406 E. II. Rainfall Sf Bernard Sni if fl- 



are bound to acknowledge it, but when the one is new or the other 

 not yet accepted, little, I think, is gained by recounting ancient 

 history. " Most votes " (unless intelligent) do not " carry the day " 

 in science as they do in a Parliamentary election, so that even the 

 opinions of the great men of old do not count for much in questions 

 on which they could not be fully informed. Thus I maintain that 

 while a chapter on the past literature is appropriate and even 

 necessary to a complete memoir on any subject, it is useless 

 padding, and even worse, in a paper which aims at either advancing 

 or disproving one of certain views, the existence of which is 

 a matter of common knowledge. Such a chapter is, I believe, 

 rarely remunerative to the readei', and almost never to the writer. 

 I am quite aware that the expression of such an heretical opinion 

 may shock the sensibility of students more at home in the library 

 tlian in the fiehl, but am prepared to endure with equanimity even 

 the sort of criticism wliich Mr. Brydone welcomes as efifectual. 



III. — Tarns on the Haystacks Mountain, Buttermerk, 



Cumberland. 



By R. 11. Rastall, M.A., F.G.S., Fellow of Christ's Collcire, Cambridge, and 



Beknahd Smith, B.A., Siduey Sussex College, Cambridge. 



(With five Text-figures.) 



ALTHOUGH the lakes and larger tarns of the English Lake 

 District have been the subject of much discussion and have 

 given rise to a very vobiminous literature, comparatively little has 

 been written on the smaller tarns, and especially on those of the very 

 smallest size, which are so abundant in many parts of the district. 

 It seems to us, however, that the smaller ones are quite as deserving 

 of consideration as the larger, since they present similar phenomena, 

 and their interpretation gives rise to similar difficulties. 



During an excursion in the autumn of 1903 we happened to come 

 across a group of small tarns which seemed to be interesting in 

 several respects, and we determined to investigate them fully. 



'J'hese tarns are situated at considerable elevations, 1,G00 or 1,700 

 feet, on the Haystacks, a mountain which separates the head of the 

 Buttermere-Crummock-Water valley from Ennerdale, to the east of 

 Scarth Gap, the usual pass between the two valleys (Ordnance 

 Survey map, six inch, 69 N.E.). The highest part of the mountain 

 very nearly attains the 2,000 feet contour-line near its western end. 

 It consists of lavas and ashes of the Borrowdale series overlying 

 Skiddaw slates : the lag-plane separating the two formations passes 

 below the great crags on the northern side. The volcanic rocks dip 

 with great uniformity to the south-east, striking transversely to the 

 watershed, thus forming a good example of a plagioclinal ridge. 

 The summits are very rugged, and the side towards Warnscale, the 

 head of the Buttermere valle}', shows some fine crags, several 

 hundred feet high. 



^J'lie upper surface of the mountain is extremely irregular, and 

 consists of small peaks and pinnacles, enclosing numerous hollows, 

 in some of which are small tarns and in others extensive peat-bogs. 



