PRELIMINARY REPORT ON PEAT. 297
of Escambia Bay, a few miles farther west, which in turn are doubtless of the same age as those on Perdido and Mobile Bays in Baldwin County, Alabama, which Dr. Eugene A. Smith regards as representing the Grand Gulf formation.* The logs and stumps in Nos. 3 and 4 seem to represent both pine and cypress,t and the whole appearance of the place suggests the remains of a cypress pond or bay. The gray color of the lowest stratum is doubtless due to the effect of the vegetable acids on the iron compounds in the soil, as can be observed under almost any modern bog or swamp that is shallow enough to dig through.
*See his report on the Underground Water Resources vf Alabama, plates i8 and I9. 1907.
tMr. Edward W. Berry, while doing paleobotanical work for the U. S. Geological Survey, visited this locality with me on Sept. I9 and 20, iyio, and made collections of the fossil plants, but up to the present writing he has not had opportunity to study them carefully.