166 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA 



not for the circumstance that Mr. Scudder confesses that ha did not suc- 

 ceed in bringing the Caterpillar, with Lichen, to perfection. Perhaps the Ca- 

 terpillar fed on grass, or perhaps some Carez, and was onlj, by some accident, 

 compelled to crawl to the lichen-covered stone, where that gentleman found 

 it. I hope to hear verj soon about this most interesting object, for I consider 

 the discovery of the metamorphoses of one insect, a more valuable fact than 

 the diagnoses of ten new species, of which we do not know more than the ex- 

 ternal appearance. 



Prof. Win. P. Blake presented the following papers : 



Note on a large lump of Gold found on the Middle fork 

 of the American River. 



BY PROF. WM. P. BLAKE. 



In July last, a mass of gold nearly free from quartz, was taken out of a pla- 

 cer on the Middle Fork of the American River, about two miles above Miche- 

 gan Bluffs. It weighed, as taken out, 187 ounces troy, and sold for $17 50 per 

 ounce, netting the finder $3,272 50. In melting, a loss of six ounces was ex- 

 perienced. There was a further loss to the purchaser, from the poor quality 

 of the gold, the assay return of which I have not yet been able to obtain. 

 The ordinary gold of the claim is worth $17 50. It is a singular fact, often 

 remarked by dealers, that the large lumps of gold are almost always poorer 

 in quality than the smaller ordinary grains from the same placers. 



Note on the Fossil remains of the Horse and Elephant, 

 mingled, at Mare Island, San Francisco Bay. 



BY PROF. WM. P. BLAKE. 



The entire lower jaw and teeth of a horse, the fragments of which I exhibit 

 to the Academy, were taken by me from the face of the shore cliff of Mare 

 Island, together with broken pieces of bones of other large quadrupeds. The 

 teeth of an Elephas had been found in the same place, a few weeks before, by 

 Mr. Brown, the Naval Engineer, by whom my attention was directed to the 

 place. The fossils occur in a stiff sandy loam, which rests on the eroded sur- 

 face of the Tertiary or Cretaceous beds below. Near the surface is a layer of 

 oyster shells, apparently an upraised bed, most of the shells being entire. 

 The fact that the Horse and Elephant roamed together over our hills and 

 plains, at the dawn of, or before the human period, is certainly not without 

 interest. 



