80 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
ash^ &c. ; the root of all or most of which stand in the soil, in their 
natural position, as thick as ever they could grow, as the trunks of 
most of them lie hy their proper roots. Most of tlie large trees lie 
along about a yard from tlieir roots (to which they evidently be- 
longed, both by their situation and the sameness of the wood), with 
their tops commonly north-east; though^ indeed, the smaller 
trees lie almost every way across the former, some over and others 
under them/' — See Philos. Trans. Button's Abridg., vol. 22. 
" The roots of the fir-trees have been observed to lie in the 
sand, and those of the oak-trees in clay." — Idem. 
Mr. Thompson, in his History of Boston, page 278, writes, 
" They (the trees) lie in all directions, and appear not to have 
been cut down, but to have been torn up by the operation of 
water.'' 
The kinds of trees most commonly found, are the oak and fir, 
but they are not invariably seen together, for in Downham and 
Stow Bardolph fens, alder, Scotch fir, and hazel are more parti- 
cularly associated ; whilst in the Magdalen and Marham fens, 
the oak and hazel are associated ; the heart of the oak is slightly 
bituminized, which renders it nearly imperishable. This im- 
bedded wood IS frequently raised to the amount of twelve loads 
per acre, and Dugdale mentions as much as 2000 cart loads in a 
year in some districts. 
The organic exuvice discovered in these alluvial beds, are, first, 
marine testacese, enveloped in silt, found at the bottom of the 
Eaubrink cut, the genera and species are given in that section ; 
second, the remains of mammalia almost invariably met with 
in the peat, and more particularly on the upper bed ; third, ma- 
rine, freshwater, and land shells intermingled, and found in the 
greatest abundance in the beds of loam and blue clay above the 
peat. The mammalian remains, are the antlers and bones of the 
Red Deer [Cervus Elephas) in all parts of the fens; head and 
other detached bones of the ox {Bos Taurus) ; horse [Equus ca- 
ballus), hog {Sm serofa), rare, a head in good preservation has 
