818 MR FRANCIS J. LEWIS 



ever, impossible, as some of the peat excavated from the cutting has been placed on the 

 top of the bank. Although in some ways the cutting is an excellent exposure, measure- 

 ments would not have been taken here, owing to the disturbance of the peat during 

 the construction of the railway, but for the fact that it is the only spot in Scotland, as 

 far as my experience goes, where distinctly more than two layers of pine stools are to 

 be found. 



The section is within the boundary fence of the railway, and permission to cut back 

 the face of the peat was kindly given me by T. A. Wilson, Esq., General Manager of 

 the Highland Railway. The section was examined last November, and I am much 

 indebted to him for the kind arrangements he made on that occasion. 



Full details and measurements of the position of the pine stools will be found in 

 the diagram plotted on PI. V. fig. 37. 



Most of the trees, and particularly those in the two upper layers, are of large size. 

 An average specimen was collected from each layer. The base of the trunk was sawn 

 off as near the butt as circumstances permitted, and the ends of the samples squared 

 and polished. In all the three specimens the annual rings are very distinct, and can 

 easily be counted, and a brief description of the characters of the wood is given here. 



The specimen from the lowest tier of trees was sawn otf at the butt. The centre 

 and one half of the trunk had decayed, but the rest of the timber was quite sound, and 

 measured 14 inches along a radius from the inner side to the outside. The number of 

 rings along this radius was 184, giving an average of 13 to the inch. Growth appears 

 to have been fairly regular. The widest ring is 4 mm., laid down during the forty-third 

 year of growth. The narrowest ones near the outside give an average of 5 rings 

 per mm. 



The tree from the second tier selected for examination showed features of great 

 interest, inasmuch as the trunk to a height of 50 inches was buried in peat. The tree 

 was standing in the position of growth, and the peat in which it was buried had not 

 been disturbed, as the third or uppermost tier of trees lay on the top. A channel was 

 cut through this peat from the level of the lowest tier to the base of this specimen, and 

 is shown in PL III. fig. 6. The trunk was not sawn off at the base owing to the large 

 amount of peat that would have had to be removed in order to provide working room 

 for a large saw, so the trunk was taken off 22 inches above the base. The great depth 

 to which this trunk was buried shows at any rate that peat formation between the 

 lowest and the middle tier of trees could not have proceeded very slowly, or else the 

 trunk would not have been in such a sound condition. The bark had, of course, 

 vanished, and possibly a good deal of the outer part of the timber, as the outside is 

 much grooved, sometimes to a depth of 3 or 4 inches. The quality of the wood is 

 very different from that of the specimen from the lowest layer ; it is very hard, the 

 annual rings are exceedingly close, and growth appears to have been very irregular. 

 The number of rings along a radius of 6^ inches was 273, giving an average of 42 

 to the inch. The broadest ring was 2 '5 mm. wide, laid down during the twenty-first 



