OF THE LEVEL OF THE SEA. 79 



above the original surface. 8th, Immediately below the 

 peat moss, is blue clay, without any mixture, and no vege- 

 table roots or substances. 



A man now living, and 72 years of age, who has sunk 

 23 pit wells in several parts of the Carse, says, that after he 

 penetrated the cultivated surface, he always found 10 feet 

 of brownish clay without vegetable mixture, under that, 

 blue clay with vegetable roots and sea shells, and gene- 

 rally at about 19 feet he found peat-moss from 3 to 9 

 inches deep, then blue clay again, with vegetable roots of 

 different depths, from 9 inches to 6 feet, and under that, 

 about two Jeet deep of moss again, composed of oak, fir, 

 beech, and bogie wood. He has seen taken out of this moss, 

 deers' horns, skulls, and other bones. Below this moss, he 

 generally found blue clay and quicksand." 



In the neighbouring parish of Newburgh,* a well has 

 been lately dug, in which the following beds were passed 

 through : 



1. Carse clay, marine. 



2. Peat-moss, (submerged forest). 



3. Fine sand. 



4. Till or diluvium, with boulders of unknown depth. 



We have here the most direct proof of the place this an- 

 cient forest holds in the series of deposits, resulting from the 

 last changes in the levels of the sea and land. It is to 

 be regretted, that so little is yet known of its animal or ve- 

 getable remains ; but it is to be hoped, that a field so new, 

 and so inviting, and which promises both to the Zoologist 

 and Botanist so rich a harvest of discovery, will, ere long, 

 attract well qualified observers. 



In my last paper, I offered some remarks on the immense 



* New Stat. Acct. No. x. p. 60. 



