The Ancient Lakes of Edinburgh. mae 
side Asylum stands and that in which the Plewlands 
Cemetery is situated. The Jordan Burn flows through the 
hollow, and doubtless now drains off the surplus water that 
once stagnated in it and formed a lake. The section cut 
through was (1.) vegetable soil, 2 feet; (2.) peat, 3 feet; 
(3.) marl, irregular in thickness, but generally 2 to 3 feet. In 
places, however, 1t went down 15 or 16 feet, but in these 
places it extended only 2 or 3 feet in breadth, showing that 
the marl occupied deep holes or “plums” in the bottom of 
the lake. The marl was free from peaty matter, but was 
crowded with stems of water plants, very thin and ribbon- 
like, of a yellowish-green hue. In washing they could be 
easily floated off, and the animal remains secured without 
any difficulty. The marl and peat extended along the 
railway cutting several hundred yards from near the rock 
section at Myreside to within a short distance of Morningside 
Station, and its breadth was of course only shown by that of 
the railway, but it probably extended from side to side of 
the hollow, which might be 100 yards. 
THE BoroucH Locy, Now THE MEapows, EDINBURGH. 
The material examined was obtained in 1871 during 
operations then in progress to level the West Meadows and 
raise them several feet higher. The soil was lifted and 
drains made, and rubbish from building operations in the 
town iaid down to the thickness of 3 or 4 feet in some places, 
and in others 6 or 7 feet, and then the soil was spread over 
the surface, and the grounds restored to grass again. The 
depth of the marl was, I think, about 3 feet, and was topped 
by peat as described by Hugh Miller in the article already 
referred to. The marl washed with difficulty, and there were 
comparatively few Ostracoda in it, which we suppose due to 
their cast-off coverings having, through decay, lost the animal 
matter interwoven in their substance. The mineral con- 
stituents were resolved into white mud, which is the principal 
component of these old lake marls. The lake from which 
the Meadows’ marls were shed was well known as the 
Borough Loch. 
