700 MR FRANCIS J. LEWIS 
far more likely to throw light on the questions at issue, than the collecting of remains 
over large areas where no succession can be made out. . 
On the Continent the plants preserved at different horizons in peat mosses have been 
fully described by SteenstRup, Biyrr, Gunnar ANDERSSON, NarHorst, SCHROETER, 
and many others, and I hope that correlation between these zones and those in the 
British peat may be possible when more areas have been investigated in this country. 
Method of Survey.—The following results have been obtained from sections, made 
for the purpose of this survey, in the untouched portion of the mosses. The peat of 
many of the lowland and some of the upland districts is still dug for fuel, this being 
particularly the case in Wigtonshire, Ayrshire, and Selkirkshire. Even in these districts, 
however, the turbaries have trenched very little on the mosses, being confined to the 
drier margins. The surface peat, being unsuitable for fuel, is generally taken off the top 
of the turbaries and laid down upon the excavated area. This quickly becomes grown 
over with vegetation, so that it is frequently difficult to determine the exact boundary 
of some of the older turbaries. To avoid any error due to this source, independent 
sections have been made in all cases away from the turbaries. 
The following results are based upon evidence obtained both by means of sections 
-and borings. The borings were made with a 23-inch clay auger with rods to bore to a 
depth of 20 feet. Fairly good cores were obtained when dealing with dry peat; but 
the evidence from borings alone is not always to be trusted, as a layer of wiry stems 
imbedded in soft peat may easily be pushed aside by the boring tool without being re- 
presented in the core. Except in the few places where it was impossible to cut sections, 
the borings have only been used for verifying facts already ascertained by digging in 
other parts of the mosses, or for ascertaining the average depth of a large moss. 
The sections were generally in the form of a pit 6 feet wide and 8 feet long where 
the depth of peat to be cut through did not exceed 8 or 10 feet; but in many cases the 
sections had to be carried down 16 or 17 feet before the basal layers of the moss were 
reached, and in such case the section would be enlarged to 12-16 feet in length with a 
series of steps or terraces at one end. After the underlying rock had been reached and 
cut into as far as possible, the sides of the section were carefully examined for evidence 
of stratification. Material would then be cut from each layer, placed in tins, labelled, 
and sent to the laboratory for detailed examination. Larger blocks of the peat, to 
show the sequence of beds, were also cut from many of the sections and sent to the 
laboratory for more detailed examination than was possible in the field. In cases 
where the peat rests upon sand, it is frequently traversed towards the base by cracks, 
and the inrush of water through these caused much delay. This was particularly the 
case in the Merrick mosses, where many sections had to be abandoned when only half 
finished owing to the rush of water. 
In most of the British peat mosses the plant remains are not so perfectly preserved 
as in the Continental peat, and seeds are comparatively few in number. I have found 
that the isolation of the plant remains can most easily be effected by examination of 
