132 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
HoLyRoopD LAKE. 
In the years 1887 and 1888 a new sewer was made 
through the hollow that lies between Salisbury Crags and - 
the slope of St John’s Hill, and several beds of gravel, clay 
marl, and peat were cut into, which marked the site of an old 
lake. For distinction sake it may be called the Holyrood 
Lake, as, from the configuration of the eround, the lake 
deposits must extend under the palace. These lake deposits 
have been referred to by three of our local geologists :— 
jirst by Mr Andrew Taylor in describing the strata cut into 
in making a gas tank, Trans. Geol. Soc. of Edinburgh, vol. v., 
p. 44; secondly by Mr John Henderson, also in same 
Transactions, vol. v., p. 407; and thirdly by Messrs J. A. 
Johnston and J. Lindsay in Trans. Hdinburgh Naturalist 
Freld Club, vol. ii., p. 135, who give a plan and section from 
measurements and bores furnished by Mr J. Massie of the 
Burgh Engineer's Office. One of the bores may be quoted 
entire, as it gives the strata passed through from the surface 
to the rock-head—(1.) Forced material, 3 ft. 2in.; (2.) yellow 
clay, 2 ft. 4 in.; (3.) peat, 3 ft.; (4.) marl, 9 ft.; (5.) mud 
(white and brown), 2 ft. 6 in.; (6.) clay (blue and red), 1 ft. 
9 in.; (7.) rough gravel, 4 ft. 6 in.; (8.) clay and small stones, 
5. ff. 6 im.5 @.).blue clay,.7 ft. 7 in.; (10.) Blaeg-—“saeale 
39 ft. 3 in., 26 feet of which we may consider as deposited by 
the ancient lake, proving that the lake period was a long one 
from first to last, Those who wish further details may 
consult with advantage the three papers to which we have 
referred, especially that of Johnston and Lindsay, which is 
the most minute in its descriptions. For ourselves we shall 
notice roughly the section as it appeared to us while 
gathering the samples of marl and clay. Lowest was a bed 
of sand and gravel, the gravel being well rounded and the 
sand free from clay or earth; then a bed of white clay with- 
out shells, or only a few; then a marl crowded with shells, 
very cohesive and felted with vegetable débris ; then upper- 
most a bed of peat, brown and compact, in which twigs and 
portions of wood were frequent. The shells, as usual in these 
