Vol. 52.] AT BARRY, GLAMORGANSHIRE. 481 



It also contains seeds of Valeriana officinalis and Carex, and 

 elytra of beetles. There is no evidence of salt water/ I infer 

 that the peat was formed in the one case as a true forest-bed 

 along the margin of a swamp, and in the other by the growth 

 of water- weeds within the limits of the morass. 

 10 and 11. These strata lay below the dock-bottom and were 

 exposed only in the excavation for the foundations of walls, 

 etc. Fortunately a good exposure of the important part of 

 them was accessible about halfway between the entrance and 

 the southern angle of the dock. The section commenced at the 

 dock-bottom — that is, at the peat last described (no. 9) ; in the 

 upper part it was timbered up, but at a depth of about 9 feet 

 blue silty clay (no. 10) of the usual character could be seen and 

 dug out through the timbers ; at 12 feet below the dock-bottom 

 the silt was succeeded by peat no. 11, and from here downward 

 the section was open. 



Section below the Dock-bottom south of the Entrance. 



feet, inches. 



{Not seen, but according to information all blue silty clay. 10 

 Blue and greenish silt, full of reeds and containing leaves 

 and land-shells ; in the upper part, foraininifera 2 



11. Peat with much timber 3 4 



12. Keddish clayey gravel with land-shells and penetrated by 



roots in place ; passing down into red and green grits, 

 limestone, and marls. 



With the exception of the foraminifera from the lower part 

 of the silt (no. 10), there is nothing in this section to suggest the 

 presence of salt or brackish water. The list of the microscopic 

 organisms is contributed in the Appendix with the remark that the 

 bed is quite marine, but the molluscs and plants enumerated below 

 seem to modify this conclusion. 



The red clayey gravel below was an unstratified deposit, including 

 large angular fragments of the underlying rock. It was traversed 

 by a network of roots ranging up to 3 inches in diameter, one of 

 which at least was connected with one of the masses of wood 

 in the peat above. Some of them also had moulded themselves 

 against or between the angular blocks of rock, as would happen 

 with roots growing in such a soil. Many had small twigs attached 

 to them, while much of the deposit was more or less traversed by 

 root-fibres. Some roots ran horizontally, but many vertically, and 

 of the latter several were followed down for 3 feet below the base 

 of the peat without reaching their terminations. The rock at 

 this point is rising somewhat sharply, so much so that within 50 

 yards it touches the Upper Peat (no. 5), as shown in the section 

 on p. 478. It might, therefore, have yielded some talus, but the 

 gravel was totally unstratified and seemed rather to be rock decom- 

 posed in place. The evidence leaves no room for doubt that this 

 peat is an old land-surface, lying at a depth of 35 feet below the 

 present Ordnance-datum. 



