, separating the peat into 
two distinct layers, which are slightly different in character and give 
some indication of containing remains of a different fauna and flora. 
(3) The following remains have been collected from the peat and 
identified : — 
Bones of wild boar, red deer, and beaver ; shells of numerous species 
of land and fresh-water Gasteropods. 
The remains of beaver were found in the lowest layer of peat, 
twelve feet below the surface, and are of some interest as suggesting 
that beaver dams may have been a factor in the formation of local 
deposits of peat. 
Plant remains are abundant but badly preserved. The following 
have been identified : — 
Trunks and roots of Alnus and Betula; rhizomes of Phragmites 
and Equisetum sp. (locally very abundant); seeds of Menyanthes 
trifoliata; Carex sp.; Potentilla sp. 
Many more borings and sections are required in order to map the 
distribution, and to determine with certainty whether there were any 
marked changes of flora during the formation of the peat. Owing to 
the occurrence of the peat below the present river level and the wet 
winter and spring of 1912-1913, field work was impossible during the 
greater part of this year. 
The Committee therefore ask for reappointment for another year, 
with a renewal of the grant of 157. made last year. 
The Vegetation of Ditcham Park, Hampshire.—Interim Report 
of the Committee, consisting of Mr. A. G. Tansey (Chair- 
man), Mr. R. S. Apamson (Secretary), Dr. C. E. Moss, and 
Professor R. H. Yarp, appointed for the investigation thereof. 
CoNSIDERABLE progress has been made with the investigations. A 
general survey has been made of the area, which consists of chalk, 
partly covered with clays, in part calcareous and in part leached. The 
principal plant communities have been mapped. The following are the 
most noticeable ones on the area :— 
(i) On chalk.—Beech wood with and without Tarus. All stages 
between beech wood and chalk scrub, passing through Taxus wood and 
ash wood. The chalk scrub is partly retrogressive and partly progres- 
sive. Chalk grassland, with transitions to scrub, either retrogressive or 
progressive. 
