XXX Journal of Proceedings. 



fungological and palaeolithic fame ; the Rev. Nicholas Brady, M.A., 

 and many distinguished members of the Society, lay and clerical, 

 including our indefatigable President. 



We start in good order from the court-yard of the station, and 

 taking the lane on the right leading to Barking, we soon reach the 

 Uphall Brickfield on the banks of the Roding. By the kind orders 

 of Mr. Rawkins, the proprietor of the field, some workmen have been 

 engaged all the morning in clearing one of the pits, and making fresh 

 excavations. We stand with them in the old river bed, watching 

 the turning up of myriads of minute river shells which testify to the 

 fluviatile character of the sand and gravel in which they are 

 embedded. Soon the announcement of a "find" increases the 

 interest ; a row of very large and bright molar teeth are first seen, 

 and gradually the lower jaw of the great fossil Ox [Bos primigenius) 

 is unearthed in almost perfect condition. It lay embedded in the 

 soil some ten feet from the surface. Some smaller bones are also 

 obtained, and plenty of the shells of Cyrena fluminalis which are so 

 characteristic of these deposits. With his accustomed kindness Sir 

 Antonio obtains from the workmen some bones of Mammoth and 

 presents them to the ladies of our party as a memento of their visit 

 to his hunting fields — now, alas ! quickly vanishing away and doomed 

 soon to be flooded over with the surging tide of Ilford building 

 operations. Sir Antonio tells us that it was from this, and the 

 adjoining pits a few furlongs south, that he obtained, during thirty- 

 five years' careful research, most of the specimens in his collection ; 

 viz., remains of at least lOO British Elephants, as well as bones and 

 teeth of Hippopotamus, Rhinoceros, Bison, and many other animals. 

 A list of some of the species found in the pits at Ilford had been 

 printed on the circular of the meeting, together with two sections 

 showing the geology of the district, kindly lent for the occasion by 

 Mr. Searles V. Wood, F.G.S., and the Editor of the " Geological 

 Magazine." * In response to the President's request Mr. Walker 

 then gives us an account of the former physical geography of this 

 interesting spot, as throwing light on the presence and former exist- 

 ence, in a wild state, of such strange animals in this country. Mr. 

 Walker illustrates his remarks with a series of most instructive maps, 

 showing the different geographical phases which Britain has presented 

 in pre-historic times, when these animals lived. The first map gives a 

 view of Britain rising from the waters of the Glacial Sea, presenting 

 the appearance of an icy archipelago, the higher hills and mountains 

 only being above the waters. The second map exhibits our island not 

 only completely emerged from the sea, but the German Ocean and 

 English Channel laid dry, so that the animals of the Europasian 

 Continent could travel over from the east and the south, even from 



* See Mr. Walker's Lecture; Trans., Vol I., pp. 32 and 38. 



