ON THE BEAVERS OF SCOTLAND. 215 



ly at the same time ; and, along with these, two 

 " leg-bones, so deeply grooved as to appear like 

 double bones." These last, it has been suggested 

 to me by Dr Barclay, were probably the metatarsal 

 bones of a large species of deer, which appears to 

 have been contemporary with the beaver, and per- 

 haps to have been exterminated much about the 

 same period with that animal. 



The second instance occurred so lately as October 

 1818, on the estate of Kimmerghame, in the parish 

 of Edrom, near the head of that district of Ber- 

 wickshire called the Merse. Since this estate was 

 acquired by the present proprietor Mr Bonar, bank- 

 er in Edinburgh, he has made important improve- 

 ments. In the course of these, he drained a mo- 

 rass called Middlestot's Bog. Under the peat-moss 

 here, a layer of shell -marl occurs, varying in thick- 

 ness from four to eight feet. Different marl-pits 

 have been opened ; and in one of these, the re- 

 mains of the beaver were found. They were si- 

 tuated at the depth of seven feet from the surface, 

 under a layer of peat-moss of that thickness. It 

 is remarked in a letter from Mr Thomas Dickson, 

 overseer at Kimmerghame, to Mr Bonar junior 

 (who took a lively interest in this investigation), 

 that a layer of a kind of loose whitish substance, 

 generally occurs between the bed of compact peat- 

 moss and the bed of marl. From a specimen sent 

 to Edinburgh, this substance appears to consist of 

 several musci which grow in marshy situations. 



