PAPER®, ETC. 129 
Onthe Hatural Bistory of the Past Prar. 
BY THE REY. W. R. CROTCH. 
HE object of the present paper is to bring before the 
notice of the meeting, such facts connected with 
Natural History, as have come to our knowledge during 
the past year. They are few in number, and not, perhaps, 
of much importance, except as possessing a local interest. 
Many, perhaps, now present, have only heard vaguely, 
if at all, ofthe singular discovery of fossil oaks made last 
autumn, in the excavations at the gaol in this town. 
The facts are briefly these. —At a depth of 18 feet from 
the surface, a bed of vegetable matter was dug into, con- 
sisting of matted leaves, fragments and trunks of trees, 
and amongst them a quantity of hazel nuts and decayed 
acorns. The leaves were capable of separation, and still 
exhibited the autumnal tint, being undecayed, and be- 
longing to different species of willow, hazel, and oak. The 
trees are both oak and alder; eleven oaks were found, for 
the most part perfeetly sound, and capable of taking a 
high polish, but quite blackened. One portion of one of 
the stems was 60 feet long, and 2 feet thick; another was 
4 feet 4 inches thick, and apparently at least 40 feet long; 
thebranches of one of the trees can be traced. The 
1854, PART II R 
