ON THE PLANT REMAINS. IN THE SCOTTISH PEAT MOSSES. 713 
as the peat has only been dug in a few of the drier places near the edges of the mosses. 
The general character of the country is illustrated in fig. 12, where the long whale- 
backed hillocks can be seen rising about 30-40 feet above the general level of the moss. 
Many of the mosses are of the nature of flow mosses, merely consisting of a crust of 
peat firmly bound together by the wiry stems of Myrica Gale, Calluna, and Scirpus, 
underlaid by many feet of semi-liquid peat, and I found that it was impossible to cut 
sections in such cases, and had to fall back on borings in order to obtain specimens of 
the basal peat layers and underlying glacial deposits. 
An investigation by means of sections and borings was made of the following mosses 
lying in this district: Flow of Dergoals, Dirskelpin Moss, Knock Moss, Anabaglish 
Moss. 
The Flow of Dergoals represents the wettest type of moss found in the district, 
being covered with an association of Sphagnum sp. (dominant), Hrica Tetralix, and 
Myrica Gale. Asa result of twelve borings the moss was found to have an average 
depth of 18-20 feet, and in one place close to the eastern boundary no bottom was 
reached in 30 feet. An endeavour was made to section the central part of the moss, 
but the peat proved to be semi-liquid in character at a few feet below the surface. A 
section was made close to the eastern margin through 17 feet of peat. Much 
Eriophorum vaginatum occurred in the upper 12 feet of peat, with. Polytrichum Com- 
mune in places. Below this, woodland began to appear, the peat containing abundance 
of Corylus wood and nuts. Lower still the Corylus became more scanty and yielded 
‘place to Betula, which continued until the floor of the moss was reached. 
The birch zone contained in some places considerable quantities of Polytrichum 
Commune and Equisetum, sp. This general succession was fully borne out by the 
borings, Betula being everywhere met with at the base of the peat, with much Corylus 
mixed with its upper layers. The floor of the moss consists of stiff gray clay packed 
full of stones of all sizes. The succession of events over the area covered by this moss 
appears to be as follows :—At a period subsequent to the deposition of the till upon 
which it rests, the ground became covered with a growth of birch and Calluna. This 
woodland was gradually replaced by hazel and alder, which, however, did not stretch 
to the centre of the moss, but formed a fringe round the sides of the basin. There is 
some evidence that the conditions became wetter as the birch and Calluna died away, 
for the peat above this shows a fairly abundant development of Polytrichum and 
Equisetum. This may explain the general absence of hazel and alder from the deeper 
parts of the moss. Later still the conditions become favourable to the growth of the 
wettest types of moorland plants ; all sign of woodland vanished, and a close carpet of 
such plants as Eriophorum, Polytrichum, Sphagnum, and Carices covered the ground. 
Comparatively recently this vegetation has given place to the present Sphagnum, H7ica 
Tetralix, and Myrica Gale association. The general history of the neighbouring mosses 
appears to have been the same, but there are, as might be expected, considerable local 
variations. 
