800 



MR FRANCIS J. LEWIS 



eastward, it appears to be covered with vegetation, due to the steep, sloping banks of 

 bare peat facing west, whilst the slightly inclined slopes facing east are covered with 

 vegetation. 



The older peat deposits in this district showing stratification may now be 

 described. 



In a former paper (3) I gave details of several deep sections, with the sequence of 

 strata and the plant remains which had been found at that time. This sequence was 

 briefly as follows : — 



1. Recent peat formed of Scirpus, Eriopborum, and 



Calluna. 



2. Arctic plants. 



3. Betula alba, 

 i. Arctic plants. 

 5. Moraine. 



Sections taken in fresh spots last year amply confirm this sequence, with the addition 

 of several fresh features and plant remains. The first section to be described is in the 

 valley between Stourborough Hill (567 feet) and Sandness Hill (817 feet), and lies at 

 280 feet above O.D. below Rhacomitrium moor, and is shown in PI. I. fig. 1. 



The stratification is : — 



1. Recent peat, consisting of Calluna vulgaris, Erio- 



phornm vaginatum, and Scirpus csesp>itosus. 



2. Potentilla Comarum stems and seeds, with many 



stems of creeping Salix sp. 



3. Sphagnum sps., Eriophorn.m polystacliion. 



4. Betula glutinosa Fries. 



5. Phragmites communis, Menyanthes trifoliata. 



6. Salix herbacea. 



7. Equisetum sp. and silt. 



8. Layer of stones with Equisetum rhizomes in the 



silt between the stones. 



Material of the silt collected between the stones of layer 8 contained the following 

 fossils : — 



Pinus sylvestris, pollen grains. 

 Carex glauca. 

 Navicula viridis, Kutz. 

 N. nobilis, Ehrenb. 

 Cosmarium Meneghinii, Breb. 



Cocconema lanceolafum, Ehrenb. 



Epilhemia Argus (Ehrenb.) Kutz. 



Fragments of dicotyledonous stems showing medullary 



ravs. 



The occurrence of the pollen grains of Pinus at a depth of 7 or 8 inches below the 

 surface of the drift is extremely interesting, and is paralleled by the discovery of pollen 

 of pine by Lagerheim, as recorded by Holst (4), in a silty layer containing arctic plants 

 at Toppeladugord in Scania, and by Lagerheim (4) of similar structures in Oja Mosse, 

 near Ystad, at a depth of at least 1 m. in the glacial clay. It is not suggested here that 

 the pollen grains show that pine was ever native in Shetland, least of all at this period ; 

 but its presence shows the great distances over which these bodies can be carried by 

 wind, as the material must at least have come many hundred miles. The Desmids and 

 Diatoms are interesting inasmuch as they indicate that there was an abundant fresh- 

 water flora between the retreat of the ice and the beginning of peat formation. One 

 section taken on Stanevatsoe Hill at an elevation of 600 feet above O.D. may be described 

 in detail, as material collected from the forest bed there contained a fair number of 



