1916] FORSAITH—ALLOCTHONOUS PEAT 35 
more or less decayed woody substance. This granular property 
may be taken as evidence of the accumulation of Taxodium, Ilex, 
Magnolia, etc., which plants occur only in those areas which have _ 
become somewhat drained, thus permitting decay to act more 
readily than in the case of the more herbaceous forms. This 
condition naturally results in a greater reduction, and consequently 
a more amorphous content. It seems necessary to add that in the 
apparent in situ herbaceous peat there is much evidence of drifted 
material revealed by the microscope, which naturally places the 
major part of the saw grass (Cladium) and other marshes under 
the head of allocthonous rather than of autochthonous formations, 
with the exception of the upper two or three feet of the strata. In 
_ speaking of im situ herbaceous peat in the later paragraphs, there- 
fore, reference is made only to the uppermost layers, and not to 
the deposit in general. 
Apparently these two characteristics of herbaceous and woody 
autochthonous peat formations are owing to the natural sequence 
of their occurrence, for it is a recognized fact that when the water 
level becomes sufficiently low to permit the growth of the higher 
plants, those of a herbaceous variety are the first to appear, which 
naturally accounts for the presence of the grassy peats below the 
more woody species where both are present in the same region. 
These two characters also show another distinct difference in 
respect to the amount of decay that has taken place, resulting 
entirely from the presence or absence of a permanent water supply. 
In the herbaceous peats there occurs little evidence of decay 
because of the presence of a constant water covering, as well as 
natural plant acids which prohibit the oxidation of the air and 
the destructive action of fungi, thus preserving its spongy, fibrous 
nature. When, however, the continual accumulation of these 
plants has raised the mass to such a height that it is above water 
for a part of the year at least, the monocotyledonous plants give 
place to more woody dicotyledonous species, which build up a 
stratum of a granular quality. This granular property is due to 
the decayed state of the amassed vegetation, brought about by 
the action of the air and the enzymes of bacteria, which are per- 
mitted to work on account of a lack of permanent protection by 
