718 MR FRANCIS J. LEWIS 
5. Hard dry peat of a dark red colour, containing remains of 
Corylus Avellana, Alnus glutinosa, Quercus—the latter 
apparently drifted. 
6. Coarse gray sand devoid of plant remains. The Corylus in the 
basal layers is particularly abundant. 
Two other sections taken on the landward side confirmed these results, and the sides 
of a large turbary near by showed the same features. Sections were then made on the 
seaward side, and the following beds exposed :— 
1. Sphagnum peat containing Calluna and a small quantity of 
Myrica Gale, A : . 7-8 feet. 
2. Peat consisting chiefly of Biraamites ; ‘ , 34 ,, 
3. Stiff gray clay containing remains of Pipa: communis, . 4. 
This layer is interstratified with seams of peaty material 
containing remains of the same plant. Sandy layers also 
run through the clay, and these contain numerous remains 
of the rhizomes of Holcus mollis, L. At the bottom of 
this layer the clay becomes more sandy and black in colour, 
without any determinable plant remains. ‘This seam is 
about 5 inches in thickness. 
4, Fine sand. 
Layer 3 has evidently been formed by constant flooding, which continued for a 
period long enough to deposit the clay layers between the peaty material. At the 
margin of this raised beach an abundant growth of Phragmites sprang up, only to be 
destroyed by flooding, which at the same time deposited a layer of sand and mud over 
the plant-bed. This growth of Phragmites may have occurred whilst the beach was 
still being raised, and the flooding caused, not by changes in the level of the land, but 
rather by shifting of sand-banks close in to the shore. The height of the moss at the place 
where these sections were made is about 25 feet above Ordnance datum. It is interest- 
ing to note that the basal peat with Corylus, represented in the higher part of the 
beach, is absent from the seaward side. It would appear that the higher parts of the 
beach actually became clothed with woodland before the seaward side had entirely 
emerged from the sea, and that towards the close of the period of upheaval the woodland 
died out over the upper ground and the whole beach became covered with a vegetation 
indicating wet conditions. 
The two mosses first described may fairly be taken as representative of the mosses 
lying on the 25-feet raised beach of the south coast. The absence of any remains of 
Arctic plants at the base, and still more the presence of such temperate forms as Corylus 
and Alnus, with the abundance of nuts of the former, is of interest as showing that these 
mosses began to form under climatic conditions which were certainly not less favourable 
than those at the present day. Both the birch at the base of the Moss of Cree, and the 
Corylus of Priestside Flow, grew in situ, as none of the material shows any sign of water 
