of Edinburgh, Session 1883-84. 
747 
resembled Xo. 1 tree in the soundness of the wood, but the trunk 
was hardly so straight, and it had several branches. At 1 foot 
above the roots it measured 20 inches in diameter, from w^hich it 
tapered upwards for 26 feet to a diameter of 1 foot, after which it 
bifurcated, the two branches measuring 16 feet 6 inches and 6 feet 
6 inches respectively. There were smaller branches also both on 
the main trunk and on the two principal branches. The fourth 
tree I did not see in situ, but in Mr Kobertson’s premises. It 
measured 2 feet 7 inches in diameter near the root, but bifurcated 
at about 4 feet 6 inches. Only one of the two limbs, however, 
remains, and it measures 18 feet 4 inches in length. It also 
bifurcates, the branches measuring 18 feet and 15 feet, with 
diameters of 9 inches and 7 inches respectively. 
All the trees were more or less soft and spongy externally, the 
soft wood being readily removed by a spade to the depth of an 
inch or more. They seem to have been for the most part deprived 
of their bark before they became buried in the sand, and the worn 
and abraded character of the roots and branches was just such as 
we see in trees which have been drifted some distance in water. 
It remains only to add that the trees were lying with their butt 
ends directed inland. Nos. 1 and 4 I did not see in situ, but the 
others I took the direction of, and found that the top of No. 2 pointed 
E. 20 N.; and Mr Eobertson informed me that No. 1 had the same 
direction. No. 3 tree lay N. 5 W. or nearly north and south, the 
top being directed seawards. No. 4, again, appears to have had 
very much the same direction, the top being directed a few degrees 
more to west of north. I may add, that the four trees now 
referred to occurred within a dozen yards or so of each other, one 
of the branches of the great hollow trunk (No. 2) lying across No. 3 
tree. Scattered through the sand in the neighbourhood of the 
trees, many twigs and branches were seen, some of which may have 
belonged to those particular trees ; it is quite possible, however, 
that a portion of the vegetable d4bris may have become entangled 
in the roots and branches of the snags as it drifted seawards. 
The succession of deposits seen in the sand-pit is in descending 
series, as follows (see fig. 1) : — 
{a) Soil, &c. 
(6) Sand, white and yellow, about 1 foot 6 inches. 
