Clement Reid— Scotch Inter-Glacial Deposits. 219 



evidence, however, is very strong, for the peat yields _ about fifty 

 plants, including Fumaria officinalis, Spergula arvensis, Linim perenne 

 (or L. iisitatismnim), Alchemilla arvensis, Garum Carui, Chrysanthemum 

 segetim, Matricaria inodora, Centaurea Cyanus, Sonchus arvensis, 

 Galeopsis TetraUt, and Euphorbia Eelioscopia. These eleven species, 

 and perhaps some of the others, are probably weeds of cultivation. 

 The flax seeds and capsules, judging from J;he abundance of these 

 remains, may be the refuse of bundles of the cultivated plant put to 

 steep in the marsh. If the seeds belong, on the other hand, to the 

 wild flax, it is strange that they should be so abundant in a peaty 

 deposit, for this plant does not usually grow in marshy places, and 

 is not at the present day found so far north. 



The three localities above described are the only ones in Scotland 

 that yield a characteristic temperate flora from beds supposed to 

 be older than part of the Till. There remain, however, several 

 deposits which I am inclined to accept as of inter-Glacial, or 

 perhaps Glacial, date ; but these, unfortunately, like all the peaty 

 masses undoubtedly included in the Till, yield nothing but a poverty- 

 stricken, uncharacteristic flora, all the species having an extremely 

 wide range. Kilmaurs, in Ayrshire, where so many remains of the 

 Mammoth have been found, is probably the best known of these 

 localities (see " Great Ice Age," pp. 133, 149, 162). Many seeds 

 were sent to me from this place, but among them there were only 

 six species of flowering plants. Indeed, this poverty of the flora 

 seems to be a common, though not universal, characteristic of 

 deposits in which Mammoth remains are abundant : it was equally 

 marked, for instance, in the Mammoth-bearing loams of Eudsleigh 

 Gardens, in London, described by Dr. Hicks. 



Another locality where peaty deposits lie unmistakably under Till 

 is at Chapelhall, near Airdrie. This section was first described, 

 many years since, by Sir Archibald Geikie, and on applying to the 

 Geological Survey of Scotland I obtained a box containing several 

 hundred seeds. The result, however, was most disappointing, for 

 they all belonged to two common marsh plants which range 

 throughout the north Temperate and Arctic regions. A further 

 series from other sections at Airdrie yielded about a dozen species, 

 including the dwarf Arctic birch. 



In making these comments on the evidence brought forward to 

 prove inter-Glacial periods in Scotland, I do not wish to be mis- 

 understood, I have no objection to recognize such alternations; 

 but for several years I have tried to examine on its own merits the 

 evidence for each supposed inter- Glacial deposit in Britain. In 

 many instances the case completely collapses, but in others it 

 becomes stronger the more closely it is examined. Thus we are 

 gradually bringing to light a definite inter-Glacial period with a 

 characteristic fauna and flora ; but before we can pretend to under- 

 stand the peculiar conditions, it is absolutely necessary to weed out 

 all spurious or doubtful evidence. The case will be enormously 

 weakened in the eyes of all naturalists by the inclusion of such 

 deposits and. fossils as those of Cowden Glen, Kedhall, and Hailes. 



