ON THE PLANT REMAINS OF THE SCOTTISH PEAT MOSSES. 



815 



considerable time before the peat began to form, and may even have been embedded in 

 the sand before the beach was raised above sea-level. The bark has been stripped off, 

 and from the water-worn appearance of the wood it must have drifted for some time 

 before it became embedded in the sand. Although careful search was made, no roots 

 were found in the sand underlying the peat. This wood, then, is clearly drift, and 

 did not grow in situ as the oak and birch did on the 50-feet beach at Ardgour. 



The relative thickness of the peat and other details, and the nature of the under- 

 lying deposits on the 25-feet beaches at Ardgour and Corpach, and the 50-feet beach 

 at Ardgour, are shown in fig. 2. # 





50 ft. level. 





/Coo 





with rooted Oak. 



!-H'-: J !y. '^'25 ft. level. 



^^%S^^K; 



Sand with drifted Oak. 





Fig. 2. — Peat resting on the 25-feet and 50-feet Raised Beaches at Banavie ana Ardgour. 



a, 6J feet of peat formed of Eriophorum, Sphagnum, Calluna, Scirpus aespitosus (not stratified) ; b, 3-4J feet of peat 



formed of moorland plants similar to a. 



Stratigraphy of Peat and Forest Beds. 



In the course of this paper frequent reference has been made to the First and 

 Second Arctic Strata and the Lower and the Upper Forest Strata. This nomenclature 

 implies that these are true datum lines which run continuously at one level through 

 the peat. That this is so can readily be ascertained by anyone who undertakes the 

 tedious work of examining a sufficiently large number of sections in the field over 

 areas situated in every part of Scotland. It seems, however, to be desirable to bring 

 forward some definite measurements taken from sections in the field which will convince 

 anyone, who has not had an opportunity of extensive field work, of the continuity of 



* Since writing the above, a paper on " Some Neolithic Moss Remains from Fort William," by H. N. Dixon (9), has 

 come to hand, in which the author describes thirty-six species of mosses from sandy peat under the 25-feet raised beach 

 at Fort William, collected by Messrs Maufe and Wright of the Geological Survey. Whilst some of the mosses are 

 paludal species, many of them indicate a well-wooded country with climatic conditions very similar to those now 

 obtaining. The plant bed contains tree trunks up to 1 foot in diameter, and the total absence of plants indicating 

 colder conditions than the present agrees with my observations. 



