438 
FOSSIL BONES DISCOVERED 
pressed in that direction. Some are placed obliquely, and 
are, in like manner, flattened. Their surfaces are smooth 
and glossy. Longitudinally, they are somewhat tough ; 
andj under their black hue, a tinge of greenish-yellow may 
be perceived. Many of these fragments include joints, from 
one extremity of which, frequently, slender roots extend ^ 
Avhich marks them, according to my apprehension, as being 
the same with one of the aquatic reeds common in the dis- 
trict, which sends out roots in a similar manner from the 
lower joints. Fragments of small branches and twigs of 
birch are also apparent, — of the last, the cortical and medul- 
lary portions only remaining ; also alder, or perhaps pop- 
lar, and thicker })ortions of another, soft and destitute of 
bark, resembling the roots of furze. Small, vesicular, flat, 
oval, greyish seeds, have been detected, — with others of 
same form, black, attenuated, and opened ; considered by 
botanists to belong to the genus Pedicularis. A specimen 
of the stratum is herewith sent, and also of the superin- 
cumbent clay, with moss, from the lowest layer of Blair- 
Drummond, and of the common superficial moss of the 
valley. (Sp. 24, 25, and 26.) In superficial mosses, the 
lowest layer is most decomposed, more compact, and of a 
deeper black. The imbedded bones emit a strong odour by 
heat, as of rancid fish-oil. The stratum of black spongy 
earth on which the bones reposed, dips gently towards the 
east ; and, in this particular also, agrees with the stratum 
at Fall-in. No trace nor odour of the contiguous clay is 
discernible. A few hundred yards to the west, it crops 
out ; and, till lately, formed an obstruction to cultiva- 
tion, after the superficial moss which covered it had been 
removed; but it has been rendered arable by a judicious 
use of wedge-drains, adapted to atTord an exit for the water 
which proceeds from the substratum of sandy clay. The 
tenant remai*ked, that all this last is jointed like a rock, and 
