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^ in Jan. 

 •"omenon. 



nil:: witli it 



direction of 



r a torrent, 



"nd orer- 

 )ii passing 

 » wide and 



pinomfield 



fruiii below 



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and is 

 ded 



iTOUD 



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have 



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 frea 







w 



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11 



^ 



li< 



Ch. xliv.] blown sand, and volcanic ejections. 



505 



become the receptacles of drift peat. Of tliis^ accordingly, 

 there are numerous examples ; and hence the alternations of 

 clay and sand with different deposits of peat so frequent on 

 some coasts^ as on those of the Baltic and German Ocean. 

 We are informed by Deguer^ that remains of ships, nautical 

 instruments, and oars, have been found in many of the Dutch 

 mosses. Gerard has shown by similar proofs that many 

 mosses on the coast of Picardy, Zealand, and Friesland were 

 at one period navigable arms of the sea. 



Bones of herbivorous quadrupeds in peat. — The antlers of 

 large and full-grown stags are amongst the most common 

 and conspicuous remains of animals in peat. They are not 

 horns which have been shed ; for portions of the skull are 

 found attached, proving that the whole animal perished. 

 Bones of the ox, hog, horse, sheep, and other herbivorous 

 animals, also occur. M. Morren has discovered in the peat 

 of Flanders the bones of otters and beavers,^ and M. Boucher 

 de Perthes has found bones and teeth of the Ursus Arctos, 

 or the bear Avhich now lives in the Pyrenees, in the peat 

 of Abbeville. But as a general rule no remains are met 

 with belonging to extinct quadrupeds, such as the elephant, 

 rhinoceros, hippopotamus, hyaena, and tiger, which are so 

 common in old European river-gravels. 



Bones of the mammoth mentioned by us in the first volume, 

 pp. 544, 545, as occurring in peat and vegetable matter of 

 older date than ordinary peat-mosses, are very exceptional. 



The great extinct deer also, Cervus Megaceros, has often been 



said to have been dug out of peat, but its true position seems 

 to be in shell-marl underlying peat-mosses. The freshwater 

 shells of such marl and others occasionally associated with 

 peat, as well as the landshells met with in the same, are in- 

 variably of species now living. 



Great Dismal Swamp. — I have described in my "^ Travels in 

 North America,' f an extensive swamp or morass, 40 miles 

 long from north to south, and 25 wide, between the 

 towns of Norfolk in Yirginia, and Weldon in North Caro- 

 lina. It is called the ' Great Dismal,' and has somewhat the 



* Bulletin de la Soc. Geol. de France, 

 torn. ii. p. 26. 



t Travels, &c., in 1841, 1842, vol. i. 



p. 143. 



