40 ’ : BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JULY 
lighter coloration and less firm texture, and naturally enough 
without an admixture of sand. 
On the shores at McIntosh fears occurs a deposit, such as is . 
often found on the shores of lakes, very much resembling lacustrine 
peat, as it presents a fine black structure, but it should not be 
confused with lake formations proper, for the reason that this 
condition is owing to the result of the action of the air and fungi 
on coarse fibrous material during periods of drought. 
Lake Weir, Marion County, may be classified as a large deep 
lake, bordered by hills with their upland flora, which enter into the 
composition of peat in the form of wind-blown material only, that 
is, pine and angiospermous pollen, strips of epidermis, and deciduous 
fragments. The shores are of a sandy nature without the border 
of Castalia, etc., which is very characteristic of the previously 
mentioned lakes. Owing to the deepness of the water (30 feet in 
the central portion), it was difficult to determine the depth of the 
deposit with accuracy with the apparatus at hand. With what 
tests it was possible to make (diagram, 25-28), however, it became 
evident that there is no lacustrine material of an organic nature 
nearer than one-fourth mile from shore, but beyond this limit 
there appears a gradually increasing layer which is at least 5 feet 
in depth in the center of the | 
A series of samples from this region differ very much from those 
previously observed, as those from the upper portion show a deep 
gray coloration which gives place to a pink below. There is no 
admixture of sand in any of the samples; all are fine, firm, and of 
a uniform texture. This gray and pink hue is apparently owing 
to the presence of an inorganic silt, shells, and crustacea, sufficient 
in amount to obscure the characteristic color of the normal alloc- 
thonous peat. In order to be more certain that this material is 
not entirely inorganic in nature, a microscopic test was made 
which showed, in addition to a large amount of silt and shell forma- 
tions, sponge spicules, diatoms, plant fragments, pollen, and spores. 
Since there was a possibility that a marsh, apparently a former 
arm of the lake, just north of the town of East Lake (diagram, 29), 
might show evidences of a transition of lacustrine to in situ peat, 
probings were made, which showed the deposit to be of a uniformly 
